Anyone want their beat mixed?

[Iron Keys]

got the original to compare?

I included the original underneath mine in a quote (I think)

Mix sounds good to me, its balanced well, nice use of panning with the interplay between the background samples going from right to left, the Oh sounds nice, enough reverb to bring it right to life adding some stereo width to it. Kick kicks well and the bass sits under it. Personally and its just my taste, Id make the snare just a tad louder.

Splendid, glad you approve.

Yeah I had this personal battle with the snare. Been listening to darker mixes lately with slightly contained snares, and think I leant into my initial choice to keep the snare not too bright.

Yeah, @Iron Keys really did the track some justice. Your hi hats are standing really out to me.
I think this is a great learning experience not just for Iron to get some practice with other peoples music, but it also shows people that havent gotten around to the complexities of mixing, having somebody do it for free can be a great eye opener for them to see potential in action. I approve of this good deed Iron is doing here.

Appreciate you, brother.
And yeah, part of it is to get some practise in on my new monitoring setup. And also a big part is to help others still early on their journeys.
Even I take the opportunity for someone more experienced than me to mix some of my stuff and pick their brains.

Yeah @Jimulacrum mix the hihat (a shaker according to the stems) was too loud, however, compared to some references I chose, it wasn't wayyy off as I thought - hihat was quite loud in the references. I've been burying them a lot deeper as per some other references. So when I went in with that as my first thought, was caught off guard by the references.

The only other advice I would have would actually be more of a production pointer... there wasn't any real deep lows in the record, which it could have benefited from. And actually I could have addressed more than I did - but didn't have access to something I wanted for it.

Quite a funky bouncy number which I really liked - I was in two minds about wetting up the "Oh" vox, as the original was dry. Kinda changed the texture of the record a little, but one of those "let's see if the original artist likes the idea", and was subtle enough.

 

[Jimulacrum]

Glad to hear! Yes I panned the bass (for those reading, it's a higher bass, melodic, not a bassy bass)

For the Snare... I actually took some high end out of it allowed it to have a bit more weight, I took quite a bit out, then gradually added some back in (mostly be easing off my cut) throughout the mix. And also added a little punch to it.

As there wasn't much actually BASS bass... I beefed up the kicks a little bit and also enhanced some of what was in the main music.

Didn't do too much fancy here, mostly aiming for a good balance; I've got a new monitoring system, so getting used to all the extra detail before I naturally start reaching for my Jedi Master mixing trick set.

Samples, drums, basically everything else, I feel I do a decent job with arranging the notes/cuts but fall short on mixing. Mainly a matter of learning and improving on all the settings that go into that.

But man do I struggle with bass on an intuitive level. No matter what I do, it doesn't feel or sound right to me.

The high bass notes in this track are the result of me struggling for hours with different bass instruments, notes, filters, and effects, and ultimately deciding that twang sounded better than anything else I had pulled together.

I still don't really like it, though. I wish this track had a better bass line.

 

[Iron Keys]

Whats your new monitoring setup? Ive just added some Dt990's to mine and Im getting the sub to go with my kalis, probably next pay day,

Slate VSX.

And...

and have you got that fucking new computer yet?

 

[2GooD Productions]

I included the original underneath mine in a quote (I think)


Splendid, glad you approve.

Yeah I had this personal battle with the snare. Been listening to darker mixes lately with slightly contained snares, and think I leant into my initial choice to keep the snare not too bright.

Appreciate you, brother.
And yeah, part of it is to get some practise in on my new monitoring setup. And also a big part is to help others still early on their journeys.
Even I take the opportunity for someone more experienced than me to mix some of my stuff and pick their brains.

Yeah @Jimulacrum mix the hihat (a shaker according to the stems) was too loud, however, compared to some references I chose, it wasn't wayyy off as I thought - hihat was quite loud in the references. I've been burying them a lot deeper as per some other references. So when I went in with that as my first thought, was caught off guard by the references.

