Please help me improve my mix and sound design, if you like. I recorded this track that reminds me a bit of early Human League. Monomachine for all instrument sounds, vocals recorded and processed with the Octatrack.
I know I still have a lot to learn about Songwriting, Melodies, Singing, Groove… too.
But let’s pretend the song is good, and the problem is only the mixing. What can I do?
I think the balance of vocals and instruments is not ideal and the synth sounds are quite thin and not thick and punchy.
Bot octatrack and monomachine are recorded through Stereo outs to a simple hardware digital recorder. No Compression, EQ or other mastering. Only the vocals were beefed up with the compressor on the octatrack and sometimes doubled.
I am sure there must be a way to make the Monomachine sounds fatter and more present, just by sculpting the patches better or mixing the elements better. What can I do?
Every advice is appreciated, simple or complex. Thank you for listening.
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Hi @Felix, thank you sharing! I am not a mixing nor a songwriting expert, but here are some of the things that I think you could look at (these are just my personal impressions, of course, and I may be wrong given the style you aim at): First, throughout the song I am a bit missing a sort of rythmic reference or continuous pulse (which can, for example, be provided by a regular, deep kick drum or a continuous high hat groove…); even if you to not wish to record a pop/techno banger, I think I would like to get a bit stronger sense of pulsation or groove. Second, I found it a bit disturbing that the voice seems quite often not in time (e.g., around 2:10) - I think by carefully chopping and repositioning the vocal samples you could already make the song way tighter (always keep in mind that our ears and brain are quite precise when it comes to perceiving temporal alignment of sounds). Third, I would also recommend that you try to get the voice more in tune (e.g., from 1:30 onwards - I think it might need re-recording rather than pitch shifting); please do not get me wrong, I do not mind dissonance, but it should always be clear for listeners that dissonance is intended - to my ears, much of the voice recordings on your track sound rather hesitant and timid when they are off-pitch, which reinforces the impression that pitch and timing are more accidental than intended. I very much like your song, but I think that you should not hesitate to be more courageous and affirmative in its delivery.
Edit: I am not particularly fond of stereo effects; my recommendation would be to “center” the mix as much as possible. (But this is just my opinion, of course…)
Thank you very much, ccr, for your detailed feedback. You put things in perspective. I might better try to improve my singing in pitch and timing as top priority. Mistakes here stand out much more than disbalances in the mix. To be honest it was my first try and I did not want to disencourage myself from having fun here with working hard for it.
You are also right that the panning delay and the missing deep kick making the track feel quite loose and not tight. Both was a conscious decision because I wanted the the track to be a bit bizarre and off. Obviously this decision has disadvantages. I hopefully learn from those experiences - and from your nice advice!