Song for Mitch (Mixed by Mange)

[mange]

Here´s the mix I posted to the crowd audio competition. What can I say... It didn´t earn me the Munro Eggs

I was quite happy about it when I worked on it. Not so much now.

[The_Metallurgist]

hi,

can i ask that you post your mixes at a minimum of 320kbps? if you are working with audio, it needs to be at the best resolution. i'm listening to a lot of artifacts here which i hope isn't because of your mixing but due to the encoder??

there's 3 main issues i'd flag up, low's, low-mids and treble. i suspect your stereo verb is up to mischief in the low end and i'd recommend you find ways to keep the bass away from the side channels and more focused down the middle. it also feels boomy (you need to check it's balance generally); there are some free plugins that will help facilitate this. if you don't have good monitoring and a controlled room, you will find working the bass quite illusive to pin down. references won't help, because you'll be comparing apples with oranges.

if you apply a low pass filter on your main buss, say with at least a 36dB/octave slope and sweep it slowly to 1kHz, you will hear significant changes in tone. at 500Hz, you will no doubt be surprised by how much the tone has darkened/warmed? the encroaching muddiness on down to 200Hz is your problem because it has to be EQ'd really well if everything playing in that zone is going to be clear (and on down, for that matter). often people get fooled by the harmonics they hear higher up the spectrum, and this is the trap that makes them think the mix is clear.....when it isn't.

acoustic guitars....difficult instruments to keep clear in any mix, are overly bright and somewhat brittle in nature here (the opening sounds similar to a harpsichord in it's presentation - you do listen to classical music, right?); the mp3 encoder has no doubt a lot to do with the harshness? anyway, they need warming up by losing the treble somewhat, at the moment they are causing fatigue in my Ovations. in warming them up you will lose them in the mix, right? that's because of your low-mid range issues, as previously discussed. it's encouraging you to push more stuff in the mid/hi-mid range where our hearing is most sensitive 2kHz-4kHz and so you have more elements fighting it out around this area than needs be and this will contribute to fatigue. any over-abundance of spectral content around the 4kHz to 5kHz zone especially needs to be carefully watched - it's a major zone for harshness....even discomfort.....and in some cases pain to sensitive ears.

you perhaps don't want all instruments to be present all the time in the mix, and will automate them accordingly, so during the emotional stuff, you bring those instruments driving emotion more out front to help lift the song. key to this is the lead vocal.....i felt you weren't giving this the focus and delivery that it necessitated? how could you improve upon that? for example, how was the upright balanced against the vocal? what is the illusion this mix is giving you?

one other point which is problematic; the illusion of depth between all your instruments. this isn't working and i dare say it's because you've tended to go for the stereo verb and let this deal with ambiance? it will, in some respects, but you need to be able to manage depth using alternative strategies to this basic ambiance verb. i'd try some alternative reverbs, explore their presets. solo an instrument, dial in a preset, then fiddle with the parameters - swing each parameter through it's FULLEST range and get to understand how it changes the illusion of the instrument's position (headphones will help); also explore panning the verb, narrowing it, mono'ing it, etc etc. also try out delays, Haas, plate verbs, spring verbs, mono verbs. do things differently, otherwise you could still be here in 12 months doing the same things - comfort zones are easy to embrace, difficult to break.

a true stereo verb will add significant amounts of spectral material to your mix. be careful what you feed into it, especially if it's got the words "bass" in it somewhere Perhaps not pan the verb 100 percent; experiment?

subjectively, i didn't go a bundle on the rock-type bass drum for this ballad. i'd also open up the dymamics a little more, and i'd review the width/placement of the piano in the sound stage. is it appropriate? check out some piano references and see how it's done across a selection of material. how are you differentiating between the chorus and verse sections, other than cranking them up on the fader?

just some pointers...hope something helps. if you do a revision, i'd look forward to hearing it

cheers

[mange]

Wow, that´s what I call feedback, thanks. With such a featureful answer i just might do a revisit of this song. Meanwhile it´s possible to download a flac version from soundcloud. I think you find some "mp3-like" artifacts in the sourcefiles.
I will go through your reply with the mix at hand at a later date. I´m currently off to "real" work. Again, thanks for your input.

[loweche6]

On top of the Metallurgist's extensive response, i feel like your toms are really thin. I found that his vocals are a little nasal and harsh. I had to combat that a decent amount as well. No great revelation, just some input!

Cheers

Draper

[mange]

Notes taken. Thanks for input.

[The_Metallurgist]

thanks for your appreciation

i've since had a chance to audition the raw files and push some things around to see how easily, or not, the song shapes up. it doesn't. i suspect someone's gone through the tracks and messed around, fairly significantly in places perhaps (vox included), and intentionally printed some odd EQ changes? the piano looks like a very obvious candidate......listen to some of the notes, the spectral balance is all over the place. the acoustic guitar has a monumental low-end boost that might suggest the guitarist was nailed to a wall (massive proximity effect beyond all logic).

did someone say this was for a mixing contest? that would make sense. best not take too many things for granted.....i don't think this is a "normal" project.....

laters,,,