Some Problems...

[Codeum]

This may seem like a De Ja Vu, but I'm going about this a different way this time. There will be no rage from me. I recently made two new pony tracks, Rarity dubstep tracks, and try as I might, I can't get them featured. I'm not freaking out, I would just like to see if you guys could give me some insight on any reasons they would be rejected.

Here are the tracks.

[Lavender_Harmony]

The problems with each and how to go about fixing them:

Forgotten Gemstones:

First of all everything is far too wide. One of the main things you need to pay attention to is that all your bass sounds should be in the centre, and gradually expanding outward as you go up the frequency spectrum. The piano literally has no body in the centre and becomes uncomfortable to listen to. The kick is far too spread out, and you run into the problem of it becoming lost in the mix. Another issue is that you have done no isolation in terms of EQ, so any punch the drums had is getting lost amongst everything else. When mixing your tracks, you should try your best to isolate things like leads basses and drums from each other.
Another big problem is the vocals. You need to do some compression and EQ on them, as they are jumping around a lot in level, and there is a lot of 'es', harsh sibilance, where the s's and sh's are very harsh and loud in comparison to not only the vocals but the rest of the track. use of EQ and a frequency analyser is one way of getting rid of this, looking at which frequencies spike on the analyser and pulling those down in the EQ. You can also use a de-esser, which is essentially a specific kind of EQ with a gate and release time, a little fancier way of achieving the same thing, basically.
Other than that, pulling everything in tighter, making sure that you retain dynamics between the intro and drop, since the transition lacks punch but it's quite a chill track anyway. Pulling the bass on the kick and dropping everything down by a couple dB beforehand, especially the drums then automating those levels back up is a good way of expressing dynamics while keeping the mix well rounded and even.

Rarestep: A lot of the same problems present themselves here. Firstly though, the overall mix is very loud, and distorted. There is a lot of high end, which is painful to listen to. Mainly caused by a lot of overlap of elements within the 2000Hz+ range. The snare is very dry, doesn't have much punch to it, a relatively slow attack for something of this genre. Again, the transition lacks any kind of dynamics which causes the whole thing to seem flat. The low end distorts almost constantly, again due to overlapping elements of the pad, sub and bass. The drums also get lost entirely during the drop, with the high end of the kick being the only audible element.
Isolating the kick and making space in the low end for the sub would help immensely. If you want to retain low end on the pads for the intro, duplicate it and apply two different EQ sets, but leave some bass out so there is a definite increased amount in the drop. cut some space for the high elements too, compress the snare and perhaps boost it somewhere between 150Hz-250Hz, wherever seems to suit the most, then make room for that too.

When mixing any track, you should be mixing to at least -4dB, and once you bounce out the .wav render, bring that in and master it, pull it up to 0dB after you've done EQ tweaks. Don't apply any stereo wideners or any of that nonsense, a compressor, basic 0dB limiter if you need one and an EQ is all you need. If your track is too monophonic sounding, use the pan pots on the mixer in your project to move some elements around, duplicate things and alter them, pan each left and right respectively to give yourself a wider sound–don't forget to re-level them and EQ them so they're not phasing or clashing, the variation should be different enough to prevent this though, a change in chorus speed, a different filter, slightly altern waveform etc.

I'm sure others will have more to contribute, but those are the key points you should be focusing on. Best of luck.

[Codeum]

I do mix on a low level and bring it up to 0 before rendering and I'm really n00by in this genre. Where have you been when I needed critique on all this stuff all this time? lol

[Lavender_Harmony]

I do mix on a low level and bring it up to 0 before rendering and I'm really n00by in this genre. Where have you been when I needed critique on all this stuff all this time? lol

Been right here, all you have to do is ask. x

I think then if you do mix low is you might be pushing the compressor too ahrd in the master. Remember you want to retain the dynamics. The EQ will help you focus that more, in both tracks it's overcompensating for lack of clarity in high or low end, so stuff is jutting out awkwardly.

[Codeum]

I only use a soft clipper on the master, I never compress it very hard. I honestly have a hard time getting what I want out of a sound. I can't seem to pick the right samples and make the kick and snare stand out from the drums. No matter how I EQ it or compress it. People tell me to compress stuff like kicks, but its the same sample over and over again with no changes in level. there is no reason to compress it. they tell me that it helps keep the power in it when everything else is in motion but that just makes absolutely no sense to me.

[Navron]

It largely depends on the type of kick used. If you have a short attack, short release, punchy kick, such as a 909 layer, then you may not need compression at all.

If you have a kick that trails off, the tail end of it might muddy up the instruments that are present just following the kick, in which case some compression with a slightly longer attack would cut out that tail end, leaving a more punchy sound to the mix.

