Mix critiques & advices - reach your mixing goals!

Ruud Reiher

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Daniel Avila
Jan 12, 2022
hey guys pretty proud of this one just decided too make a beat and practice my mixing/mastering would love some feedback ! https://soundcloud.com/danvivacemusic/ai-mastering-2/s-P8GuCOzMKO7?si=d54218df236647aab69deb23476c6609&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
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Daniel Avila
Jan 12, 2022
gritty grimy knocking hip hop !!
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Rogier Harkema
Jan 12, 2022
Very nice vibe, I like it! I think the mix is nice and crispy, and the beat is not too full in terms of arrangement. Great vibe and sound selection. I like the hihat and the weird delay on it. Nice groovy bassline. Are you hearing a vocal on this or would you like to keep it instrumental?

In terms of mix:
The drums are slightly too loud. They stick out as if I'm listening to a VST-demo of the drums.
Both the drums and the bass sound quite 'naturel' and dynamic in terms of compression and spaciousness. I would to try to play around with colour-EQ's & saturations to give them a more blended sound, slightly more compression to tame their dynamics and blending them with the sample in the background, and more reverb to place them more in the same space as the rest.

Also, the sample has a chop that repeats, where the volume drops. Mix-wise, I can hear a clear cut in the sample, making my speakers pop. Add a tiiiny little fade-out and fade-in at the cutting points to remove this. Creative-wise, it's a little on the nose. I understand the choice for an 'impurity', but it's not captivating. You can make something way cooler than a simple cut. Crackles, slight noise, ambiences, subtle delay's, tiny tape wobbles and automations, etc.

Also also, the bassline is groovy, but it's like 92% groovy. I think with a tiny lick or accent here and there you can make it absolutely groove your socks off. But keep it simple, I'm talking maybe 10 accents throughout the entire song.
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Daniel Avila
Jan 12, 2022
I’ll revise thank you!
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Sin Nias
Jan 12, 2022
dont wanna hurt you bro but i dont like the mix but the production is nice (ofc my taste) i think too much compression on the master and too less in the mix cause the noise in the background got way too loud.
Also the guitar seems kind of muddy with the bass and has no top end which results in too much empty space. Also more reeverb would be an idea to fill more space.
Snare bit too quite but i think the distortion on the kick was a good idea so it goes through the heavy bass guitar and the hihats are also well down. Hope it can help Cheers keep it up
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Jason Lorenzo
Jan 12, 2022
Hey Daniel, nice job my man! I just think that there is too much air for lofi... Personally, I would cut the highs no lower than 8k. Your sound (as a whole) in this track, reminds me of listening to a scratched up cd on a walkman in the 90's, and to me, that is the whole point of lofi. (which you have captured well)

Another thing -> Are you using the plugin Vinyl? (if you are, the machine noise is adding too much high freq and the dust/scratches are too distracting)

If so, try using another instance of vinyl in parallel for the pops and scratches effect... might sound like shit but you never know.
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Daniel Avila
Jan 12, 2022
Thank you guys for the feedback! Yeah I really like my mix I was trying to achieve that grimy dirty in your face hip hop sound for this one. I’ll revise with all the advice!