So I've produced for a year now, starting with trance music and now far more interested in minimal.

I've posted before on this problem where all my tracks sounds rather tinny... the one problem that I've never really been able to correct. I'm confident on my arranging, composition, layering skills, but getting a good interesting, up front sound hasn't been easy.

http://www.yousendit.com/download/Y...wdGo3N0FLSkE9PQ

This is a 1 bar loop with a kick, clap, a synth stab rhythm from electro house progressions followed by my weaker lead. It was a bit of an attempt to match the mix of the EHP synth, or at the very least provide an example to post online for feedback. I did not put a lot of work into it, but I know that I could never match the EHP synth if I had tried... Simply made a short stab out of a sine/saw waveform (from Massive/ZebraCM) with some pitch widening, an EQ boost to the body and air, compression and small room reverb (all Cubase 5 plugins). Not doing the trick for me.

This whole sound quality issue really make me feel quite noobish these days Any advice plzzz????

oh and i should also note that ive used akg k240 mk2's for this mix, but pc is core 2 duo with emu1212m

post a longer sample you can't tell by one bar.

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my only self critisism here is on the quality of the timbre... not concerned about expression, fx delays and such... just the quality of the ehp stab compared to mine. (Plus I only have 56k )

Mkay... The lead is not the problem, everything else is.

It's mixed like crap, lead is so loud that it drowns the kick and all the rest of the rhythm into smithereens. Where's the bass?

My point is, when looking at something, you always have to look at the bigger picture, i.e. how does this particular lead sound in this particular track, since 2 tracks don't sound the same with the same lead, if you catch my drift. In your case, the lead itself isn't problematic, it's the surrounding elements that make it sound shitty compared to the picture you have in your head. Fit it into rest of the track, never look into one particular sound, since it's a recipe for disaster.

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I probably shouldn't have included the kick and clap, main concern is between the two leads... didn't really put much work into this so i didnt level off the gain between the two.

also starting to wonder if im too worried about this... ill keep playing.

Leads themselves per say sound fine, stop complicating mate

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Bad Mixdown

The sample is toooo short, but imo, I think the lead lack of effects...
Use more reverb, delay, chorus, etc... dont be afraid...

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I would just take the mids down a little bit