Latin Instrumental Listing...Am I on Track?

[mobster85]

I hope to hear from all of you. Do I get a +1 or -1?

[mobster85]

So this 1 got returned not because of the music or composition or instrumentation but because of the mix. Too much compression and Too much EQ in the 200 Hz to 800 Hz range. They said it sounded muddied. Can i get some help here plz?

Peace,
Bob LoGrasso

[andygabrys]

Hey Bob,

I found this thread again while looking for the other thread of another tune you got returned and were looking for feedback. direct me to that thread too if you care to.

Anyways - on this one what I hear is:

yeah, possibly thick in the region mentioned.

What is peculiar about that region is it encompasses frequencies where instruments sound fat (150-300 hz), frequencies where roomy / boxy resonances usually live (+/- 400hz) and where there are often honky sounds in a lot of instruments that might stick out (500-800 hz).

so to make a mix more transparent and hear the attack of stuff and not so much boom:

on a kick drum cut 400hz. Sometimes all the way out will make you hear the attack but a lot of space opens up for other instruments.

On Bass - cut anywhere from 150 to 350hz and feel the way that it makes space in the lows and low midrange and how it will still be audible in the midrange / high midrange, and how there will still be appreciable bottom.

On Acoustic guitars - cut bottom using a high pass filter set to 12 db / 8ve or 18 db / 8ve anywhere up to 200 hz if that gives the sound you need. If you leave more bottom in it, then cut a little at 200, or 300 hz to make it more transparent and make it dovetail together with the kick / bass

On Electric guitars (and just about anything else) how loud and out front something is to my ear is also related to the same. Its the balance of 150-200 and 300-350 hz. More of one, less of the other or the reverse.

You can always tell if somebody has the balance of those octaves done well if the instruments are audible but don't jump out front in the mix. Usually something like a vocal or a lead guitar that is left nearly full bandwidth jumps out front of the track. That's the sense I get with your nylon leads (which are sounding decently recorded to my ear)

You have to start to play with stuff and see what happens to the mix when you reduce small amounts of those frequencies.

Its the same eq work flow. Narrow Q (like 4 or 5). Push the gain up to 8 or 10 dB. Sweep up and down slowly and listen to how difference frequencies and harmonics are accentuated and start to "ring". When you find something pretty ugly, pull it down to unity gain and then pull down a couple db until it sounds a little more transparent. This works in any frequency range, and most real instruments and voices have boinks and ugly spots. 400 Hz is just a magical one that sounds like crap on just about everything. If you focus on the low mids you might not hear the ringing frequencies but the above ranges will give you a spot to start.

On individual tracks this might be just a couple db. and it always works better to do it on separate tracks instead of the master.

This takes a while to develop the ear for what is muddy.

Now compression wise:

how much compression did you use?

On a master, most people will set the compressor so it might take a dB or two of gain reduction at the loudest part of the song. Just a little glue. Unless its a rock mix and you are depending on the sound of the compressor really working and maybe adding some grit and pump to the track. But acoustic sounding stuff I would hit it light.

On an individual track, I don't think there is any number that is better or worse as long as you listen to what is happening to the sound. Like have you taken the life out of it? is the attack too fast? Is it distorting because the release is too fast? But in general if you are hitting stuff more than maybe 5-6 db with one compressor, you are really hammering it, and the artifacts will show (they may or may not be desired depending on the style). The number one use of a compressor is for level control, and if you keep squeezing it cause its still jumpy level wise, that is a sign that either it needs to be performed again, or that you need a little subtractive eq pre-compression to help reduce some of the uncontrollable ranges of the instrument (low strings on the guitar that are way louder for example - in most mixes the guitars have to be filtered a little anyways, all that bottom end doesn't work unless the mix is so incredibly sparse - like an acoustic and vocal only.) Some people might use a multi-band compressor for this, but that is un-necessary in most cases. YMMV.

anyways, my 334 cents. hope it gives some perspective.

[mobster85]

Andy u r a genius and quite a mentor too. U have really taken a lot of time out of ur life for me and i truly appreciate it. I am trying to learn to listen differently when mixing. I am much better Now than i used to be but Still a Long way to go. Thx for everything u do.