What's a bad mixed song? What's a good mixed song?

[HREQ]

Over the years I've seen people from here and there on chats say "the mix sucks" "this mix is bad" about various peoples WIPs or songs, etc

I'm confused by this though, how do they determine if a song is badly mixed or mixed good?

Does anybody have examples of a Badly mixed song vs a Good mixed song?

[holmer]

how do they determine if a song is badly mixed or mixed good?

How do you know if a meal tastes good?
You know.
What you maybe don't know is how good/fresh the ingredients were at the start.

[Scrubbing Monkeys]

In my opinion.....a broad statement you could say about bad mixed song....uninspiring. Failure to engage listener. Competing aspects where you cant distiguish individuals. Muffled. Etc.

A good mix is opposite.

A great mix is where the music draws you in and makes you feel apart of it.

All of this assumes it was recorded well.

[VOODOO U]

I actually consider a lot of modern metal music badly mixed because it's too clean. Too pristine. It makes it piercing.
I suppose I would say a bad mix takes away the "soul" of the song.

[elxsound]

Over the years I've seen people from here and there on chats say "the mix sucks" "this mix is bad" about various peoples WIPs or songs, etc

I'm confused by this though, how do they determine if a song is badly mixed or mixed good?

Does anybody have examples of a Badly mixed song vs a Good mixed song?

If you’re sincerely interested, asking about it here might not be the best place.?.?

IMO, you only need to know what a good mixed song is. Find songs that exist, that you agree with as having a good mix and use these as your standard. Mixing and mastering engineers will have references too in addition to customer references of commercially released music.

Anyone that speaks in broad terms about a mix as being bad for a WIP is doing a disservice to the creator. Constructive criticism is the only thing they should offer so not only you, but nobody else has to question what they mean.

Modern mixes across multiple genres are very different, so it’s important to understand the context when some are responding, as some will offer blanket statements over top 40 music, or maybe they’re only speaking of indie music, or maybe its a specific genre they listen to, or maybe they haven’t liked anything new since 1999, or ignore other exceptions along the way.

Anyways, good luck.

[BertKoor]

From [url="https://archive.org/stream/SlippermansR ... 9_djvu.txt]the slipperman thread[/url]

Imagine yer 2 buss is a telephone booth.

Imagine yer mix is a bus stop full of loomers from a local college cheering section.

You might have....:

Some fat guys, some skinny guys, some chicks with big asses, some dudes who play rugby, a
coupla jockeys, an occasional basketball player. Ya might even have baby Mastodons(Hey! He
might be the mascot!!!) Etc.

Yer mission, should you be stupid or crazy enough to accept it, is to jam all these characters into the telephone booth in a fashion where.

1. ) The smartest and most important guys can reach the handset.

2. ) You can close the door and the booth is still primarily intact.

3. ) As few people as possible die in the process.

Now these might not be THE ONLY objectives you'd be concerned with in any given mix... But
these would be the ones you'd ALWAYS be dealing with.

Fer instance: You might ALSO decide you wanted to be able to:

1. ) Take a photo of the whole shebang where the chick with the great face and stunning lungs is jammed up against the front glass looking like she's getting rogered by the drum
major.

2. ) 3 different guys alternate placing and answering the phone whilst the mastodon whips up a enchanting cheese fondue and screens unreleased Fellini films on a stolen
eggplant/camcorder.

3. ) You keep as much of the original clothing and body shape/mass of the landscaped Gospel choir intact whilst shrinking the rest of the occupants down to personal voodoo
doll size and set them to work powering the South Bayonne Elks Lodge on tiny Velcro
hamster wheels.

All common scenarios.

See it every day.

[BertKoor]

In a bad mix you'd recognise flaws, things that need fixing. That requires an analytical ear, attention for such details. We're not born with that, it takes training/experience. Or some luck.

My former band mate shared a song on facebook of his new band. Another band member had done the mixing. I listened to it on my phone and heard a singer and guitars. No base. But my mate was supposed to play base.
The sucker had low-passed the base at 160Hz or so, making it disappear on phones etc.

That was a bad mixing decision, and I discovered that by pure accident. On a proper hifi system I might not have noticed.

Wanna hear more stories?

[harryupbabble]

my music collection must have songs in there that were mixed bad
i don't think i pay attention to that
good songs would sound good even if it was mixed bad?

it's like...
i was shocked to find out that jimmy page was a "sloppy" guitar player
i hadn't notice
i was too busy being affected by the songs
"sloppy" did its magic
that's all that matters?

[elxsound]

my music collection must have songs in there that were mixed bad
i don't think i pay attention to that
good songs would sound good even if it was mixed bad?

it's like...
i was shocked to find out that jimmy page was a "sloppy" guitar player
i hadn't notice
i was too busy being affected by the songs
"sloppy" did its magic
that's all that matters?

What is it that makes you say it was a bad mix?

[harryupbabble]

i don't think i have ever thought those thoughts
if they end up in my music collection it means...
i want to listen to them more than once

on second thought, i consider some songs in there that emulates
vinyl imperfections to be a bad mix

i have that song from primitive gods
"standing outside a broken phone booth with money in my hand"
it's probably mixed well but those simulated vinyl imperfections...
are they even crucial to the song itself?
or is that even that?

it might not be a mixing decision

[harryupbabble]

wait a sec
the band's name is "primitive gods"
maybe some consider vinyl primitive
neil young probably doesn't
primitive might be better to some

[elxsound]

i don't think i have ever thought those thoughts
if they end up in my music collection it means...
i want to listen to them more than once

on second thought, i consider some songs in there that emulates
vinyl imperfections to be a bad mix

i have that song from primitive gods
"standing outside a broken phone booth with money in my hand"
it's probably mixed well but those simulated vinyl imperfections...
are they even crucial to the song itself?
or is that even that?

it might not be a mixing decision

That's why I was asking... those albums were mixed well.

They're not modern recordings or modern mixes, but they were mixed well and professionally.


Anyway, who knows if the OP is genuine in wanting to know?


These kinds of threads are often just baiting people to argue about stupid shit that matters nothing. Mix, don't mix. Notice, don't notice.

If there's is genuine interest in getting better, there has never been more resources than there are now, but wait few more years and AI tools will likely catch-up to performing a technically balanced mix (but mixing is also about the creative decisions, using effects and spacial tools that can make things memorable).

[harryupbabble]

i don't know if this song was mixed bad or not but a good busker
could probably cover it with just a guitar and it would still be good
to me, at least

[harryupbabble]

it's all subjective
who can account for liking what they hear?

[Bombadil]

muddy bottom, vocals buried in the mix, too many, too much fx, not helped by a poor arrangement that has instruments fighting each other for room.
All things that often happened to me with cassette recording. Mixing lead to ear fatigue, which caused us to raise the high freqs too much. It is a science and an art.