Never Say Goodbye

[loweche6]

I spent about 2.5 hours on this. Listening back, my pads may be a touch too high. Any other thoughts?

Nicely recorded song!

Draper

[mange]

Draper, nice sounding mix considering you did it in 2.5 hours. Two things that caught my attention right away. Kick is too boxy. Pads are too loud. After that I would work on the reverb, sidestick, lead vox and overall room.
Nice work, fun to hear stuff in your mix that totally got lost in mine.

[loweche6]

Touch-up based on your feedback, mange. Thanks for the listen and criticisms!

Draper

[mange]

Hmm, overall i think i like the first one better! Maybe i was unclear in my last post. I meant... work on reverb on sidestick, vox and room.
Something has happened to the lead, feels harsher now. It´s a hard voice to get right, if ever possible. Could be wrong but I think they really messed up on the choice of microphone on the lead vox.
I think you lowered the pads too far.
I find the kick much better fitting in the kit and song now.
According to my thread of this song maybe I should stay clear of giving feedback on reverb Well, I rarely feel I get my reverbs right where i want them. If you listen to the lead vox, first phrase of second verse. Thats a clear spot where I don´t get fooled by the reverb, I just hear that there is a room applied to it but it doesn´t fool me to hear the vox in that room if you get what I mean.
I think I have mentioned this before in another mix of yours, you have this strange flutter on your mixes. I´m really curious why? Don´t you hear it? Not even when listening back to the mp3? What I´m getting at it might be something with your mp3 encoder. Wich one are you using?

[loweche6]

Thanks mange! Yeah listening back, I agree with you. I kind of sterilized the song, eh? With the vox, I tried a trick of lowering the formats of his voice, which I definitely hear artifacts in, and the tone isn't improved as you've said. As for the MP3 encoding, I bounce it directly to MP3, at the highest bit rate and quality setting.. Quick question, do you hear the flutter in the first mix? I am using an analoguer, but applied pretty sparingly on the strings, and pads, and one running on the acoustic and piano. And where do you tend to hear it? What kind of spectral range. Thanks for you time, mange!

Draper

[mange]

I tend to notice it during cymbalcrashes. I´m not sure anymore I searched and found where I commented on it before. It was the passing ships song. I mentioned the cymbals there too. If it´s only I who hear it... forget about it

[loweche6]

I think if you're hearing it, something must be going on, so I don't want to discount your ears. I'm currently touching up again. TBH, my high end spectrum of my hearing sucks (I have a completely rebuilt left ear drum, and my right only hears up to about 13-14k). I'm investigating it, but I don't have any crazy processing on the overheads, or drum buss, except a distresser plugin, and an LA2A plugin, both from Antress. I do have an exciter on the Master Buss, the ThrillseekerXTC blue, but I don't have to highs pushed up a whole lot. I'm almost done with this revision, so I'll see if it has changed at all.

I remember you saying the same thing on passing ships, so I'll go back to my session and see if there is a common thread.

Hopefully i'll get it sorted out!

Cheers!
Draper

[loweche6]

Alrighty, let's see how this one sits.

[The_Metallurgist]

Draper, hey up! the link saves me typing again....just a possible "heads up"? shame the song's supplied in 16bit; we've lost some dynamics which adds to the challenges somewhat.

http://discussion.cambridge-mt.com/showt...4#pid34934

soooo, the acoustic guitar is easily mixed brittle in order to get it to cut through. however, if you are careful about the low-mids in the other instruments, it's possible to mix it warmer. also try cutting some harshness out around the 4-5kHz just to help smooth it. also, watch out for some harshness from it's harmonics in the treble (beyond 6kHz)....i think a fairly steep hi-cut (eg bessel) will work wonders, but don't go too steep otherwise it can easily go the wrong way and mess up the timbre oddly - microphones, China condensers especially, can exaggerate the problems in the treble. keeping the Upright under control will give you some much needed headroom around the lows/mids too; perhaps have a go at pushing it back in the depth a little, without splashing into the side channels - it's not doing it currently, which is a good move on your part - perhaps a mono plate, 0.8ms decay, pre-delay.....ummmmm, finger in the air job.....errrrr, 30ms'ish(?), treble rolled off along with a low-cut to stop it going muddy (give it a dip around 300Hz'ish too perhaps) and wet it enough for desired results.

also still on the subject of depth, i'd consider pushing the acoustic back a little as well, if you can? i say this with caution, because the tracking has an oddness resembling a small-room signature which the tracking is rich in (i.e an abundance of early reflections?). the trouble is, once early reflections are imprinted in the track, it will follow the instrument. adding another reverb/ambiance to one which is already present can mess up the illusion of space pretty blinking significantly. so if you have a go, it might be best to avoid anything that adds more early reflections like the plague Try a plate perhaps (similar strategy mentioned for the Upright). but note well, that if you warm it up and pull out some of the Acoustic's treble, you will be giving it a more appropriate signature for depth placement anyway - air/increasing distance, chows hi frequencies with consummate ease, as we know.

i note your comments in the previous post. given the guitar is on the LHS, i'd suggest headphones and switching the channels around on the master buss so your right ear also gets to make some judgements to help you 'average out' the timbre? if you instead reverse the cans and they don't sit properly on the side of your head for a quick audition/check, watch out because it can really mess up their delivery and one's perspective. pardon me if i'm saying the obvious, especially if you're running some coping strategies that work for you.

laters,,,
Dave

[loweche6]

Thanks Dave! 3rd Rev is here! I might have lost perspective on the song, so I am leaving it alone for a couple of days, now. I think i like this one? I think? I did what you suggested with the acoustic, i actually ended up sniffing the air for guidance on the plate andI cleeaned the upright a little bit, but i also added a multiband on my (already embarrassingly crowded) Master buss. I also pulled the guitar a little closer to center. I did leave the acoustic stereo, but I did thin the spread out a bit.

Thank you guys for all of the suggestions and comments!

Draper