When I am making a track and happy with the kick, chord progression, melody etc it always sounds like it was made in a home studio rather than professionally made. What areas of skill should i improve on in order to get a more professional sound? Does it solely rely on just mixing and mastering?
There is no easy answer to that question… we have over 300 hours of video content to try to get to the rout of the issue.br
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for me its a constant series of tweaking and retweaking to get “that” sound.br
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things really start yo come together for me when i find the right initiall sounds. many times i will get all the chords drums and lead sorted then go back and change all the sounds.br
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the next big part for me is when i have all my layers in and my FX all sounding good i start to group stuff together and process as a group. this seems to gel things together.br
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the last part is the mastering… another piece of the puzzle that gels things together.br
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each thing you do be it EQ compression sound design mastering all add up to give you the final piece. the trick or skill is to know what do to when and that just comes with experience.br
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90% of the time when people ask me to have a listen to their mix to see what can be done its more that the sounds arnt right and not solid enough… i think its really the main crux of the situation.br
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let me hear your track and ill try to point you in the right direction.br
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Here is the link to the track, its not done and i haven’t done any mastering on it because the mix is sounding awful to me especially the big piano chord progression . Any advice you can give be great, the more critical the better. Thanksbr
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https://soundcloud.com/paulryanbeats/practice-track-no-mastering
Hi Paul, just had a listen to your track. It’s got some nice sounding chords in there and has the makings of being a really cool, driving track.br
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Okay down to the good stuff, feedback!br
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What I would say is to think about tightening up the snare hits by reducing the decay and sustain and dialling back on the reverb so that it gives them the presence that they need.br
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The first lead on the breakdown sounds a little blunt (sorry cant think of the word) maybe think about adding some attack on it so that when the sound hits the volume rises gradually.br
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It sounds a little muddy down at the bottom end so the bass is struggling to get through. Try using a High Pass Filter on all sounds except kick and bass to get rid of all the low frequencies you dont need. This will clean your mix up no end!br
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You could also try sidechaining the lead, bass etc against the kick, either subtley or really extreme so it gives it that pumping feel and gives the kick and bass room to breathe :w00t:br
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If that doesnt help the kick then I would think about changing it, raising the volume, something that makes it stand out more to help drive the track along!br
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There’s a few ideas which hopefully should help you out with the track. Lookin forward to hearing the revised version 
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Take it easy
the single note stab use less notes and put a delay on. just to make it more interesting.br
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Pianos come from no where… you should have some sort of tease maybe the first chord or something.br
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Piano chords dont really groove for me… think there are too many low notes.br
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need to simplify the chords and look at tuning and timing to make sure things match up.br
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Piano stabs are more commonly used to just support a saw stab to give them more attack. br
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after piano drops track changes again… sounds odd and out of place… normally you want to just go back to what was happening at the start with a bit more drive.br
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bass just sounds like a random drone… not really following the rest of the track… i normally just use the same pattern as the chords helps keep things tight… bass is also bn octave too low i think.br
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I like the organ thing at the start and end but its a separate idea than the piano chords… focus on one or the other i think.br
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some good ideas there i think things need to be more focused.br
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maybe a different style to what you are gong for but Audien wafarer is excellent example of the tightness and focus im talking about.br
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dont be afraid to drop a whole track in to your arrangement and follow the same drops and builds etc… its a great way of learning.br
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Thanks for the great feedback guys. Will take everything you said on board.
Oh and by the way Phil that tracked you linked me is incredible, never heard it before
Yeah its soooooo good. Production is so tight and powerful.
+1 That track sounds amazing Phil and I’m only on my crappy skull candy headphones. Definitely the sign of a quality mix 
Yeah! Awesome song. And great tips. I’ve just started going through the courses and hope to have something up soon for you guys to critique!