Mix is damp?

I

IanMathews

Guest
I had a comment about a track, and the person mentioned they liked the music, but the mix was "damp". Any thoughts what that could mean? The track is actually in my sig below.

I've no idea who the random commenter is, so I thought I'd bring the issue to a trusted site before asking him to elaborate.

Can anyone give me a pointer on this mix? Again, it's the one in my sig. If "damp" is to mean wet or dry, all I can say is my master bus has a limiter and binaural pan to widen the overall sound.

Thanks FP.
 
very good track. damp isnt the word i would use to describe it, i actually dont know what word I would use. The mix is good though, maybe a little bass heavy, but nothing that takes away from it. I wouldnt take what he said as anything
 
I guess the word I'd use - and what I think the "damp" refererred to - is that it's a bit...unexciting. Everything's a bit too balanced, so nothing really stands out and it ends being a bit of "tapestry" instead of the centerpiece of my attention. Sounds good though.
 
I'd say damp as in it has everything but it just doesn't have an environmental reverb/echo signature (which is what I associate with the term wet)
 
yea i think what he was trying to say is that theres no stereo imagery present everything is smack dead in the middle try to give it a 360 feel
 
Ahh, non-music people and their terminology for describing things. Who knows what damp could mean. I thought it might have been like soaking in reverb or something but it's not.

Maybe he meant the bass was really loud (which it is imo) and it kinda muddies things (it doesn't imo). Someone else said that nothing really stands out. To me it almost sounds like you've shaved a wee bit of top end off of everything. Maybe that combined with the bass = "damp".

Cool beat though.
 
I thought I was going to hear a ton of reverb too. It's just opinion. Take the criticism, but know that some people criticize just for the sake, and sometimes its just opinion and it's not necessarily wrong or right.
 
Sometimes when people say "damp" they mean "muffled"... like a damp cloth is covering it (?). The mix is good overall but to me the basses are a bit over-represented. I would cut a few DB between 80hz-300hz. Or else just add a bit of a high shelf. If you're adventurous try a bit of mid-side to edge up the highs mainly on the sides of your mix (try Brainworx Digital... there should be a trial for this available).

Or if you want, send me a PM with a link to your premastered mix and I'll run it through my setup to show you what I mean.
 
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