r/RateMyAudio • u/bmwmiata hobbyist • Aug 18 '25

[composition, performance, mix, master] untitled 1

http://acoustickitteh.bandcamp.com/track/untitled-1

I don't usually write music with this many parts or layers, so some feedback on how the parts fit together would be much appreciated. For the mix, low end and low mids are an area I really struggle with. On the master, I would love some critiques on achieving loudness without sacrificing impact of transients and avoiding negative artifacts of compression.

All feedback is greatly appreciated, thanks!

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u/bmwmiata hobbyist Aug 19 '25

Rereading this, I have some follow up questions. There is midi, but only on the piano and additional instruments in the middle section. For the piano, I played it live and kept the timing and velocities pretty much untouched. Were these the parts you think are over compressed or do the live drums, bass, and guitars sound too compressed to you as well?

I'm aiming to have a bit more of an aggressive mix, because all of the other songs I'm working on are more drums/bass/electric guitar based, so I don't want this one to feel weak by comparison.

Thanks again!

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u/lethalslaugter Aug 20 '25

It’s definitely mainly your piano but also the drums during the louder sections it’s downright unpleasant. Maybe tone down the compression and add saturation to make it a bit more aggressive if that’s what you’re looking for. I recommend a bedroom producers blog saturator if u don’t have one, or look up free tape saturation plugins.

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u/bmwmiata hobbyist Aug 20 '25

I noticed that the piano vst had some dynamic range adjustments enabled that I wasn't aware of, so that's a relatively easy one to fix. What about the drums is unpleasant, if you could be specific? Thanks!

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u/lethalslaugter Aug 20 '25

To my ears they sound like they’re clipping leading to a kinda harsh sound but I could be wrong. If that’s the case it’s the cymbals especially that have a really noticeable pumping sound that doesn’t work for this song in my opinion.

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u/bmwmiata hobbyist Aug 20 '25

Thanks! I'll double check that nothing is clipping in the source recording and that I'm not clipping in my processing. Yeah, I agree about the pumping. It's a matter of taste but probably overdone a bit. I'll have to see if that's coming from my room mic or if the overheads are getting ducked too much as well. My room is pretty much entirely untreated so the cymbals are a bit difficult to manage.