Hannes Keseberg 'You Know Better' - Patrons Mixing Contest

[Mike Senior]

Hi pmilani! Wow -- this is certainly a bold vision! Initially I have to say I was reeling a little, because it's a very different perspective, and not what I'd expect in terms of the contest brief and references. That said, the more I've listened to it, the more it's won me over with its own logic, and I have to say this could now be my favourite mix so far. The balancing is generally great, there's bags of character and detail in the sounds and effects, the snare is meaty, the kick and bass are tight and extended, there's good width, mono-compatibility, small-speaker translation, and sensible spectral balance... In short, it's a really cool mix, whether or not it's exactly the one Hannes might have been looking for!

All that said, there were a few minor queries I had:

• The editing clicks on the conga are coming through, and they don't really support even this more rootsy vision, so I'd probably try to smooth those over.
  
• The solo guitar in the Intro/Reintro and Verse 3 feels like it has a bit too much 300Hz. It's dominating over the lead vocal (despite excellent vocal balancing throughout) and I think it'd take a step back into the balance if it had a bit less of that frequency. The Chorus 2 and Mid-section are the biggest culprits in this respect. That guitar sound was also the only part that I felt could maybe have a touch more delay or something to glue it in with the mix.
  
• One small niggle with the vocal balancing: when he shifts to falsetto in the choruses that's messing with the translation a bit, and I reckon it'd sit more solidly with the rest of the part if those syllables were multed to a sub-channel with more 1-2kHz and less sub-200Hz.
  
• Loved the long delay-reverb effect on the Verse 2 guitar, which makes a fantastic contrast between the Verse 1 and Verse 2 sounds, thereby addressing one of the multitrack's core arrangement challenges.
  
• And, speaking of mix solutions to arrangement challenges, the envelope wah effect that appears in Verse 3 is a stroke of genius, because that not only creates a textural change for the onset of that verse (thereby improving the long-term mix dynamics), but it also (if, as I suspect, it's being applied to the piano part) converts the liability of a mechanical-sounding MIDI instrument into the asset of a cool new sound -- and a sound that's totally in keeping with the Reggae influences. That brought a big smile to my face!
  
• All that good stuff aside, I do wonder whether the mix could still give a little more concession to the idea of a mainstream single, in terms of manipulating the listener's attention a little more assertively. The balancing is all great, but I reckon some additonal detailed fader rides could maybe draw our ears more readily towards all the lovely things going on in this texture.
  

Overall, though, this is first-class work. There's just something very musical about this mix, and it's a great example of taking the multitracks in an unexpected direction that's nonetheless compelling. Bravo sir!