Cockos Incorporated Forums - View Single Post - REAPER Contest

REAmix · 02-05-2017, 10:49 AM

Here's my list of critiques. I just want to say that I didn't mention any positives for anyone, since to me, really what's important is ways to improve. Everybody had good points, obviously, but I wanted to focus more on the things that, to me, were the most sort of obvious to my ears for what could be improved. I'm no expert also, so take it with a grain of salt, but I did try and offer what I thought might be solutions for what appeared to me to be the bigger issues I could find with each mix.

I kept it all anonymous for this part also, so these are all listed by number, in the same number order as ID-##, just without the ID part.

1. To me, the reverbs used for this mix sounded a little too sort of small and boxy, and maybe too much energy in the low mids. I thought the pan movement at the intro a little odd as well.

2. There was something off to me about the reverb and the vocals, not sure exactly what, maybe EQ, maybe too wet, maybe a bit of both, idk. I find reverb is a pretty key aspect of a mix, and it can be tough to get right. The reaper reverb is not the best, and that's probably part of it, but I think there was maybe something else to it. I think the vocals being doubled the whole way contributed to that as well. The backups may have been a little heavy on the reverb for how loud they were as well.

3. I thought the vocals could have been a bit louder in some parts at least, it appeared lows heavy overall to me, maybe a little too much subs on the kick, but also a lot of traffic in the low mids kind of area. I also found the delay to be a bit too much like a horse race sort of thing. Not sure exactly why, maybe it was too clean, or too few feedback loops too spread apart, or just too loud. Reaper delay interface is kind of rough I find. It's almost better to just make a folder track and manually create your delays with items. That gives you a lot more control over them as well, and in a more visually easy way. It's a bit longer to setup though.

4. To me, the reverb was a little bit too heavy on this one, maybe too loud, slightly too long decay, or could have been EQd a bit better. I felt like there was sort of too much interference, or too much going on in the background because of the reverb I think, and I think that was most prominent in the lower mids. I felt like there was some congestion there anyway, it's hard for me to tell sometimes if that's reverb or other stuff.

5. For this one I think it might be immediately improved with a scoop out of the mids on the reverb. I liked the character of the reverb a lot, in terms of whatever impulse was used, or style, like hall or whatever, and the decay and all that I found suited the song style real well, but I felt like it had too much energy in the mids. Maybe toning it down a bit on the drums as well, or maybe it was a room mic on the drums that I felt was a little prominent. Idk, but like I said I think I would scoop out of the reverb in the mids then see where I was at.

6. The kick was a bit too heavy in the low end. I found the vocals lack some crispness and high end as well. For the choruses, I think that may have been a bit too wet on the reverb. The main vocals, I though were a bit too buried on effects. I think the reverb may have been a bit too wet, but it's not the tail or sustain that I thought was the main thing. A long reverb for this song, I think can work really well, but I think it was the sort of early reflections, and chorus effect on the vocals that pushed it back in the mix, and added EQ character to it, which I thought hurt the mix. So, I think a bit more subtle tail, and a more dry in your face main vox would been a bit better. You could maybe get that from adjusting the early reflections of the reverb, or EQing it, or possibly sidechain compression, to compress the FX bus a bit while the vocals are on, or maybe just putting all the FX on a bus, and having that less loud and the dry vox louder in comparison, or maybe multiple of these things.

7. This mix seemed a little prominent in the mids/high mids to me, and lacking in some bass. There is also something about the reverb on the vocals as well. I think it feels too me like too much of a small room. It is a bit like a delay with one delay, and it has the character of a small room. For me, to hear a tail like that, it needs to be a more large room sort of reverb, and for the small room "dry" kind of sound, it needs to be really subtle. In real life, if you are in a small room, and you hear the reverb in a conscious way, it is because you just made a very loud noise. Normally, our brains never consciously realize that there is reverb in literally every room we are in.