The only other advice I would have would actually be more of a production pointer... there wasn't any real deep lows in the record, which it could have benefited from. And actually I could have addressed more than I did - but didn't have access to something I wanted for it.

Quite a funky bouncy number which I really liked - I was in two minds about wetting up the "Oh" vox, as the original was dry. Kinda changed the texture of the record a little, but one of those "let's see if the original artist likes the idea", and was subtle enough.

I think the hi hats were more a balance of the overall mix thing, because the original kick and snare are pretty weak which made the hi hats far more prominent in the overall mix of the original.

@Jimulacrum Mixing is really about balancing everything out, not only frequency wise but also across the stereo field and depth by pushing things back, making them quieter or adding some reverb, or bringing them right up front by making something loud, getting creative with some interplay between the left and right makes things much more interesting and captivating to a listener, as do subtle or even complex beat changeups at the end of 8 and 16 bars. Everything should have its place in the stereo and frequency field at the same time, this means removing frequencies from one track which may be clashing or masking another, its one big balancing act where if you go too far on any one thing you compromise something else, thats why I find the puzzle so much fun and even in an age of AI, I will still enjoy trying to squeeze every inch of life I can out of a beat with a decent mix.

 

[Iron Keys]

Samples, drums, basically everything else, I feel I do a decent job with arranging the notes/cuts but fall short on mixing. Mainly a matter of learning and improving on all the settings that go into that.

But man do I struggle with bass on an intuitive level. No matter what I do, it doesn't feel or sound right to me.

The high bass notes in this track are the result of me struggling for hours with different bass instruments, notes, filters, and effects, and ultimately deciding that twang sounded better than anything else I had pulled together.

I still don't really like it, though. I wish this track had a better bass line.

Yeah your core beat was definitely interesting and a vibe!

Bass.. now, I had a couple tracks I done, sample led and I just couldn't get the bass right - and it made no sense!! Even if I used just a single note bass. Just sounded odd. Had to really play with my last effort and eventually found a way to make it work; I'm not fully keen on final musicality of it but it works. Still incredibly simple. Had to really grind it out.
Yet it's ironic how any other times I could play a great sounding bass line in on keyboard that sounds like an actual bassist. Or some funk bass.

One thing about bass that can be tricky, if you're not landing on the root note of your melody or chord, you actually potentially change the chord or sound of it. Sometimes it's the simple things that cause the most difficulties!

 

[2GooD Productions]

Yeah your core beat was definitely interesting and a vibe!

Bass.. now, I had a couple tracks I done, sample led and I just couldn't get the bass right - and it made no sense!! Even if I used just a single note bass. Just sounded odd. Had to really play with my last effort and eventually found a way to make it work; I'm not fully keen on final musicality of it but it works. Still incredibly simple. Had to really grind it out.
Yet it's ironic how any other times I could play a great sounding bass line in on keyboard that sounds like an actual bassist. Or some funk bass.

One thing about bass that can be tricky, if you're not landing on the root note of your melody or chord, you actually potentially change the chord or sound of it. Sometimes it's the simple things that cause the most difficulties!

My melodies are based around the root note, minor 3rd and the perfect 5th, sometimes 4th, depends on the sample. Usually the perfect 5th, but I have to end on the root when starting on the perfect 5th, it resolves it and makes it right. But I too sometimes struggle to play a good bassline or even find a good bass instrument to use so keep relying on old favourites, I get more experimental with basses when making dnb or house and garage, then I get my sound engineering cap on and just make my own in Serum. Sometimes when nothing is working using the standard traid of the root, minor 3rd and 5th as a chord, try the root and 4th as a chord, and that might just work and explain why the standard triad isnt working. I pretty much exclusively use minor 3rd not major 3rd.

 

[Jimulacrum]

Yeah your core beat was definitely interesting and a vibe!

