timaeus222

Just to be clear, it's hard to be "perfect" with EQ. It's enough for now to just know what edit to do to accomplish what you want to do, rather than what edits you want to do to overhaul the clarity on a track. Take it slowly and experiment with the easier topics. Perhaps the simplest EQing trick to start with is scooping the mids on backing instruments to let leads come through. Just don't overdo it. You can tell if the backing instruments sound "hollow".

Even though I'm not on my good headphones right now, I do hear that the atmosphere of this track remains exactly the same throughout. It isn't muddy, and it isn't clipping, but it is still pretty loud and the sounds seem a bit basic to me. The rhythm is almost like a hoedown, but anyways, it gets repetitive and it's sort of on autopilot. That about covers it.

But then we'd need 2 more stars >.>

I only had time to listen to this once on my good headphones (I'm vacationing), but I did wanna mention that you should go back over the mixing on this. There's significant muddiness that is covering up the source usage, where the rhythm guitars are a bit too loud in comparison to the lead guitar and there is low-mids clutter. I can barely hear the kick sometimes. As a result, I strongly believe you would get called out for loudness at this current state of the mixing. Also, you may receive nitpicks about the lofi pad synth at 0:49. A metal mixing resource

Pretty sure this is the source. I wouldn't say I'm as far on the repetitive side of the fence as MindWanderer is, but I'm still nearby. If it were really that repetitive, a lot of trance tracks wouldn't make it on OCR. I think what this needs is a sense of development and a clearer dynamic curve. Try developing the fuller parts more slowly over what is already there. For example, if you have section A and section B each of lengths 1 minute, where A is mezzo piano and B is forte, try making it so it sounds like section A and A', each 30 seconds, where A' is mezzo forte, and section B and B', each 30 seconds, where B is not quite forte but B' is forte. Draw it out so it seems like it's developing the whole entire time, but keep it based on the same length of time so that it doesn't feel that long. By those dynamics, I don't mean literally automating volumes to add swelling, but knowing what to add onto the complexity and what to take out. To be more specific with your remix, 0:00 - 0:24 sounds fine. 0:24 - 0:47 would need some refinement on the progression to seem less repetitive to more people. Maybe change the notes at 0:24 - 0:36 to sound more arpeggiated and pulsing, and bring a different instrument to the forefront at 0:36 - 0:47. Perhaps the piano could be louder there, and/or changed to something different because of what I want to say for 1:11. 1:11 sounds like it could be a breakdown section, so maybe you could simplify the bass sequencing (bass-like notes, less large jumps, but feel free to go Jaco a bit), change the rhythm of whatever lead you want to use to something that makes you feel more suspended (something ethereal, like just quarter notes or something), and/or perhaps change the saw arp in the background to a sine arp (something that is soft with few harmonics is easier to mix it in quietly)? Maybe you could highlight the melody from 0:13 - 0:46 in the source more prominently right after that section. Right now the instrumentation makes it sound "the same" as the rest of the track (even though it doesn't to me, it could to other people). It's not too long, but if you're going to keep this length, it would be worth it to work on that sense of progression. Maybe this will inspire you. I do want to see this finished, and if you want, I'd be willing to collaborate to either replace some sounds or polish the production. Your pads sound much better now though.

Oh yeah, I shared the wrong link. That's for if I'm logged in, so this should be it: https://app.box.com/s/ibj5yh5toh2yfc56f4aa However, signing up for box is not a bad idea.

Okay, right now there's a very slight overcompression, but it's nothing to really worry too much about, yet. What I would suggest is turning off the compressor for now, turning up the volume on your computer, and mixing like that until you're ready, and then turn down the volume on your computer and turn the compressor on again. That way, you're making mixing decisions that aren't influenced by the compressor flattening your dynamics. As far as mixing, as it turns out, the drums are too quiet, such as at 1:53. The kick isn't coming through there, for example, and the snare is barely audible. I know you don't want to hear this, but compression (on a drum bus---a "family" mixer track) is the most conventional way to strengthen the drums. Since at this point there aren't any glaring issues yet, I'd recommend you save a new project file starting from here, and experiment with compression on your own time. Here's a resource I find really useful. Also, the bass and guitar are clashing in the bass and low-mid frequencies, meaning 80~600Hz. You may find my metal mixing general approach helpful. And of course, there's a rendering glitch in the first few seconds. I'm sure you'd notice it if you compared.