[Lavender_Harmony]

Alright, one thing you're going to have to understand is that compression isn't just a volume control. In fact, you should rarely use compression to control volume at all, that's what the fader is for. Compression actually changes how something sounds, it brings the quiet elements up to the loudest, hence the name, and can have a drastic effect on the sound.

I just made a drum beat, quick little funk loop. Here it is without any compression or isolation EQ: Link.

It sounds alright, it's passable, true, but it's dry and lacks any kind of punch.

Now with compression, EQ and a little bit of reverb on the rides: Link.

The overall volume is exactly the same for the samples, but everything is tighter, pulled together and something like this, if everything was EQ'd properly, would cut through the mix very well.

Does that help at all in explaining why people say you should use compression?

[Codeum]

I'm just confused because I'm being taught by my audio instructors that compression should only be used lightly on a master, heavy on bass, vocals, and percussion because it evens out everything that a human can't play at a consistent loudness. None of them do electronic mixing so I don't know how much I should really take away from these courses.

Those tracks are already complete. I have to move on from them and learn from the flaws presented. I'd like you to analyze this WIP I've been building though if it's not too much trouble.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/78584340/dupphyre.mp3


Back on the original topic, the answer to the original question is simply because it isn't mixed well enough? It doesn't make much sense to me since the mixes of a lot of stuff they feature is quite bad :/

[Lavender_Harmony]

I'm just confused because I'm being taught by my audio instructors that compression should only be used lightly on a master, heavy on bass, vocals, and percussion because it evens out everything that a human can't play at a consistent loudness. None of them do electronic mixing so I don't know how much I should really take away from these courses.

Those tracks are already complete. I have to move on from them and learn from the flaws presented. I'd like you to analyze this WIP I've been building though if it's not too much trouble.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/78584340/dupphyre.mp3


Back on the original topic, the answer to the original question is simply because it isn't mixed well enough? It doesn't make much sense to me since the mixes of a lot of stuff they feature is quite bad :/

A lot of the mixes they feature are quite passable, but rarely perfect. It's a learning experience for everyone.

You'll often find audio tutors will be grumpy about the whole loudness war thing, and will always try and teach you pretty outdated mixing practices, which are great for traditional recordings, they don't work for modern stuff, you need to approach it differently. Parallel compression on a snare, bus reverb and volume envelope automation, as well as effective EQ are all pretty essential.

It wasn't featured because of the mix, yes, I can confirm that. The main issue with yours was that some of the elements were to the point that it was uncomfortable to listen to, the stereo widening and lack of clarity of the drums in the first, and the distortion caused by overlapping elements put through a compressor in the second.

I'd like to think I've got mixing down semi-well at least, though, if you're looking for a frame of reference outside of commercial releases.

As for the WIP:

You should comrpess the kick. Bring down the threshold and up the ratio, pull up the attack too. This should help give it more of a solid attack as the beginning of the sample is quite rounded.

The snare lacks any kind of real punch. First of all, put an EQ on it, and put a +4dB peak at around 200Hz, spread it between around 150-250Hz or more, a good wide peak. Then compress that down with a low threshhold, long release and medium attack with a mid to high ratio to give it a good amount of punch. You may want to parallel compress it, put the same snare below without the EQ and effects, but cut out the 200Hz band, an opposite to the first.

If you're having trouble getting those sounds to cut through the mix, go through the song and watch each element on the frequency analyser, if anything is peaking around 200Hz or the 1000Hz range quite broadly, put a valley in that area to cut some space for the snare, you can do the same around 80-100Hz for the kick drum usually, as well as wherever the high end resides, usually somewhere past 1kHz. Remember to cut room for your hats too.

[Codeum]

What do you mean by parallel compressing?

[Lavender_Harmony]

What do you mean by parallel compressing?

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_compression:

Parallel compression, also known as New York compression, is a dynamic range compression technique used in sound recording and mixing. Parallel compression, a form of upward compression, is achieved by mixing an unprocessed 'dry', or lightly compressed signal with a heavily compressed version of the same signal. Rather than bringing down the highest peaks for the purpose of dynamic range reduction, it reduces the dynamic range by bringing up the softest sounds, adding audible detail.

[Codeum]

lol you forgot to mention reversing the polarity. seriously, the phase shift gave me such a horrible comb filter.

[Codeum]

Well my day has been sucking really bad. got turned down by a female, still cant find work, and lavender unadded me from skype (might be a mistake but I'm paranoid enough to think its because I'm an unlikable loser)
But there was a silver lining to this dark cloud. Observe...

[jackupthoseapples]

*slowly claps

[konsolN]

btw,
how do you "submit" Artwork or Music to EQD?

[Codeum]

something like [email protected]