figure337: Just Dropped my first album! Give it a listen?

Veldin 02.21.21	I'll give it a shot. Great influences
madrigal30 02.21.21	heyo, i know this feeling! not long ago i made a v similar list. checking now!
madrigal30 02.21.21	update: not much to critique here that isn't production related, the music is really intricate and cool! the only thing i think it really needs is a better mixdown and maybe some more dynamics, but i really hear all your influences coming through and the songs have passion! dope stuff
figure337 02.21.21	Yeah I did the production myself, feel free to critique it if you think its useful info. I'm trying to get better to the point of it being a sidegig so have at it. Also I'm about to check out your stuff.
figure337 02.21.21	Also thanks for listening and the kind words :)
figure337 02.21.21	Thats some good DIY punk right there. Reminds a tad of OLD AFI, a peppering of Minor Threat and a touch of Joy Division. Rock on!
Final Origin 02.21.21	Listen to a few of your tracks, some really great guitar work. Vows to Omit especially had some very cool parts on it. If I am to be critiquing anything, I would say the drums probably could do with being brought forward a little and mixed more prominently to give the tracks a bit more punch because it would give them so much more character; pretty much what Madrigal was saying before me, just needs more dynamics. Really liked the tracks themselves though, some great songwriting in there. If you are interested in listening to my stuff, let me know and I'll provide a link.
figure337 02.21.21	Thanks for listening Final! Yeah I struggled with mixing the drums. I wanted them louder to showcase the great playing by this studio guy but sometimes the "energy" of them would clash. And since they're guitar based songs it threw the songs feel off a bit. Hurt me to do so. Yeah please send a link!
Final Origin 02.21.21	Yeah drums can be a real pain to mix, especially when you have guitars you are trying to layer, finding the balance takes so much time and repeated listens to get right, and even then its never perfect. I found recently that putting the EQ for the guitar tracks to be focused solely on mid-high range and drums to be focused mainly on mid-low range with a hint of high frequencies helped a little. Here's a link to my stuff, obviously I am giving the impression like I know what I am talking about, but I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination when it comes to production haha: https://echotail.bandcamp.com/album/a-brief-escape-from-life
figure337 02.21.21	Yeah I tend to boost the 1k area, I'll try it a bit higher next time. Goes to show we all have our preferences, which kinda makes learning from others more difficult to learn ya know? I really dug the track "under the shade" very dark and dreary track. Lyrics were cool too. The synth bit at the end of the track REALLY tied the song up nicely. I'll give more tracks a listen later because i'm barely awake at the moment. Cheers!
madrigal30 02.21.21	hey thanks for listening to my stuff lol :) yeah if i were to offer you any criticism i would say you need a lot more dynamics and presence on the guitars. compress them less, record in multiple tracks, don't be afraid to get messy
Final Origin 02.21.21	Yeah I used to have my guitar EQs to be fairly equal but a bit boosted on low and high frequencies, now I just focus on med-high and it sounds a lot better considering you need to give space for bass and drums as well at the lower end. Glad you dug my track, that was one of the songs that took absolutely ages to mix and I still don't know if it fantastic enough, but I was happy enough to release it anyways. Be interesting to hear what you think of the others as well.
figure337 02.22.21	@mad: Yeah some guitar tracks were just recording through plugins. Which is really convenient but the top end can be really harsh so I very likely trimmed them down a bit too much which just leaves some mids mostly. Useful feedback so thanks. @final: Yeah after re-listening to some of my tracks the guitars def need some extra presence but I see I kinda compensated by giving them extra volume which doesn't exactly solve the problem. Just listened "Dilation" and "xanadu". You definitely have your sound down. You also really know how to mix your lead work while not down playing your rhythm section. I'm kinda jealous because your voice fits every song when i'm over here struggling to get decent takes. GREAT stuff man.