That's cool, I didn't know that. I've always thought trackers were limited to chiptune sounds, like square/saw waves and noise generators and such in something like FamiTracker. Actually though, I saw this in the submission email that made me blanket it like that with the "tracker sounds" comment: I was actually hearing a lot of old-school chiptune sounds here, so that's why I thought it was either only Renoise or mostly Renoise.

The strings and brass are definitely sample libraries (they have that mic "air" quality, especially with the rich double bass), but even so, the treatment was good enough in the intro/outro, IMO. It added meat to the presentation, and was a great leadin at the beginning to the Big Beat treatment. Vig's right, it's a great snare! This actually does sound like Sonic to me, so even without extremely overt melodic references, it feels like Sonic. GREAT 10th New Year's Day ReMix!

I'm getting a chinese vibe here, kinda similar to Pokemon Black/White's Driftveil City. Just goes to show you how musically experienced Eino seems to be, even with tracker sounds!

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuude. This mix hits all the right notes! That FM tibetan bowl-like sound at the beginning was a great start to the remix. That atmosphere is AMAZING, and THOSE SINE ARPS! This even sounds a bit creepy and like a cinematic score. Incredibly impressive production, and like Vig, I have NOTHING bad to say. Man, 2014 is getting to be a GREAT YEAR!

For the first time, I'm actually going to disagree with Larry here. The production at 1:20-2:24 is quite solid, and things are well-separated. You can hear all the components of the mix individually if you focus on them, and there aren't discernible buried instruments that I can notice. The drums are indeed on the slightly weak side, but it isn't that big a deal for me. They're good enough IMO, and the overall production on the whole track up until 3:13 is only a bit problematic. 3:13-3:44 does get very muddy in the low-mids though, that's for sure. I'm surprised that wasn't mentioned. 3:46-4:16 was better, and more serviceable, but 1:20-2:24 was more solid than that. Still a very well done arrangement, and the production, while problematic, is good enough to me---perhaps "borderline YES" at worst. I like it.

Aw yeah, DigiE is back! Not much to really nitpick here other than the slight clipping at 3:29, 3:43, and 4:18, and the abruptly faded tail at the ending. Awesome bass after 4:18. Great job, guys!

Hey Steve! Welcome to OCR, and I hope you have fun here! I love remixing with your wife (boy, that would sound weird out loud)!

Normal comments: The main issue is that the sample quality is pretty lofi. Normally that wouldn't be that much of an issue, but this isn't supposed to be an arrangement for submission, so that officially becomes significant. Specifically, the bells and organ sound thin, the bass and lead pads sound simple (polyphonic low-passed saw wave), and the intro keys instrument sounds "basic". The atonal bells do hold their own, though. The high bells at 0:48 are pretty bright to me, and they hurt. Something you can look into is the low cut on the reverb on the intro keys instrument. It's too low, and that low end ambience clashes with the low pad that's acting like a bass.

Hm... Seems really quiet. I can't really understand the vocals over the plucked instrument because of that, and there's a lot of reverb decay from the backing vocals. LOTS of line noise from the computer. Also, the atmosphere is mostly the same throughout, so I can't tell whether or not I'm at the beginning, middle, or end without looking at the timestamp.

Okay, although that's what it sounds like to me---a 909 snare, mostly. A similar-sounding snare was on TGH's Secretive Terrors ReMix, but to me it worked there because it was thwappy and noise-gated. Just personal taste and context though, nothing more. And I did say "phaser-like", with the reservation that I could have been wrong. This WAS your first foray into dubstep, so with this being your first, it IS still quite good. Anyways, I know these days, almost 2 years later, you CAN do much better and I believe you've improved a LOT, so I'm looking forward to what other future subs you have in store.

Gosh, that 808 kick. I'm pretty glad OA tamed those subs. Hella smooth sax. Based on 0:23... I'm guessing alto sax? I'm honestly stuck between alto and tenor. Man, the percussion on here is sweet. The vibraslap is niiiiice. Piano is oddly lofi, but meh, ok. It fits in context.