8. There was something overall sort of compressed for me, which was in some way kind of nice, and other ways kind of artificial sounding to me. You had a similar issue with your delay as I did. the high sibilance is a bit distracting. I think maybe sidechain compression to keep it off the vocals, and some EQ or multiband compression, to keep those S sounds down. There was something kind rodeo or stadium sounding about those delays as well. I'm not really sure why that is. Maybe it was how clean the repeats were, or how long each repeat was, or idk exactly, tbh. But that made it seem kind of artificial to me, whereas I think this song wants a more natural organic feel.

9. For the second verse the vocals were too dry I found. I thought the treatment was better on the first verse, and I think in most circumstances, I would prefer consistency through the verses that way. Maybe changing it up for a bridge, or the second half of every verse, or something like that, but each verse I think should be similar in that respect, even though, you really want your song to build, as a whole, until the climax. There was a bit too action in the low mids I find as well. I think that was mostly the guitars and the drums.

10. I found there was a bit too much energy in the low mids. Though I think the guitars had a bit too much in the upper mids, and the bass had a bit too much energy in the mid range as well. The main vox didn't command the main focus of the song at times as well. That could sometimes just be a volume thing, too much or cutting away from other stuff, in the frequency range where the meat of the main vocal wants to sit. Which I think here, was the mid/low mid range. The FX on the backups were maybe too wet also. They sounded a bit unnatural, and to me, a song like this really wants a more sort of organic natural vibe to it.

11. I felt like there was a bit too much room sound on the drums, or maybe it was the EQ on the room. But they sounded nice and clean and distinct still. I think there was also a bit too much subs on the kick, whereas not enough on the bass guitar, and I think I would prefer if that was switched around. There was also something odd to me about the main vocals. Not sure exactly what. Maybe it was the way they were compressed, and there was some sort of phase shift effect or something. I personally find this song needed a more natural clean sort of sound, whereas this sounded a bit artificial to my taste, and the dynamics were a little bit strange for it at times.

