My mix! Criticize it!

[Busoni]

I did this Mix today, because a Ladies Jazz CD inspired me to do something more swingy.

I'm doing something wrong with the voice, do you hear it too? Also, I probably have to compress the bass better, it is pumping a little.

I tried to make this Mix sound more dynamic, so I tried not to overcompress and for the mastering sparingly used a compression plugin as well as a liiittle limiting!

Please leave your critique, it would help me immensely.


Busoni

[Dangerous]

Hi Busoni,

There's a few things I'm hearing here. The bass does sound over processed. Try a fast attack slow release (200-300ms) compressor setting and listen for the right amount of knock down without over doing it. I am hearing some low mid build up throughout the mix which is also affecting the vocals which could be cleaned up with high pass filters and eq on individual tracks. The drum overheads are a little bright around 7.5k which again either eq or fader adjustment will fix. With these criticisms aside the mix is not all bad. I think the main thing your missing is some reverb to gel it all together, especially the vocals. I have attached a version of your mix with some reverb added (hope you don't mind) Basically I have added 2 Aux tracks to your mix, one with a large room reverb and one with a short ambience reverb with a high pass filter 600hz and a low pass filter 6000hz and have blended them back into your mix. I also cut the bass and the top end back a little(just a headphone adjustment). I think you will agree the reverb has helped with the vocals.

Good luck and keep working at it.
Dave

[Busoni]

Hi Busoni,

The bass does sound over processed. Try a fast attack slow release (200-300ms) compressor setting and listen for the right amount of knock down without over doing it.

Did this, it worked.

I am hearing some low mid build up throughout the mix which is also affecting the vocals which could be cleaned up with high pass filters and eq on individual tracks.

My Reverb Plugin (Guitar Rig) introduces a Dry signal into the output by default, and I forgot to disable it. This was pretty obvious, don't know why I forgot to check this, haha!
I also was also able to cut out the bass from the piano track through a brickwall HPF.

The drum overheads are a little bright around 7.5k which again either eq or fader adjustment will fix.

I adjusted the EQ and made a Prefader Send to my Reverb, Then I pulled down the Trackfader. I think it worked well.

I think the main thing your missing is some reverb to gel it all together, especially the vocals. I have attached a version of your mix with some reverb added (hope you don't mind) ...

No, of course not! I want to use as little Reverb as needed for this Track, but you convinced me to put more on it. It's the same convolution reverb on both vocals and the instrumental. It gives the whole thing a more three dimensional feeling. Still have to figure out which settings I like. I also added a multiband compressor on the instrumental to further glue it together.

Thank you very much for your suggestions! As you can hear they helped immensely.

[Dangerous]

Sounding much better Busoni. The Bass sounds much better now but I think it might be hitting the compressor a bit too hard. It's sounding a little stiff and not relaxed. (but that my be the way you like it.) I'm not sure what a brick wall hpf is? I guess 18dB+ roll off or more. I have find sometimes a softer roll off is more natural sounding with acoustic live performances 12dB - 6dB etc, something to experiment with. And one last note, unless you are really confident with multiband compression and your objective for using it, just be careful that you aren't degrading all your hard work by using one especially on the master. It is something I use sparingly on the master and quite often then remove not being happy with the outcome. I find some soft 1.1:1 ratio compression works well with this type of music.

Well done on your improvements.