ridgyBeatle's Accident mix

[ridgybeatle]

Hello. First post here! That's all the time I have to spend on this one. I really like the song - it brings me back to the '90s! Thanks for the tracks!

[Leo Alvarez]

Good mix man! The only problems I'm hearing is that the the lead vox is a little too loud vs everything else. I try (and this is just me mind you) to make whatever is the lead in a given part (vocal, gtr, synth ect) to be front and center and when the middle solo comes in it sounds very right were it should be but when the vocal comes back it just stomps on it (this is only until the fast part of the track were everything feels very balanced including the solo/vocal interaction). Maybe have a little more of the harmony vocals when they turn up except for the aaaahhss in the middle that are way loud. The overall sound is a little too lush/modern for the track (a bit too much verb on the drums). Other than that I think it's a very solid mix. Everything I mentioned can be fixed in minutes and you obviously know what you are doing so cheers and welcome!

[ridgybeatle]

Thanks Leo! I think you're right on with the vocal comment and I totally agree. Fixing soon!

[Ableton_Love]

Hey man. Good job on this mix. the mix seems a little bit too far back for my taste. It sounds like maybe you used a group reverb on your drums? I try to keep my reverb aux pretty low and will sometimes use an extra verb on just the snare, but that'll help the drums be a little more defined. I think you got the woah's pretty much on the mark. I really like the verb and everything on them. Nice! I think some of the music stuff sounds a touch too compressed also which gives it sort of a squishy feeling. That's probably a threshold thing, or if the compression you are using has a dry/wet knob you can just back it off of wet til it clears up. Thumbs up

[TopBobSecret]

Hey Ridgy,
I welcome you to the forum.
Like everyone else here I see you're CRAZY for those drums!!!. It's like everyone already has their Steven Slate: Trigger plug in pack and is ready to unleash the fury on these easy listening alternative tunes.
I liked your mix and thought you do have some skills coming in. I am a musician trying to record my songs so take my critiques for what they are... hopefully something useful will be in there.
I found the toms resonating heavily early in the song and the overall reverb could be less pronounced. If the drums backed off a tad I'm sure I'd appreciate the balance even better.
Good mix and welcome to the contest! Good luck. -TopBob

[ridgybeatle]

Thanks for the feedback TopBob! The bottom snare is the only sample I used and it's from one of my own snare drums. Yeah - I went crazy on the toms, but believe it or not - the only reverb on the kit is on the snare drum tracks. I was shooting for a "JJP/The Grays" kind of a mix, but I added to that with the big verb on the snare, which I felt it needed at the time...

Thanks again!

[willj]

I think this mix has a lot of potential man. Its really heavilly compressed tho to the point where drums are starting to sound flat and cymbals and hats are getting close to being eliminated. They start to poke thru in the few places where the drummer really hammers them, but thats the only time i really hear them. Not only that, but the compression is bringing up some of the artifacts. A few pops, clicks, and crackles that id probably have to ask you to clean up before i could pay ya You got lots of good goin on here tho man, and i think if you had the time to put into it to shape it the way you wanted you could do some nice stuff. Congrats on your first entry!

[maj7]

I think this mix has a lot of potential man. Its really heavilly compressed tho to the point where drums are starting to sound flat and cymbals and hats are getting close to being eliminated. They start to poke thru in the few places where the drummer really hammers them, but thats the only time i really hear them. Not only that, but the compression is bringing up some of the artifacts. A few pops, clicks, and crackles that id probably have to ask you to clean up before i could pay ya You got lots of good goin on here tho man, and i think if you had the time to put into it to shape it the way you wanted you could do some nice stuff. Congrats on your first entry!

Yup.. agree with this, just compressed too much, and I feel like had you sat the levels right without compression on the separate tracks, so you don't get into the red on the master, THEN did any compression to bring out anything specific or on the master to sort of finalize the mix, then it would have been even better!

[kakeux]

Hi,

nice first post!

I love the bass sound, even if sometimes it tends to disappear (see comments below).

This is a more than decent work that is a bit killed with too much compression. It makes the mix a bit pumpy and enhance some freq range (mainly in the 2k area), that put the vocal very upfront at some points. It also induce some level movement during the song. When you go in the too much compression, it mostly end up with some elements masking. Compare how you can hear the bass when the mix is "empty" and when it gets crowded.

The mix as really a potential because the work behind the "mastering" seems good!

[BlackArt]

sounds like a lot of compression on the guitars here. maybe just a tad too bright on my speakers. not sure what everyone else thinks. lead vocals is sitting well and bass is great. just maybe pushing too much around 3-4k generally and drums a bit too aggressive for the feel of the song. not sure what is happening at the breakdown bit towards the end but it sounds cool. almost like the vocals are phasing a bit or something. have a think about using delays instead of so much reverb maybe. nice mix though. enjoyed that one

[ridgybeatle]

Thanks for the critiques guys! I updated my mix with your comments in mind. I think I just might be my own worst mastering dude. I would love to post the latest mix without my mastering attempt. Any suggestions as to where would be the best place to post updates? Should I just do it right in this thread?

[fHumble fHingaz]

Hey ridgybeatle, welcome to the insanity!

Any suggestions as to where would be the best place to post updates? Should I just do it right in this thread?

Yeah, just post it in this thread - Just make sure you make it clear that it is NOT your contest mix, & definitely don't delete or edit your original post.

Overall you seem to get a good sound on your mix, & there seems to be quite a good spectral balance, without excess low or high end.

