bkkornaker
Eager Beaver
Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 14
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| mix critique? |
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have a listen......ad tell me what you guys feel it lacks. I can say right off the bat, i feel i added too much "flange effect" on the drums cymbal splashes. I tried to do it so the cymbal splashes would 'swish and wash out". i tried to keep it not so wet......but it still comes through pretty strong.
other than that, tell me what you guys feel it needs.........
the song is called "Duarte sunrise" , at www.soundclick.com/bryank |
Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:16 pm |
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wailingalleycat
Forum Manager
Joined: 07 Oct 2003
Posts: 694
Location: Jersey C.I (UK) |
| Duarte Sunrise |
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Hi
First of all thats a cool sound youve got going on.
Just a couple of things that jump out as needing attention but its sounding pretty good. The kick drum needs some work, especially as its very audible at the beginning of the song. It has what i call a beachball sound. like a harmonic ring that needs tuning out. try first with a bit of EQ, start at 1K with a wide Q, give it loads of gain and sweep up until that ring becomes really obvious, then cut it a few db so it loses most of the ring, then give it hell with a compressor to give it some punch. as it sets the beat at the beginning of the song it needs to make an impression. hard to advise of compressor settings but dont be afraid to use 4:1 or higher. medium/slow attack, medium release to squash the ring down and give it some guts. then fatten it out with the EQ again.
Next thing is im not sure about some of the panning. I can hear a jingling sound on either side. as each side is playing with a delay from the other it becomes a distraction more than an addition. instead try using the same track on each side with some different EQ on each channel to give each its own character. or just give it a little less pan or make it a major feature by trying a sweeping 3D pan (a la conquistadore). Its as if youve either got something right in the middle, or panned extreme to the sides, theres nothing in between which makes it a bit confusing as to what the focus of the mix is.
Hope that helps to start you off, ill leave it to someone else to comment on the guitar sound.
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If In Doubt...Hit It With a Hammer, If Still In Doubt... Find a Bigger Hammer. |
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Thu Jan 04, 2007 5:58 pm |
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bkkornaker
Eager Beaver
Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 14
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yeah...the "jingleing" your hearing is acoustic guitars, panned about 80% left and right.
so what about the comments on the guitar sound? i value your advise and opinions. |
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Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:14 pm |
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bkkornaker
Eager Beaver
Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 14
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the panning issue was tough to comprimise. With so few instruments, i still wanted to get a "open wide" sound out of the mix.......so i panned the accoustics 80% left/right, and youll hear another clean guitars (with a pitch shifter/oscilation) and panned those 50% left/right. Cymbals/overheads were panned about 75% and 45% left/right, and the bass guitar and lead guitar were almost panned center, but panned off to about 5% left /right. everything else was panned in the center (kick,snare).
i can understand that youll hear alot of space inbetween the instruments, cause there is so much consistancy of sound in the instruments panned further, while the ones panned around 50% are far and few in constant sound, and kind of "pop" in here and there in frequent moments. |
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Thu Jan 04, 2007 10:22 pm |
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wailingalleycat
Forum Manager
Joined: 07 Oct 2003
Posts: 694
Location: Jersey C.I (UK) |
| Automated Pan |
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Remember that pan doesnt have to remain constant throughout the song. most DAW's allow you to automate the pan pots. you can bring attention to things by panning them into the centre for a solo or whatever reason, then slowly taking the back out to the sides, it also helps to add interest to the mix. Give it a try
Have you had a crack at the kick sound yet?
_________________
If In Doubt...Hit It With a Hammer, If Still In Doubt... Find a Bigger Hammer. |
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Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:16 pm |
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conquistadore
Forum Moderator
Joined: 03 Aug 2004
Posts: 514
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The sound click player doesnt seem to be buffering the Hi-Fi version, and thanks to my slow connection all I can hear are stuttered sounds. And the lo-fi version is mono, so it really isnt much use! Darn!
But I did hear enough to second wailing's suggestion about the kick - it does need more compression and EQ, its very 'loose'.. The track does seem interesting though..
While the '3D Pan' is a great tool, it does have its problems - sounds great on headphones but not so great on speakers and also has mono compatibility issues.. (for more info go to page 38/39 of this
PDF
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General tips to make a track sound bigger would be to use short stereo/ping-pong delays on sounds with greater attack (percussive elements, plucked guitar parts, etc), a longer denser reverb (if your arrangement allows for it) with a good amount of low frequencies, and maybe a bit of chorus on the reverb too.. You can also use various plugins (like the Waves S1 Imager or Wave Arts Panorama) to increase the stereo width of your master. Or you can do it yourself by making copies of the LR channels, phase inverting them and then inverting their channels (left to right and right to left) and then adding them to to the original LR to get the out of the speaker boundary effect..
Also using a good multiband compressor and then probably a good peak limiter (like the Waves L2) can make your track sound bigger.. Clearing up the sounds between 8-20KHz can add to intelligibility and clarity.
Its a shame i cant listen to your track, I could have 'channelized' my ideas better then.. |
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Mon Jan 08, 2007 5:47 am |
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bkkornaker
Eager Beaver
Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 14
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i cannot fix the kick really.........the drum trcak was done using drum loops from BetaMonkeyMusic. The kick, snare, hi-hat were all in one track.......so if i do any EQing or compression on that track, it will effect the snare and hi-hat as well.
i suppose i could eq a bit an maybe roll off anyhting under 30hz to tighten the kick, and boost around 65-75hz to give the kick more thump, but it will end up giveing the snare some low end as well.
any compression i use, will effect the snare most of all, cause the transisants are much louder on a snare than a kick drum, so by the time the compression gets to the kick.....the snare will be squished all to hell.
automated panning........now why didnt i think of that! |
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Mon Jan 08, 2007 7:07 pm |
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LilBuddy
Engineer
Joined: 17 Nov 2006
Posts: 49
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i wonder, is there anyway you can just compress a certain frequency range...so that only the frequencies of the drum kick could be compressed? i'm sure some of the other instruments would be compressed as well, but you might still be able to keep the sound that you want with the other instruments as well....might take some time...just a thought 
yep yep |
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Mon Jan 08, 2007 7:46 pm |
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bkkornaker
Eager Beaver
Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 14
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you can, with a multiband compressor......but the kicks frequencies overlap the snares frequencies as well.............some of the upper end of the kick and beater click, will fall into the snares lower body frequencies.
maybe i should get out of the habit of using drumloops like this. Ive heard of Toontrack EZ drummer, and though about getting it..........but does it allow you to record/send individual drums to thier own track for further tweaking? |
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Mon Jan 08, 2007 8:05 pm |
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