26-04-2015, 10:43 PM
For the most part it sounds pretty good to me. The treble certainly isn't taking my head off, but I'd still like a fuller and more cohesive bottom end during the full band sections. The music is certainly more enjoyable to listen to in this form.
Now, during the sections where it's mostly Patrick and the organ, I think you've done really well, there. Great delicate touch on the drum loop, nicely understated guitars... organ could maybe be a little further away on the front to back spectrum, but it's sitting nicely where it is right now. Everything sounds great in its own right and blends well. More a matter of personal taste, I'd go for a slightly wetter sound on the accompaniment instruments, and I'd probably low pass filter the occasional delays on the vocal for a slightly more natural sounding echo.
You'd have to ask Patrick exactly what his sonic intentions were in writing the song, but the music to me naturally wants to be punchy and a little bit funky when the entire band is playing. It's subjective, but in my world that means the beat would be best driven by the drums/bass. The main sticking point for me is that the full band sections are too small and quiet relative to the sparser bits. In almost any mix, I personally start the balance by finding the section of the song with the fullest instrumentation and mixing that first so I don't run into that trouble. If you're not running your levels too hot in the mix, though, you might be able to get a fuller chorus by simply raising the levels. A classic mix trick you hear all the time on ABBA's old records is to raise level of the accompaniment and reduce the level of the vocals in the chorus, and the opposite in the verse.
After I find that full section to start the balance, I like to start either with the overheads (for live kit) or the kick drum (for a virtual kit/drum machine) and usually fade it up to about -18 dB RMS... no real reason for the exact figure other than to absolutely eliminate any chance I might run out of headroom, just in case I wind up considering a big change in the mix balance like I'm recommending and I won't have to start over. I say it all the time, probably too much, but gain staging is about nine tenths of the mix. Before getting too technical, a little while back I stopped really thinking along the lines of X should be louder than Y, and I've found it helpful to think more along the lines of Y should be further away than X... that's helped me with the gain staging element the most.
Beyond that specific recommendations are tricky to make without knowing what you're already doing and your taste in sounds, but on instinct I'd say the snare and kick would both benefit from some compression with moderately tight timing settings to shape a slightly more assertive sound with a bit more body. The bass guitar feels a bit on the limp side... I'd definitely recommend a firmer compression ratio for a more consistent bottom end, but make sure it's not too fast or it'll weaken the bottom end and blunt the attack.
You're doing good work though. I've been around and around with this song and have found it pretty difficult to mix, and you're definitely coaxing out some pretty good sounds. Just remember the big picture!
Now, during the sections where it's mostly Patrick and the organ, I think you've done really well, there. Great delicate touch on the drum loop, nicely understated guitars... organ could maybe be a little further away on the front to back spectrum, but it's sitting nicely where it is right now. Everything sounds great in its own right and blends well. More a matter of personal taste, I'd go for a slightly wetter sound on the accompaniment instruments, and I'd probably low pass filter the occasional delays on the vocal for a slightly more natural sounding echo.
You'd have to ask Patrick exactly what his sonic intentions were in writing the song, but the music to me naturally wants to be punchy and a little bit funky when the entire band is playing. It's subjective, but in my world that means the beat would be best driven by the drums/bass. The main sticking point for me is that the full band sections are too small and quiet relative to the sparser bits. In almost any mix, I personally start the balance by finding the section of the song with the fullest instrumentation and mixing that first so I don't run into that trouble. If you're not running your levels too hot in the mix, though, you might be able to get a fuller chorus by simply raising the levels. A classic mix trick you hear all the time on ABBA's old records is to raise level of the accompaniment and reduce the level of the vocals in the chorus, and the opposite in the verse.
After I find that full section to start the balance, I like to start either with the overheads (for live kit) or the kick drum (for a virtual kit/drum machine) and usually fade it up to about -18 dB RMS... no real reason for the exact figure other than to absolutely eliminate any chance I might run out of headroom, just in case I wind up considering a big change in the mix balance like I'm recommending and I won't have to start over. I say it all the time, probably too much, but gain staging is about nine tenths of the mix. Before getting too technical, a little while back I stopped really thinking along the lines of X should be louder than Y, and I've found it helpful to think more along the lines of Y should be further away than X... that's helped me with the gain staging element the most.
Beyond that specific recommendations are tricky to make without knowing what you're already doing and your taste in sounds, but on instinct I'd say the snare and kick would both benefit from some compression with moderately tight timing settings to shape a slightly more assertive sound with a bit more body. The bass guitar feels a bit on the limp side... I'd definitely recommend a firmer compression ratio for a more consistent bottom end, but make sure it's not too fast or it'll weaken the bottom end and blunt the attack.
You're doing good work though. I've been around and around with this song and have found it pretty difficult to mix, and you're definitely coaxing out some pretty good sounds. Just remember the big picture!
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!