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Colour Me Reeeeeeed
#9
Just checked out your latest version (labelled version six). An extremely full-sounding mix this, but nicely balanced in general, and with a great sense of blend too, despite no obvious surfeit of reverb. Love the effects spins on the vocal in Verse 2/4 and the Mid-section -- it's this kind of active differentiation of the different sections that's part of what helps really draw me into the song in your version. Incidentally, both those effect spins would have been overkill if you'd used them all the way through, but when they only operate as spot effects they work really well, and this actually illustrates a wider truth about mixing, I think. One of the secrets to an engaging mix is by doing things in the short-term that would be unacceptable if carried through the whole mix -- whether that's an odd balance, an odd effect, an odd arrangement, or whatever. It's those things that really catch the ear, so I'm delighted that you've made good use of this principle.

That said, I can't really see the rationale behind muting the cleaner guitar parts in the Mid-sections, as those provide some great musical variety, and anything riff-based like this needs all the arrangement variation it can get. Fair enough if you want to leave them to Mid-section 2 (I can see that working well, especially given how full you've managed to make the band texture even with just the rhythm chugs there). By the same token, you've taken a bit of a gamble by giving the acoustic parts so little exposure. It's not that your vision doesn't work, because it does on its own terms -- in fact, it blends better than many other mixes I've heard that feature the acoustic elements more strongly. The gamble is that you're chucking out a lot of things the artist connected with while tracking, and there's always the possibility that you've over-highlighted the parts he liked less! That's not meant to be a criticism, though, because I like bold mixes, and some of the most well-received mixes I've ever done have been where I've focused the production into a clearer and more direct form like this. And it's probably also worth saying that in any competition situation (whether for a contest like this or when competing for business) it's more often the daring mixes that win out in my experience, so the chances of success may arguably be better if you deliver a unique vision that stands or falls according to whether it appeals in its own right, rather than if you play things safe and have to compete on finer details against a larger number of more conservative mixes that sound similar.

I like the heavy compression you've used on the vocal and the mix in general -- it's not going to win any awards from Bob Katz, but it feels absolutely appropriate to me. One technical issue with the vocal compression, though, is that I think the breaths and the starts of some of the words are getting overemphasised, so I'd probably do a bit more vocal level automation to compensate for that. I also like the way you seen to have enhanced the midrange of the vocal tone, which is something that I think it really benefits from in terms of sounding solid in the mix. As a result, you don't have any troubles with the guitars or drums sounding like they're in front of the vocals -- although clearly the healthy vocal level is also responsible. Bear in mind, though, that there are plenty of effects on the vocal too, which could also have pulled it way back in the perspective, so I think the midrange issue still counts. Speaking of which, this mix also puts the lead clearly ahead of the backing vocals, which seems quite appropriate again.

The overall mix tonality seems too full in the 100-200Hz region, as has frequently happened in the mixes I've heard. Clearly, you want a good strong bass presence in this mix, but I'd suggest cutting some of that zone out and pushing the sub-100Hz region instead. As it is it feels like you've over-pushed the low end of the kick drum to fill out the overall mix spectrum, given the lightweight fundamentals of that particular bass recording.

Thanks for posting another great vision -- we're spoilt for choice!
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Messages In This Thread
Colour Me Reeeeeeed - by moussasfeir - 01-11-2016, 05:39 PM
RE: Colour Me Reeeeeeed - by Olli H - 01-11-2016, 05:48 PM
RE: Colour Me Reeeeeeed - by Memphis Black - 01-11-2016, 10:53 PM
RE: Colour Me Reeeeeeed - by joelonsdale - 03-11-2016, 12:33 PM
RE: Colour Me Reeeeeeed - by Mixinthecloud - 03-11-2016, 02:14 PM
RE: Colour Me Reeeeeeed - by moussasfeir - 11-11-2016, 07:21 AM
RE: Colour Me Reeeeeeed - by thedon - 11-11-2016, 09:39 AM
RE: Colour Me Reeeeeeed - by moussasfeir - 11-11-2016, 10:09 AM
RE: Colour Me Reeeeeeed - by Mike Senior - 24-11-2016, 10:04 AM
RE: Colour Me Reeeeeeed - by moussasfeir - 25-11-2016, 06:17 AM
RE: Colour Me Reeeeeeed - by moussasfeir - 27-11-2016, 12:09 PM