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Old 03-06-2012, 05:00 AM   #37
dazzathedrummer
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Cambridgeshire. UK
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I would compare it to a commercial mix and follow your ears on that - even ask the client to pick a commercial track that they have in mind....in fact, do that!

You can never win if you send out 'draft' copies, you always open yourself up to unnecessary criticism.....of issues that you know yourself need to be worked on later.
I've just finished a live recording of my own band, 45 songs on 16 tracks....inevitably the rest of the band were eager to hear something, so I sent out a quick mix stating "this is rough, I've not really worked on anything, this is just to let you know that everything got recorded".
...the response I got was; "..the bass isn't very clear, the acoustic doesn't sound very good, my vocals could do with coming up a bit..." - to which I said "yeah, I know!!!....as I said...."

Sounds like you need to improve your monitoring by what everyone else has chimed in with (I haven't listened myself as I'm at work)....I'd also recommend playing your mix (and the reference track) on as many different systems as you can....in the car, on ear buds, good headphones, bad headphones, regular home hifi equipment etc - each time ask the question "what is the difference between my mix and a commercial mix" make notes on each element and do some tweaking to get a good average across different systems.....if you end up with a mix that sounds 'like' the clients reference track, you can't really go wrong.

I wouldn't let it defeat you, talk to the client re the above, delete all your plugins, throw the faders down and start again - I bet you get a lot further a lot quicker with the above knowledge from everyone in mind.
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