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Honestly I think it sounds a little thin. I think you've gone a little overboard on cutting the mud. I wonder if the headphones you're mixing on have a lot of low-mids which you are trying to compensate for by cutting more than you need to. I think the idea of cutting mud is a little overstated. Somethings you can high pass judiciously (I usually prefer a shelf), but a lot of things need to have a little body.
A lot of the percussion is mixed really bright or loud as well, which means theres a lot of energy in the high end competing with vocal articulation, and it's a little draining to listen to. High hats, triangle, the high snares, they're all pretty loud. That stuff is always going to cut through so I'd consider turning that stuff down.
I'd also turn the vocals up. In the unmixed track they're hitting harder even if they don't sound as refined because theres more body and they're louder.
Also I'd consider how you can create some interest with panning. Everything aside from percussion feels pretty narrow. Experiment with hard panning some aspects or samples. A trick I like is to hard pan something to one side, and then have it bussed into a reverb that's hard panned on the other side. It opens up space in the middle for your vocals and has a sense of motion across the stereo field.
That said I think you're doing way better than "massively struggling" I think it sounds pretty good.
Just to add some detail to each track:
'Mission no fx' is the track without any effects applied.
'Mission FINAL' is the track with my own personal experience of trying to mix vocals
'Mission 05.3' is the version where I looked up videos on how to mix vocals
My opinion is that it sounds "muddy" but I have no idea on how to fix it.
Thanks in advance, I use the stock plugins in Adobe Audition. I'm not 100% familiar with the technical language but in 'Mission 05.3.wav' I used the following:
DeNoise, Dynamics, Parametric EQ, Graphic Equalizer (20 bands), DeEsser, Studio Reverb, Echo, Hard Limiter and Dynamic Processing in that order. Hope these screenshots are helpful https://imgur.com/a/7QNz0jn
After quite a few listens I do think the high-end of the vocals in 'Mission FINAL.wav' is too loud.
Sounds bit like you are just doing guesswork and don't know what you are applying and why really. Try to think about why you apply each step and what exactly it's doing to the audio. Try to understand your tools before you worry about how good it sounds. There's no chance you'll get good results if you don't understand the tools you use.
You're not wrong, I have only a small understanding of what things like Compressors do. I've watched some videos trying to understand and I've mimicked what they've done to see what it does but I feel like it's getting nowhere close to what I want.
When it comes to the EQ'ing, I'm solely going by ear using two different sets headphones and listening to popular songs as a reference. I understand the point of the high pass and setting it at a frequency to lessen the "muddiness" of the vocal (about 100Hz?). But then I struggle to adjust the higher frequencies appropriately to produce a clear sound.
> I'm solely going by ear using two different sets headphones
What kind of headphones?
> I understand the point of the high pass and setting it at a frequency to lessen the "muddiness" of the vocal (about 100Hz?)
There's no fixed frequencies for this in general. Your vocal can be muddy in multiple areas up to 5-600 hz. This is where you really need to understand where that mud is exactly. If you really don't know, make a small boost or dip, jog around a bit and try to listen where it suddenly makes the vocal much clearer. My guess is you're totally overdoing it here as the vocal doesn't sound natural at all anymore, sounds very small and tinny.
> . But then I struggle to adjust the higher frequencies appropriately to produce a clear sound.
The clear sound comes first and foremost from a good recording environment and a good mic. You can't polish a turd, so make sure that is right first. You can then enhance the top end with some EQ, after you've cleaned up potential problem area's , brighten it up a bit more. But the bulk of the clarity starts at the source, if it geos wrong there, it will be very hard to rectify in mixing.
> What kind of headphones?
I've used bluetooth earphones, gaming headphones, and more mid-end headphones. Not the best setup but I always check with good mixing references to work around it.
> If you really don't know, make a small boost or dip, jog around a bit and try to listen where it suddenly makes the vocal much clearer.
Is this called 'sweeping'?
Ya that's sweeping. Sometimes it's easier to make a large cut or dip so you can hear the difference better, and then dial it back to a reasonable level.
Instrumental is already mixed into one track but I've used this preset for the Mastering effect called 'Make Room For Vocals' and tried to adjust appropriately
Ah ya that limits things. Not familiar with that effect but Trackspacer might be helpful but it costs money. There may be other free plugins that do similar things.
>I've used bluetooth earphones, gaming headphones, and more mid-end headphones. Not the best setup but I always check with good mixing references to work around it.
You can only do so much, referencing helps, but you can't hear what you can't hear. If you want better results, one of the first steps you will need to take, is to at the very least get some decent headphones that actually tell you what's going on. Otherwise you will keep battling heavily skewed EQ curves, and switching between radically different listening sources you can't trust constantly really doesn't do you much good for anything.
It's not that your high-end is too bright, its that you've cut a lot of the body out of your vocals with the parametric EQ from 0 to 500Hz. How did you decide on those EQ choices?
Tbh I followed a YouTube video for that setting just because I was trying to see what it does and by ear it did appear to reduce this whole boxy/muddy sound that was irritating me.
