Tears in the rain (Sano mix)

[sano]

Hey Sano, a quick few comments...

Personally I think the steel string acoustics are way too forward and dominant in this mix. They, along with the bass, are pretty much biting big chunks of spectral data from almost every track except the tambourine. The bass is masking the kick, so the kick could come up a bit, or some ninja sidechaining would work, too. It also sounds like the bass is hitting the limiter pretty hard.. my headphones are revealing a good bit of distortion. Some people like that sound, though, so don't let me discourage you if that was intentional. The acoustic guitars would probably let the lead guitars (nylon and electric) rise to the front of the mix if they were spread out and the lead instruments were panned more centrally... it sounds like you developed some really beautiful tone in the lead guitars, too, but there's a lot of "now you see it, now you don't" because the rhythm guitars are taking up so much space, especially right in the center.

I'd suggest a quick re-visit of the panning... bringing the lead guitars to the center and spreading the rhythm guitars out to the sides, and clearing some of the low middle warmth out of the rhythm guitars to allow more warmth in the leads and a more intimate presentation of the melody. That along with clearing up some space for the kick in the bottom end would really let your mixing skills (which I admire) to shine.

Having said all that, this is a really deceptively difficult song to mix... when I heard the preview I thought "PSSSSH, I got this!"... and I've revisited it about 6 times, but I just can't seem to get a mix that stands up to scrutiny. It either gets harsh when turned up, sounds boxy, or the compression eats it alive no matter how I try, so don't take my comments as criticisms. There's just so much to look out for in this one that remaining objective is almost impossible. Sparse instrumentation, typical small studio comb filtering artifacts (which are really hard to remedy on an acoustic instrument!), and a very beautiful yet puzzlingly inconsistent electric guitar sound.... every bit of processing is so hard to keep transparent. I must say, you've dealt with the weird tonality in the acoustic better than any mix I've heard so far, and there are really beautiful tones in the lead instrument, so you've done good work here in my opinion.

Thanks pauli for your comments. I did originally have the acoustics panned hard LR but felt there was a hole in the centre of my mix which was not quite being filled by the rest of the instruments so I panned them halfway towards center. I also wanted to keep them fuller sounding as they dominate my mix so I guess this is whats causing them to walk over the rest of instruments. So I guess a better balance can be found.

I'm a little surprised you are hearing distortion as I went easy with the limiter on this one to suit the style of music, but it's something I gonna look at.