Explain this mix pls # 2

[jordanneke]

Well, not sure if it's the mix I mean or the production



It came up on my S/C feed and to me it sounds almost amateurish. Some of the bits are so 'hot' it's almost tiring to listen to. Skip to 2.56 if you don't want to listen to the whole thing.

The reason I ask, is because I'd never intentionally try to make something that sounded like this (like it's red-lining), and I assume that these guys are WAY better than me.

[Mattias]

Well the mix is pretty good, the balance is there. The character of it is supposed to sound very low-fi and destroyed. I wouldn't say this track is giving me much ear fatigue, the parts that could have been very nasty is clearly tamed.

[Huck Farper]

I think it sounds amazing.. nice and chunky sounding!

[sergiobR1]

Hello Jordan, do you have monitors ? or a good cans with almost flat response ¿?
I think you are talking about the mastering process, it's in the limit. everything is so compressed that is taking all the dynamics.
Anyway, sounds very good bro very nice track indeed.

[Senko]

This is actually really good and sounds great on my monitors. Thanks for sharing.

[jordanneke]

I thought as much, that it might be just me. I take all your points on the subject.


I still think it sounds shitty though.

[dubdub]

I would call it shitty sound well done If you just smash it carelessly, it's going to sound much, much worse than that example. Which almost makes it more ridiculous, because the guy clearly spent a lot of time making it sound shitty-good that he could have used to make it sound good-good. But then again, where exactly do you draw the line between "oldschool" or "lofi" sound and shitty sound?

[jordanneke]

I guess that's the point. He already knows how to make a 'flawless' track.

If I made a track that sounded like that, it would sound really really shit. Considering my 'good' is objectively 'not great'.

[sergiobR1]

he was looking for some of this garage sound back in the '90

youtu.be/q0x1b2qy4Z0

If I made a track that sounded like that, it would sound really really shit. Considering my 'good' is objectively 'not great'.

I don't know bro, I think you should try, when try experimentation, leaving your confort zone you can learn a trick or two in the process. Give it a try.

[innovine]

Sounds like total shit to me.

[Lost to the Void]

I find the top end a little too resonant in places, but basically the mix is good in balancing terms.
The distortion is too much for me, this isn`t really lo-fi, it`s shit-fi, I would hate to hear it on a big soundsystem, it`s a great tune, I think they have gone a touch overboard.

I own a ton of original hardcore records from the period this is mimicking and only the worst bootlegs sound this crunched.

[sergiobR1]

I only feel annoying that destroyed tom it's like.... "really bro ?"

[jordanneke]

At least i'm not the only one who thinks it sounds crap.

I get that I'm not skilled enough to make a sound like this on purpose.

[Lost to the Void]

The main issue is the vocal, it just sounds aweful with that amount of crush and distortion. Sounds pretty bad here on the mastering speakers. I get what they were trying to do, but they half assed it.

[Mattias]

It would have better if they routed all instruments to a main bus outside the 2-bus and dirtied the sound up there and left the vocal untouched, yeah.

[Lost to the Void]

A little dirt on the vocals is fine, but it just gets so piercing. I think they made the tune and then just added dirt after, whereas the mix should have been prepared for what the distortion and mess would do as it has distorted unevenly across the mix.

[NØRTH]

I think the track is hardly limited in the master process making the toms sounding too much distorted to me, but I never really listen to old stuff like this one.
I guess the rytmic part is sampled like most of the other instruments ? Just asking because the stereo image sound mostly in the center

[taylor h]

Just asking because the stereo image sound mostly in the center

The narrow stereo image is also part of the aesthetic. Some lo-fi house producers are even making tracks in mono. It's an artistic mix, not necessarily a functional one.

[Hades]

maybe apart from the shit-fi designed sound, it's taking into account that a lot of young people will just listen to this on their shitty cellphone speakers or cheap-ass ear-buds ?
people who will barely even know this was designed to sound as some kind of retro-style thing.