Street Noise - Revelations (no compression mix)

[drFiend]

Hey everyone!

What do you think of this quick mix? Intended it as a "big mono mix true to the original material".

Goals:
- No compression
- Substractive EQ only
- Mono compatibility

Instruments does not contain any high frequency information. Trying making them bright and modern is either in vain or will seriously damage the sonics IMO.

[londonmatt]

Hi there, this is an interesting experiment, for sure, but I'm not sure why you think it's more true to the original material when the most sought-after compressors nowadays are either originals or copies of models that were first made 50+ years ago - it's not like they're a recent invention! Additive EQ has been around even longer.

I'm totally onboard with the mentality that wants to preserve the original character of the instruments as much as possible, but mix-wise I'm not sure this has really worked - it seems like everything is located centrally and is quite mid-rangy. The actual balance is great, but there's not much separation. Might be worth going back to this and seeing what you could achieve with a little compression and some gentle EQ boosts to get more definition and clarity, then you can A/B it with this mix to see which you prefer - which might still be this version, but at least then you've heard it both ways.

Cheers,
Matt

[drFiend]

Thanks for the prompt feedback.

Two independent statements, actually. True to the material - meant haven't changed anything drastically.
Gear was used a little differently back then, and especially even earlier, in pre-Beatles era. EQ and compression were used more as fixing tools rather than tone sculpting. Compressors had high ratio and were used for keeping levels under control in order to achieve optimal signal to noise ratio and prevent major overloading. Tried using modern equipment, a computer, in the old way gear was supposingly used. Like, imagine 50's sound engineer with a PC.

This multitrack is tape sourced and has dynamic range already smothened by the tape. It unlikely needs much compression. Nothing at all is more challenging for achieving instruments balance, and it is certainly possible with digital (no noise and overloading). I think this fictional engineer would have explored this possibilty for sure.

As for stereo, guitar tracks are very uneven and panned even 30% sounds weird. Doubled tracks are needed for panning. Did not want to use artificial doubling. At least did not like my result with these methods.

[londonmatt]

That's all fair enough - but I guess the next question to ask is "if our 50s engineer had access to the range of tools we have at disposal today, wouldn't he/she use them?" I'm not saying there's anything wrong with your approach as such, and it's certainly an interesting experiment (like I've seen elsewhere suggestions like "try making the best mix you can with only stock plugins" just to try and stretch your skills) but equally I reckon you'd get a better sound overall if you relaxed the rules a bit and allowed a bit of top-end boost to the drums and maybe some compression to give a bit more snap to the kick and snare. However, that may not be the sound you want, which is fair enough

[drFiend]

In fact, tried this before posting the mix. It isn't the matter of simply adding some crack. This requires completely different mix and lots of work. Drums does not have much crack to start with, almost nothing to boost, even with overheads cranked all the way up. They're 99.99% about the top mic body in 70's fashion. Overheads has some "puff" instead. Even no bottom mic (or it was already recorded to the same track low). Emphasised even more by the absence of useful HF due to mics and aged tape (it contains some crap which begins to sound horrible when boosted instead of real HF information). One have to be extremely careful with EQ boosts and compression in order to avoid disturbing that s*** on such a material.

I think this would require quite a some HF enhancers (exciters). I don't have a good sounding one. Something like Aphex exciter or Dolby trick will fit the era. Thought not wrestling with the way instruments was recorded and emphasising what's already here instead will be a better start. Maybe I will do a different mix with enhancing, some compression and wider stereo image one day, for the interest and comparison.

Speaking about vintage sound, it's about embracing old production style and workflow and not drowning it in saturation and fake analog plugins (that doesn't work anyway) to me.

By the way, when low noise and high headroom gear appeared circa the second half of 70's, some purist engineers began avoiding (or using very little) compression and used another means like gain riding for dealing with dynamics instead, making the most spacious and dynamic mixes up to date. This was truly the most dynamic era (and then 80's with SSL compressors on every channel has come). Sure, tape helped a lot in smothening, so it cannot be said the dynamic range wasn't reduced at all.

[drFiend]

If anyone interested. Had some fun with resynthesis on guitars and achieved artificial doubling without messing mono compatibilty much. Guitars sounds quite a bit 80-ish now (quite a lot like keyboards actually), but wide stereo and even.

Still prefer the original version, this one is sorta experiment.