Participant: Steve Harper

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

Listening to your mix, we can say that the rooms and reverbs you chose don’t match the song that well. Especially the drums sound like as they would have been built up in a garage. That might be a cool effect for late 90s music but in this case we would recommend to aim for a more punchy sound with a proper reverb on it. Try to adjust the reverb settings a bit more to get a more coherent sound impression.

It seems that you used a lot of compression on the drums. That’s fine to get a punchy sound, especially in rock music. However, take care that the overall sound doesn’t get too unnatural and artificial as you are very close to the edge here. Try to focus on an organic sound in general. Keep an eye on the cymbals as well as they are quite sharp in the higher frequencies. Using an EQ or even less EQ might to the job here to soften them and make them sound warmer and less agressive.

We like your approach on the bass guitar. The sound is a little bit dull and doesn’t cut through the mix though.. By boosting the respective overtone ranges with the EQ, you can make this track a little less muffled and more present. In addition, saturation and distortion will add some harmonics that will help you as well. This makes it easier for the bass to cut through the mix.

You used quite a lot reverb on the guitars. Depending on the genre, this might work but in this case, we would recommend to aim for a more “in the face” sound, close to the listener. Try to lower the amount of reverb for this elements in particular to add some more presence and clarity in the mix.

The keys are quite loud and dominant throughout the song. Since the keys only play an accompanying role in this mix, you should lower the levels of these elements a little bit.

The compression on the vocals is quite noticable, which usually indicates that there is too much compression going on, resulting in a rather unnatural sound. Remember that the microdynamics of the vocals are very important and that interference (lip smacking, breathing, etc.) increase in level. You should be a bit more careful with compression and pay special attention to the influence of parameters like attack and release. In addititon, there seems to be a boost in the higher mids of these elements causing the vocals to sound quite aggressive. You can also see that pretty well in the analyser.

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 1,0 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 overemphasized in the high frequencies which is mainly due to the cymbals and the vocals as well.

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!