Alan Evens Trio - I'm Coming Home Mix A

[Mixinthecloud]

I had typical issues with a live recording. I believe Alan Evans is the drummer and there is significant cymbal bleed into his mic, which causes phasing issues on the high end of the kit. I did my best with that by keeping compression to a minimum. I struggled with the kick badly. It sounds like a small (maybe 20") kick and tuned with not much bottom. Trying to get bottom out of it was a lost cause for me and when I stopped trying it made it easier to fit in the mix for me. The toms were very ringy and I tried not to alter that too much but to lay them in where they would work best. I approached this mix like the trio was playing a live show. To tell you the truth I'm not sure why I doubled Alan's voice as I did. Maybe to give it some breadth against the instrument bed without turning it up and reaping the heavier phasing of the cymbals.

Alan's drums have lots of tone and getting that to come through without overwhelming the mix was also a challenge. The Hammond and the Guitar are beautifully recorded and needed almost nothing to get them to sit in the mix. The big problem for me and where I spent my most time was the keyboard bass. If I have not mentioned it before, I hate keyboard bass. No exception here, but I think I got it to work.

I hope you enjoy this and will give me some feedback.

[Mixinthecloud]

Not one to settle for done, I revised the environment and laid the low end in differently (kick and bass). I think this is better. There is no mastering compression on this mix so the level may be down. Crank it up then back off it a little for the best listening level for you.

I also eliminated the doubling of Alan's voice for better vocal clarity. In order to keep phasing of the cymbals it was necessary to lay the vocal back, so again, turn up the volume to get into the environment

[Mixinthecloud]

Being away from this song/mix for a while helped in this new mix. I believe I was able to clarify the low end and snare in this mix while maintaining a listenable environment for the ensemble. I substituted a new compressor on the kick mics which did a world of good for their sound without lots of eq. Over-all I think this mix lays much better than the previous two attempts.