Would like to have your opinion on this.

Heabow

More cowbell!
Aug 24, 2011
1,992
31
48
France
Hi there

I recently decided to work harder on my mixing skills. Actually I am tired of the type of sound I get tbh. It always sounds a bit harsh and empty if that makes sense. I think it comes from misinterpretation of what I'm hearing, I have to improve my listening skills. So I received tracks of a song to mix and this is what I did yesterday: https://copy.com/jikk9KBswXqerYLs The tracks are not greatly recorded, not amazingly played and sometimes pretty poorly edited but the result is not that bad so far. It's not the sound I usually try to achieve at all, I tool care to add body and mids. Be honest! I'm not afaid of bashing if it's constructive :)
 
Sounds good, cant hear with this monitors the low end properly but from what I hear sounds good enough.

Cant find much too say.
 
Ok, the guitars are a bit scratchy, some cuts might benefit. But it´s nothing that can make a mix fall apart.
 
Thank you Dan! Here is another attempt for today https://copy.com/iNwDwUFdyeSa2Zta I will have a break coz I don't know what sounds good or not at the moment. Still sounds empty, harsh and boomy to my ears :/ I'm referencing Hell's 'Humain Remains' and the latest Extol album so I'm "a bit" disappointed of what I do ahah!
 
There is a limit for what you can do with raw tracks. If they arent well recorded, sometimes no matter what you do you just cant pull more quality of the stuff.

I still think that sounds good, the third clip is better, you remove some annoying high frequencies but also mids, a bit too much!lol I think a good guitar tone comes from the right amount of mids and good low end, essentially.

About the mix, to be more picky, seems to lack some depth but this is a term quite subjetive and depth is what the great mixes have, that separate us, beginners, semi pros from high skilled mixers.

So in conclusion, sounds good, not great because lacks something.
 
The ride seems to get a little lost in the track, drum lack dynamics severely. The song and mix are bit stiff as well. Not so musical
 
Hey! I'm back with this test song.. 80% mixed http://we.tl/d0BKYeTe4D
I tried very very different stuff to get rid of my (bad) habits. The result is quite cool to my ears but I did not have a particular reference mix. For now, I need feedback. The singer is pretty good imo but musically I don't feel any confidence or conviction at all. Anyway, let me know what you think!
 
I think that mix sounds pretty great, the only thing I think there is lacking is huge sounding reverb on the snare and toms, I think this kind of song would really benefit from it, it would make it sound even more epic. But besides to my weird craving for the 80's-power ballad verb ( I usually pretty much dislike those :lol:) I don't have any complaints, you did a good job on this in my opinion.
 
Thanks for your time man. Good points on the reverb, I touched and increased them in the mix. I also increased the guitar mids but I still find the mix lacks of powerful, punch, etc. Don't know if it comes from my mix or the song/interpretation itself: http://we.tl/F1R8m2Cpn1
 
Wow, now it sounds really good, the reverb really did give some depth to the mix that it needed, that mix sounds pretty professional to my ears, I don't think it really lacks punch or anything, it actually sounds really punchy to me :lol:.
 
Well, thank you! Maybe, I'm too focalized on the wrong things... But as Nuno said, I cannot do much more with the raw tracks and to be really honest, I did not hope to get a mix like this one at the beginning (not that this mix is stellar but whether I was doing this or that, everything sounded like shit - I reamped the guitars and bass 4 times)