Patrick T - Blue (Metallurgist)

[dcp10200]

It seems to me the ability to do all kinds of crazy things to someone's raw tracks is an easy thing to do. Making those things work within the context of the song is more of an art form. I would never confuse technical acumen with an art form, or vice-versa. As an art form, I feel this mix fails badly, but shows off the mixers considerable technical skills. Improving on or making a track 'sound' better is truly one of the most subjective things in the human experience. I enjoy the technical aspects of this mix but the song is lost because of it. And to me, it is all about the song.

I haven't really made a mix of this track, so take my words with a metric tonne of salt. I'm agreeing with you, the mix is perfect from a purely technical aspect. It's not too hot and compressed the balance is great, and it has some cool effects.

From a musical perspective however, the delays and other effects don't really add to what's already there and that audio watermark is really annoying, like a pirated copy off Limewire. I've listened to other mixes by Dave and they all seem to be technically good, not exactly song serving.

I'll put it like this, Californication by the Red Hot Chili peppers has a horrible mix and master from a technical standard, however I love the songs on that album because they are well written and the raw and dirty sound of that album suit the music of that album because the music is raw and visceral. This mix is like how Californication would be with overly polished, technically perfect production.

this above post is also relevant to yourself. note well i seek objective discussion, not ones based on subjective, personal preference-type tastes which are unproductive in this forum.

read especially the last paragraph.

thanks for listening....i look forward to your cooperation regarding my request.

http://www.discussion.cambridge-mt.com/s...0#pid44020

Here is my objective opinion: The mix overall is very well balanced, and has a cohesive sound. The delays need work however, they are very present in the mix and are distracting from the actual main vocals and don't really add very much to the mix as a whole. The audio watermark at the very beginning is completely unnecessary, like an MP3 downloaded from limewire of a new hit single, not great for something that will be commercially released (since this was the other point you brought up in your comment). The guitar during the outro gets lost behind the bass and overally the reverb, while a nice touch, can be overbearing. A very short (30 ms) ping pong delay or a stereo reverb with a shorter decay would help out as the mono reverb on the guitar really intrudes on the space that the guitar is taking up. For the vocal delay, try using less feedback and lowering the level of them overall in the mix. Mostly my crtiques are about the effects as you can see, the mix is again quite well balanced and the separation of instruments is decent. The weak point is the use of effects, the "trippy" feeling of the mix comes across as forced and detracts from the other good elements of the mix.