21-11-2015, 12:59 AM
hi, just some quick notes as i'm passing thru...hope they help:
the sound stage isn't convincing, part of the problem stems from the depth field. for example, the piano is dry....too close and detached relative to the rest of the band (the illusion suggests it's not in the same performance space). given it's issues in the sound stage, i wouldn't make it wide because it's drawing even more attention to it. another example is the drum kit...some of the kit is set back, while other elements are right up close to the listener - ride cymbal especially (and it's pretty sharp in my headphones too). given that treble loses energy in air over distance.....this is one of the most important cues we humans employ to determine location/depth. if the treble contradicts the reverb emulation applied to an instrument, it's not going to sound right. it's a challenge to get the close mic's not to sound close, eh?
elements of the brass section needed some smoothing in the treble as they sound too digital and harsh; if you've got an analogue emu' like the PultecPro it can work wonders in combination with a decent tape emu.
i'd also keep the sub 120Hz or so out of your side channels as it's tending to muddy up the mix and make it heavy going in the headphones - feeding the bass into your stereo reverb is the likely culprit here; you needed to EQ the crud out of it. you might also want to back off the compression on the stereo buss; in my experience, this is rather hot for big band. this compression thing is probably not helping the harshness in the treble, i dare say
i generally liked the main reverb over the mix though. what were you using, out of interest?
cheers,,
the sound stage isn't convincing, part of the problem stems from the depth field. for example, the piano is dry....too close and detached relative to the rest of the band (the illusion suggests it's not in the same performance space). given it's issues in the sound stage, i wouldn't make it wide because it's drawing even more attention to it. another example is the drum kit...some of the kit is set back, while other elements are right up close to the listener - ride cymbal especially (and it's pretty sharp in my headphones too). given that treble loses energy in air over distance.....this is one of the most important cues we humans employ to determine location/depth. if the treble contradicts the reverb emulation applied to an instrument, it's not going to sound right. it's a challenge to get the close mic's not to sound close, eh?
elements of the brass section needed some smoothing in the treble as they sound too digital and harsh; if you've got an analogue emu' like the PultecPro it can work wonders in combination with a decent tape emu.
i'd also keep the sub 120Hz or so out of your side channels as it's tending to muddy up the mix and make it heavy going in the headphones - feeding the bass into your stereo reverb is the likely culprit here; you needed to EQ the crud out of it. you might also want to back off the compression on the stereo buss; in my experience, this is rather hot for big band. this compression thing is probably not helping the harshness in the treble, i dare say
i generally liked the main reverb over the mix though. what were you using, out of interest?
cheers,,
Beware...........Cognitive Dissonance!