My First Song - The Legendary Mirror Pond

[Kenny Tweek]

Well, I was working on this for three months (most of the time I was learning how to master a song) and I finished it this weekend. This my first real experience with music production and that stuff, since the only thing I have is demos and two songs completely terrible.
I'm looking for advices, what (specially in the masterization) I should improve and how, so any constructive feedback is more than welcome! :3

Here is the song:


Hope you like it, I'm planing to remaster it when I improve my skills. xD

(Sorry if i'm in the wrong area, btw... :I)

[GhostXb]

I find the lyrics kinda hard to hear, but I guess that's just because of your style of singing. After reading the lyrics I found some awkward grammar so I think maybe English isn't your first language? Could also do with mic selection. Working with a bad mic can make things difficult enough, but when you scream into one you get a lot of distortion and clipping. If your options are limited, you might try lowering the volume you record at, then raising the volume and/or adding compression in your DAW. This will get you a much cleaner recording. If you find the frequencies in the vocals that are too saturated you can use a sharp EQ bell to help tone it down. I would also ease up on the reverb, the mix sounds a bit too washy.

I find the radio narration part at 2:48 a bit jarring and unnecessary. There was definitely too much frequency saturation here. You'll definitely want to cut some frequencies here. That, some generous amounts of compression, and a good balance of reverb should get you that megaphone tone I'm guessing your going for. The guitar at 3:00 is also very loud and jarring to listen to.

Your singing seems reserved. I don't know where your recording, but it seems like your in a room and your trying not to bother your neighbors XD. I know singing isn't easy, but when recording try being more aggressive and not worry about being too loud. If your like me, and you don't like people hearing you record, then you might want to wait until your isolated to give it your all.

I think the drums could use more dynamics. For a song like this I think its definitely important that they drive the rhythm. Right now they seem to be in the background. I would try some parallel compression to add punchyness while preserving the transients. You might even find the frequencies where the kick and snares sound punchy (ussually beween 100Hz-300Hz), then use automation to boost the gain of those frequencies when they hit. This is a good alternative to just boosting the frequencies flat out, as this will just raise the overall volume of the drums and not add dynamics. You can also try sidechaining the drums to the guitar, and add subtle sidechain compression to preserve the punchyness of the drums.

Here's an example of what that would look like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POlmYJ4PKrA

I know mixing, mastering can be really difficult and frustrating, especially when your starting out. Taking a break and coming back to it later can help give you a fresh perspective. Another thing I would recommend is referencing your tracks to songs that you like. Just load the song into your DAW and switch between the tracks during playback. THis can give you an idea of what you can improve, and give you something to aim for. These are different styles, but here are some of my recommendations.

good gutiar tone - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAXnqjUfal4
great drum mix that drives rythm - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHMnTNzoyo0

Hope this helps, good luck with your music.

[Kenny Tweek]

.

Yeah, english isn't my first language, and I also never REALLY learned it... xD

The vocal and that stuff, I think it's specially because I never mastered a song before, so I guess I messed a bit with the volumes... :I
My mic is not soooooo good, but it is the maximum I can afford... The volume I record is pretty low, too, so that's probably problem in the volumes.
And yes, I was singing in my room, afraid of anyone knock on the door screaming and slapping my face... LOL xD
Also, I can't wait for being isolated, I live with some people, and there's always someone in home... But I'm planing to try to record my next songs in a friend's house...
The drums, I think the same as you, but I did what I could... You know, I don't know how to play drums, or what it needs to be actually better... So if the volume was higher, something was lowers... :I

Also, I was kind of trying to sound like Nirvana (specially inspired in Breed)... xD

So... Well, thank you for your comment, it will REALLY help! That's the kind of comment I was looking for, instead of "I don't like this" or "I don't like that". xD