metabolic demythelations

[phoenstorm]

So this is my new track. I thought about where to post this & decided to put it here - the first three minutes might pass as ambient, then things turn a little bit more abrasive, but remain more or less civil.
I hope some of you enjoy this. This was a hard one for me and at times I considered trashing the entire project. I guess I have a few questions concerning production, but lest you all are biased listening, here it is, more discussion later:

http://soundcloud.com/phoenstorm/metabolic-demythelations




Any comments appreciated

[asteroid anxiety]

I like it

[Heaven And Hell]

Nice track! Even though it gets a little busier toward the end, I'd still call this on the edge of Ambient.

[S1gnsOfL1fe]

Dude, I love it!!! How could you ever consider trashing this? It's great!!! I love the transition at 3 minutes to the part with the drums...so well done. Killer track, brilliant sound design...awesome!

By the way, what are your questions?! Let's hear it!

[phoenstorm]

Thanks for taking the time to listen! Glad you liked it. As for - why trashing it? - things didn't go together/didn't pan out the way I planned and in the long run I got a bit frustrated. This of course ties into... the mixing problem. Lacking experience in that department, even if I have basic knowledge. So the question would be, what would you do concerning the last third of the track? I found it very hard to find any kind of balance.
I really liked the lush feel of the wavetableish synth patch and used all kinds of fx to make it "bigger". They say a good mix begins with sound selection...so I guess choosing that patch was a cardinal sin to begin with - but assumed you want to build a track around a patch like that (relatively large frequency range, loud, lush, relatively "busy, several layers, long reverbs...) Is that possible...or just not worth the hassle? Any tips for dealing with this situation. That is have the patch prominent, but also drums, perc & bass clearly defined in the mix?

-Things I thought of/tried with meager success:
-side-chaining/compressing the synths. There's very little compression in the track & and when I wanted dynamic push towards the end, I ran out of headroom some of the sections before are relatively quiet
already, so I guess it's not easy increasing overall dynamic range/impression of it without compressing some parts?
-eq, ...lower certain frquency ranges to avoid "mud"...but then I'm always a bit reluctant to eq my synths too much...changes the sound...so back to patch programming & sound selection :-)
-question: would sidechaining drums to reverb tails help in this case?

so yeah, much room to hone my skills & thanks in advance for any replies!

[phoenstorm]

Just one bump to see whether anybody wants to share an answer to above question Also, some of you might have seen it - I have put my tracks back in the right order by way of collecting them in a short set: https://soundcloud.com/phoenstorm/sets/idiopathic-frequencies

[seismic1]

When I run out of headroom in a mix, I usually find that applying a constant volume reduction across all instrument tracks will help. This can be a little awkward if you are using volume automations.

This will also help the dynamic range of the mix pre-mastering.

[Frozen Lonesome]

I liked the track and not to abrasive for my liking.

[windspace]

I like the dynamics of this piece, especially the crescendo before the drum track starts. I also think the brooding mood works well all the way through. Good work!

[phoenstorm]

Thanks guys for taking the time to listen glad you enjoyed. I tried to go the way of lowering volume - that helped, so I really will have to focus on gain staging in the future

[seismic1]

I've completed about 45 full tracks now and am only just starting to get comfortable with my levelling within the mix. I am aiming for a peak volume of about -9dB on the master bus, but I find that I can usually get away with a level of -5dB and then compensate with my mastering parameters, usually dialling out a little compression and adjusting input levels from my T-Racks setup. However, I am aiming for a consistent level in the future. It might actually be a little easier to achieve with ambient music as I won't have to worry about 8 different drum tracks, any (or all) of which can be playing at any given time

Dynamic range is another concern. Balancing these factors can be troublesome. For the album tracks I just mastered, I have managed to boost my DR and remove distortion, so I feel that the exercise was worthwhile. It's just trial and error to begin with. After a while and a little practice and familiararity, it becomes easier.