Mix critiques & advices - reach your mixing goals!

Ruud Reiher

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Konrad Bohl
Aug 08, 2022

Hi everybody,

I'd love to get some feedback on my rec/mix/and master on my acoustic guitar instrumental. Mix and master were done entirely in the box.

https://soundcloud.com/kobo_sound/lydien?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Thanks
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Andrew Sherwin
Aug 08, 2022
Yo! This is a lovely instrumental song! It's really uplifting, and a very smooth mix. The main thing I think it could do with is some extra detail. Primarily I think you could improve the depth of the sound, and difference between the foreground and the background. One way to achieve this may be to add a bit of tape saturation to elements you want to bring to the fore (acoustic guitars particularly) as this will add harmonics relative to the input. Another way to create a bit more depth is to open up the attack times on your compressors a little bit on the same elements which you want to bring forward. Much like consonants in a sentence, transient detail creates an impression of closeness as transients typically get smudged the further you are away from a sound. (for a bonus, have a go at saturating your reverb as well, it may create a more detailed stereo image).
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Art For
Aug 08, 2022
Hi Konrad, I liked the song, very pleasant. I'm a really newby in mixing but I think you could try to give more presence to the lead (solo) guitar from 2'37, that's a bit too 'behind' in my opinion, and probably would try to get the drums, more in front, probably with more compression. I liked very much the 'opening' at 54; maybe guitars are a bit to hard panned until there.
Just a try to help...
Art
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Jeremy Munns
Aug 08, 2022
Hi Konrad..Nice Vibe. For me there is too much LOW-MID. Try pulling back around 350hz .. with a wide Q about 2 db I think this will help improve and give a sense of sparkle to the track
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Vita Studio
Aug 08, 2022
very nice song! I like it.
I'd like to add the body to acc guitars in the intro part. bigger attack on the kick and less compression, to be more natural, unmasking hhats and accoustic guitars, and I'd cutted the extra metalic sound of guitars (3-4khz ?) and to do roll of of them to create space for hhats, perhaps more precise balance between kick and bass, but the attack on kick can balance it I guess. hope it helps
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Zorro AVN
Aug 08, 2022
I agree with all the above suggestions... Pulling back a bit of the low-mid will actually give some of those highs in the lead part room to breathe as well. Agree with the HHs being drowned by the acoustic parts. Again, doing the slight cut at 3k-4k and a high cut filter will let both the HH through a bit and give that lead part mentioned a bit of space also.

Overall I really liked the arrangement dude! Keep it up!
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Konrad Bohl
Aug 09, 2022
Hey Andrew, Art, Jeremy, Vita Studio and Zorro AVN, thank you very much for your feedback and the really good and detailed review. That helps a lot. Have a nice day
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Cedz Imagination
Aug 09, 2022
I like the song with its different movements.... mix wise I support what the other people are saying. The guitar feels like its clashing with the hats in the higher frequencies...same goes for the bass and kick parts. All in all really cool stuff esp. the build up that happens @1:52
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Konrad Bohl
Aug 09, 2022
thank you Cedz Imagination. I can follow the above critiques very good. Thanks for your post!
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Patrick Martin
Aug 09, 2022
Hi Konrad.
Generally, great instrumental and lots of dynamics.
I won't go over other people's great comments.
The base tones of the instruments are pretty great: just some adjustments to be be made, which I'm sure won't be a challenge.

I notice that for me, the acoustic guitars on the hard left and hard right do dominate initially, which is fine for the introduction, but once the full instrumentation kicks in @1:07 I find the centre still sounds a little under-represented. In fact they give the impression of dominating the sound design somewhat throughout the entire track. The image of the drums is in the usual centred location, but feels a little distant - bringing them up a little in intensity, which might need a bit more, like parallel compression or a channel strip plugin which I feel would help the balance.
Similarly the electric guitar starting to feature around @1:18 could be brought up a notch and would help to round out the centre. At the same time, maybe compression to tame the transients on the acoustics.
For me, the track has a great opportunity to resolve the initial tension of the acoustic parts on the periphery, answered by the later sections filling out the sound stage, so I suggest that's where you would get the most payback from making some adjustments.

Hope this helps,

Patrick
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Fritz Dean
Aug 09, 2022
Great tune!
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Sin Nias
Aug 09, 2022
loved hearing all of it!
What i would change def drums more up or some how make them cut more through and i think 1k around is too less or too much mid bass
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Chuck J
Aug 10, 2022
That sounded real nice! I think its mixed really well. For me the guitars being hard left sounded great in the beginning, but my brains wants that to be a little more center since its a main theme. Great work!
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Konrad Bohl
Aug 10, 2022
I am wowed due the great and detailled amount of yourfeedback. Thank you all for your posts and time. Especially Patrick Martin, very in depth comment.

I am going to implement all of your thoughts. Danke euch allen