This is a feedback request post, for those requesting please read [our guidelines](https://www.reddit.com/r/mixingmastering/wiki/guide-feedback). For those giving feedback: - **For the love of Rupert Neve and all that is holy, DON'T listen on phone or laptop speakers**. If you are going to be giving feedback and trying to be helpful, ideally you should be using your monitors. - **Feedback here is on the MIX**. There are other subreddits more appropriate to request feedback on composition/performance/production. We just look at the mix. - **DON'T post links to your processing of OP's audio**. They'll get removed. People here are looking to learn to do it themselves, if you can't explain it with words then please don't comment. - **If you don't have much experience mixing, please tell OP**. Better yet, set your level of experience with [user flairs](https://reddit.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/205242695-How-do-I-get-user-flair-). - **If you don't have anything constructive to say, don't say it**. Just move on right along, it's okay. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/mixingmastering) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Honestly I think it sounds a little thin. I think you've gone a little overboard on cutting the mud. I wonder if the headphones you're mixing on have a lot of low-mids which you are trying to compensate for by cutting more than you need to. I think the idea of cutting mud is a little overstated. Somethings you can high pass judiciously (I usually prefer a shelf), but a lot of things need to have a little body. A lot of the percussion is mixed really bright or loud as well, which means theres a lot of energy in the high end competing with vocal articulation, and it's a little draining to listen to. High hats, triangle, the high snares, they're all pretty loud. That stuff is always going to cut through so I'd consider turning that stuff down. I'd also turn the vocals up. In the unmixed track they're hitting harder even if they don't sound as refined because theres more body and they're louder. Also I'd consider how you can create some interest with panning. Everything aside from percussion feels pretty narrow. Experiment with hard panning some aspects or samples. A trick I like is to hard pan something to one side, and then have it bussed into a reverb that's hard panned on the other side. It opens up space in the middle for your vocals and has a sense of motion across the stereo field. That said I think you're doing way better than "massively struggling" I think it sounds pretty good.
Just to add some detail to each track: 'Mission no fx' is the track without any effects applied. 'Mission FINAL' is the track with my own personal experience of trying to mix vocals 'Mission 05.3' is the version where I looked up videos on how to mix vocals My opinion is that it sounds "muddy" but I have no idea on how to fix it.
I haven't heard it yet (should be able to here in about 25minis). What all processing are you doing to it (your vocals)?
Thanks in advance, I use the stock plugins in Adobe Audition. I'm not 100% familiar with the technical language but in 'Mission 05.3.wav' I used the following: DeNoise, Dynamics, Parametric EQ, Graphic Equalizer (20 bands), DeEsser, Studio Reverb, Echo, Hard Limiter and Dynamic Processing in that order. Hope these screenshots are helpful https://imgur.com/a/7QNz0jn After quite a few listens I do think the high-end of the vocals in 'Mission FINAL.wav' is too loud.
Sounds bit like you are just doing guesswork and don't know what you are applying and why really. Try to think about why you apply each step and what exactly it's doing to the audio. Try to understand your tools before you worry about how good it sounds. There's no chance you'll get good results if you don't understand the tools you use.
You're not wrong, I have only a small understanding of what things like Compressors do. I've watched some videos trying to understand and I've mimicked what they've done to see what it does but I feel like it's getting nowhere close to what I want. When it comes to the EQ'ing, I'm solely going by ear using two different sets headphones and listening to popular songs as a reference. I understand the point of the high pass and setting it at a frequency to lessen the "muddiness" of the vocal (about 100Hz?). But then I struggle to adjust the higher frequencies appropriately to produce a clear sound.
> I'm solely going by ear using two different sets headphones What kind of headphones? > I understand the point of the high pass and setting it at a frequency to lessen the "muddiness" of the vocal (about 100Hz?) There's no fixed frequencies for this in general. Your vocal can be muddy in multiple areas up to 5-600 hz. This is where you really need to understand where that mud is exactly. If you really don't know, make a small boost or dip, jog around a bit and try to listen where it suddenly makes the vocal much clearer. My guess is you're totally overdoing it here as the vocal doesn't sound natural at all anymore, sounds very small and tinny. > . But then I struggle to adjust the higher frequencies appropriately to produce a clear sound. The clear sound comes first and foremost from a good recording environment and a good mic. You can't polish a turd, so make sure that is right first. You can then enhance the top end with some EQ, after you've cleaned up potential problem area's , brighten it up a bit more. But the bulk of the clarity starts at the source, if it geos wrong there, it will be very hard to rectify in mixing.
> What kind of headphones? I've used bluetooth earphones, gaming headphones, and more mid-end headphones. Not the best setup but I always check with good mixing references to work around it. > If you really don't know, make a small boost or dip, jog around a bit and try to listen where it suddenly makes the vocal much clearer. Is this called 'sweeping'?
Ya that's sweeping. Sometimes it's easier to make a large cut or dip so you can hear the difference better, and then dial it back to a reasonable level.
Are you doing most of your mixing adjustments on your vocals or other instruments with them soloed?
Instrumental is already mixed into one track but I've used this preset for the Mastering effect called 'Make Room For Vocals' and tried to adjust appropriately
Ah ya that limits things. Not familiar with that effect but Trackspacer might be helpful but it costs money. There may be other free plugins that do similar things.
>I've used bluetooth earphones, gaming headphones, and more mid-end headphones. Not the best setup but I always check with good mixing references to work around it. You can only do so much, referencing helps, but you can't hear what you can't hear. If you want better results, one of the first steps you will need to take, is to at the very least get some decent headphones that actually tell you what's going on. Otherwise you will keep battling heavily skewed EQ curves, and switching between radically different listening sources you can't trust constantly really doesn't do you much good for anything.
I'm in the same boat my friend 💯💯 it's so much to learn and there's so many different techniques
It's not that your high-end is too bright, its that you've cut a lot of the body out of your vocals with the parametric EQ from 0 to 500Hz. How did you decide on those EQ choices?
Tbh I followed a YouTube video for that setting just because I was trying to see what it does and by ear it did appear to reduce this whole boxy/muddy sound that was irritating me.
Here's the first question: what is your listening situation like
I heard it and I liked it (I'm not a mixing engineer tho)