quote:

Originally posted by Atlantis-AR Mixing isn't an exact science, but if you're looking for an objective engineer's opinion I might be able to be of assistance.

That would be spectacular!

I've recently decided to simplify everything, I've been working on bass and percussion only lately.
My latest problem is my basslines take up alot of frequency space and mixing the percussion together with the bass has been hit or miss.

Would it be okay to send you a couple of samples of what I've been doing lately and have you give your educated opinion?

I would post them here, but after listening to alot of the music on this site I feel I'm nowhere near ready to start posting my music on the public forum, at least not 'til I have something I'm actually proud of

I'll have to figure out hosting my music and all that stuff, but that shouldn't take long.

Let me know if this works for you, thank you!

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Without music life is a journey through the desert.

quote:

Originally posted by DJMiakoda Let me know if this works for you, thank you!

MSN works for me, or anything else listed on my profile.

I'll try to get back with some comments here later too, but it isn't so simple when so much is amiss.

___________________
Put an end to the loudness war. Don't limit or compress your mixdown until mastering; leave the master channel alone.

Contact me for mastering.

quote:

Originally posted by Atlantis-AR MSN works for me, or anything else listed on my profile. I'll try to get back with some comments here later too, but it isn't so simple when so much is amiss.

Cool!

It'll probably take me a little bit to get something to you and no rush on your opinion and advice, I have a ton of stuff going on here at home keeping me pretty busy.

Thanks again

___________________
Without music life is a journey through the desert.

quote:

Originally posted by G-Con Could anybody please help me to achieve more clarity with the different sounds I've got goin in my latest track. I think I've done an okay job with the mixing but when I compare it to proffesional releases, my track sounds a litle bit muddy in comparison. What does it need to gain that proffessional edge. The following mp3 contains three short snippets of different sections in my track to give you an idea of the different elements involved. Is it just an eq thing or compression? Or something else entirely [[ LINK REMOVED ]]

First of all, your mix is too bass-heavy, with the kick and bass being too high in level. You also have some weird panning going on on the kick, which smudges the image a bit, but this also sounds like a creative decision. Maybe just compress the kick a bit more to allow the bassline to stand out that way too...actually, I would compress the bassline as well, and give the kick and/or bass less boominess around ~88 Hz, and boost the lower mids on the bass around ~300 Hz to give it more fullness and clarity, and probably boost the higher mids as well so it doesn't sound so boxed in.

The initial pad really needs to come up, as the ~400 Hz range is too low in the mix, and this will increase its clarity here, but you may still want to boost the ~1.5 kHz range as well to really make it stand out.

The snare is also too low in volume, and doesn't have much clarity at all. Try to give it a mid boost at its 'point' frequency around ~2.3 kHz, to make it stand out where no other instruments are really occupying space.

The hihats really are a mess. All I can really hear is a piercing sound at ~14.3 kHz. Start by turning the other hihats up around it, and giving things a lower treble boost to give the treble some substance rather than having such a brittle top-end. Don't boost everything at the same frequency either - give different hats different focal points. Finally, tame that resonance peak, and subtly lowpass off the top on the hat that's adding too much content here.

The distorted pad at 0:16 really needs more level, and if you sweep around with your EQ, you should find that boosting ~4 kHz gives it more clarity. At the same time, you really need more support from the lower mids as well, so try boosting around ~500 Hz.

The pad at 0:32 - again - turn it up in level and possibly boost the lower mids around ~600 Hz. Then, cut the lead synth here, and boost it around ~4.5 kHz to give it clarity at one point rather than having it cover the entire midrange. And if you lowpass it, you can reserve these high frequencies for the hihats.

Hope that gives you some direction.

___________________
Put an end to the loudness war. Don't limit or compress your mixdown until mastering; leave the master channel alone.

Contact me for mastering.

quote:

Originally posted by Atlantis-AR First of all, your mix is too bass-heavy, with the kick and bass being too high in level. You also have some weird panning going on on the kick, which smudges the image a bit, but this also sounds like a creative decision. Maybe just compress the kick a bit more to allow the bassline to stand out that way too...actually, I would compress the bassline as well, and give the kick and/or bass less boominess around ~88 Hz, and boost the lower mids on the bass around ~300 Hz to give it more fullness and clarity, and probably boost the higher mids as well so it doesn't sound so boxed in. The initial pad really needs to come up, as the ~400 Hz range is too low in the mix, and this will increase its clarity here, but you may still want to boost the ~1.5 kHz range as well to really make it stand out. The snare is also too low in volume, and doesn't have much clarity at all. Try to give it a mid boost at its 'point' frequency around ~2.3 kHz, to make it stand out where no other instruments are really occupying space. The hihats really are a mess. All I can really hear is a piercing sound at ~14.3 kHz. Start by turning the other hihats up around it, and giving things a lower treble boost to give the treble some substance rather than having such a brittle top-end. Don't boost everything at the same frequency either - give different hats different focal points. Finally, tame that resonance peak, and subtly lowpass off the top on the hat that's adding too much content here. The distorted pad at 0:16 really needs more level, and if you sweep around with your EQ, you should find that boosting ~4 kHz gives it more clarity. At the same time, you really need more support from the lower mids as well, so try boosting around ~500 Hz. The pad at 0:32 - again - turn it up in level and possibly boost the lower mids around ~600 Hz. Then, cut the lead synth here, and boost it around ~4.5 kHz to give it clarity at one point rather than having it cover the entire midrange. And if you lowpass it, you can reserve these high frequencies for the hihats. Hope that gives you some direction.

Thanks a lot for that reply. You've scared me to death in showing how much I dont know when it comes to mixing. Its very daunting and makes me question my dedication. Looks like I am gonna have to invest in a pair of monitors (currently using hifi speakers). Thanks again. Plenty there to get me working. Incidentally I didnt put any panning on the kick, other than the first 16 bars where I put Auto Pan and stereo delay over the entire drums for effect...

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Listen to and download all my tracks at www.gregnicot.bandcamp.com