Critique my mixtests! :D

[Masoo2]

I've been trying to improve my mixing skills over the past few months, so I'd like some input from you guys.

These are in order from oldest to newest.

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/masoo242/in-due-time-killswitch-engage[/SC]

In Due Time // KSE

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/masoo242/sam-whitaker-structure-mixing[/SC]

Structure // Sam Whitaker

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/masoo242/send-you-away-2[/SC]

Send You Away // Eli Rises

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/masoo242/erra-pulse-mix-and-master[/SC]

Pulse // ERRA (1)

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/masoo242/erra-pulse-2nd-mix[/SC]

Pulse // ERRA (2)

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/masoo242/feared-untitled-song-mixingmastering[/SC]

Untitled Song // FEARED

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/masoo242/xehanort-shinigami-mixingmastering[/SC]

Shinigami // XEHANORT

Please give all of the feedback you can, as my biased ears need input other than my own to make these mixes actually sound good.

 

[Sumsar]

Wauw ok, I am not gonna listen through it all but listened to the two last ones.

Levels:
You seem very fond of the kick drums and I find they are way to loud. Maybe try the old trick of turning the volume fader all the way down and then turn it back up just to the level where it cuts through the mix and then let it stay there!
The overwhelming kick makes it hard to decifer the rest of the mix but it also seems to me that the cymbals (including ride and hi-hat) are not loud enough. I find that the groove comes from the hi-hat and the ride (or in the case here apparently some overused crash cymbal). This is more of a personal thing and comes down to what you prefer.

Mix:
I think (again this is personal preference) that the kick and snare sound to overproduced, that is they are EQ'ed to drastic and to compressed - they don't sound like real drums at all to be honest.
Concerning the guitar and bass I think you could seperate them more. Right now they kinda seem to boil down to one instrument, with the bass vaguely poking its head out here and there (again maybe this is due to the kick drum).

Out of time so this is my 2 cents so far, maybe I will listen more later.

Just to be clear I am not bashing your mix at all, I actually think it is very good, but when pointing out things that I see as errors it is best to be honest, yes?

 

[TedEH]

I agree with the too-much-kick-drum. Also, in the first clip, I can hear the whole mix compressing with every kick drum hit.

 

[Masoo2]

Wauw ok, I am not gonna listen through it all but listened to the two last ones.

Levels:
You seem very fond of the kick drums and I find they are way to loud. Maybe try the old trick of turning the volume fader all the way down and then turn it back up just to the level where it cuts through the mix and then let it stay there!
The overwhelming kick makes it hard to decifer the rest of the mix but it also seems to me that the cymbals (including ride and hi-hat) are not loud enough. I find that the groove comes from the hi-hat and the ride (or in the case here apparently some overused crash cymbal). This is more of a personal thing and comes down to what you prefer.

Mix:
I think (again this is personal preference) that the kick and snare sound to overproduced, that is they are EQ'ed to drastic and to compressed - they don't sound like real drums at all to be honest.
Concerning the guitar and bass I think you could seperate them more. Right now they kinda seem to boil down to one instrument, with the bass vaguely poking its head out here and there (again maybe this is due to the kick drum).

Out of time so this is my 2 cents so far, maybe I will listen more later.

Just to be clear I am not bashing your mix at all, I actually think it is very good, but when pointing out things that I see as errors it is best to be honest, yes?

I do have the kick very present in the mix on some of these, so I can definitely understand where you are coming from. I just find that in some songs (Mostly one with a lot of open string chugging, think Bleed by Meshuggah) the kick adds most of the balls to the guitar tone. However, most of these tracks are not like that, so a lower kick could definitely be used.

And yes, the kick and snare (Along with a few other parts of the kit) are fairly processed as I wanted to test some samples that I downloaded. Very, VERY processed samples.

I agree with the too-much-kick-drum. Also, in the first clip, I can hear the whole mix compressing with every kick drum hit.

Yeah, there was most likely a hard compressor on the master bus of that track. Really shouldn't have, but it was an easy way (at the time) to increase the volume of the track without clipping it. Luckily that shouldn't happen anymore.

Thanks you guys!

It also seems to me that on the last track (Shinigami) that the mix is rather bass heavy. Is this apparent to you guys too, or is it just my headphones?

 

[Sumsar]

It also seems to me that on the last track (Shinigami) that the mix is rather bass heavy. Is this apparent to you guys too, or is it just my headphones?

Yeah it is pretty bass heavy over here as well. It isn't a pumping bass so it doesn't ruin the mix, but yeah it is alot more bass heavy than your average track (depending on what you listen to ofc). This is properply more of a mastering thing. Maybe a very light low shelf from ~130? Like 0.5 - 1.0 dB?

Do you reference listen to your tracks (comparing your mixdown with whatever you usually listen to)?

 

[Masoo2]

Yeah it is pretty bass heavy over here as well. It isn't a pumping bass so it doesn't ruin the mix, but yeah it is alot more bass heavy than your average track (depending on what you listen to ofc). This is properply more of a mastering thing. Maybe a very light low shelf from ~130? Like 0.5 - 1.0 dB?

Do you reference listen to your tracks (comparing your mixdown with whatever you usually listen to)?

It usually depends on the song. When mixing Pulse by ERRA I mainly compared it to other mixes people had made.

For the most part I don't though, unless it is for something small like comparing the guitar tone or level of the bass guitar.