Bass.. now, I had a couple tracks I done, sample led and I just couldn't get the bass right - and it made no sense!! Even if I used just a single note bass. Just sounded odd. Had to really play with my last effort and eventually found a way to make it work; I'm not fully keen on final musicality of it but it works. Still incredibly simple. Had to really grind it out.
Yet it's ironic how any other times I could play a great sounding bass line in on keyboard that sounds like an actual bassist. Or some funk bass.

One thing about bass that can be tricky, if you're not landing on the root note of your melody or chord, you actually potentially change the chord or sound of it. Sometimes it's the simple things that cause the most difficulties!

I have a track I'm working on right now where I love the way I have cut up the sample. Like I walk away from the project and hours later I'm singing it to myself. Makes me happy.

I go to do the bass and I'm tearing my hair out. I laid down a bass line last night, and I like the way some of the notes land, but overall I'm not happy.

If I had a nickel every time I cleared the entire bass deck and started from scratch it'd be enough to pay for my DAW license.

 

[Iron Keys]

I have a track I'm working on right now where I love the way I have cut up the sample. Like I walk away from the project and hours later I'm singing it to myself. Makes me happy.

I go to do the bass and I'm tearing my hair out. I laid down a bass line last night, and I like the way some of the notes land, but overall I'm not happy.

If I had a nickel every time I cleared the entire bass deck and started from scratch it'd be enough to pay for my DAW license.

Oh I feel you. Absolutely hate that feeling.

I made a track recently the musical elements work together really well and give the vibe I want. However, sonically they clashed, drown the other out. And no mix technique would make it work - had to dead one of the musical elements and make something new. The arrangement is important. Sometimes you have to accept when something isn't working.

And I know that feeling with the bass for sure!

 

[2GooD Productions]

I have a track I'm working on right now where I love the way I have cut up the sample. Like I walk away from the project and hours later I'm singing it to myself. Makes me happy.

I go to do the bass and I'm tearing my hair out. I laid down a bass line last night, and I like the way some of the notes land, but overall I'm not happy.

If I had a nickel every time I cleared the entire bass deck and started from scratch it'd be enough to pay for my DAW license.

What I used to do when I really used to struggle with distinguishing between the semitones in the bass range when putting basslines down is I would load up a grand piano patch, because a grand piano has clean tones that help distinguish between them, and play the notes in a higher octave where my ears were actually able to tell the difference, then pitch it right down a couple octaves once its exactly what I wanted and change it to a bass instrument. Eventually my ears improved, my understanding of scales and my listening set up improved too.

 

[Iron Keys]

What I used to do when I really used to struggle with distinguishing between the semitones in the bass range when putting basslines down is I would load up a grand piano patch, because a grand piano has clean tones that help distinguish between them, and play the notes in a higher octave where my ears were actually able to tell the difference, then pitch it right down a couple octaves once its exactly what I wanted and change it to a bass instrument. Eventually my ears improved, my understanding of scales and my listening set up improved too.

I always have a yes no experience with this. Like you said the low basses can be hard to distinguish... however I also find the dissonance more immediately identifiable. Whereas with the higher tones or piano you get clearer tone, but sometimes the tones work together in a way that can mislead!

 

[Dusty B]

well, yes. this is an older one of mine that I still love and would love to hear mixed properly. Here are the stems/trackouts + some mix notes on what I was trying to accomplish: //https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RzqZdEMd6tusxCD2eY3XZ-2SeA6_gEEE/view?usp=sharing

(get rid of the first 2 "//" it kept showing as media).

Looking forward to what you do with it my friend with the purple monkey avatar.

 

[Iron Keys]

Looking forward to what you do with it my friend with the purple monkey avatar.

Ahem... Purple Space Chimp I think you'll find.

And gotyou, look forward to digging my faders into this

 

[Dusty B]

Ahem... Purple Space Chimp I think you'll find.

