What am I doing wrong?

There's something not quite right about this track -- it sounds to me somehow a bit metallic/tinny, muffled, dull ... its just not sounding the way it sounded to me on the original WAV file, something not quite right that i can't put my finger on.

Even if this music isn't your cup of tea, any suggestions on where I might be going wrong and can improve this, appreciated.  

http://soundcloud.com/mos...ductions/indigo-part-1

 If this is a test, I think I failed. I could find nothing wrong. Very nice work.

Looking forward to Part 2.

I listened on laptop speakers, but it inspired me to listen to it on monitors!

Thanks for sharing!

Sounds good to me....on cheap computer speakers.

I hate what some of the players and the MP3 conversion does to my music.

So if the wave sounds good, don't worry. 

I could find nothing to nit pick on what I heard. 

Sometimes though, the smallest EQ change does make the difference. If you are hearing something..... but can;t quite put your finger on it.... do what I do.

Stop listening to it ..... don't play it or listen for a week.... yup 7 days..... then, after 7 days, listen again. Now..... usually, your ears will be listening "new" again.... and perhaps you can pick out the nit you are hearing but can't quite nail. 

this works for me. While tracking and mixing I will listen dozens if not hundreds of times to a song after I fix all the big and obvious issues....including after the mixing is done..... to listen for the nits... "almost" wrong notes, pitch not exact, timing issues, Eq, the stuff that is so close to being right but not quite, things a casual listen would miss but a professional would not miss.........I make mental notes where things are. Then I stop listening for a specific number of days. Now...when I return, I can hear clearly what the issues are and work on them.

I often spend as much time at this stage as I do on the other stages of tracking and mixing.

I like this advice because that's how I do it.  It's too easy to overexpose oneself to a piece of music and lose perspective.  Take a break and come back to it.  I'm sure you will notice that this tune is very close to professional quality already.

Guitarhacker


Sounds good to me....on cheap computer speakers.

I hate what some of the players and the MP3 conversion does to my music.

So if the wave sounds good, don't worry. 

I could find nothing to nit pick on what I heard. 

Sometimes though, the smallest EQ change does make the difference. If you are hearing something..... but can;t quite put your finger on it.... do what I do.

Stop listening to it ..... don't play it or listen for a week.... yup 7 days..... then, after 7 days, listen again. Now..... usually, your ears will be listening "new" again.... and perhaps you can pick out the nit you are hearing but can't quite nail. 

this works for me. While tracking and mixing I will listen dozens if not hundreds of times to a song after I fix all the big and obvious issues....including after the mixing is done..... to listen for the nits... "almost" wrong notes, pitch not exact, timing issues, Eq, the stuff that is so close to being right but not quite, things a casual listen would miss but a professional would not miss.........I make mental notes where things are. Then I stop listening for a specific number of days. Now...when I return, I can hear clearly what the issues are and work on them.

I often spend as much time at this stage as I do on the other stages of tracking and mixing.

Thanks Guitarhacker for your suggestion and Lynn for your comment - I appreciate that.  I'm off for a week's vacation tomorrow, so will check this all out again on my return :-)