Man, why do so many people treat the 909 snare like a sufficient power snare on its own? Layer that bad boy! The dubstep portions didn't really do it for me not because I have anything against dubstep, but because the wobbles were pretty transparent due to the phaser-like effect on them and pretty thin due to the choice of filter used. The way he worded his writeup, NutS seemed to be really hyping up the dubstep, so naturally I was expecting a lot. The big pitfall of many dubstep tracks is the over-usage of the same wobble sound throughout much of the track, as is the case here IMO. Ah well. I get the feeling this mix was really old, and I think these days he could have done better. The arrangement suffered a bit from the intent of dubstepping our brains out. Other people may like this track more, but it just didn't do it for me subjectively, sorry.

I thought the intro piano was pretty quiet and unusually distant, and that the other elements at that moment seemed more tasteful from the sound design perspective. Great bell at 1:35, and the trebly sweeps are really well done. Bass at 2:00 was a bit much in the 60Hz for my headphones, to the point of it being grating after 1 or 2 minutes, but it may just be me. The arp at 2:22 and other similar spots was pretty loud, while the bells at 2:55 and other similar spots were pretty distant, but I guess it's ok. I thought the same as Larry at 4:15 with the leading strings; a little underwhelming compared to the other electronic elements due to the somewhat flat articulation used. The lead at 5:18 is a pretty nice sync lead, and certainly tops the strings. I wouldn't say, then, that the strings were meant to come off that way, but oh well. Not repetitive enough to be a track where people will want to skip around on it, and nitpicks aside, pretty solid track. Good job man.

Yeeeeah, the trombone in the intro threw me off, too. xD At 3:35, dat trombone cut off. Oh well, other than that, pretty neat arrangement. I liked the wah rhythm guitar, and the lead guitar is hella expressive.

Gosh man, hope you get that settled.

There'll be enough stars, 'cause I'm signing up as a star for this one! Why not! I'm pretty flexible with whatever genre you wanna do or instruments you wanna use. Some of my strengths are drum programming, bass mixing (I can finally say that! ), and humanization. Random example stuff: https://soundcloud.com/timaeus222/lets-upset-a-troid https://soundcloud.com/timaeus222/desert-themed-wip Oh yeah, and I use FL Studio 11, but I'm cool with stems if you don't use FL. I clearly love synths of all kinds, and I officially play piano, but I have learned how to "play" (sequence realistically) electric bass, electric guitar, and (more obviously) electric piano. If you need to contact me, Skype is the fastest way, but PM is fine too.

Someone asked me to help with mixing metal, so I did this. In the end, I finished a template that can also act as a helpful resource for you guys in one fell swoop! This shows specific things I did to mix a recreation of a portion of a heavy metal track by Ian Dorsch, but described in a certain way so that it can be applied in a general sense too. The compression is more specific than the rest, but the settings should be mostly transferable between corresponding plugins. This zip file has stems, screenshots, descriptions/reasoning, and the two free plugins used (endorphin and TLs-Pocket Limiter). Everything difficult has the purpose of each part explained so that you learn the concept, not the specific edit. Just to be clear, this is a non-ideal case. Metal Mixing - A General Approach (ZIP, 62.3 MB) Ian Dorsch - Subterrenea Full Original Ian Dorsch - Subterrenea Snippet Original Ian Dorsch - Subterrenea Snippet Recreation Unmixed Ian Dorsch - Subterrenea Snippet Recreation Mixed Also, this is not "how to mix metal and there's no other way", it's "how I chose to mix metal for this case". Fun fact: I used Groove Bias for the drums. Yes, that's right, an acoustic kit typically meant for jazz fusion, downtempo, and the less aggressive genres, used for metal! This just shows that it's not about what samples you use, it's how you treat them. Shreddage II for guitars and Trilian for bass.

It's okay, I was actually really close to finishing by the time you saw this. Besides, it can be another template at my disposal AND something helpful for you and many others. This shows specific things I did, but described in a certain way so that it can be applied in a general sense too. The compression is more specific, but the settings should be mostly transferable. Metal Mixing - A General Approach EDIT: As for your mix, the guitars sound a tiny bit hollow, as if they were high passed above 200~300Hz or so (this is just a nitpick). The bass seems wide? I used to do that, but I kinda stopped a few months back. Great snare tone, and the kick and snare are only slightly buried. The toms seem good. The newest version is actually quite close IMO, overall.