This is my first original punk rock song created in Cubase 5. Its been recorded, mixed and mastered (little) by me. I want some of your opinions about this and any advice for improvement is welcome.
sounds like it's been recorded well enough, but the mixing and mastering are lacking - particularly the mix. There is far too much compression going on in the mix, especially with the drums - all the dynamics seem to be totally crushed. Overall the mix is lacking in the lower mids, and the bass has no presence at all - the low end needs to be punchier too.
However, the balances between instruments seem pretty good - the guitars are a little thin, but nice and forward and the stereo imaging seems pretty good (maybe a little wide?)
Just my initial thoughts! For a 1st try you've done very well!
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To add to that, there seems to be a mistake in your muting/automation etc. because the guitar at the beginning is maximum-loud, then disappears right before the band starts. The band, which should have a ton more energy than the intro actually has less. Is this supposed to be an instrumental? It seems like it wants vocals.
To expand on marcreeves, the trick to getting a great mix is getting a great recording and doing as little processing as possible. In general, people want to hear the music, not the plugins.
Yeah... a bit too scooped. Kick is all click and boom, guitars all high, and nothing in between. I hear the bass, but it's in low register.
Try turning up the bass, but either filtering out some of it's lows, or using something to accentuate it's harmonics. A little distortion on the bass will help to give it a bit of edge above the actual notes. Definitely need to hear it more, but an octave or so up from the fundamental.
And yeah... master-crushing means having to tame the elements that come in where there are no drums (guitar at beginning is too loud)
Overall, the groove works well otherwise once everything kicks in.
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PRODUCTION GOAL: Blend ridiculously diverse musical influences into a viable pop signature sound that works for top 40 radio, clubs, earbuds, computer speakers, car stereos, submarine galleys, Australian walkabouts, Turkish prisons, skydiving simulators, volcanic craters, anechoic chambers, Martian discotheques, and all other known and unknown playback scenarios in perpetuity throughout the universe. - AINT NOBODY
sounds like it's been recorded well enough, but the mixing and mastering are lacking - particularly the mix. There is far too much compression going on in the mix, especially with the drums - all the dynamics seem to be totally crushed. Overall the mix is lacking in the lower mids, and the bass has no presence at all - the low end needs to be punchier too.
However, the balances between instruments seem pretty good - the guitars are a little thin, but nice and forward and the stereo imaging seems pretty good (maybe a little wide?)
Just my initial thoughts! For a 1st try you've done very well!
Thanks for your reply. Actually to be honest, i'm just a beginner for the mixing and mastering stage and getting input from people will help me get better.
Any tips to have a better low end? Should i put up a low pass filter for the guitars and bass?
I'll work with the bass levels more and try to work out something for the mids..
To add to that, there seems to be a mistake in your muting/automation etc. because the guitar at the beginning is maximum-loud, then disappears right before the band starts. The band, which should have a ton more energy than the intro actually has less. Is this supposed to be an instrumental? It seems like it wants vocals.
So i should lower the volume levels of the intro riff?
yeah this will have vocals after the instrumental mix.
Quote:
To expand on marcreeves, the trick to getting a great mix is getting a great recording and doing as little processing as possible. In general, people want to hear the music, not the plugins.
Yeah... a bit too scooped. Kick is all click and boom, guitars all high, and nothing in between. I hear the bass, but it's in low register.
Try turning up the bass, but either filtering out some of it's lows, or using something to accentuate it's harmonics. A little distortion on the bass will help to give it a bit of edge above the actual notes. Definitely need to hear it more, but an octave or so up from the fundamental.
And yeah... master-crushing means having to tame the elements that come in where there are no drums (guitar at beginning is too loud)
Overall, the groove works well otherwise once everything kicks in.
i'll increase the bass levels and as you said, i'll try to work something out for the lows.
Thanks!
BTW, just in case, if any of you would like to try a hand in some initial mix and masters, just let me know!
It would help me understand things more clearly
i'll increase the bass levels and as you said, i'll try to work something out for the lows.
Thanks!
Remember, though, that it's the area between the low boom in the kick and the chug of the guitars that's missing. Don't be afraid of distortion on the bass. In this genre especially, it can be your best friend by giving you a bit of fuzz right in the range you need. Just cranking up the bass if it's all an octave lower than that will still sound like the low mids have been scooped out.
Since the rest of the sound is distorted anyway, a fairly distorted and somewhat fuzzy bass will not only fill in the frequency gap, but fit right in aesthetically.
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