my first ¨pro¨ production

[ShipwreckSoundWorks]

That's the sort of talk that drives me to want to say that they just aren't good. There's a lot of things wrong as people keep saying, and if you don't recognize that yourself you won't improve. No one can tell you anything EQ or compression related because there isn't anywhere to begin as multiple people have said.

 

[oroinvictus]

Giving someone an HONEST critique is NOT "throwing them under the bus".

Statements like "You still have a long way to go", "quite annoying", "i can just look at the waveform in the soundcloud link and tell it isnt a good production" etc. don't really cut it as critique.

 

[ShipwreckSoundWorks]

I'm not trying to put you down at all. I just think you're ignorant to your own flaws. And that ignorance isn't going to get you anywhere. Then you act as though this forum isn't filled with good engineers because they can't give you advice because you can barely interpret anything.
There are some monster engineers that are just great that have come on this thread and told you various things. Engineers who have years of experience and you've disregarded every one. Don't undervalue yourself, by any means, but don't overvalue yourself.

 

[Arsenu,]

Statements like "You still have a long way to go", "quite annoying", "i can just look at the waveform in the soundcloud link and tell it isnt a good production" etc. don't really cut it as critique.

exactly

it has nothing to do with over/undervaluating myself, i'm saying that to my ears it sounds good and im (mostly) happy with it even tough i know it's not commercial at level. it's on my mp3 player and when i listen to it i have no complaints.
it might mean that i just don't know what's the "next step" to push the mix into commercial levels (or the master), which i really don't.
keep in mind that a LOT of my knowledge as an AE came from threads just like this made by other people, but not from useless advice like most of the comments here were.

p.s. im not getting offended here or anything of that sort, i'm happy with the result regardless of any input, and im well aware of my skill level. which should, by all means, be high enough for an AE to charge a minimal fee. just because you're not Andy does not mean your work is invaluable.

 

[jackbraglia]

Statements like "You still have a long way to go", "quite annoying", "i can just look at the waveform in the soundcloud link and tell it isnt a good production" etc. don't really cut it as critique.

haha yea i guess you're right man, people were definitely being a bit harsh

 

[jackbraglia]

i cant think of anything that i did wrong/should have made better.

...think harder

no but seriously...you don't hear the way that tone sounds? you honestly think there's NOTHING you can improve upon there?

i don't want to insult you and say there is a problem with your ears....but maybe there is a huge problem with your speakers, what exactly are you monitoring on?

 

[Arsenu,]

^ it's not harsh as it is useless.

im using KRK Rokit 5. i know i know... but iv'e listened on my mp3 player mostly, and the whole band on different speakers and they're all happy about it.
btw in any case is sounds WAYYYYYYYYYYY better than their 1st demo, which was recorded in a studio. you can check their website for a link to it, it's really bad.

 

[jackbraglia]

I'm not a fan of the KRK's, but that's certainly not the problem. i was half expecting you to say something like regular computer speakers or headphones.

so if you grab any metal CD you own and compare it to this mix, you don't hear anything that needs improvement??? because if not...it may be time to find a new career path to pursue...

 

[kernelxsanders]

haha yea i guess you're right man, people were definitely being a bit harsh

When i said that, i didnt mean to sound rude or harsh, and my apologies if i did, but you can often look at a waveform from a bounced down mix and almost foreshadow how it will sound. The peaks are all straight lines, which means there is no dynamic feel to the mix (or it could just be the mastering) probably due to heavy amounts of limiting and/or compression. And imho, dynamics is one thing that can make or break a mix. I know i've been guilty of the same thing as well, but i'd consider myself far from professional.

 

[jackbraglia]

lol u think those soundcloud waveforms are accurate?

 

[Brandon E.]

lol u think those soundcloud waveforms are accurate?

Yes...

