New Halloween themed (industrial) music

[Neon_Babylon]

Im looking for c&c for my newest track Techtonic. Looking for feedback considering this is my first attempt at industrial music.. Thanks in advance.
https://soundcloud.com/neonbabylon/techtonic

[SOUNDCLOUD]https://soundcloud.com/neonbabylon/techtonic[/SOUNDCLOUD]

 

[Matt]

Welcome! Cool song I like it. The mix does not have enough separation of the elements and the sound structure is not balanced enough. I go over all this stuff in our tutorials if you would like a fuller understanding. Thanks for sharing.

Thought the vocals were a bit scary ;-)

 

[Osmose]

Song as a concept isn't bad at all. But what Matt said indeed.

 

[Neon_Babylon]

thanks for the feedback! Ive been thinking the chorus comes in too soon, but im unsure which structure to use? Right now its verse1,v2,C,v3,v4,C,B,v5,v6,C+B, with about a measure of instrumentals before and after the chorus. Thanks again!

 

[Osmose]

Dont think the song structure is a problem at all. Its more the mix that is the problem. But, what are you mixing on if i may ask? I have the idea that your enviroment or listening tools are messing up the image you get.
Its sounds overly bassy for one (not in a good way) and really compressed and cluttered up in the low end. And next to that, i hear elements that could do with alot more high end cause its suits there texture better and will improve the mix alot, even if you leave the low end as is

O ye, and the first vocal sounded to distorted. Not saying that you need to lessen the distortion damage! What would've done is eq the vocal before the distortion, while(!) leaving the distortion on. This way you can more easily cut out the frequenties that are being emphasized by the distortion and there fore making a mess out of things, especially the 2,5k range in this example.
Clearing that up would get more audability while leaving the distorted effect the same.

 

[Neon_Babylon]

Ah okay I see what youre saying now. Ive equalized it to be a bit bassy, which i can see is a bit much. Unfortunately im mixing it all in reason, i dont own any equipment just yet. i'll try to remaster and have a better version ready by later tonight!

 

[Matt]

Neon..... your song is a good one, I like the lyrics, the effects that you are going for on them and the song structure...melodies..ect.

With that said there is no easy fix for a bad mix there is only the knowledge needed to get a good mix. The mix is a whole different game, you have written and recorded a great song but now you need to mix it and most people are far better at making good music than they are at mixing the songs they make. Here in our community I have made Mixing the foundation of our community. Music is at the top of our forum for a reason and that music we hear is not just great writing but it is or needs to be great mixing also.

As Osmose says "your monitoring source may not be good" and if I may I would like to add you may not have trained your ears yet to your monitoring source. Also you may not understand sound structure and really how the mixer works.

Please take this the right way....all this is rather easy to understand and do if you take a little time to learn the fundamentals. We have all the recourses you need right here for free.


Learn the Mixer in Reason

Learn How To Mix

 

[Neon_Babylon]

okay, im self taught so theres a lot for me to learn still. Starting to practice mixing might be a little more challenging with this song due to all the distortion. Ill give it a go and post it here once i watch a few more tutorials. thanks for the links! I'll try to come up with something soon.

 

[Matt]

okay, im self taught so theres a lot for me to learn still. Starting to practice mixing might be a little more challenging with this song due to all the distortion. Ill give it a go and post it here once i watch a few more tutorials. thanks for the links! I'll try to come up with something soon.

Just know Mixing is way easier than you think, you just need to know the fundamentals.

 

[Osmose]

By monitoring source i meant: do you use headphones or an hifi system or proper speaker-monitors?

Getting a good set of speakers or headphones for that matter is pretty important

I started of with pc speakers, then moved to ****ty headphones and an hifi system. On those systems, it sounded pretty balanced (as far as i could judge back then)but when i got a decent pair of monitors (speakers) i felt like i could cry.. Everything fell apart.. Als those mixes turned out to be garbage.. haha

If monitors are not in your budget right now, i'd advice a decent pair of headphones. Ive been using sennheiser hd 202's for over 6 years now (on my second pair now), and they now cost a whopping 20 bucks!!

Only downside on headphones in general is the increades stereo image you get. So might end up with to much stereo field and reverb, or the other way around.
But it beats mixing on ****ty speakers!

 

[Neon_Babylon]

okay, this is my first attempt at mixing. hopefully a bit more balanced, thanks!

[SOUNDCLOUD]https://soundcloud.com/neonbabylon/techtonic-updated[/SOUNDCLOUD]

EDIT: thanks for the heads up! I might be at a loss until I can get better headphones. hopefully this version is better

 

[Matt]

Ok first let me say you need to check out our Help forum to learn how to post SoundCloud, you can embed it in the post. http://www.reasonforums.com/forumdisplay.php?8-HELP-and-Site-News

I like your music but the mix is living heavily in the low/mids with very little separation of the elements. Two things... what are you using to monitor your mix with and how long have you been using it? If you can not hear the frequencies you will not be able to get a good mix. Again I like the music really, the goal is to help you be as good at mixing as you are at writing

 

[Neon_Babylon]

wow thanks man! Unfortunately i only own a windows tablet with gas station headphones haha. but now that i know about the sennheisers on amazon i plan on getting them asap. i often make a mix and then play it in my car from my phones aux cables. so its a process.. Thanks again for the kind words. Very encouraging. Im uploading to soundcloud but its taking awhile. Heres the current version version via youtube:

 

[Osmose]

I see why your having problem mixing then. I reckon i'ts gonna advance quite a bit if you get some decent headphones in your case.

Look at this way; you cant paint a proper painting (not talking about abstract stuff) when your 90% visually impared. Just saying..

 

[Neon_Babylon]

still mixing on the crappy phones. I think this is closer, but again I have no idea yet. Really just like making music. Good news though, my friend said i could borrow his soon, so thats good. hopefully some worthy updates soon.

[SOUNDCLOUD]https://soundcloud.com/neonbabylon/techtonic-1[/SOUNDCLOUD]

 

[Osmose]

stil aint there if im honest

But i'd recommend to just go and make some tracks, then just leave them till you get some decent headphones and mix them then. Patience is a virtue, but in the haze of exitement we dont always make the best choices

 

[RTFX]

stil aint there if im honest

But i'd recommend to just go and make some tracks, then just leave them till you get some decent headphones and mix them then. Patience is a virtue, but in the haze of exitement we dont always make the best choices

That's deep

 

[Osmose]

nah, its fact mate.. haha