I need YOU to TEAR this mix APART

[wearecreative]

As the title says, I need you to tell me all the ways this mix is not ready for big time. This track will be my band Man or the Machine's very first release, and we want it polished. Thanks in advance!!

http://soundcloud.com/wearecreative/man-or-the-machine-dust-1/s-pAuG2

-Chris

[wearecreative]

By the way, this is an indie/progressive/psychedelic rock sort of genre. Up beat feel, odd time signatures that groove abound.

[brianellefson]

What did you mix down on? (Kind of speakers, the room, etc.)

The mix sounds really scooped ... lots of highs and big lows. The VOX and electric guitars feel kind of cheated to me - like they deserve more of the EQ pie and not just the top end.

Did you put reverb on the bass? If so, I'd remove all of it or most of it.

If it were me, I'd also like to hear more mids from the electric guitars.

I listed 2x and just kinda feel like the mix is cloudy. I think you should go back in and really look at the use of EQ and reverb. I like the instrumentation and the production choices, but the EQ and reverb are offsetting that a bit. Hope this helps a little.

[Andreas Leonhard]

I think you have to start with the mix from the beginning. I agree with Dave.
Listen to the dry tracks carefully and then make right decisions on the following mixing steps. Then you could probably come to a good result or let the song with from someone with talent and professionality.

[wearecreative]

Ok, so for a bit more information:

I'm mixing in an almost square >_< room. I do have treatments up at the reflection points behind the monitors, and to my sides and behind me. because of time constraints I have not moved all of my acoustic treatments from my old apartment into my new home. Upon doing some really focused listening, I can sense that some of the sound I'm hearing is coming from behind me, which makes it clear really how much the room is affecting my mixing.

I'm on PT 9 monitoring on a pair of Bx8a's. The mix in this post was done last night before I ever had a chance to run the A.R.C. test in my room. So to listen in my room on these monitors, everything sounds muddy in the bottom, though my band mate listened on his stereo at home and thought it sounded great, so I really don't know.

Anyways, I took your advice and pulled up all dry tracks and made eq/compression/verb decisions from there. I think the balance is overall an improvement, but as I said before, it sounds super low-lowmid heavy in my room. Also I made fewer and less extreme eq adjustments this time around.

http://soundcloud.com/wearecreative/motm-dust-revision-2-3-12

[ianvargo]

There are certainly too many lows going on, the clarity and punch of the drums isn't there. The guitars could have more bite. It's hard to comment on these without seeing the session in front of me obviously. Balance wise, I'd say everything is good, but the next step will be getting everything to pop.

[wearecreative]

Ok, so here is revision 4. I think I achieved a far better balance this time around. more punch from everything. Soundcloud did something weird to it...Compressed it a bit-it seems more 2D from soundcloud than it does from the original file. Any suggestions?

http://soundcloud.com/wearecreative/dust-revision-4

[couch11]

Originally Posted by wearecreative

Ok, so here is revision 4. I think I achieved a far better balance this time around. more punch from everything. Soundcloud did something weird to it...Compressed it a bit-it seems more 2D from soundcloud than it does from the original file. Any suggestions?

http://soundcloud.com/wearecreative/dust-revision-4

Soundcloud definitely does weird things. I can't stand what it does. But I think Soundcloud is really the least of your problems right now. Nothing in your mix is detailed. It's all a wash. Are you referencing any other commercial CDs while you are mixing?

[wearecreative]

Thanks for the replies! If you would be so kind, this is a new revision, posted to my mediafire, to take soundcloud out of the equation.

Dust Revision 5.wav