Assault (Electronic/Orchestral/Minimal)

[Hollow]

I'm looking for feedback on mixing. What should I tweak? Volume up on something? Volume down? Pan right? Left? Any and all advice whatsoever at all ever?

drums, bass, chimes, synth, cello, piano, violin

Assault

[timaeus222]

It feels like your kick drum is wide, or panned left? Rarely is that something people do, conventionally. Also, the textures are sparse, making the dynamics not very identifiable; I can't tell what your intro is, what your low-energy sections are, or what your climax is. In other words, the arrangement feels directionless. Lastly, this doesn't feel like an assault to me; more like some sort of elevator music.

[Hollow]

It feels like your kick drum is wide, or panned left? Rarely is that something people do, conventionally. Also, the textures are sparse, making the dynamics not very identifiable; I can't tell what your intro is, what your low-energy sections are, or what your climax is. In other words, the arrangement feels directionless. Lastly, this doesn't feel like an assault to me; more like some sort of elevator music.

Thanks for the feedback . I'm wondering, I've been trying to improve at mixing for years and I haven't really progressed much. Do you think it would be a good or bad idea to just completely switch gears and focus on arrangement only? Maybe the mixing would fall into place, via osmosis or something .. One of my biggest problems has always been 'lack of direction' .. hmm something to think about for myself ..

[Neifion]

Hey there!

I like some of the melodic ideas in there, but yeah, things are panned pretty weird; not just the kick, but for example what I think is a solo cello pizzicato line that starts at 0:33, it's way over to the right. Yes, in a traditional orchestral setting the cello section is to the right, but since it's soloing and exposed, and since the track is already so sparse, there's nothing filling out the middle or left. It sounds uncomfortable to my ears; like my left speaker dropped out or something.

I think focusing on getting your writing and arrangement skills up to speed is a good idea. I don't think you need to focus on those things exclusively; you can still work on your production at the same time, but I think making writing the priority is a good way to go. Keep in mind that production skills are something that even pros with decades of experience are still trying to improve; keep learning and working at it and you will definitely learn a lot as you go along.

Edited August 28, 2014 by Neifion

[Hollow]

Hey there!

I like some of the melodic ideas in there, but yeah, things are panned pretty weird; not just the kick, but for example what I think is a solo cello pizzicato line that starts at 0:33, it's way over to the right. Yes, in a traditional orchestral setting the cello section is to the right, but since it's soloing and exposed, and since the track is already so sparse, there's nothing filling out the middle or left. It sounds uncomfortable to my ears; like my left speaker dropped out or something.

I think focusing on getting your writing and arrangement skills up to speed is a good idea. I don't think you need to focus on those things exclusively; you can still work on your production at the same time, but I think making writing the priority is a good way to go. Keep in mind that production skills are something that even pros with decades of experience are still trying to improve; keep learning and working at it and you will definitely learn a lot as you go along.

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. I watched this video prior to making this track, that's why the panning is weird.

Soooo basically I did what's in the video; I duplicated my final track, twice, so there's three tracks total. One is centered, one is panned left, one is panned right. I duplicated the WHOLE track, drums and all. I've since stopped doing that, and I don't include the drums when I duplicate/pan. I don't know if it's a good trick but the video seemed cool so I tried it. Thanks for the feedback and encouragement . I've been trying to work on arrangement , or at least put some sort of direction in the music. This track and the one I did today are from the one hour compo. Maybe I'll post the one I did today also.