Got to mix14 tracks this week

PolarityMan

Stuckfast said:

Yes I think the challenge with a track like this is that the entire instrumentation changes from section to section, so a frequency or level balance that works for one section suddenly sounds muddy or pointy in the next bit. So to my ears there are some sections that are a bit hard in the 1.5-2kHz area and others that are a bit too thick in the 400-800Hz region.

I will be looping around to add some dynamic elements hopefully before thee end so if you remembered which sections that would def be useful

PolarityMan

oaf said:

Completely not my genre.

Sounds very good to me on the whole. A bit too saturated and pushed, particularly mids. The more synthetic/sampled elements are a little quacky (overly harmonically rich? dunno) and quite forward relative to some of the other parts. The initial (Massive X-ish?) synth gets a bit much once everything else has got going, would be good to take the edge off it and give others the room. Agree with the comment on the flabby bass lacking definition (but it doesn't not work...) and the vocal is slightly sibilant on occasion and some of the Ts are hit quite hard. Perhaps you could debreath it a touch too?

Great though overall, thanks for sharing.

Thanks, thats useful.do you have a good example of the kind of bass you think I should be aiming at as a reference?

Stuckfast

PolarityMan said:

I will be looping around to add some dynamic elements hopefully before thee end so if you remembered which sections that would def be useful

Well as an example -- the intro synth is brittle and thin to my ears, it needs less 2-3k and more 500-1k. But when the heavy guitars come in they're arguably a touch too thick in the low mids. 

Just listened to it on speakers and I'd probably also add that I think the effects on the sung vocal are a touch overdone, and that there's a shade too much reverb, especially on the snare.

PolarityMan

thanks that's really helpful. Some of that Ill give a try on the mix template (the guitars and reverb for instance)  so will affect the other mixes, the rest hopefully I will have time to come back for a 2nd pass

oaf

PolarityMan said:

Thanks, thats useful.do you have a good example of the kind of bass you think I should be aiming at as a reference?

No idea! Really not my genre at all. It just seems a bit indistinct and blurred to me. If you could separate the notes from each other somehow and sharpen up the transients? Stuckfast has done a better job of describing the intro synth than I did too

Re the reverb I often take it to where I think it's right and then knock a bit more off...! Wouldn't do any harm here either.

duotone

Gave it a few listens through (on Yamaha HS7 monitors) & I enjoyed it!  It's a cool song.

General Thoughts
1) Definitely sounds too mid-rangey to me
2) I can barely hear the hi-hat 
3) After a few listens I'm starting to hate that quacky synth sound
4) Really like the vocals on this

Time Stamp Thoughts
0:00 - 0:27 = The hi-hat sounds lost
0:31 - 0:33 = The backing vocal "You didn't hit us hard enough"  doesn't really stand out, maybe this is what you were going for though?
1:08 - 1:36 = My favourite part of the song. I really like this, sounds open & a good contrast to the busyness of other parts 
1:36 - 1:39 = The backing vocal "You didn't hit us hard enough"  doesn't really stand out, maybe this is what you were going for though?
3:42 - 3:55 = Think the guitars would sound better turned down in the mix here, so the vocal stands out more
3:55 - 4:35 = Vocals, guitars & synth sound like they are battling one another here. Would like to hear Vocals more prominent, then drums, then synth
4:35 - 4:38 = Try and make the transition smoother, it kind of jumps from one sound straight to the other. I would probably just end the song at 4:35 tbh. Just my preference

Just my opinion, hopefully this is of some use to you and maybe reinforces some thoughts you may have had yourself.

Gave it another listen through on headphones (Sennheiser HD600) to check I'm not telling you rubbish.

Nerine

Might have missed it, but why have you got to rush it? 

Why is the deadline so critical? 

I listened on my phone so I can’t really comment on the actual mix without piping it into my Genelecs in my mix room. 

But regardless, I thought it was missing some high frequency action on the kit. Like I didn’t really notice any cymbals or hats or anything. 

Also, it’s a bit long. I think some fat could be trimmed from the structure. The first chorus (it it wasn’t, I can’t remember) could be cut in half. The middle 8 was a bit indulgent. 

The outro solo synth was totally unnecessary. 

The vocal performance was good. 

The chorus melody is strong - just could be trimmed/halved. 

Whilst it didn’t sound bad (on my phone bear in mind) I got a sense that the elements didn’t really gel together particularly well. Almost like each element of the song was processed individually to sound good in isolation and then just added on top of the next one. Cohesion I think is the best way to describe it. 

My first thought would be possibly see if it can be glued together a bit more with some bus compression for a quick fix, but I would think that’s already been done. 

I didn’t get much sense of being able to hear the bass at all. There didn’t seem to be much in the higher frequencies that create the illusion of being able to hear it on a tinny playback system. 

The guitar tone in places sounded a bit abrasive. I’m also not sure whether they’re loud enough. Especially in the metal vocal section. 

Overall I can’t comment on the balance, because as I say. iPhone. But I did feel an overwhelming sense of it being just not very “together”. It didn’t sound bad. Just not “finished”. 

PolarityMan

Thanks to everyone who gave feedback. I made some of the tweaks but was right to the wire getting all the songs done so didnt get to everything. Anyways I think it turned out pretty decent considering the timeframe.

Everything here was written and recorded and mixed in Feb

https://prionson.bandcamp.com/album/infrared-tide-v10

Im pretty pelased with it and def a change of style for us. 

duotone

Well done for hitting your deadline!

PolarityMan

duotone said:

Well done for hitting your deadline!

Cheers,

I think it turned out not pretty well considering the speed, but having listened to it on repeat all morning I think the high end is a bit overcooked and become fatiguing after a while, particularly in the snare wires but prob across the whole mix. I think I might have gone too far the other way when addressing @Nerine 's comment about high end energy in the cymbals etc. 

I also note that one of my reference tracks has hardly any cymbals too  (although there is top in them..they're just low balanced)



Also plenty of balance things here and there that could be improved. 

I reckon I might leave this a week then do one more round of revisions before whacking it up on Spotify.

I reckon that this challenge has improved my ability to get to a reasonable standard really quickly mix wise but it might be fun next to pick one of the tracks and see how polished I can get it if I dont have time pressure....although I dos till need to compelte that URM speed mixing course......