02-05-2017, 10:49 AM	#284
REAmix Human being with feelings Join Date: Jan 2017 Posts: 201	Here's my list of critiques. I just want to say that I didn't mention any positives for anyone, since to me, really what's important is ways to improve. Everybody had good points, obviously, but I wanted to focus more on the things that, to me, were the most sort of obvious to my ears for what could be improved. I'm no expert also, so take it with a grain of salt, but I did try and offer what I thought might be solutions for what appeared to me to be the bigger issues I could find with each mix. I kept it all anonymous for this part also, so these are all listed by number, in the same number order as ID-##, just without the ID part. 1. To me, the reverbs used for this mix sounded a little too sort of small and boxy, and maybe too much energy in the low mids. I thought the pan movement at the intro a little odd as well. 2. There was something off to me about the reverb and the vocals, not sure exactly what, maybe EQ, maybe too wet, maybe a bit of both, idk. I find reverb is a pretty key aspect of a mix, and it can be tough to get right. The reaper reverb is not the best, and that's probably part of it, but I think there was maybe something else to it. I think the vocals being doubled the whole way contributed to that as well. The backups may have been a little heavy on the reverb for how loud they were as well. 3. I thought the vocals could have been a bit louder in some parts at least, it appeared lows heavy overall to me, maybe a little too much subs on the kick, but also a lot of traffic in the low mids kind of area. I also found the delay to be a bit too much like a horse race sort of thing. Not sure exactly why, maybe it was too clean, or too few feedback loops too spread apart, or just too loud. Reaper delay interface is kind of rough I find. It's almost better to just make a folder track and manually create your delays with items. That gives you a lot more control over them as well, and in a more visually easy way. It's a bit longer to setup though. 4. To me, the reverb was a little bit too heavy on this one, maybe too loud, slightly too long decay, or could have been EQd a bit better. I felt like there was sort of too much interference, or too much going on in the background because of the reverb I think, and I think that was most prominent in the lower mids. I felt like there was some congestion there anyway, it's hard for me to tell sometimes if that's reverb or other stuff. 5. For this one I think it might be immediately improved with a scoop out of the mids on the reverb. I liked the character of the reverb a lot, in terms of whatever impulse was used, or style, like hall or whatever, and the decay and all that I found suited the song style real well, but I felt like it had too much energy in the mids. Maybe toning it down a bit on the drums as well, or maybe it was a room mic on the drums that I felt was a little prominent. Idk, but like I said I think I would scoop out of the reverb in the mids then see where I was at. 6. The kick was a bit too heavy in the low end. I found the vocals lack some crispness and high end as well. For the choruses, I think that may have been a bit too wet on the reverb. The main vocals, I though were a bit too buried on effects. I think the reverb may have been a bit too wet, but it's not the tail or sustain that I thought was the main thing. A long reverb for this song, I think can work really well, but I think it was the sort of early reflections, and chorus effect on the vocals that pushed it back in the mix, and added EQ character to it, which I thought hurt the mix. So, I think a bit more subtle tail, and a more dry in your face main vox would been a bit better. You could maybe get that from adjusting the early reflections of the reverb, or EQing it, or possibly sidechain compression, to compress the FX bus a bit while the vocals are on, or maybe just putting all the FX on a bus, and having that less loud and the dry vox louder in comparison, or maybe multiple of these things. 7. This mix seemed a little prominent in the mids/high mids to me, and lacking in some bass. There is also something about the reverb on the vocals as well. I think it feels too me like too much of a small room. It is a bit like a delay with one delay, and it has the character of a small room. For me, to hear a tail like that, it needs to be a more large room sort of reverb, and for the small room "dry" kind of sound, it needs to be really subtle. In real life, if you are in a small room, and you hear the reverb in a conscious way, it is because you just made a very loud noise. Normally, our brains never consciously realize that there is reverb in literally every room we are in. 8. There was something overall sort of compressed for me, which was in some way kind of nice, and other ways kind of artificial sounding to me. You had a similar issue with your delay as I did. the high sibilance is a bit distracting. I think maybe sidechain compression to keep it off the vocals, and some EQ or multiband compression, to keep those S sounds down. There was something kind rodeo or stadium sounding about those delays as well. I'm not really sure why that is. Maybe it was how clean the repeats were, or how long each repeat was, or idk exactly, tbh. But that made it seem kind of artificial to me, whereas I think this song wants a more natural organic feel. 9. For the second verse the vocals were too dry I found. I thought the treatment was better on the first verse, and I think in most circumstances, I would prefer consistency through the verses that way. Maybe changing it up for a bridge, or the second half of every verse, or something like that, but each verse I think should be similar in that respect, even though, you really want your song to build, as a whole, until the climax. There was a bit too action in the low mids I find as well. I think that was mostly the guitars and the drums. 10. I found there was a bit too much energy in the low mids. Though I think the guitars had a bit too much in the upper mids, and the bass had a bit too much energy in the mid range as well. The main vox didn't command the main focus of the song at times as well. That could sometimes just be a volume thing, too much or cutting away from other stuff, in the frequency range where the meat of the main vocal wants to sit. Which I think here, was the mid/low mid range. The FX on the backups were maybe too wet also. They sounded a bit unnatural, and to me, a song like this really wants a more sort of organic natural vibe to it. 11. I felt like there was a bit too much room sound on the drums, or maybe it was the EQ on the room. But they sounded nice and clean and distinct still. I think there was also a bit too much subs on the kick, whereas not enough on the bass guitar, and I think I would prefer if that was switched around. There was also something odd to me about the main vocals. Not sure exactly what. Maybe it was the way they were compressed, and there was some sort of phase shift effect or something. I personally find this song needed a more natural clean sort of sound, whereas this sounded a bit artificial to my taste, and the dynamics were a little bit strange for it at times.