New Monitors, New Mix, Tony, Todd, and anyone else willing to help Options

[The Uncreator]

http://soundcloud.com/lascailles-shroud/pr...dreams-of-earth

I got some new monitors and this is the first mix I have done with them. For the time being I only used the monitors as reference so I can know what I need to get used to, I am sure I am doing something like over accentuating or under accentuating, so if you all could take a listen and let me know how it feels.

Its a shorter 'Synthstrumental', only 04:12 long so its nothing to overbearing like I usually do. It's based off an evolving chord progression, and I just keep layering it basically, simple effect that I like

[JTaylor]

I can't really offer any advice, because I didn't see anything wrong! Listened to the entire piece and really like it too! BTW: I'll have to bookmark this so I can keep following the story!

[thefireball]

I'm with Jon! Nothing wrong here that I heard, but I'm no pro either. I really enjoyed the atmosphere!

EDIT: Are these new monitors the ones in your picture of that recent thread of workstations?

This post has been edited by thefireball: Mar 16 2012, 02:01 AM

[The Uncreator]

That would be it yeah, along with the new mixer as well

[tonymiro]

If you can send me an uncompressed wave I'll give it a listen asap

[The Uncreator]

Not a whole lot of "mastering" done to it as I can't really treat it the same as my other songs. So some eq'ing and a little boost is about the extent of it. I tried to nail the mix as close as I could.

[Alex Feather]

Sounds pretty good! What kind of monitors you got?

[The Uncreator]

Roland MA150's to replace my Behringer Truth's which were stolen. Despite them not being $200 a piece like the truths, and only $200 altogether, I actually like them better. Has wood construction which I like, sounds very warm.

[Alex Feather]

Roland MA150's to replace my Behringer Truth's which were stolen. Despite them not being $200 a piece like the truths, and only $200 altogether, I actually like them better. Has wood construction which I like, sounds very warm.

Cool I like Roland a lot good sound and good quality!!!

[Todd Simpson]

http://soundcloud.com/lascailles-shroud/pr...dreams-of-earth

I got some new monitors and this is the first mix I have done with them. For the time being I only used the monitors as reference so I can know what I need to get used to, I am sure I am doing something like over accentuating or under accentuating, so if you all could take a listen and let me know how it feels.

Its a shorter 'Synthstrumental', only 04:12 long so its nothing to overbearing like I usually do. It's based off an evolving chord progression, and I just keep layering it basically, simple effect that I like

Works for me ! Be careful though once you start adding other instruments, maybe live stuff, you may need to check on a good pair of headphones to see if anything is happening in the low frequency range. The Rolands are spiff especially for the price! But the bass response rolls off well below stuff you might end up getting recorded. This is where pairing it with a sub comes in typically. I use small near fields myself. Nothing above a 6 is woofer so far and while they are punchy, they lie to me all the time about whats happening below about 80 hz.

The Rolands cut off about the same area, around 75hz. Below that is almost guesswork. Just something to be aware of. Didn't seem to matter here though Great mix!

[tonymiro]

Not a whole lot of "mastering" done to it as I can't really treat it the same as my other songs. So some eq'ing and a little boost is about the extent of it. I tried to nail the mix as close as I could.

Thanks - I'll download and put it through the mastering studio asap

[tonymiro]

OK here's my 2 cents:

Nice track that reminds me a bit of Tangerine Dream circa 'Tangram' and 'Fire Starter' and also of Michael Garrison's 'In the region of the Sun's return'.

Mix wise - I think that the overall mix is dominated by the bass. This results in a mix that to me is a both bit muddy and also has some boomy low end. To me it sounds like the bass is putting out a fundamental @ 45 Hz along with a much more dominant harmonic at @ 90 (althugh you can argue it's a fundamental at 90 and a sub harmonic at 45...). I'd be inclined to attenuate the bass end quite a bit and probably HPF it from 50 ish or shelf it from @75. There also seems to be a synth drone that is filling up a lot of the low mid in the 90-220 Hz end.

These low end synths, to me, are getting in the way of the drums. The drums sound rather recessed and a bit artificial/processed and hollow. Drums rolls, to me, are really rather lost in the mix. This might be a deliberate production decision but if it isn't I'd look at carving out a bit more space for the drums maybe by gating some of the low synths so that they dip when the kick drum and drum rolls trigger? The level of the various drum parts doesn't seem consistent from start to finish. I'd also look at increasing the level of the drum stem/group to bring them forward in the mix. Cymbals sound a bit tizzy and I kind of wonder if there is some (possibly deliberate) clipping and shearing here to get level? A lot of the synth sounds seem to rely heavily on producing a lot of harmonics (and some distortion). These are filling up the mix quite a lot and you might want to consider how this also impacts on the drums.

Intro section, and some other regions, to me relies a lot on ping ponging. Again this is a production decision but personally I think that if there is too much it can rapidly become just an over used effect. Similarly a lot of the synth lines seem to rely on quite a bit of modulation and when the mix gets quite dense you might wnt to think about reducing/changing this to create a bit more space.

Lead synth seems to shift tonality at @1:20 onwards compared with the earlier section.

Low end synth from 3:05 on to me lacks impact. The echo/reverb doesn't decay naturally to silence before the next synth hit and this, to me, robs the following synth note of impact. Again maybe a production decision but maybe consider increasing the level of the first hit and then using a more pronounced decay on the repeat echoes?

Tail cuts off rather sharply at @4:11 instead of decaying naturally.

Overall it's a nice track and the mix isn't bad but IMO could benefit from a careful look at the low end and at how the drums sit in the mix.

[The Uncreator]

Amazing advice as always. The drums I actually want to sound digital/ processed. I haven't ever done it before so this is exactly what I need to know, there not meant to be a major part of the mix at all, but I would like the rolls to have some dominance.

Thanks much for your time, will work on this right now!

[The Uncreator]

Cleaned up a bit, I want the intro to still have that boomy droning low end. As the layers are added though I try to keep it tame. I also had the synth in the beginning droning into the first part with drums, which wasn't supposed to be there. This should be a bit clearer I hope

I like it more so thanks much Tony!

Attached File(s)

 01___She_Dreams_Of_Earth__Master_.wav ( 63.57MB ) Number of downloads: 39

 

[tonymiro]

Sorry for the delay - been busy all week with our accountants.

I'll try and give it a listen later today.

[tonymiro]

Yes there's less mud and more clarity.

[The Uncreator]

Thanks again man, after fiddling around with it I know more of what needs to be done.