Anyways these mixes basically sound like demo mixes...Actually a lot of demo mixes sound better than these. It's good for a demo mix in that it basically gets the rough idea of the song across, I can hear clearly all of the instruments and what they are doing, but it doesn't do more than that. I wouldn't be charging money yet, but if you do, and people think its reasonable and choose to pay, I don't see a problem with that. I would probably advertise it as demo recordings though.

As far as real mix critiques...
1. your drums need to come up a lot. The drums are the biggest downfall of this mix. They definitely need more than just coming up in volume too, they need to be remixed also.
2. You also need more low mids in the guitar tone, did I understand correctly that you used a JVM with a guitar rig cab sim? Either way, you're going to want to experiment with other cab sims or other mic positions and cabs, the guitars sound really boxy and small.
3. You might want to try splitting the bass track into a distorted and clean track, there is too much separation between the guitars and bass IMO, and getting a grindy and middy bass tone going could help that. Also fixing the low mid in the guitars would help in that aspect too.
4. Vocals are too loud.
5. Your master bus is also really smashed, there is a lot of audible pumping going on and the mix has no room to breathe. Somebody earlier was right by saying you can actually see it in the wave form. If you listen you can hear the vocals ducking the rest of the entire mix with pumping.

I think maybe your big problem with this mix is that the guitars are so thin that separation was just easy to achieve...but that's far from enough. You can clearly hear all of the elements, but the balances are still far off and none of the elements actually sound very good.

 

[ShipwreckSoundWorks]

...think harder

no but seriously...you don't hear the way that tone sounds? you honestly think there's NOTHING you can improve upon there?

i don't want to insult you and say there is a problem with your ears....but maybe there is a huge problem with your speakers, what exactly are you monitoring on?

I think even if he was monitoring on computer speakers he could maybe still tell slightly better.
See? You're ignorant to the fact. You can't seem to see a single thing wrong with it. How can you improve? You won't.

 

[Heabow]

Guys, if the OP thinks his mixes sound good and don't deserve any improvement, it's up to him. Sure it's a great shame for him coz we all think he could get a better result by listening to some advices but it still up to him. After all, he didn't ask for criticism but was just presenting his work. I don't know why the fuck he put it in the 'rate my mix' section tho. Well, no tragedy here

 

[viralz]

Insert the words ''pro production'' in the same thread title and instant drama will begin.

 

[jsaudio]

Although i do not consider this "pro level" i disagree about people saying you shouldnt charge, i have heard worse out there and regardless you had to spend a lot of time helping this band out giving them at minimum a decent demo. For all that work i would charge a little bit for sure, its not like they went to you and came out with negative songs or recordings lol. So they recieved a product from you although many would say it "not good enough to charge" i think that is crap and if a band decides to use what skill you have and the gear you have payed for to help themselves and your time to help them they should be paying you, period. even if you had the worst recordings ever, they should still be paying you for your time to use your gear to make a demo.

That being said i personally think there is a lot that could be done to make this better. The guitars are very harsh in the high mids, could def use some low mids and there isnt a lot of clarity which would come with proper eq of your instruments.

 

[Arsenu,]

I think even if he was monitoring on computer speakers he could maybe still tell slightly better.
See? You're ignorant to the fact. You can't seem to see a single thing wrong with it. How can you improve? You won't.

jesus christ! again: I KNOW ITS NOT COMMERCIAL LEVEL. take some reading comprehension classes. it's the first production that I AM happy about, not my first platinum record.



and on another note... finally some insightful comments here, now we can almost call this thread civilized. and yes i totally agree that bands should pay for any service they get. its not like you're helping then because they're your friends. if they want a commercial level mix, they should work on a commercial level budget.

 

[jackbraglia]

Yes...

This is an old post already, but I wanted to say this so that other readers don't take your false information as truth.

So you really think soundcloud waveforms are accurate? I mean, it doesn't strike you as strange that every soundcloud waveform is exactly symmetrical on either side of the zero cross point?? If you still don't believe me, do an experiment...you'll prove yourself wrong. Just draw a completely uneven and wild looking waveform in your DAW, and then import it into soundcloud...