Acoustica User Forums

Test Mix, project in progress.
I think the drums need to come up a touch louder. Bass I am not sure about yet.
Had to mix down a few versions to listen to, WAY too many tracks for my computer!

Mix feedback welcome of course.
(Not my song, just mixing.)

First version deleted for housekeeping.
2nd version: https://soundcloud.com/mbliss01/face-yo ... -2/s-qnUVJ

It sounded good on my loudspeakers! But this isn´t really my kind of music, so I might not be the one to judge? Great mix and production though!

Best regards/
M@rkus

Wow, different sound for you there Buddy. It overall sounds a bit compressed, maybe it's the vocals giving it that quality? Nothing really stands out of comes into play except the vocals. Might be this is what you wanted?

Definitely a departure for you. I assume this is a mix for different artist your working with? I agree seems compressed missing some dynamics. Kept expecting the bass to drive for awhile. Maybe around 2:20 have the bass line push it more thru the end.

Good balance, good tune. good performance.

Thank you all!

Yes, this is different from my usual tastes. And even unusual at that as it is a style that doesnt really fully fit in any typical slot. I have become more used to genres that typically have the vocal front and center over everything, and that may have led me to this result. I am not sure. Rock is often more Guitar driven and maybe I need to re-assess that.
And yeah, its less dynamic than I usually prefer and am kind of feeling that out, for similar reasons to the vocal question.
You think thats compressed you should hear my "mastered" versions!

And not a "client" but stems supplied for a mixing contest. I like to do these from time to time more for the practice than any dream of winning any prizes. In an effort to learn as much as possible, I often avoid listening to any efforts to reduce the chance of influence, and explore doing it "my way" and to my own taste. Just load up the tracks and assess, go with my gut.
In a case like this, you get to work with pro level recordings and later evaluate your work against others efforts, and in many cases some very good other efforts........ I would consider the production source (Fab Dupont and Ben Lindell) and many participants quite certainly "pro level" and I admit to feeling pretty intimidated. The recordings are so freaking high quality that after I got a rough balance working, I just listened to it over and over wondering what the heck I could do with it. I felt lost. But after I got started trying some things I started to get some flow and a felt a little more of a sense of direction. And learning some things about working with very large track counts when my computer says NO! to adding much in the way of plug-ins.


The vocal tracks were clearly processed when recording, and I didnt add much as far as that goes. They stand pretty forward as is. The style of having clean "poppy" verse sections combined with some pretty gritty chorus sections kind of leaves me guessing if that is the intent, or an opportunity to experiment?

I still have some ideas to explore and a little time before submission deadline.

Thanks again for the feedback, I'll probably post another attempt sometime next week, as I will be taking my lovely wife away for a weekend adventure.

Good luck in the contest, and better luck with the wife this weekend

Ah, that wasnt sarcasm or "tongue in cheek" my friend. She's a gem and a treasure, and I have been looking forward to this time away from the daily grind.

But thanks too!

Not quite my type of music but I was super impressed with the production. Great job.

Good effort but the drums are nowhere, you can hardly even hear them at some points in the mix. You need to find a way of getting them through the limiter.

I didn't pay that much attention to it before but I think AJ is on the right track. Pun intended. (I'd bet AJ is a drummer too.) -h

Hi Mark

I agree with the two last ones. The drums in such a song needs to be really powerful, but they are too much in the background .

!warning!Really personal opinion down here!

It could be my headset, my ears, my personal taste or something else. How would it sound if the vocals was lowered just a tiny little? If I increase the volume it feels like the vocal maybe stands out too much. The vocal type here is pretty powerful. Specially on the chorus. I would expect it would be the guitars that would in the end force me to turn down the volume on my headset, not the vocals.

Really cool track. It sure has punch in it. Thumbs up for both the mixer and the band

Thanks to all for the positive comments and the suggestions. Really appreciate that you took the time to listen and give feedback!

Like I stated in the OP, I felt the drums were probably the first thing to reconsider in my next attempt. Not just a little louder, but they need to "rock" a bit more. And as I pointed out in my reply, the vocals are a little dominant. First two things being addressed, but I appreciate the confirmations!

With that taken care of I will reference the bass guitar levels. I think I like the tone I got from blending the dry DI, a little emulation and a distorted track. Might need to re-address the EQ placement of the kick/bass once the drums are changed though.
Then I think there might be room for a little more interest in the depth and width. Not much going on there yet.

Still in progress.

Thanks again!

Getting closer, still working on it. But I thought I would post the latest "work in progress" mix if anyone is interested in checking it out.
https://soundcloud.com/mbliss01/face-yo ... -2/s-qnUVJ

Its a slower than usual struggle, this project is really overwhelming my computer resources and I am having to learn and use some new tricks to mix this thing!

Thanks for listening!

Link doesn't work, can't find the track?

Oops. Silly me.
Been keeping these as private tracks, as the rules were restrictive on the use of the bands tracks.

See if the edited link works.
Thanks for the heads up Tom!