Mix Challenge

For this song, I think many mixes have too much compression.

My DAW has faders and meters available as if they were plugins and I can put as many in a channel as I want, and meters can be switched.
I look at the recording first. Some artists record really hot, exp. vocals, some deliver their tracks at -8 to -17 with levels already well balanced.
It depends on the plugins I use. Some work well at all levels, some are made deliberately for bus treatment at high levels, some are made for low input levels around -18.
I do my gain staging in a way that each track outputs around -18dB, and then comes the nested bussing with faders initially at 0dB.
I use the bussing also to get a comprehensive nested solo/mute mechanism. All (actual) drums, whole drum kit, room sounds, all drums and bass, all guitars except soli, all orchestral sounds (string samples, timpani etc.) - you see the pattern.
With bus automation, I can prevent to overload the stereo compressor.

This time, I tried to avoid that anything sounds compressed at all, just have some minimal glue.
Dynamics are drastic, but great on a good listening system, really orchestral. Sure can be reduced on demand, using the prepared automation.

@RoadieShow Ya that is quite helpful, ive set mine up similarily in cubase, its another good system to keep you right and not pushing mixes too hard.

@White Punk OD Aye thats a good clean way of doing it. Plus after its done once, you just save the template and setting up mixes is a breeze

We have an article on "Gain Staging with a VU Meter" (from 2017) in the Production Techniques sub-forum. Since signal measurement is my field of expertise, I tried to simplify the topic as much as possible.

Please see the following thread:
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=127

I wish we can get a lot of mix critique this time, that includes symptoms of poor gain staging, if there are any.

White Punk OD wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 28, 2021 17:07 CEST

I wish we can get a lot of mix critique this time, that includes symptoms of poor gain staging, if there are any.

After listening back to my own mix several times, I can tell you now that my issues are not just poor gain staging

@Clueless your way of organizing the dynamics was not bad at all.
You had the singer sit in the small bathroom which might be legit according to the meaning of the song. Still, sonically unusual.
the other thing to examine is different types of snares, what to do to make them fat and carrying the rhythm.
Perhaps you also could try to use different types of headphones, e.g. some cans with heavy bass, and some smartphone plugs with bright treble. So then, when the midrange that you hear from both, somehow meets and feels the same, you are on the right track.
Maybe balances are suffering a bit from uneven monitoring.

Many thanks White Punk OD
Snare had some weird frequencies which I didn’t like, which I tried to subdue, in doing so, I created a bit of a mess
The vocal just ended up with me throwing one too many effects at, this is all a learning experience, which is harder to understand if you enter, what is your mix and just get marked F, not knowing how to improve or where you went wrong.
As for different listening environments , yes, I need to get a better solution than my hifi speakers

not sure if you like my snare sound but this is what I do:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nJKwmF ... sp=sharing
you can demo the lindell, hornet channel and SN05G are free, Ariesverb is ancient 32bit and was free. its point is bizarre modulation that mimicks changes in all aspects.
the snare is also gated. it runs into a common bus with the kick, only after that, reverb, limiter, and the saturating hornet-channel are applied. in this case, it makes the whole thing a bit more organic and "live" sounding.
(I might boost the hornet lower mids like 2-3dB, but I preferred a thinner vintage setting. it's not a normal case.)

@ White Punk OD

Thanks for the info, yes I have those plugs, apart from Lindell
FET feedback compressor (classic 1176 sound) & the others seem like I could use alternatives, weird you can get for 149 or 29 per unit, does the combination in 1 unit justify extra 80?
Anyway, I like your mix, very spacious and the whole thing seems to be nicely balanced, snare does sound good, I think I need to be more expansive in my mixing, I look to hit certain marks in order not to get disqualified and I believe I sit way too close when monitoring, which tends to make me place too many sounds back in the mix.
I know it’s not a comprehensive review of your track, I did like it though

I probably got it on black friday for around 30 bucks or less with vouchers. it is very handy when I start with my own presets and throw it on several channels to see what comes up.

thanks so much and carry on happy mixing!