Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers: Go Go Go

[juanjose1967]

this mix was difficult. And I'm still not too happy about it. Let me know if you can find how to improve it.

All ideas will be welcomed

[Olli H]

I think the sounds and balances are there. So you’re quite near.

But I agree that something is missing. I think the overall sound doesn’t open up yet. And what do I mean? I don’t know.
- Maybe the problem is the bass sound. According to meters you have plenty of low end but for some reason I can’t hear the bass properly. So maybe the bass lacks some definition.
- On the other hand all hi-frequency content seems to be quite far away. THat diminishes the 3d-feeling.
- Or is it the lack of transients with snare.
Maybe those things together makes me feel that the sound doesn’t open up. But still, I think you'll get very nice and natural mix out of this very soon.

[thedon]

Hi Juan I like your mix ,with the bass make sure you have removed all of the bass bleed from all other tracks like the lead vocals over heads ,hi hat track etc as can cause phase problems .

[juanjose1967]

Thank you for the advice Don and Olli

Yes, you were right... there was almost no trace of the bass... I have no idea what happened because it was on and at the right level, but when I exported the mix, for some unknown reason, it was gone. Now I've checked it out and it's there... weird thing...

I've also changed the snare and the overheads. I hope it sounds better now!

[thedon]

Version 2 Sounds much better

[The_Metallurgist]

gremlins...my mouse is the biggest one. scrolling around, wheeling about, if i'm not careful i can actually adjust parameters accidentally without being aware of it. one potential solution was to lock the track or folder (Cubase) after working it somewhere handy, but that can turn into a mission, especially during the final tweaking of the mix - more buttons to press and it's something extra for the mind to jog with away from the Art. my work process is based on distraction, not logical flow, so locking can be/and is, a major hindrance. your mileage might be different, however.

v2 is a great improvement for my engagement muscle. i'd back off on the limiting/compression on the master buss though, this feels hot and distorted to me - are you hitting my DAC here maybe? it's also bringing up the bleed and adding some clutter to the sound stage which is costing some clarity and separation perhaps? one concern, though, is that the sound stage sounds ambiguous to me. the drum kit isn't working as a defined item? the cymbals which should be the brightest element in the mix, sound buried which is tending to provide the illusion of the kit being much farther away than it should? this depth is being exacerbated by the kick, which sounds out of context with the song and appears frontal. the cymbals need brightening....but that might be a trap here. if you increase treble with EQ, they will turn brittle (i think the tracking might have been overlooked during recording...there's some evidence of aliasing perhaps?). perhaps you've rolled their treble too much for the illusion you need here? dunno. the snare sometimes gets a bit lost to the kick, but fixing the kick might automatically address that sporadic problem.

bass guitar: i'd personally FWIW, bring up the attack some more above 1kHz. try dup'ing it, EQ one low, the other high, and process/compress/level balance each one separately for better control. if you don't, the compressor while clamping the bass will clamp the treble, and that's not what you want. Tip: make the treble track wider thereby bringing it away from the congested centre/vocal/snare mid range while increasing it's presence at the same time. don't over do it though...it's all too easy to get carried away.

the lead guitar. i think it should have a leading role but it's subdued here; it also gets masked on occasion. one of it's issues during tracking, is the abundance of it's recorded chorusing/verb effect which wants to flood the song, so if you go back into this mix for some exploration, be careful not to overdo it otherwise it tends to throw the image of the instrument back-stage and mess up the depth of the song?

acoustic guitar. this is one of the instruments, with the kick/cymbals, which is throwing my perspective of depth and contributing to the ambiguity? it's detached, to my ears. the challenge is to get it back into the live band without losing it in the spectrum. it hates being boosted and turns brittle, so you're going to have to find some space in the spectrum for it somehow, by working the >>other<< instruments perhaps. fixing it's ambiance so the illusion of placement is working, isn't going to be easy [because of the DI]. same with the kick. another point, nearly forgot, is the fatigue it's causing me in the headphones. there's nothing spectrally bright happening in the opposite channel. that's part of the issue in the arrangement, but it can be addressed with technique.

i personally prefer the Pink Floyd (Pulse) approach, rather than the mic out in the middle of the audience somewhere (The Ramones - style), but that's me. taking the latter approach, we risk losing the attack and clarity of the instruments generally as well as move the lead vocalist much further away. of course, live is live and distance is what it is. but do we want that complete illusion of distance between band and the peeps further back in the row, at the risk of losing proximity and clarity for the home listener? your choice, but for me it loses connection with the song and importantly, the vocalist...and the vocalist is what it's all about. the presentation is just a little too far away for me subjectively in the illusion, that's what i'm saying, but some like the live-mood and there's nothing wrong with that, of course. that mood can still be addressed, albeit differently by approach, and Floyd does it superbly.

the mix does feel static, and again i'm losing the excitement and vibe and energy in the routine? the attack i mentioned above, contributes to the losses for me, and no doubt the level of final compression is playing it's part too. a good mixing engineer will be working those faders live, especially during the chorus (and especially if they are paid, lol).

as the vocal stands, i love the treatment; you've given her a nice smooth timbre and articulation is clear too. if you wanted to bring her a little more forwards, you will be fighting with the inherent dynamic mic characteristics....over-proximity, lack of presence/treble/air. but this could be gently managed, however the rising sibilance will be more of a challenge but one worth fighting for? i note the sibilance is just beginning to intrude currently in v2, though i'm not finding it offensive. one of the difficulties she creates for the engineer, is her mic technique (being critical, she doesn't have one!). the first words are often far too low, followed by a sudden louder one. this makes the tracking very dynamic, but not in a nice way because it's quite erratic and non-musical. if you clamp down on this and try to control those more dynamic moments, while pulling up the first words and taming the wild ones, it's going to mess her up. i don't know if you want to take this mix further and start "manually" fixing/riding those moments, but smacking them with processing (as some participants have done) makes her turn ugly. you might prefer to "Let sleeping dogs lie" and move on; and i wouldn't blame you for a minute! life's too short as it is! lol

PS i've been meaning to PM you for a while now - time flies, eh?!!

[juanjose1967]

Hi, Dave! Thanks for your detailed answer about things to look for in the mix that should be reconsidered. Mixing live performances are so difficult. Well, mixing is difficult but I find studio recordings easier because there’s less bleed; and we all know how bleed can affect the sound of an instrument.

These days I’m studying a lot about drums, because they’ve turned out to be a major flaw in my mixes and for some reason, I’ve found out that when I end up with a good drum sound, the rest of the mix sounds good… and if the drums are not the way I like it, I can’t get the rest of the instruments to sound properly. Probably because I get carried away by the song groove and that gives me ideas; but if there are no ideas because I don’t like the drum sound, then everything sounds awful.

But I’m going to give this song a break. But I intend to fix those issues soon.

PM when you can. I like our conversations