The mixing on any track starts from when you record or input your first instrument! i like some of the lo-fi elements, and the arpeggiation. Yes i think there is lots going on in the low mids this can cause some clashing at times. Overall nice vibe! especially towards the end.

Hey Nick, really liked this track, awesome vibe you achieved! Yeah I don't know what that crackling/popping/rustling sound is but it's really noticeable in the softer parts of the song and a bit distracting. I'd try to figure out what that is and fix it, it takes away from the chill ambience you got going on. Nice work!

I think the line between writing, arranging and mixing is a lot more blurred with electronic music than with acoustic. IMHO mixing with acoustic is much more about blending the sound you’ve been given and bringing out the purity of the instruments, whereas with electronic you’re still very much shaping the sound when you mix.

@Ben Sinclair Good to know and thanks for the feedback! I was trying out izotope vinyl...it's intentional, but maybe not the right vibe for the song. I do like the warping of pitch and the warming/saturation effect but that stutter is a bit annoying and I don't think you can take it off of the plugin...unless I'm an idiot and am missing the button...which is possible haha. Do you recommend any good tape plugins that aren't a bajillion monies?

@Spike Mann Thanks for checking out the tune! Yeah based on my pretty limited electronic writing I'm in agreement with you. Which for me...is a potential disaster when i get to the stems mix and I'm like "Well what if i just tweak the 2k range in the lead a bit" then i have to go back to the original session, bounce out, load in mix session etc...anyway i'll figure out my flow eventually. Do you have a specific process or moment when you know you're ready to move to bouncing midi to audio?

@Nick Revel The Virtual Tape Machine in the Slate bundle is my go to. There's also Hornet Tape https://www.hornetplugins.com/plugins/hornet-tape/ which goes onsale periodically for like 7-8 Euros, it's a pretty good tape emulation that will get the track warmed up. One thing to note though tape hiss is automatically selected so you have to turn that off.

awesome track and mix

Nick I’m still quite new to but I gotta say that bouncing to audio is getting earlier and earlier. I think it’s dependent on two things: 1) confidence in the work that you’ve already put in and knowing you can easily make a finished product from that work and 2) a good selection of audio effects so you can continue to shape and diversify the sound you’ve already made.

Having said all that though, unless you’re contracted to anyone, there’s no need to rush it. I think THE MOST important thing is enjoying every element of the process from ideas, writing, arranging, mixing and mastering. It’s the journey, not the destination :)

Just out of interest Nick, why do you have to go back to the original session to tweek the eq?

Really great track, Nick! Loved the arrangement, synth variety, and unexpected melodies. If I were to work on this song, one thing I would try is fleshing out the drums more. Some well-placed 80's tom samples can go a long way towards giving a song that neo-retro feel. One of my favorite references for this style of drums is Shallow by Brothertiger: https://soundcloud.com/brothertiger/shallow

Hey thanks for the thoughts @Spike Mann! I really like your philosophy, will think about that next time instead of worrying if it will come together at the end haha. For this project I bounced out stems from Ableton where each stem included several instruments, and I maybe should not have grouped so many instruments into the pitch stems (strings, pads, leads all in one). I was thinking by the time I bounced stems I was done with that portion of the mixing, but I heard things I wanted to tweak so I tried tweaking the stem, but it was of course applying to the whole group of sounds, since it was just one stereo track. So then I decided I missed a step and went back into Ableton to tweak the instruments and then bounced out stems again into the same "mixing" session I had created. whew...hope that made sense.

Hey @Michael Kerr, thanks for the compliment and the thoughts! Will definitely consider adding some toms. I also need to scrap that crappy retro vinyl plugin i have and just get the RC-20.

Yes that makes sense Nick. I have no qualms at all about returning to the original project if I have to. On my last song, during mixing, I decided to redo all my vocals. I didn’t even use the new vocals in the end - it’s little things like that make me realise I’m progressing. Look for those little signs in your own work, it’s a great confidence booster

Great start, with plenty of ingredients to work with. The keys compete with each other. I'd recommend grabbing a notepad and writing down which frequencies you boosted or cut for each part. This may help you strategize your EQ moves. Bass and kick don't have enough crisp separation. The volume levels could be tweaked. The melody part is sitting pretty far out front of the rest. After you're happy with the mix try some m/s Eq to add some stereo depth.

I love the way the retro arpegiated sections float in the background, then transition to more beefy beaty sections, even though I found the dramatic key change a little off-putting to start with (maybe the high-pitched lead is a few dB too loud?). The piece reminded me of the Gelg music for Look Around You (apologies for cryptic cult UK TV reference). Nice work!

To me your kicks "knock" sounds a bit too loud to me and your stuff below 400hz very undefined. And did you maybe have too much Tape saturation on the master?

Clariphonic by Kush would do nicely here...