drums don't bang bro.

I am always in favor of more drums and sub bass. It seems your prioritized the synths, but i am not sure if how much you focused on them to be a good thing.

The impact is not there because of how weak your drums are in the mix.

cool ideas. I think you should just work on getting a cleaner mixdown, you really have a lot of phasing and shit going on, just take whatever limiters you are using off and make a mixdown where you can hear everything how you want to hear it, even if its quiet... Then work on bringing the level up with some compression/limiting. Really good start though!

really good for the first thing you've posted! Cool ideas for sure. But it does sound like whatever limiter / compressor you've got going is working a bit too hard. Create more head room for your drums. Make them louder in the mix before adding limiting/compression to the master. Definitely make the kick the loudest part for a song like this. more effective Side chain compression could help a lot here.

Keep it up!

Sounds like I need to work on my mixing abilities, which I was pretty sure was the case haha.

Although, I'm having trouble, conceptually, understanding the process of how to mix properly. I know that it's mostly about EQing, compressing, and using limiters to make all of the elements sound good together,
 

I am going to attack this personally and say it's not those things specifically.

Some concepts are correct but you're mistaking volume balance, panning, stereo image control (ie width, mono vs stereo) to be more important than EQ, compression, and lord have mercy the limiter.


After you get the volume balance, panning, and stereo image control, i'd suggest you eq first then see if your sound needs compression. I wold stick to that process pretty religiously.

You don't need a limiter on almost ANY of your tracks, and if you do, you need to reconsider it's input gain or turn the channel down. You'll loose so much character from your sound source if you think that strapping a limiter and cranking the gain/volume will make it sound good. No, that's how good sounds die early.


You also need to take on what mindset is needed to accomplish a mix. The technical skills in the world is great, but if you don't have a guiding hand in your process then all your understanding is straight down the pisser.

The philosophy you acquire will help you make creative decisions, tough or not, when making the mix, making the song, and eventually leading you to making the vibe and emotion of the track.

PM me if you have any questions about all that.

Quote from: steviewalrus on March 01, 2016, 07:30:11 pm

Sounds like I need to work on my mixing abilities, which I was pretty sure was the case haha.

Although, I'm having trouble, conceptually, understanding the process of how to mix properly. I know that it's mostly about EQing, compressing, and using limiters to make all of the elements sound good together,
 

Some concepts are correct but you're mistaking volume balance, panning, stereo image control (ie width, mono vs stereo) to be more important than EQ, compression, and lord have mercy the limiter.


After you get the volume balance, panning, and stereo image control, i'd suggest you eq first then see if your sound needs compression. I wold stick to that process pretty religiously.

You don't need a limiter on almost ANY of your tracks, and if you do, you need to reconsider it's input gain or turn the channel down. You'll loose so much character from your sound source if you think that strapping a limiter and cranking the gain/volume will make it sound good. No, that's how good sounds die early.

So maybe I should go by the tenant of "if it sounds good, it is good" rather than thinking there is a correct "way" to mix?

The tip about doing EQ first is a good tip, thanks!

And sorry to potentially cause confusion, I don't have a limiter on any individual tracks, only on the master channel. It seems to me (correct me if I'm wrong) that limiters might have more to do with the mastering part of the track, rather than the mixing phase.