Hi all,
Just curious if anyone can help me with why this would be rejected. All feedback appreciated.
Thanks!
(as a side note, the beginning of the track has been butchered by Soundcloud and doesn’t cut in so abruptly in the full file)
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Very great composition, arrangement and sound design. I love the vibe.The thing that could need to be improved is the mix to me (in particular eq). Your orchestra sounds lack definition. Your staccato strings could be more bright to sound more open and energic.Same thing for the hi strings harmony. You have too much instruments in the low mid-mid. Keep the place in the spectrum for your brass to peak more than the other there (250-500 hz) (add more definition to them still). The piano could have its place around 600-1600 hz. The strings harmony could peak around 2000-5000 hz (with more treble than that too). Your staccato strings could peak around 5000-10000 hz. Be subtle with that yet. Your instruments still need to sound wide. You don’t want tiny harsh sounds. They just need to be 2-4 dbs louder than the other somewhere in the spectrum.
It sounds muddy because everything is fighting for the same place in the spectrum and it sounds muffled because your instruments lack hi end.
It sounds a bit too much compressed. Start by a better eq work. When a mix is very clean with each instrument a place to breathe (eq, pan etc), a bit of saturation here and there to make things sound more dense if needed, you don’t need as much compression/limiting to make it sounds loud and it sounds way better (less flat and distorted). I personnally try not to limit more than 3-4 dbs at the mastering stage. You need an excellent crest factor before the mastering.
I hope it helps! 
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Thank you so much for taking the time to give me some feedback, I really appreciate it!
I’m always looking to learn and improve and this is exactly the kind of specific advice that will really help me to do that. I come from a rock and metal background, so mixing orchestral instruments is pretty new to me. I will definitely keep your points in mind going forward.
Thanks again,
Aphanasis
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I really like the track. There’s nothing I’d criticise it on musically. I like the idea of machine sounds. If I were to add to the good advice already given I’d say there’s a massive potential to really split up the panning of those clockwork sounds so the listener is bombarded into confusion with digital sounds coming from all directions. At the moment they all seem to be dead ahead. I reckon you could totally immerse the listener into your world through the stereo balance. Good job
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Thanks for taking the time to listen and for your comments!
I definitely do feel like I could be more creative with my mixes and this will definitely give me inspiration and things to think about in my next piece.
Cheers,
Aphanasis
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I wrote this to help another musician. This is how I plan and work step by step on the eq part of a mix:
¨Use a frequency analyzer (Voxengo SPAN Plus) and your ears (above all your ears). Choose a reference mix. Now, you have to decide from the beginning in details where each instrument/group will peak more than the other. Don’t boost, cut what you don’t need in your instrument to let the place for the other instruments. By exemple, you don’t need a lot of mid and hi for your double basses. You want them warm, so cut them with a hi shelf until it sounds warm enough and really stand out in the mix in the bottom of the spectrum. Use that principle for all instrument/group (keep what you need and cut what you don’t need to make a place for the rest). Like I said, be subtle with that. Try to get your instruments peak 2-4 db more than the other in one area of the spectrum. Use the frequency analyzer to help with that. They still need enough low end and hi end (for most of them). Your low drums and double basses need to share the sub and bass area. You could decide that the low drums will peak more in the sub than your double basses and the double basses more in the bass than the low drums. Find the louder frequency of your drums and cut the double basses at that place if needed. At the end use your ears and your reference mix to determine if the mix sounds good.
How to decide what to place where? It depends of the context (in which register the instrument plays, its role in the track (if you have a dramatic deep track with french horns playing the melody, I would make them peak around (300-500 hz) to make them very round, deep and stand out in the mix). If I have strong staccato strings motifs I will make them peak more around 5000-10000 hz to make them sound open and energic. This is where the artistic part of mixing begins. It needs to make sense in the context.
Sorry for my maybe bad english, It’s not my first language and I wrote this quickly.
Another thing, start eq from sub (low instruments) to treble (hi instruments) because it’s far too easy to cut to much low end on everything and end up with a tiny harsh weak mix if you start by eq hi instruments first.¨
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Thank you for this - it’s always good to have specifics to work with.
I’m glad that there doesn’t seem to be a problem with my work from a musical perspective, as you mentioned in another thread. I’ll keep making music and submitting the tracks here and my mixing and mastering ability should make progress over time if I work on it.
I’ve had yet another track rejected this morning, so I may well post that for thoughts once I get over it!
Thanks again,
Aphanasis