Mixing Help?

Hi everybody!
As I’m still not super happy with my mixing abilities, I was wondering if anybody would offer me some more advice. Right now I’m working on an Ident or Logo(not sure which category it falls under but I imagine a short piece of music for a transition in a podcast or something).

I’ve mixed two version and although I’m not super happy with either, Im just wonder which one is closer to where it needs to be mix wise. To my ears, one is too dull and the other to bright but what are your thoughts?

Also any other feedback would be greatly appreciated:)

The first one is better. The second is a bit too bright and overcompressed. Unless this is what you want. Try to use a sidechain compressor on the bass triggered by the kickdrum.And the bus compressor seems that needs some tweaking. Try to let the initial attack to get some more transients and the release a bit shorter in order to avoid the ducking effect . I think you could smash the limiter a bit more. There is enough headroom.

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Hi, both are not bad but the fade-out is too long for a transition. I would also reduce the reverb.

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V1 is much better.

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Thanks guys! When listening on my studio monitors, I prefered v1 but I also double check in my car, and v2 sounded punchier in there and made v1 sound dull in comparison.

I recently learned about using saturation to tame transients and give you more headroom. Perhaps I used to much saturated and that’s why the drums sound a little dull?

I wasn’t sure how long to fade out but thought maybe a longer fade is better and then the person using the file could fade it further to make it fit their project. I will take your advice and make it shorter, thanks!

Taming the transients will not give you much headroom, quite the opposite. The saturation will bring you additional harmonic saturation which will increase the density and cohesivity of the audio material. Abusing the saturation , though, will decrease the punch of your drums by bringing up the lower signal and decreases the punch, the impact of your drums.I allways suggest to use parallel processing instead of using extreme saturation and compression on the direct source, as insert.

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I dont mean to nitpick here but when you say “density” you’re referring to RMS not peak level, and peak level is what determines the amount of headroom. So you can increase density and increase headroom at the same time. Of course if you go too far you end up over compressing your track, but in moderation it can work. Parallel compression is usually a good compromise though so I agree with you on that.

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When I said headroom, I was referring to peak level. If I understand the concept correctly, I should be able to saturate a bit which lowers the peak level but still has the same apparent loudness because of the extra harmonics that get added from the saturation. I’m still new to the uses of saturation so please correct me if I’m wrong:)

@add9audio . I know what peak level refers to.:grinning:I was shortening the things for the sake of keeping the answer concise. Its about the perceived loudness. The psychoacoustic effect of loudness is given by the dynamic of the transients. Just gaining more headroom by taming the transients will make the track sounds dull. Like i said, using saturation and compression on paralel bus is the best way to achieve both. Of course, everything is subjective. If the drums are inconsistent and sterile, there is another approach.

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