Mixdown Practicing & Learning

Magghy Ji

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liza plakhova
Feb 04, 2024
Hi everyone!
This is my mix of Hopefully Holy Fouls – “As A Blade”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YtvbAGIgzKKqqrVI4jZa3Ma375UlO2q_/view?usp=sharing

I'm kinda new to mixing, so I would be really glad to recieve some feedback on my work!

What I 've done:
- reversed the phase of the snare to fit with the kick better
- de-noised many of tracks
- applied de-esser on a vocal
- volume balance
- eq / compression
- played with reverb and delay
- played with panning
- applied iZotope Ozone for mastering. but I'm not good enough in mastering yet, so I just used a preset and changed settings a lil bit

What I think is not really good in my mix (but I'm not sure):
- I think that vocal is out of mix, despite I cut some eq conflicts to make it fit.
- a mess in the end (the culmination part). tried to balance it, but still hard to listen everything clear :(
- spectre shows that I have muuuch of low frequencies. don't know if it's okay.

/ if you agree with my thoughts, how can I fix it ?

Thank you!
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Eric St-Onge
Feb 04, 2024
The vocal feels 'phasey' to me, not sure if it's an added effect, but I think it would be stronger without it. A little more reverb on the vocal could potentially help it blend into the mix a bit. I'm certainly no expert, but I'm not detecting too much low frequency overall, although I do find the tone of the snare a bit too bassy.
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Eric St-Onge
Feb 04, 2024
One question, when you say that you 'reversed the phase of the snare to fit with the kick better', how did you determine to do that? I just tried it on my mix and I'm not noticing any difference from it but perhaps I'm not listening for the right thing.
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liza plakhova
Feb 04, 2024
probably i did it by mistake cause i’ve just recalled that it is only for similar audio signals lol…. so i was like “let’s just try it”. buuut i did really hear “body” of the snare better after reversing it’s phase. probably it is noticeable bc i put some other effects on snare idk(
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liza plakhova
Feb 04, 2024
and thanx for comment!! i didn’t put any to make vocal phasey, so i’ll check how can i fix it yo
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Miki Ggag
Feb 04, 2024
I think the vocals are a little too loud in relation to the beat
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Aart dB
Feb 04, 2024
Hi Elisa, I hear you have some issues with levels. The lead vocal sounds significantly less loud than the barber's voice, which of course can be a creative choise, but in your case the difference is too big. Also the kick drum is rather upfront and some instruments are too much in the background.
The sibilance, mainly in the first verse is still too much, a little extra work is needed, although it's impossible to even it all out, I know.
Other than that you have a nice musically sounding mix.
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liza plakhova
Feb 04, 2024
thanks!
by the way, Aart, how can I understand that some instruments are too much in the background?
is it just ear training and practise or what plugin can show it?
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Aart dB
Feb 04, 2024
Lisa, there is no plugin that can do that. Ear training is the solution. The trick is to make everything sound coherent by bringing the levels close enough together. It's easier to hear which is too loud, but something is not loud enough when you would like to hear more of it, or in the case of a lead vocal when it's not in front, or when there are gaps in the music that want to be filled. Other means to bring something more to the back or the front are the use of reverb or delay. You learn about all this by listening to good (and well mixed) music as much as possible, (which isn't a punishment, I think) ;)
Meanwhile using reference tracks as example can help a lot.
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Rafael Jabur
Feb 04, 2024
Hi, Lisa! The vocals are bit too harsh. And the snare is a bit distant (maybe more trasiants are needed? Great mix otherwise! Really liked the guitars
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Daniel R
Feb 05, 2024
Hi Liza, good work! You've got lots of good comments already. I find that some elements (some lead vocals, snare, for example) feels a little close up, and might benefit from some type of effects processing. The kick I find slightly too loud. Well done otherwise!
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Nate Morgan
Feb 06, 2024
Mostly agree with everything - main things that poke out to me are the vocals are pretty dry at the beginning and drums are pretty heavy in that 400/500hz-ish boxy sounding range throughout