Howdy,
This is my first track and would love any advice for a better mix. Thank you for your time and advice in advanced! Cheers
https://soundcloud.com/dddorisa/madonna
First House/Electronica Mix - MADONNA - would love any advice
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JimBetaOriginal JimBetaOriginal https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=689620 - KVRist
- 82 posts since 26 Jan, 2024
Mix does not sound that bad if this is the first track you have made. Advice I can give is to get neutron and ozone as soon as possible and use it.
Beware, its expensive but it will DRAMASTICLY increase the quality of the audio file.
To be honest, I like the mix and its good for me in my own personal opinion, more needed is a way to make the instruments sound better. As I said: neutron can do that.
For mastering is ozone a very good product. I use both and do not use any other plugins!
I do use vst's for instruments, but on every instrument I use neutron to make it sound better.
There is an option I believe on splice to rent to own neutron and ozone and then its not that expensive but you will be paying of for 1 or 2 years...
To give you a bit of a clue: I bought a bundle of Neutron 3 Advanced en Ozone 9 Advanced for 500€
I admit that if you wait, you can get it in a sale for maybe 50% off, but I could not wait that long.
500€ well spend because I used it in every track I have. Most expensive plugins I bought too.
But, they are worth every cent.
Beware, its expensive but it will DRAMASTICLY increase the quality of the audio file.
To be honest, I like the mix and its good for me in my own personal opinion, more needed is a way to make the instruments sound better. As I said: neutron can do that.
For mastering is ozone a very good product. I use both and do not use any other plugins!
I do use vst's for instruments, but on every instrument I use neutron to make it sound better.
There is an option I believe on splice to rent to own neutron and ozone and then its not that expensive but you will be paying of for 1 or 2 years...
To give you a bit of a clue: I bought a bundle of Neutron 3 Advanced en Ozone 9 Advanced for 500€
I admit that if you wait, you can get it in a sale for maybe 50% off, but I could not wait that long.
500€ well spend because I used it in every track I have. Most expensive plugins I bought too.
But, they are worth every cent.
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- KVRian
- 1276 posts since 18 May, 2021
In general it sounds pretty good. You could high-pass filter some more of the low end of your lead which would make the bass more clear and distinct. I think you could high pass filter some of the reverb a bit more.Dorsia wrote: ↑Wed Feb 28, 2024 1:53 am Howdy,
This is my first track and would love any advice for a better mix. Thank you for your time and advice in advanced! Cheers
https://soundcloud.com/dddorisa/madonna
eassae.com
“I do nothing professionally, I do everything for fun.”—Prince, Under the Cherry Moon
“I do nothing professionally, I do everything for fun.”—Prince, Under the Cherry Moon
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- KVRist
- 200 posts since 17 Aug, 2012
If this is your first song, you're quite talented! Well done! I enjoyed it. 
I like the sounds and the mix. It is not state of the art. The sounds are not enough distinguished mixing-wise. But for a first track it is quite good. I did my first song with General MIDI Sounds only.
I like the sounds and the mix. It is not state of the art. The sounds are not enough distinguished mixing-wise. But for a first track it is quite good. I did my first song with General MIDI Sounds only.
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- KVRist
- 485 posts since 16 Aug, 2002 from Ontario. Canada
Not bad for a first-timer! But - there's a lot of synths overlapping. iZotope's Unmask would help you there. Mastering the Mix's stunning Bassroom would help you absolutely nail the bottom end on individual tracks and the final mix. iZotope's Ozone/Neutron will help you in so many ways. Wait for a sale. Overall, nearly every instrument is at the same volume level and occupying the same breadth of space in the mix. You'll need to get more clarity by panning instruments slightly left or right, kick and bass in the middle and then using either EQ+Reverb or a psychoacoustic spatializer like eaReckon to place audio left or right AND deeper in the mix (away from the listener). You're doing well though. 
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 5 posts since 2 Feb, 2024
DCrown,
Could you please elaborate on ways that I can make it less repetitive? This is one of the main challenges I'm facing while creating tracks. Any tutorials would be welcome as well. Thank you for your advice and input
Could you please elaborate on ways that I can make it less repetitive? This is one of the main challenges I'm facing while creating tracks. Any tutorials would be welcome as well. Thank you for your advice and input
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- KVRAF
- 1992 posts since 19 Aug, 2008
Generally Ok mix, except the low end, particularly the bass needs tightening up try shorter bass sound, or different bass patch.
The outro 6:40 onwards was messy, too many elements competing for same frequencies. Take something out. As you progress on your mixing journey, you will realise "less is more" often.
The outro 6:40 onwards was messy, too many elements competing for same frequencies. Take something out. As you progress on your mixing journey, you will realise "less is more" often.
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 5 posts since 2 Feb, 2024
Thank you for your feedback Bansaw. I feel like I'm slowly drifting towards the conclusions towards "less is more" but at the same time find it challenging and find myself sounding "to repetitive" like DCrown. I am trying to find some sort of balance.... or i wish I could just be Gui Boratto and/or Claude Von Stroke maybe sprinkle in a little (or a lot...) of trentemoller.
Thanks guys, appreciate all the time and effort. Cheers
Thanks guys, appreciate all the time and effort. Cheers
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- KVRian
- 1413 posts since 1 Jul, 2021
Well, electronic music has different demands for arrangement than some other genres and today's music often lacks arrangement skills in general.
Some famous arrangers were Gil Evans (Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Sting, David Bowie etc.) and George Martin (The Beatles). You can also learn from different genres.
Miles Davis and also Prince mentioned the power of silence!
Sometimes only moving the key of the track higher (modulation) e.g. from d to e or by using a diminished chord completely change to some other key or to a bridge (unfortunately you will rarely hear a bridge part nowadays) or from major to minor
Some famous arrangers were Gil Evans (Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Sting, David Bowie etc.) and George Martin (The Beatles). You can also learn from different genres.
Miles Davis and also Prince mentioned the power of silence!
Sometimes only moving the key of the track higher (modulation) e.g. from d to e or by using a diminished chord completely change to some other key or to a bridge (unfortunately you will rarely hear a bridge part nowadays) or from major to minor
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- KVRist
- 332 posts since 11 May, 2020
Quite a nice track for your first work, certainly better than my first piece.
I noticed you were asking about how to avoid repetition and one good pointer for electronic genres often refenced is to change something every 8,16,32 bars etc. Add extra weight to the changes every 16 and 32. The changes can be subtle also over the course of a loop to add interest (eg. Modulation of a lead sound) over the course of a 8 or 16 bar loop. I would suggest start by trying to add/remove or change something at these points (8,16 etc). Sometimes it can be something as simple as taking something out or changing the sound of a lead melody and this will be down to your own personal taste. You want people to not feel like they are listening to the same loop and I find the human ear is quite good at noticing subtle changes.
Hope this helps
I noticed you were asking about how to avoid repetition and one good pointer for electronic genres often refenced is to change something every 8,16,32 bars etc. Add extra weight to the changes every 16 and 32. The changes can be subtle also over the course of a loop to add interest (eg. Modulation of a lead sound) over the course of a 8 or 16 bar loop. I would suggest start by trying to add/remove or change something at these points (8,16 etc). Sometimes it can be something as simple as taking something out or changing the sound of a lead melody and this will be down to your own personal taste. You want people to not feel like they are listening to the same loop and I find the human ear is quite good at noticing subtle changes.
Hope this helps
