MerryGold: Motherload - Mixed at Walt's Audio Engineering

[tjmtruth]

Walt's Audio,

Loved your mix. I am not usually a fan of extreme panning on individual instruments, but that approach worked really well here as every instrument is clear as a bell. I've got to learn to stop adding too many panning/chorusing type effects to my mixes....it clutters them up. Your mix really has taught me a good lesson, especially in this genre of music. Everything in your mix is perfection......loved it! .....and thanks for slapping me upside the head.....my next mixes I will stop with the doubling/chorusing plugins.....they are clouding my own mixes and I didn't even realize it.
:-)
Tom

Wow Tom, thanks for the glowing review!
At this point I'm mostly into mixing acoustic/bluegrass and in that genre I love hard panned strings. This might surprise you - there are actually numerous effects present in the mix:
-GlaceVerb
-Lexicon LXP Native
-Liquid Delay II
-Ambience
-Voxengo Tube Amp
-Waves Renaissance Reverb
-Slate Revival
-Marroquin Delay (Doubler)
-an LFO constantly moving the pan of the accordion (and other automated pans)
-EQs, compressors, multi-band compressors, etc.
-automations of dynamics, including on the master bus
Each is used for a specific purpose on a specific channel and only enough to get the desired effect. All of the small changes can add up to a significant change in the overall sound.
I think two things helped me keep it clean: 1. Keeping only what is needed (discarding or lowering tracks that don't contribute something positive) and 2. Mixing and EQing everything in mono until each part stood out - then doing the rest in stereo. It forces me to cut an EQ space for each part. If the individual tracks pop out in mono, they'll really pop out in stereo.
Thanks again for the great review!
Walt

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Walt, well you hit the nail on the head. Yes, you had plenty of effects in the mix but you used them sparingly, or just enough to get the desired sound but not too much so that the ear can hear them and be distracted by them. You see, I tend to go crazy with effects....but I'm learning....less is more....! Bravo again on your mix!!!

Tom