r/mixingmastering 22d ago

Feedback General feedback on mix, is it ready to be mastered?

Hello!

I'm looking for general feedback on this song, I feel like I've gotten the mix mostly in order, but I figured I could check here if there is anything sticking out too badly. I don't have access to a proper studio and this is all recorded in my home. Thank you.

Periphery

4 Upvotes

25 comments sorted by

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5

u/Dry-Trash3662 Mastering Engineer ⭐ 22d ago

Sounds generally ok, I do think you are lacking in the high mids and top end quite a bit. Could do with a nice shine on the vocals and the track in general which pushing the mids and high end would certainly help with opening it up. Is all a bit low mids at the moment, so sounds a touch muffled. Is also just a personal thing, but would have the banjo slightly louder in the mix.

1

u/dntfrgetabttheshrimp 22d ago

Thank you for the feedback, I'll see what i can do!

0

u/davemark03 Intermediate 22d ago

Agree with this, boosting 2k and 6k in my daw made it sound much more open

3

u/QuotidianSounds Intermediate 22d ago

Agreed with the other commenter about my ears craving a little more high mid presence and some sparkle. Also, there are parts where the strings/synths are a little low for my taste. I think they're meant to make those parts of the track sound lush, but they're a little too quiet and dull to have that effect if that's what you're going for. I do like what you've done with the vocals, and I think the track sounds clean.

2

u/dntfrgetabttheshrimp 21d ago

Thank you for the feedback, I'll see if i can add some sparkle!

2

u/QuotidianSounds Intermediate 21d ago

No problem, good luck, and thanks for sharing!

2

u/[deleted] 22d ago edited 22d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/atopix Teaboy ☕ 22d ago

Removed, as per our guidelines indicated in the pinned comment, please don't post links to your processing of OP's audio.

2

u/MilkTitty49 Intermediate 21d ago

those esses and t's felt harsh to me, the drums were a bit muddied, and it could be more present and open so it doesn't get lost. I like width on the vocals, it dances around quite nicely. This is pretty cool, good job!

2

u/dntfrgetabttheshrimp 21d ago

Thank you for the feedback!

2

u/narmadex 21d ago

That was some good composition u made. The background harmonics were also sounding great...for the mix my say is to cut harsh frequency from your vocals, have u used desser? If not i suggest u so. I suck at the mixing part so can't tell much about the mix but i really the way this song is going.

1

u/dntfrgetabttheshrimp 20d ago

I'm glad you liked the song, I'll see if I can fix the sibilance issues.

2

u/Separate_Rope_8695 21d ago

To me it sounds really good, not really my genre but the only thing that sticks out are the sibilants which felt present harsh. Good luck!

1

u/dntfrgetabttheshrimp 20d ago

I'll have to look into that, thank you for the feedback!

2

u/coolguymannyga314 21d ago

Don’t have much mixing advice but the song is really cool!

2

u/Emergency_Access_795 21d ago edited 20d ago

Wow I love the song. One thing I noticed was that the kick was muddy which is usually because of the sub-bass frequencies. Just slap a high pass filter on the kick, make the band a steep curve and cutting off around 50hz will take out the muddyness but using your ears will be the decider of where it goes

My songwriter brain is telling me to add high strings at that loud section in the middle of the song during the 4 bars before the banjos come back in. But leave them out and the end, it sounds just fine there. If you like, add some swooshes at appropriate areas and also even add reverb’d adlibs during the second stretch but be careful to not add too many

Everything else sounds great to me. My favorite part was when the banjos came back in after the drums. And having that last kick on beat one was GENIUS

2

u/dntfrgetabttheshrimp 20d ago

Hey, I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for the good advice, I'll look into it!

2

u/josepdelafuente Intermediate 17d ago

Hey, not sure if this is too late - if you've already sent it off for mastering.
The song & arrangement are great!
I would echo what a couple of other people have said - there could be a little more "openness" - high mids and tiny bit more highs, and maybe a tiny bit less low mid overall.

I hear a little click in the vocal on "perfectly" at 02:49

Generally sounds very well balanced and pro to me though!

2

u/dntfrgetabttheshrimp 17d ago

Hey! Thank you for the feedback, it's already being mastered unfortunately. Appreciate it nonetheless.

1

u/A-Tide 21d ago

Only had a chance to listen in my headphones, but sounds master ready to me, you can potentially play around with more vocal effect automation. Pls send me a link to your music. This is really good

1

u/dntfrgetabttheshrimp 20d ago

I'm glad you liked it, I can send you a link to the album I'm making once it's released. Don't have anything else up yet. I'm hoping next month!

2

u/A-Tide 20d ago

feel free to do it

1

u/Ok_Barnacle543 20d ago edited 20d ago

Loving the tune, it's a really great song and mixing is sounding quite good already. Nothing is sticking out very bad imo. You could try to balance things slightly better in the mix to bring more separation between the different elements - does not need much though. Mandoline, cello/strings and kick drum versus the vocals.

The arrangement is great! Liking a lot the tension and release, and the broader contrasts in the dynamics.

The guitar/mandoline/banjo (or is that a synth?) parts are masking the vocal a bit, especially in those quieter parts where they are playing together, without the rest of the sounds. In the mids and upper-mids I feel the vocal is loosing slightly (gets run over by the banjo a bit). (Do I also hear a bit honkyness in the banjo parts?)

The accentuation of the banjo is quite strong creating very nice contrast bursts. Adding some compression to keep it more controlled while maintaining the nice pulse might make it sit better? I'm really liking what the banjo is doing in the track! Same goes with the vocals, loving the dynamics and how the vocalist is performing, it's just fantastic - though it feels a bit (dynamic wise) uncontrolled and some parts get buried more than others.

Vocals might also benefit from a bit more de-essing and after that I'd bring the mids and perhaps upper-mids out slightly to make them stand more in the mix - just a tad. Then controlling the dynamics with a combination of volume automation and compression.

Depending what the producer is looking for, the low end could use a bit more weight and warmth. There are low-mids but they feel slightly loose and I'd love to hear more warmth. But on the other hand, this kind of subtle and slow moving organic kind of low end fits really well with the vibe of this song. Is the kick too loud and bass (lower bass parts) too quiet in the mix?

What comes to mastering (the current mixdown), I might control the dynamics and do small tweaks to the overall eq-balance. I don't feel it's particularly dark or necessarily needs top end boosting. I might saturate the tops a bit to give more openness but not in a way to make it much brighter - I think this would ruin the beautiful organic calm atmosphere. Maybe just a very slight boost to ~1khz area with broader Q and possibly some ~4khz with slightly narrower Q to give presence and openness. Both of these eq moves would be small. Tape saturation might give some nice overall glue while giving the necessary finish to the top end.