Sean Donnelly - Japan

https://soundcloud.com/seandonnelly2199/sean-donnelly-japan

Feedback appreciated:)

Thanks

Yo again :slight_smile:

That was fast for the next one… :laughing:

Ok, let’s go for this new one :slight_smile: Well, still the same issue for me, your tracks are really creative, but you have serious mixing issues, so it makes it difficult to give more detailed constructive feedback.

In the case of this one, the mix is really muddy, IMO because of your rumble low end bass and probably too much processing on your sounds & the overall track.

When I saw the waveform, I was really wondering about getting any dynamic range in your track, so I downloaded it and passed it through Expose plugin from Mastering The Mix as well as the DR Offline Meter plugin from MAAT.

On the pic you see 2 analysis results in Expose : the 1rst one is your downloaded MP3 file & the second one is a converted Wav 16 bit file ( because DR Offline won’t take your Mp3 ), but you can see that the results are the same in Expose.

So because of this rumbling lo-end sound going all the way during the track and being too loud, you probably compensated the levels on the other tracks too, as a result everything is fighting in many frequency ranges but still the lo-end will take over and makes everything muddy and leave your end Mix with almost no Dynamic Range.

Here is the log from DR Offline Meter :

Statistics for: /Users/admin/Desktop/Sean Donnelly - Japan.wav
Number of Samples: 18391680 Sample Rate: 44100 Bit Depth: 16

                           Left          Right

     Peak Value:      -21.03 dB      -21.03 dB
        Avg RMS:      -23.94 dB      -23.94 dB
   DR (Channel):        1.17 dB        1.17 dB

Official DR Value: DR1

So that means the overall mix has got only 1.17 dB of Dynamic Range, the difference between the highest and lowest peaks in the track ( level wise ) on an average of the all song duration.

Next is a screen shot of Expose + DR Offline Meter results, in Expose I’ve chosen " Master for Soundcloud" as a reference target, so based on this Expose is showing a bit more DR, but still it’s not there and when you bring the full track after the intro part and this louder rumbling bass, you can see that there’s a serious issue then.

I know you’re experimenting a lot with music, but IMO it is really something you have to investigate and pay more attention to.

Here are some tutorials on S.A website that should help, I know you’re not a subscriber yet, but you could see all the tutorials you like online, just for a monthly subscription which could be a little but very profitable investment.

Check the sub. plans offers here if you wish : https://www.sonicacademy.com/subscription

Here are some interesting courses according to me :

And that’s just a few that comes to mind right now, there’s a gold mine of knowledge to grab on S.A website, so that’s why I suggest to think about a subscription at some point, but entirely up to you ! I’m not trying to sell anything here :slight_smile:

OK, so again an interesting track in terms of sound, genre and creativity but serious issues in mixing the different parts, start to mix at low levels, especially with bass & low end sounds as well as kick & heavy low-end percussive material.

As mentioned in previous Track Reviews, the goal is to have all the elements playing nice together and that should be your first point to aim at before even thinking to put any plugin or treatment on your Master Channel.

Cheers !

Thanks for the listen mate. That’s a serious amount of effort you went to with that comment! I appreciate it:) Totally agree with everything you said. I’ll get a new mix up of it within the next 2 days!

Well, you know that even the pros take weeks & sometime months to craft their tracks ? LOL :wink:

It takes some time to get confident with the technical side of things, especially when dealing with levels, Eqs, effects and then arrangement… So no rush, keep experimenting on your end and when you think you’re satisfied with a new result then post a new Track Feedback.

You should set some goals, next one should be “balanced” as for the levels, if you put a sound in a track, it’s to be heard right ? Of course it can be a subtle element that won’t have the focus & should not take the listener attention too much ( therefore low level ) but if you used it, it should translate in the final mix anyway. And for the main driving ones like kick & bass for example, of course they might be a bit louder to drive the listener but if you start too hot with those, chances are the end result will be screw up. Start to work with -14 dB levels on your individual tracks, leave your master channel at 0 dB and don’t ever touch it, no processing on the master to start, rise your headphones/monitors level if you need to hear more. First goal is clarity, balance and dynamic range.

Appreciating your enthusiasm here and being productive is a good way to experiment & learn, but take your time :smile:

Cheers !

Thanks for the advice! But I’m not slowing down! haha.

I altered the track and made it slightly darker. Let me know what you think:)

https://soundcloud.com/seandonnelly2199/sean-donnelly-japan-after-dark-original-mix-free-download