A bit down on return, can someone comment on sound quality?

[jeffreyheart]

i've done some remixing, and i feel like i only make it worse. argh.

i tried to clean up the low end, i used a spectrum analyzer to grab some "problem" frequencies. I spent time building the mix from scratch, and treating each channel. I tried to follow some of the instructions/suggestions here, like reducing distortion, bringing the overall mix down. I changed some panning and added a tambourine in the chorus to give a lift.

Original mix
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3301072/Music/JH04_Soft11.mp3

new mix
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3301072/Music/J ... newmix.mp3

[roland]

Hey Jeffrey...
great track!!

I took a listen to the original and the new mix you worked on. I could be wrong, and I'm definitely not on the same level as other people when it comes to mixing/mastering, but I actually thought the answer was pretty straightforward, based on your original mix and the feedback you got.

I would've brought the level of the guitars down a bit, and reduced the distortion (or whatever fx you have) on the guitars. That's it, at least in terms of what I think the feedback was getting at. In my mind, everything sounds so clean and smooth in all the other parts, that the distortion you had on the guitar seemed a bit too much and a bit out of place, and took away from your vocals... the level of the guitars seemed a bit high and competing too much with the vocals, I thought (and I'm not even one of those people who love prominent vocals in tracks...
Could be wrong, but I really do think this is all the feedback was getting at.

Obviously the feedback you've been getting in terms of mixing/mastering is awesome, and will help... (me as well, I'm going to go through it and figure out how to apply it to my stuff!)

Don't let it get you down, when you have a great track it's going to get used somewhere...
Cheers!
Roland

[guitarhacker]

Yeah... I hear what they're talking about. It might have happened in the MP3 conversion process, but the root of WHY it happened started further back in the process.

One problem is, in your studio you listen to the waves. On the TAXI player you're listening to 192kbs MP3's.

Go back to the recording process. Keep an eye on the wave forms in your tracks. Don't allow them to be anywhere near the max. In other words leave plenty of headroom. As the tracks go along in the process and compression and EQ are added, the levels will increase, so that headroom becomes very important.

Next, when you export the project out of the DAW (depending on your work flow process) and into the audio editor and convert it to MP3, the levels are very critical at this point. Be sure the wave is NOT maxed out or touching the 0db line.... you ideally want 3 to 6 db of head room at this point. After the file is rendered to MP3 (TAXI uses 192kbs) have a listen to it with sharp ears. Is there distortion? If so, go back to the WAVE and lower the levels so it's got that room in it.

Once you get a clean MP3 there are many ways available to bump the volume up if you need to. But remember, loud is not always the best.

To my ears on the track on your site.... the song "SOFT" seemed to be very loud, probably very fat maxed out waveforms in the tracks touching or exceeding 0db in more than a few places. I have very few waves in my tracks that exceed 80% levels even on peaks. I let them have breathing room. When you see most of my final songs in the audio editor, the wave forms have a beauty to them....I wish there was a way to post a picture here in this forum so I could show you what I'm taking about.

Hope this helps. Because, even if the song sounds good and clean in the studio, you must understand that the screeners and the end user are all going to be (auditioning and screening) listening to the MP3 version, with all it's shortcomings. If they can't get past that, they will never listen long enough to want the wave. I agree that MP3's are crappy, but that is what we currently use, so go back and see what you can do to clean it up from the beginning.

BTW: It ran counter to all that I knew about recording to turn my levels down..... for years I was told and heard that ...."You want the strongest, cleanest, loudest, signal possible into your tracks....." true perhaps with analog tape, but not necessarily so with digital.

Be really careful with compressors. They will put you over the top really quick. I use mild compression only.

[gotoddgo]

I met you is way too repetitive.
And change that arrogant Bio. Everybody hates a huge ego.
I've lost huge opportunities because of it.