17-11-2016, 12:09 PM
Overall I like this mix a lot -- it's got plenty of punch and excitement and a very decent general balance between the main elements: vocals, kick, snare, bass, guitars, cymbals. Plus I like the way you've slotted in some of the 'feature' moments: the high AcousticGtr03 parts at the end of Verse 1, the beginning of Verse 2, and in Mid-section 2; ElecGtr02's falling broken chords in the Mid-sections; the banjo in Verse 3; that eerie ElecGtr04 part in Outro1; and the backing vocals in Outro 2. All well judged to be audible, and make their statement, but never in a distracting or overwrought way. Those backing vocals are particularly interesting, because you've tackled the potential for muddiness well, and also left them a little bit indistinct in terms of intelligibility. Although instinctively I bridled at that indistinctness from the perspective of wanting to hear the lyrics more clearly, the overall impression grew on me, and added to the rootsy feel somehow, so I'm not sure I'd change it.
In terms of areas that could perhaps be improved, I'd say it's the low end I'd look at first of all. One of the challenges of this multitrack as I see it is that the bass guitar itself has a lot more first harmonic than it has fundamental, and the amp it's put through actually seems to accentuate that even more. This means that if you balance the bass so that it sounds reasonably well balanced with the guitars overall (and where it doesn't bloat out the lower midrange) you end up with very little real weight. As a result, it seems to me you've relied a little too hard on the kick-drum's low end to even out the overall mix's tonality. Clearly, these kinds of things are a judgement call, but I think the music works better with a slightly more even-handed LF contribution from those two instruments. I've attached a version of your mix where I've added more of the kind of low end I'm thinking of (using the raw multitrack's DI part), so you can hear what I mean -- it's like it puts the harmony and the groove more on equal terms. I've also added a touch more 15kHz 'air' to that mix too, as that's another thing I thought would help the mix, especially in terms of balancing the extra low end I've added.
You've gone for a very upfront drum sound, which I do like a lot in terms of the groove, but I also wonder whether fitting in a little more room sound on the snare in particular might help it belong better to the rest of the mix. At the moment it sounds a bit gated, and that slight sense of artificiality somehow niggles me as a listener. Maybe it's because it's neither dramatic enough to be a 'hey here's Americana with EDM drums' thing, but neither is it natural-sounding enough to fit comfortably with the style of the rest of the elements -- it's kind of like you've not made up your mind either way! To be fair, that slightly gated character is inherent in the virtual drum kit used here, but I think the preview mix mitigates it a bit more believably than yours at the moment, for instance.
One more thing -- I'd probably try to tilt the vocal sound a bit away from the low mids -- sounds a bit muffled in context. In general there's some low-mid build-up in this mix, so you need to work out where you can afford to clean some of that out, I reckon.
Still, thanks for putting in a mix and starting off these critiques with the quality bar set high!
In terms of areas that could perhaps be improved, I'd say it's the low end I'd look at first of all. One of the challenges of this multitrack as I see it is that the bass guitar itself has a lot more first harmonic than it has fundamental, and the amp it's put through actually seems to accentuate that even more. This means that if you balance the bass so that it sounds reasonably well balanced with the guitars overall (and where it doesn't bloat out the lower midrange) you end up with very little real weight. As a result, it seems to me you've relied a little too hard on the kick-drum's low end to even out the overall mix's tonality. Clearly, these kinds of things are a judgement call, but I think the music works better with a slightly more even-handed LF contribution from those two instruments. I've attached a version of your mix where I've added more of the kind of low end I'm thinking of (using the raw multitrack's DI part), so you can hear what I mean -- it's like it puts the harmony and the groove more on equal terms. I've also added a touch more 15kHz 'air' to that mix too, as that's another thing I thought would help the mix, especially in terms of balancing the extra low end I've added.
You've gone for a very upfront drum sound, which I do like a lot in terms of the groove, but I also wonder whether fitting in a little more room sound on the snare in particular might help it belong better to the rest of the mix. At the moment it sounds a bit gated, and that slight sense of artificiality somehow niggles me as a listener. Maybe it's because it's neither dramatic enough to be a 'hey here's Americana with EDM drums' thing, but neither is it natural-sounding enough to fit comfortably with the style of the rest of the elements -- it's kind of like you've not made up your mind either way! To be fair, that slightly gated character is inherent in the virtual drum kit used here, but I think the preview mix mitigates it a bit more believably than yours at the moment, for instance.
One more thing -- I'd probably try to tilt the vocal sound a bit away from the low mids -- sounds a bit muffled in context. In general there's some low-mid build-up in this mix, so you need to work out where you can afford to clean some of that out, I reckon.
Still, thanks for putting in a mix and starting off these critiques with the quality bar set high!