Quote:

George, Less is definitely more. And I have truly come to appreciate the ears of an expert mastering engineer. I used Cakewalk’s Boost to balance and master the track. I had several different systems I played it on and the only thing I found was that it was slightly lower (overall) than that of a professionally mastered song. On your system, what instruments were lost and which were too forward?




Hi RickeG,
I hear the rhythm guitar just a little too much (not a lot, just a little) and the first guitar I hear (you seem to have that playing outside of the song, I would bring it in to the middle a wee bit)
When I'm mixing my initial songs I always (taking Mac's advice) reduce the main mix volume so that I can hear if one instrument is either too much in your face or vice versa (just remember if an instrument isn't loud enough - reducing other instruments may be of help)
I also listen to the spread and see if the song seems to have the correct distance between instruments (I don't pan much above/below +/-15 (using Realband)
My aim is to try to give the impression that there is an actual band on a small stage.
As to the final mix (here I'm talking about a wav file) I sometimes use a program called T-Racks (the program I have is years old, but it works well) as it can give a huge boost to the output if needed without distortion.

Just have FUN that is the most important thing about music, enjoy it in all its many faceted ways.
Best regards
Michee


Windows 11 64 bit, Biab 2024 1111, Realband 2024
i7 Desktop Computer 16Gb Memory