Zeno - Signs

[jeffd42]

Here is my take on this song...

This was an interesting one to try and mix given that a few things were fighting for the same spectrum. I kept it pretty basic as a guitar and drum focused mix, although if I had more time, it could definitely benefit from adding some pads for ambiance, as others have done.

My thanks, as always to the band, for making the multi-tracks available to us!

88.2/16 download available at: https://soundcloud.com/jeffd42/zeno-signs

Appreciate all comments and pointers for improvement! Cheers, Jeff

[The_Metallurgist]

hi Jeff,

listened to v2 only (OvationII). in summary, it came across as instrumentally bright in the treble department, missing some warmth in the lower mids and could do with aggressive low-cuts on all tracks, say, 40Hz'ish....you'd need to experiment really, and every project will be different, of course. it would help tighten the bass up while giving you the bonus of having more room to work in the low'ish mids for warmth. that low cut needs to be top notch quality and steep....36dB/octave minimum. it's surprising where bass can creep in....using a spectral analyser and letting our eyes help our ears is well valid. be vigilant with reverbs too....EQ them to take out bass bloat, mid mud, and treble wash, unless you want these things specifically for tone shaping, for example.

i'm wondering if the low end material has caused you to perhaps overly ease back in the 300-600Hz zone? low cutting the bass might give you a different perspective on the mix's spectral composition, especially if you also high cut the trebles in the last octave somewhat. i've not had the benefit of listening to other mixes of yours, so i can't say if it's a trend which might point to different solutions? perhaps open up a spectral analyser and see if this can shed some light on what your ears are hearing. with these points, it's difficult for me to comment on the rest of the mix, objectively that is, because of the nature and impact these points have on other things...like balance. for example, a treble rich mix will soon get terribly hot with a rise in SPL beyond low level listening because of our ear's inherent frequency response. more on that in a jiffy...

subjectively? i understand what you mean by the addition of pads to the song, not that i've auditioned other's mixes. however, on the creative side, i think there's a lot that can be done with what is already there, by sound shaping and getting the toys out and indulging oneself in the art (and science!) of voodoo - you've obviously been having some fun with this thing already...i liked the delays on the LV and the ambiance you created in doing so, for example. if you wanted to take this move further, i'd suggest letting your hair down a bit and going outside the box....more cloud formations from the delays, the stuff that floats about in a kind of "ether"...then pump the hell out of it with some sidechaining off the kick....or even a separate MIDI track trigger of your own beat/pulse which rhythmically suits the vibe; i.e. make an instrument out of it. does it need to be "in your face"? whatever floats your boat, i say.....do what you don't normally do, try and break away from stereotypes and engage in the wild side. you probably know already, that indulging in this kind of journey can be fraught with big challenges - time is often the enemy here i find. and my CPU starts to show signs of stress! lol

regarding the mastering side....
you gave it some nice dynamics on the way into the song. i put the meter on it for interest, which gave a relaxed and generous -20 LUFS approx (which encourages a louder volume/more SPL to enjoy it), then the chorus came in and i got a heart attack!!! you slammed it hard....to a level of -10LUFS. that's double the loudness and one 'ell of a jump; perhaps you might want to review that? i fully get what you were after though..."impact" and an emotional delivery. great idea, but i'd ease off a bit. there's also other ways of subjectively giving a feel of loudness, one of which is the application of distortion and firing up the harmonics, with the benefit that the mix gets more exciting as SPL is increased (so long as this doesn't turn brittle....which can happen if we aren't careful - pitch changes subjectively with changing SPL,, yeah?). distorting a chorus from a warm verse on the way in can increase the drama without nailing the headroom - loudness for free! if i hadn't been listening at a low, comfortable level on the way in, you could have blown my ear-gear up.

looks like yet another multi that i can't resist mixing! there are far too many already....feel like a kid in a sweet shop!! thanks for the listen.

laters,,
BigDave

PS: dead link to the SC PCM file, but i respected the potential audio "quality". if you get to work on this mix further, i'd appreciate a listen to the PCM download. spotted the 88.2 though, and wondered what benefit this gives to tracking that is only 44.1? but that's another discussion

[jeffd42]

Hey BigDave. Thanks for the listen and detailed comments...

1) You’re right about the 400-700Hz zone (as it turned out to be). The issue was tone on the bass guitar (or more accurately, the amp sim). Fixed that and it helped out a lot with fitting the mix together.
2) You should be able to hear the Kick a bit more distinctly also. The bass has a SC — so dance music it ‘aint, but there is a little bit of subtle pumping going on.
3) You’re right on the dynamics. It was a too much of a jump from verse to chorus. The intent was there, but I pushed it too hard! Should be a bit better now.
4) I look to master to K-14, maybe letting the loudest parts of a chorus get to RMS -12.
5) Soundcloud link is now fixed.

Overall, the timbre I was going for is more rock than pop (hence the heavy snare) — and to have it reasonably in-your-face, without becoming too abrasive. I liked the cymbals, so wanted that to come through clearly.

To your question on high sample rates. I don’t thing there is much, if anything, in distributing at more than 44.1/16 (assuming a decent noise shaped dither). But for mixing, I find it makes a hell of a difference. I moved to 88.2, and will happily freeze tracks in LPX to conserve CPU. The plugins just seem happier not having to work right up against the nyquist limit. My guess is a lot comes down to phase response in the 10KHz+ region.

You will have fun mixing this one. Its a challenging set of multi-tracks, but a great song behind it. Shame it seems the band page link is now dead — on a lot of these multitrack I do wonder where the band members ended up. Some of the mixes submitted here are certainly commercially competitive — one of these days someone’s going to get a mix they can use to take their band to the next level … the odds favor it, eventually!

Cheers, Jeff

[jeffd42]

An alternative mix. Little more stripped back -- particularly in the verses.