However, my impression of the mix is that things sound "smeared" & slightly out of focus - It's hard to define or describe, & I'm not sure what is doing it, but I suspect too much compression might be the culprit.

I know there has been some criticism of the drum sounds. TBH, I think the louder, faster part at the end of the song suits the samples you layered on. However, the slow stuff at the beginning sounds overly bombastic & too intense with those huge roomy snare sounds - My recommendation would be to keep the samples at a very low volume during the slower bits, then bring them up for added intensity at the end.

One other thing related to triggering drum samples: @ 3:26-27 your have a trigger mis-fire. Even with brilliant triggering software like Slate's Trigger, you still need to really solo your drum kit to check the integrity of the triggering & automate things to correct any glitches.

Overall, really well done! Good to have you here.

[wireman957]

I'm in agreement with just about everyone else with regard to the compression. i noticed it a lot on the guitars, too, so maybe you compressed them quite a bit individually, as well. There were also times where the vocals came really forward which didn't bother me but make me want to ask if you maybe had separate instrument and vocal busses which were then compressed before your final 2-buss mix. Almost sounds like the instruments and vocals got different sub-group treatment.

Your tones were really good (drums were maybe a little over-the-top for this song, but they sounded good , just lacked the dynamics and space that I think this song called for. Anywho...you did a really good job in most aspects of this mix, in my opinion, and with the abilities you already obviously possess you're going to be a valuable member of the forum! Welcome, and well-done!!

[danmanisa]

Hey RB,
MAN I LOVE THE START!!!!! There is something about people who are mixing this song with a tonne of reverb on the snare and drum kit as a whole. I had Tom Waits in my head the moment I heard the tracks a few weeks ago and any mix that makes me feel that is getting instant acclaim. That snare is awesome and the kick just feels HUGE. Yes, I will assume that others will say it is 'not a drum song' but to me, the lyrics reek of a Tom Waits character and you are making me feel it in spades!
The bass sound is great too, lacking a bit of bottom end guts and I can hear a lot of string noise with that extra compression and/pr overdrive. That said, keeping with the Tom Waits theme, that would not be an issue at all in his songs either.
At the end of the day, I am personally loving this mix and how energetic and full on it feels. Throw in a bit more bottom end on that bass and you have 6 stars from me!!! I'll safely assume it won't be other's cup of tea, and it was not the look I was going for, but I will tell you now, if a band released an albums with stuff sounding like this, I would buy it like that (click fingers!). Great job form a Tom Waits fanboy (really? Never would have picked it!)

[ridgybeatle]

I'm in agreement with just about everyone else with regard to the compression. i noticed it a lot on the guitars, too, so maybe you compressed them quite a bit individually, as well. There were also times where the vocals came really forward which didn't bother me but make me want to ask if you maybe had separate instrument and vocal busses which were then compressed before your final 2-buss mix. Almost sounds like the instruments and vocals got different sub-group treatment.

Your tones were really good (drums were maybe a little over-the-top for this song, but they sounded good , just lacked the dynamics and space that I think this song called for. Anywho...you did a really good job in most aspects of this mix, in my opinion, and with the abilities you already obviously possess you're going to be a valuable member of the forum! Welcome, and well-done!!

No subgroups - everything is straight out the master buss. I really think that was my awful mastering - trying (failing) to get it as loud as a recent commercial release...

[ridgybeatle]

Danmanisa - Thanks for the compliments! Wow - Tom Waits! Excellent! My wife is a big Tom Waits fan and she mentioned that as well after hearing the mix.

[redworks]

welcome to "the joy of learning through torture 101". i feel you on the mastering issue. i have a similar problem and have found that one thing that seems to be helping is to do some of the 'mastering' setup first and mix into it. that way you are making decisions with that in mind all the way through instead of just slapping it on in the end. sounding good other than the 'mastering' issues.

[ridgybeatle]

Thanks redworks.

Here is the revised mix(no mastering). Don't take this mix into account when voting. I always like what another pair of ears brings to the final product when mastering, but I'm willing to try slapping something on the master buss to feel what that's like.

[ncls]

Nice work and nice first post dude

I only have one more thing to complain about in your first post mix.
I found sometimes that your guitar sound got a weird panning issue. I can't really know what it is but sometimes it sounds hard panned, sometimes it sounds like a fake stereo / widening effect, or some haas effect. I can't really be able to point this thing out but it makes your guitar sound to travel side to side.

Now about your revised mix, it sounds really better (I don't hear this panning issue here ) for me but it seems you hurt your drum sound a bit, hits lack of transients to my taste.
Plus your 2bus can get a nice EQ to make slight dips in mid-lo field (around 200 Hz and 500 Hz I think) to make the sound less muffle. Hi and mid-hi need work too, it needs some "air" (maybe 14k and 18k and somewhere betwwen 3.5 kHz and 7 kHz).

By the way, welcome in this forum and in this contest too

[Jeronimo Mora]

Nice mix !

Using distortion on the bass is a nifty trick to help it stand out in a mix but in this particular song, I feel it gives the bass a droning quality to it. I love the drum tones. They really sound crushing. "The glass was easy to break" and that entire verse, the vocals were like 2 db too loud. Some automation can fix that easy. The guitars sound pretty good. The only thing keeping this from being a 5 star mix for me is the over compression. It's not just the fact that there aren't any dynamics. It's also the fact that the compression of the song is part of the song's character imo. Pop and Metal mixes should be smashed to hell and back in my opinion. But an alternative rock piece like this probably shouldn't be compressed in this fashion.

Great mix !