Please Critique my Song - Mixed/Mastered on Sonar

i like what you've come up with...However I'm no expert obviously noted on here by any means!!!  But if it were me I would try to thickin up the sound a bit unless your going for a kinda old vinyl sound....Then its great!!!

hello

well done. Production sounds very slick. I am thinking for buying Music Creator to record at home, as studio recording is expensive. I want to do demos. Can you tell me what set up / equpment you have?

i was thinking of getting the studio instruments package to fill out my sound.

here's a link to my studio (not Music creator) songs so far: http://www.myspace.com/Jasonkingsongs

Ok the track is well recorded, the mix though is a little washy.  There are too many conflicting instruments in the same frequency band.  The drums are too loud in comparison to the vocal and the guitars.  Thats ok if you intended it to be like that but it is making the track a little muddy.  Also the verb on the guitar is also adding to the muddiness.

Without the track as a waveform it is hard to analyse all the compents, things like the average level of the track.  Ok questions, how did you mix the drums? are they parelled compressed?

My suggestion is to roll off some of the bottom end on the bass, snare, and toms.  Hopefully you have mixed these instruments into their own buss.  I would not put the overheads into that buss, mix those seperatly.  On the overheads buss use an EQ and carve out the best of the meat of the overhead, in other words using a hi shelf filter remove some of the top end sheen.  Then using a low shelf filter roll of some of the bottom end.

As for the guitars also use a high and low shelf filter to carve some of the clashing frequency's then using the spectrum analyser work out the fundemental frequency, it should be somwhere in the vacinity of 120hz to 250hz then multiply that number by itself until you reach the mid range somewhere around the 1250khz mark this will be about the 4th harmonic by boosting this slighty no more than 3db, the guitar should stand out in the mix without having to boost it.  The other thing about the guitar and in particular the verb, try shortning the tail and also using the hi and low shelf filters on your reverb unit, this will change the density of the tail helping the tail feel more real.  Also remember to set your delay time properly on your reverb unit any where up to 50ms.

Ok the master, did you roll of the bottom end using a hi pass filter.  I tend to use the sonitus EQ and set up 4 hi pass filters all set at 40hz.  using the q adjust the shape of the filter to you almost have a bump a 100hz.  Try also rolling off some mud at 400hz and if the track is sounding a bit harsh roll some of the mids off.  You can also try finding the fundemental of the whole track and working out what harmonic you would like to increase, this should help the track bounce out at the listener.  This is really called pre mastering.

Once you have done that, did you put an EQ over the top, using a hi and low shelf filter at 100hz and 8khz respectivly?  If not this is what I tend to do, I use my ear to work out how much, sometimes you need a lot and sometimes not so.  It also depends on what EQ you are using.

Finally what are your average levels like, for this type of music I would be aiming for around -12 to -9db as my average, so compressed but not within inches of it's life. 

Ok if you have anymore questions feel free to ask and I hope this has helped.

Firstly I love the song. And here's what I think using your questions above. And don't forget it's only my opinion.

1) Distorted guitars, I'd have more in there and have them louder. They get a bit lost behind the crash cymbals.
2) The arrangement/structure. Its well put together and doesn't get boring or samey.
3) Drums could be a slighly bit tighter. I heard the odd stick clash and I think one crash came in too early at 01:04.
4)  More guitars, panned in different positions to thicken it up. All with different EQ settings as well.
5) I'd give it 7 at the moment. Def potential for a 10 though.

Excellent, you should be proud of what you've done here.

From what I've heard, this is one of the most active forums around.  But it does seem like everyone's busy with other things this summer, so don't despair.  I'm not really a mix critiquer, but something's not doing it for me on this song.  Most likely things that Ben mentioned above.  Great playing and singing. 

Hi and welcome to our little neighborhood.

Cool weird song.   Love the guitars.
I think the drums are way too loud and there is an eq issue with the snare....it sounds like an empty oatmeal tub.
I can't really hear any bass.
To make it better i would make sure the drums weren't stepping all over the lead vocal and give each instrument a little more of it's own space.
 
I hope to hear more!

I'm listening at work on crappy headphones, but one thing that stuck out to me was that the high frequencies of the cymbals were too loud (A lot of people are saying the cymbals are too loud in general, but the first thing I'd try is to dull the HF a little bit to match the frequency balance of the rest of the song).

I really like the arrangement, agree a bit with the "tighten up the timing" remarks, though the slightly loose timing gives a cool "organic" feel so I wouldn't worry too much. 


As for other forums you could also check out gearslutz.com

It's just a matter of time G string. You can surely play and sing very well. Making a quality recording takes much time and effort. The advice given here will speed up your learning process. I can't think of anything to add to what's already been said. Record record record then record some more. There are plenty of videos and written materials posted on the forum to help with each subject regarding quality work.  After all if it was that easy anyone could belt out a masterpiece. Stay at it and HAVE FUN! That's what it's all about. Thanks for posting your music! peace

I think you've got a decent song in here. As others have said, a remix is probably in order, but certainly the basis of major riffage is apparent. Well done.