And gotyou, look forward to digging my faders into this

put 'em in deep! (as mister @Fade says)

 

[Iron Keys]

+ some mix notes

I thought you said mix notes, not a love letter

 

[2GooD Productions]

I always have a yes no experience with this. Like you said the low basses can be hard to distinguish... however I also find the dissonance more immediately identifiable. Whereas with the higher tones or piano you get clearer tone, but sometimes the tones work together in a way that can mislead!

It never really worked liked that for me, always worked better for me than trying to find the right key when i cant hear any difference between say for example a c1 and a c#1 , and at that time I had zero understanding of scales. Now that I understand scales its just a matter of seconds for me to work it all out, from root, is it major or minor 3rd, and from there its just really quick and easy, but it certainly hasnt always been and it took me years to self learn all this shit and then get to a point where it wasnt a lot of stuff that was clashing to it finally starting to work together a lot better. I really like where Im at with my composing at the moment, its so much easier these days that I can concentrate more on the finer details.

 

[Dusty B]

View attachment 7037
I thought you said mix notes, not a love letter

I'm full of emotion.

 

[Iron Keys]

@Dusty B seriously, this is a fire beat --- was it samples and breaks or a mix of loops and composed? Tell me more. It rocks, fun to work on, and also presenting a bunch of challenges, but brief is of one of my key eras got some wild references to listen to.

 

[Dusty B]

@Dusty B seriously, this is a fire beat --- was it samples and breaks or a mix of loops and composed? Tell me more. It rocks, fun to work on, and also presenting a bunch of challenges, but brief is of one of my key eras got some wild references to listen to.

ty bro.

sample is this that I looped mostly with some repeating chops in there

I remember this being one of the early good ones I made when I got back into a groove after my hiatus. but back in the day I learned how to make beats watching Heatmakerz vids back in the day lol so you'll see that style as I was getting into it again last year.

I'm on my phone and made this one 6+ months ago so don't remember off hand but I don't think I added anything else to the melodics (except some automated distortion on the guitars during some of the breaks) since it's such a packed sample already. it's a somewhat classic rock song as you'll see with the 2M YT plays, but I don't think many would recognize since these guys weren't one of the big hair bands unless you're a big rock fan. but it's from that era of heavy metal guitars and old school synths (I love that mix prob my fav). Very Journey-esque. this is sometimes on lists of great guitar solos

Drum break I think is a break I got from a pack. Not a classic one but a Cymatics one prob because I dl'd a bunch of their shit when I was rebuilding my kits. I prob pitched down a bit and then sliced and diced as needed.

on a personal note , I really like this one because this is what me and mister @Fade played when he showed me how to "rearrange his toiletries." not what you think, I was surprised tbh

 

[Iron Keys]

ty bro.

sample is this that I looped mostly with some repeating chops in there

I remember this being one of the early good ones I made when I got back into a groove after my hiatus. but back in the day I learned how to make beats watching Heatmakerz vids back in the day lol so you'll see that style as I was getting into it again last year.

I'm on my phone and made this one 6+ months ago so don't remember off hand but I don't think I added anything else to the melodics (except some automated distortion on the guitars during some of the breaks) since it's such a packed sample already. it's a somewhat classic rock song as you'll see with the 2M YT plays, but I don't think many would recognize since these guys weren't one of the big hair bands unless you're a big rock fan. but it's from that era of heavy metal guitars and old school synths (I love that mix prob my fav). Very Journey-esque. this is sometimes on lists of great guitar solos

Drum break I think is a break I got from a pack. Not a classic one but a Cymatics one prob because I dl'd a bunch of their shit when I was rebuilding my kits. I prob pitched down a bit and then sliced and diced as needed.

on a personal note , I really like this one because this is what me and mister @Fade played when he showed me how to "rearrange his toiletries." not what you think, I was surprised tbh

Dope.

Went with the Just Blaze on the reference tracks for this.

 

[Dusty B]

Dope.

Went with the Just Blaze on the reference tracks for this.

oh yeah. I may have actually been listening to welcome to NY city while making this if I remember. just is my fav producer fyi