Mixing suggestions

[Oz]

http://hem.bredband.net/b280734/slowdrive.ogg

Work in progress. Just a short promo track for a guitar sample pack a friend of mine is working on. Looking for some pointers on how to mix this. I think it sounds a little too compact.

Thanks!

[Gregjazz]

Sounds pretty good!

Suggestions (things to try):

- Piano should be quieter and add a little reverb.
- Steel guitar should be panned, in fact, it'd be cool if you had two instances panned at opposite ends (maybe 50% pan) and one side delayed by a few milliseconds. That gives it a cool stereo effect.
- EQ the drums, find that "sweet spot" on the kick and boost it.
- Reverb on the flute patch... you might have to pan it, but if you don't want to it'd mix better if it was up an octave. But then again, it does sound nice in that low octave.

Overall just try to pan your instruments out. It's a little too compact right now, although it isn't too busy (if it was too busy that means you have to change the volumes of some instruments), so it just sounds like the instruments need to be panned out a little more. Right now it's sorta "mono" sounding, and you're probably aiming for a "stereo" sound.

Just remember when you pan the instruments to make sure the overall balance of the panned instruments is good. Also listen to it in headphones, as sometimes a instrument is panned too much to one side and will irritate your ears -- something that you wouldn't notice in the monitors.

I always look forward to hearing your tracks, Oz!

[Oz]

Exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for.

Thanks!

[Nine Toes]

Sorry, I can't add anything on how to improve it, but I do want to tell you that I think it sounds great so far.

[Nethros]

As Hyde said, I can't C&C, but It's great! And oh, You're from Sweden?

[Oz]

Thank you guys. Yes, I'm Swedish.

[Nethros]

Hehe, Okay. I thought so, Most non-swedish people doesn't use swedish upload pages xD

[BorisZ]

And be sure to finalize your mix: there is VST plugin called Mackee Final mix, it can do some fabulous stuff to your tune. I hope you have it (if you don't, you know where to find it  )

[Oz]

Here is another track using the same melodic instruments (steel guitar switched for a nylon), minus the fretless bass. This one feels more spacious. I followed Geoffkhan's advice and panned the tracks out a bit more and added more reverb to the entire mix.

http://hem.bredband.net/jericho/the_yokun_pass.ogg

[Gregjazz]

Wonderful!