Hey folks, hope this is the right place for advice and feedback on my mix. It's my first one in over a decade—I'm recommitting to the industry professionally now, with ear training, certifications, and the resources/time I lacked as a youngster.
Back then, I learned more by doing and made some decent Hip Hop instrumentals, mixes, and recordings, but never felt like I truly knew what I was doing. Now I want to go pro, so I'm seeking genuine tips from the pros here.
This is my entry for the HOFA mixing contest—NOT asking for votes, just honest critique to level it up.
hi everyone :)) this is my first full track ive made, so im still working on the progression from verse to chorus to bridge to outro etc. but if theres any feedback on absolutely anything that would be so helpful :)
Hey Rachel! You're cool that you're sharing your mix and ask for others opinion! That's the best way to grow up in making music. So I think that apart from too high snare I would rebalance the rest of the drums - snare and hats are too quite comparing to the kick and the rest of intruments:)
Hi Rachel :) I like the intro, simple but effective. My humble opinion: you should work on the drums and make them more interesting. The kick is too loud and the snare too thin. Try to bring some life into the hihats too. Be careful because I hear too much bass from some synths on the side notes (they come and go), cut them. The melody has its own appeal; you could try playing with the chords more in the choruses. Happy music, see you soon!
Hi Rachel, congratulations on your first track! This a great first track, and you'll learn so much along the way. I have found getting feedback from others to be such a great way to learn! I think you've done a really nice job with the melodic and harmonic elements in terms of creating a mood.
I agree with others about the drums. I think the kick is loud and boomy, and that by and large they don't quite feel right in the track. It's very cool to do things differently, but I would say that since you are just getting started, it might be really helpful to just use some really standard beats. Depending how I'm counting, the snare is either landing on the one every two bars, or it's landing on the three. A typical drum beat will have the snare either on the two and four, or on the three if you are in half time, but this track isn't in half time.
Looking at the waveform, something is peaking way higher than the rest of the track--I can't tell what it is, but whatever it is is eating up a lot of headroom in your mix, so this would be an issue with gain staging. You probably don't need to worry about this too much at this time, but as you progress, it'll be worth learning more about that!
Lastly, I think there is a lot going on in the low frequency range, so it may help you to high pass some elements. Some people high bass everything that's not the kick or bass. Sometimes this is a good choice, and sometimes it's not. In this case, I think it would be worth it to try that out. Just high pass everything that isn't a kick or bass and you will notice that your track has more clarity, and that the low end instruments have more of their own space. Over time, you'll know when it's a good idea to do this, and when it isn't. For the time being, I think it can be helpful just as a listening exercise.
Thanks so much for sharing your track, it was cool to listen to, and I'm excited to hear your progress as you keep moving forward!
Question: Mixing in untreated rooms is 90% knowing the room and 10% the room itself. Facts or strongly disagree?
🎚️ Some producers swear that if you truly know your room, you can mix anywhere, even without treatment. Others say an untreated room will lie to you no matter how well you “learn” it.
If you're going to mix in an untreated room then you have to use references. Even if you know your room, you're still gonna want something to compare your mix to just in case. Eventually we should all strive to treat our studio spaces but obviously that's not cheap or easy to do. In the meantime it's best to utilize what you have and keep improving your listening environment progressively. This is especially important for beginners that are worried about mixing in an untreated space. Don't wait until you have the perfect room, get started now and make improvements as you go. Like I said at the beginning, use references and you'll get by.
Skrillex mixed a lot of his early work on Sony MDR 7506s and then *verified* on monitors before release. Same with Tame Impala's album Currents and Porter Robinson with his Worlds album (Sea of Voices is one of the best mixes I've ever heard as far as electronic music goes) I think what matters most is just references tracks.
I just started SoundGym back in Novemebre, and all I have is my laptop (DELL Latitude E5540) and some headphones, no other speakers. Besides decent headphones (I have the Sony Stereo Headphones MDR-7506) is there anything you all can recommend to get better sound quality so I can hear certain frequencies, distortion, any better? Anyone have any experience with SoundID Reference from Sonarworks? Thank you all!
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