Participant: Rob Ursino

Thank you for participating in the HOFA XMAS MIX CONTEST! We'd like to give you a short feedback to your contribution.

Let's start with the drums. The kick drum is quite loud and dominates the mix a little bit too much. Be careful that the kick does not overpower other important elements due to its high volume level. How about lowering the volume level and raising the higher frequencies? You could also use a little bit more compression or saturation tools that will add some distortion and overtones, making it cut through the mix a lot more.

Pay attention to the snare. It has a somewhat difficult time asserting itself in the mix. This is mainly due to the lack of high frequencies, which makes the snare sound somewhat dull. The snare's amont of higher frequencies are largely responsible for its "bite" to make it cut through the mix.


The cymbals in particular sound quite loud in your mix, and they also create a rather sharp overall sound impression. Try to control the high frequencies of the drums a bit more and soften them to make them fit better to the song.

Let's talk about the reverb and rooms of your mix. The drums and the guitars don’t fit together that well. In general, different reverberation rooms should fit together and provide a uniform sound impression. In this case, the drums are quite dry, while you've added a lot of reverb to the guitars. Therefore, you get the impression that these elements are placed in different rooms and that they aren’t part of the same mix. Using different reverbs and adjustments isn’t a bad thing at all but it’s important to make sure that they all fit to the song and sound.

You noticed that the keys don’t play the biggest role in this song and that you shouldn’t mix them too loud. Nevertheless, they seem to be quite hidden in your mix and could be slightly raised in volume.

We like your approach on the vocals and how you placed them in the mix. We also like the use of effects, especially the delay. Well done! Make sure that they don’t move to the back as they do play a major role in the song. Besides, the sibilants (S-sounds) of your vocals are a bit too pronounced. As a result, they are quite "sharp". You can use a de-esser or a dynamic EQ to get this problem under control. 

The screenshot below shows the comparison of frequency response. The orange curves show energy over frequency of our mix while the white curves show the frequency response of your version of this song. The upper curve is for peak levels and the lower curve shows the energy over time. Therefore, the lower curve is more meaningful for the comparison. You should lower the volume of your mix by 1,4 dB as the auditory AB-comparison is only valid on the same loudness level.

In the screenshot of the analyser you can see that your mix is less emphasized in the bass range while the loud sibilants can be seen in the peak curve above 5 kHz.

HOFA-College offers a wide range of online courses on recording, mixing, mastering and producing music.
Mix analyses form an essential part of the education at HOFA-College, along with video tutorials, personal support, online campus & studio workshops. Experienced audio engineers listen to the mixes of the students and create individual and detailed, multi-page feedbacks about the strengths and weaknesses of each mix, with many helpful tips & tricks.
Learn more: hofa-college.com

Best regards from the HOFA team - enjoy your music!