19-02-2013, 10:24 PM
Just a few more thoughts on listening again on the studio speakers... A very 'present' rendition this, and mostly very sensibly balanced for the most part. You've kept things very dry, which feels a bit too stark to me, and compromises the blend as a result. The overheads in particular feel too upfront, for instance, and the saxes feel more upfront at 2:15 than the trombone solo. This isn't a multitrack which I feel you can really just take as it is. It was recorded in the way it was so that there's be some control at mixdown over the ensemble, but that does mean that it does require a bit of 'reassembly from flatpack'. It's not that I'm demanding that everyone make their mixes as wet as mine, but even with this kind of upfront needs to cohere into a believable ensemble I reckon.
The one reverb I really can hear is that on the lead vocal, but it feels a bit stuck on, because it strongly suggests an acoustic that's at odds with that of the band as a whole, so it doesn't really do its job of blending her overdub in with the band. It can take a while to find a suitable reverb patch in this kind of application, so you do need to give it enough time -- I think I went through about 40 convolution impulse responses before I found on that seemed to do the job on a subjective level when I was tackling this mix, and that's not unusual.
[PS. Also, thanks for all your contributions to this Discussion Zone so far. It's great to have people like you putting out mixes and feedback to help future students in the long run.]
The one reverb I really can hear is that on the lead vocal, but it feels a bit stuck on, because it strongly suggests an acoustic that's at odds with that of the band as a whole, so it doesn't really do its job of blending her overdub in with the band. It can take a while to find a suitable reverb patch in this kind of application, so you do need to give it enough time -- I think I went through about 40 convolution impulse responses before I found on that seemed to do the job on a subjective level when I was tackling this mix, and that's not unusual.
[PS. Also, thanks for all your contributions to this Discussion Zone so far. It's great to have people like you putting out mixes and feedback to help future students in the long run.]