14-12-2014, 07:16 PM
Hey Olli, I think you might be interpreting Dave's comments as insults, but I don't think he meant them that way.
To further the discussion, in most cases I agree with you on drums and stereo... I tend to spread things out for purely practical EQ reasons, or to provide some actual physical movement to the sound, but in a real world situation, you're right... Drums are effectively mono. In this mix, due to the light instrumentation, he has a point, although the idea that it was mixed from the drummers stool is inconsequential IMHO because drum kits can be and often are reconfigured for left handed players... And some drummers choose to put their cymbals in "wrong" places to suit their playing styles (think carter beauford.). But some effort to create an illusion of space in this case seems wise, since everything is so exposed.
So on the vibes and organ, spreading them out is making Dave nauseous.. I would have said dizzy, but most people aren't so sensitive. The raw tracks have some sort of fast delay rocking back and forth on the sides that completely disappears if you zero out the width, but that would limit their usefulness as stereo pads. But all the stereo stuff rattling around on both sides all in the same frequency range can cause some problems, so what to do? I'd say high pass all the way up to 250 or 300 just on their sides, the narrow their width about 50 percent. Without the low mids sweeping back and forth from hard left to hard right you could pan them in opposition, get the stereo filler you need, and nobody gets dizzy :p.
On the bass, a high passed mono reverb makes sense, but it's a good idea in a mix like this where almost everything is software to have a short blending reverb that every track is feeding into at least a little to give them all something in common. It's a modern trend to leave the bass entirely dry (in a loud, busy mix) but this mix is too sparse for that IMHO.
Anyway, I think it's a pretty good mix. Home studio mixes are always hard, but your work is easy on the ears as always. Good discussion on stereo here we should keep going. Stereo is my Achilles heel personally... Which is kinda stupid? EQ? Easy. Compression? Child's play. Stereo panorama? Minefield. Much to learn.
To further the discussion, in most cases I agree with you on drums and stereo... I tend to spread things out for purely practical EQ reasons, or to provide some actual physical movement to the sound, but in a real world situation, you're right... Drums are effectively mono. In this mix, due to the light instrumentation, he has a point, although the idea that it was mixed from the drummers stool is inconsequential IMHO because drum kits can be and often are reconfigured for left handed players... And some drummers choose to put their cymbals in "wrong" places to suit their playing styles (think carter beauford.). But some effort to create an illusion of space in this case seems wise, since everything is so exposed.
So on the vibes and organ, spreading them out is making Dave nauseous.. I would have said dizzy, but most people aren't so sensitive. The raw tracks have some sort of fast delay rocking back and forth on the sides that completely disappears if you zero out the width, but that would limit their usefulness as stereo pads. But all the stereo stuff rattling around on both sides all in the same frequency range can cause some problems, so what to do? I'd say high pass all the way up to 250 or 300 just on their sides, the narrow their width about 50 percent. Without the low mids sweeping back and forth from hard left to hard right you could pan them in opposition, get the stereo filler you need, and nobody gets dizzy :p.
On the bass, a high passed mono reverb makes sense, but it's a good idea in a mix like this where almost everything is software to have a short blending reverb that every track is feeding into at least a little to give them all something in common. It's a modern trend to leave the bass entirely dry (in a loud, busy mix) but this mix is too sparse for that IMHO.
Anyway, I think it's a pretty good mix. Home studio mixes are always hard, but your work is easy on the ears as always. Good discussion on stereo here we should keep going. Stereo is my Achilles heel personally... Which is kinda stupid? EQ? Easy. Compression? Child's play. Stereo panorama? Minefield. Much to learn.
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!