Another new song, criticism appreciated

pinksoir

Howdy.

I've done another song and I'd appreciate some feedback on it. I feel pretty good about the mix but new ears always help a lot.

The vox is pretty wet. I'm not sure if it's too much.

Anything glaring that I'm overlooking here (lip smacks etc not withstanding- I'll fix those up later)

Cheers.

http://soundcloud.com/ivanstjohn/pagodas-first-mix

fitz

I like this mix (note: only listened on earbud headphones so far), though there are couple of things that pop out.
Bass is a bit peaky in parts, maybe a touch more compression. Just a hair.

The synth that comes in a 1:20 kinda throws the balance of things because of where it's panned. The ear is drawn left because there's nothing to balance that synth on the right of your sound stage. Hard panning is fine, but there needs to be a balance to the parts imo. Maybe that's what you're going for, but it's not something I like...I always find it distracting, and if you're distracting the listener, you're taking them out of the song.

The snare parts that start about 2:08 are a bit machine-gun, but sound like they're not quite locked in...similarly the tom flam bit in that section sounds like on of the hits is early or late...not sure which, just doesn't sound quite right.
The hats that come in at 3:23 sound a bit unnatural.
I'd vary the pattern and intensity of the hits a bit, and bring them down just a touch in the mix.

pinksoir

Thanks a million again. I really appreciate the help.

I have the bass compressed (limited) at about 12:1. Should I increase the threshold a little bit, or bring it up to 13:1 or so? I always have problems with the bass as there's a couple of resonances in my room so I have to adjust for them by ear and I've not quite mastered it yet. So I'm always afraid of taking too much bass out.

Drums are definitely something I have to look at, yeah. I think I just got complacent when I got used to how they sounded, if you know what I mean.

I like that synth where it is, but you are right, it definitely distracts the listener, I noticed that myself, though it's not quite as extreme through monitors as it is through headphones. I'll look into balancing it on the right, though maybe I'll end up panning it more centrally. I found it difficult enough to get it to cut through the mix and be a feature when it comes in later on in the last chorus, but maybe I should just automate the panning. It is balanced later on by an arpeggiated synth on the right.

Thanks again. Like I say, I really appreciate the help.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

bass and toms are to in your face for my liking .

bit of room on toms / snare and lowerise the bass with a touch of hi mids on bass would be nice .

good job tho

pinksoir

Ta muchly.

I had the toms pretty high in the mix and then I added drum compression on everything but overheads and room mics (quite a lot actually) so I could probably pull the toms down a bit, though I do like them quite prominent in the mix as they move the song along nicely when the go into the Motown beat half way through the second verse. There's quite a bit of reverb on the toms and snare as it is. The room/ambience mics on the particular kit I'm using aren't so great.

Bass is gonna be an ongoing problem, I suppose. My room combined with my monitors which have feck all bass response (Rokit 5's) make it pretty hard to judge.

You reckon a bit more definition on the bass, and a bit less low end... I'll give it a go.

pinksoir

Consequently, I'm wondering what speakers ya'll are listening to the tracks on. When I play them on my stereo (separates system) everything sounds super bassy. I do reference different songs by different artists through my monitors to try and work out how things should be balanced, but those songs are mastered so it's difficult to gauge.

Should I, as a rule of thumb, be looking to have less bass than I think I need? I guess I unintentionally compensate for my monitors' lack of bass by adding too much in. Should I be looking to bring out the definition of the bass rather than the low end?

GTE

pinksoir wrote: »

Consequently, I'm wondering what speakers ya'll are listening to the tracks on. When I play them on my stereo (separates system) everything sounds super bassy. I do reference different songs by different artists through my monitors to try and work out how things should be balanced, but those songs are mastered so it's difficult to gauge.

Should I, as a rule of thumb, be looking to have less bass than I think I need? I guess I unintentionally compensate for my monitors' lack of bass by adding too much in. Should I be looking to bring out the definition of the bass rather than the low end?

I wouldn't worry that tracks are mastered. If anything that helps your ability to judge your systems pros and cons.

Less bass is a good idea.* If you don't have a sub or your room just isnt built for it then I would see about getting an EQ plugin that gives you a visual readout of what the craic is at the low end. My room and monitors hype the bass up a bit since I really got into using the room controls so Id high pass filter the master bus then once I get a chance to listen on various systems I decided how much of the low end to let back in. Once found I can then deal with the low end on a track by track level in more detail.

With that said, almost every track that isnt meant to have much low end information gets HPFiltered anyway.

*That said, I am listening to your mix on a set of Beyerdymanic DT150's and your low end is fine. I think the bass needs more definition but that could be hard. Certainly, I don't think the low end is over done.

pinksoir

Thanks very much.

Everything below 30hz is highpassed, but I boosted the kick a ~70hz and the bass at ~ 100hz. I could probably take them down a bit anyway. I guess I have to work more on my referencing of other tracks.

I dunno, I don't think I'll be at a level to be able to mix any of my stuff for release so I will get some studio time once I have my current batch recorded to a decent standard at home. It definitely helps to get an idea of arrangements and balances and things when a song is mixed to a reasonable standard. Which will cut down on the amount of time I've to spend in the studio to get things right.

All this to say I appreciate the time you guys have taken to give me your input.