Lead Inc - The Dice Luc's attempt

[Luc van der Stap]

Hiii music loving engineers and engineeresses,

Here is my mix attempt to this nice theatrical song.

My "manual" for this song:
-I didn't get the snare there where I wanted it, so I have created a snare midi channel from the original snare track, all processed by the latest Celemony Melodyne 4.0 to use as base for an artificial snare sample.
-Chosen one of the snare drum samples I like from the good ol Avid Fxpansion2
-Let do Nectar2 do some multiplying work on the lead vox (also itsy pitsy tuning)
-Did my very best on this mix and I like the result, hope you like it too?

Cheers,
Luc

*Update* 04/27/2016 SR160427-V2
Thank god my hearing in my right ear is almost back, the cold virus is fading away at last pieeeuwww.

Looked and considered the comments of Ak3r, Thedon, Dangerous and you guyes where right (of course ) no doubt about it.

Virtually made a new mix from scrap and payed attention to":

-The guitar guit2/guit3 aphex exciter bridge, in first version I did wrong, Ak3r you where totally right about the panning and stereo image.
-Snare drum, I've chosen a snare which fits the music and Wurstdrummer more, the one in first version was too.... whatever, it just was too wrong for this song.
-The lead vox I have manually slightly tuned with Melodyne 4 instead of autotune with nectar 2, I more get convinced that autotune in general sucks.
-From minute 4.00 you can hear a very nice added harmony on the lead vox now and then, fits the song perfect in my opinion.
-Fine tuned / alter some other panning here and there.
-Removed the weird delay fx Ak3r spoke about.
-While overall guitar with has been improved, I also dimmed the OH LR image as suggested by Ak3r, you are right Ak3r, it fits better
-I Left more room for dynamics, however this is dynamic tight song, totally agree it needed more dynamics (increased the overall dynamics in the mastering)
-I have a better feeling about V2, hope you do too

Cheers,
Luc

[Ak3r]

Hi there. Nice mix, as usual hehe. So first things first...

Overall i like the tone of your drums, specially the toms. I woulndt have choose that snare sound but it's good for a change, i've been struggling myself to give some fatness to it as it felt a bit too thin... and if you like it, it's ok...Sometimes I feel i lacks a bit of dinamics, need to be a bit more spiky, more accentuated. But that can be because of using the midi track, i've done that some times and sometimes it's difficult to get exactly the velocity of the hit right...

I like your work with the voice, sounds quite natural and clear. We've some similar use of delays and reverb at some points of the song but the only thing that doesnt quite fit to me is the delay during the verses....It's a bit confusing and blurries everything for a bit..

For your guitar i'd like them to be more wide and with a bit more different tone, also a bit more bright...Sometimes is difficult to distinguish them, or if there's only one in the middle or what's goin on...Personally I dont like the OH to be panned wider than the guitars, but that's a personal choice hehe...

So to sum up, I quite liked your mix, and if i understand more or less the way u wanted to go with it, it's well done, congrats

[thedon]

Hi Luc,
Nice Mix sounds well Balanced, A touch more smack on the snare would be nice ,maybe just less compression on the attack ?
can hear some hollow frequencies on the bass and guitars in the side channels around 230-240hz area maybe being enhanced by any phase modulation affects used ?
Just some personal taste thoughts .

Cheers

[Ak3r]

Oh yeah...the phasing in the guitars...I heard that too...Not totally working for me :/

[Dangerous]

Hey Luc,
It's always nice to hear what you you bring to the table. Something a bit more exotic with the "Luc" flair.

It's sounding really nice through headphones. As previously mentioned with the guitars. I guess I'm just missing the power and the width of them also Luc. Just wondering if you might have the four guitars panned incorrectly (thats if you have panned them). They are sounding quite mono-ish with the effects of comb filtering going on. I do like the effects you have on the guitars and It definitely makes the mix your own. just maybe difficult to implement with this style of guitar arrangement. But I'm sure you'll work it out.

Dave.

[Luc van der Stap]

Hey Luc,
It's always nice to hear what you you bring to the table. Something a bit more exotic with the "Luc" flair.

It's sounding really nice through headphones. As previously mentioned with the guitars. I guess I'm just missing the power and the width of them also Luc. Just wondering if you might have the four guitars panned incorrectly (thats if you have panned them). They are sounding quite mono-ish with the effects of comb filtering going on. I do like the effects you have on the guitars and It definitely makes the mix your own. just maybe difficult to implement with this style of guitar arrangement. But I'm sure you'll work it out.

Dave.

Hi Dave, thanks for your comments, great dude

For sure I have panned the guitars
I have have placed the elec guitars 2 and 3 in a bridged pair panned:
Elec guit 2 mic1 L-70, mic 2 R+100 with apex exciter on mic2
Elec guit 3 mic1 L-100, with apex exciter on mic1, mic 2 R+70
Wich gives you a very rich and balanced base for folowing effects.
Both guitar pairs have a fair bit of chorus with one important difference: pair elec guit 2 and elec guit 3 differ just 2 Hz in chorus sweep, resulting in a rich and Lesly like sound due to the just 2 Hz chorus sweep difference.
Thats the sound I like in this kind of music anyway

The funny thing is that listening on near field monitors (which I in fact do always when mixing), it gives an "uber" and very wide stereo image.

Dave, byt the way: when do you exchange your mono headphone cable with a stereo one woohahaha, just kidding man.

I think its a matter of taste. I interpreted this song as theatrical almost symphonic and therefore treated it this way.

I am very satisfied with this mix however I have to note the folowing:

2 weeks ago I catched a cold and there is some very very very very annoying fluid in my right inner ear witch in fact makes it very difficult to mix. Had this ear problem many times and fortunately it will heal within a month or two.

Cheers,
Luc

[Dangerous]

Hey Luc,
Hope you get your hearing improves soon. We would all be lost without it. You might need to get yourself an ear trumpet lol.

I reckon you might be better off panning "elect gtr2" mics 1 & 2 to the left and "elec gtr3" mics 1 & 2 to the Right. I believe that the mic1 and 2 are just different positions of the same recording thus causing some of the comb filtering I'm hearing and the mono-ing of the guitars. It would be interesting to hear the guitars panned this way with your effects you have used.

Overall Luc, if you're happy with the sound of your mix, Run with it!

Dave.

[Luc van der Stap]

Hi folks,

Updated with V2

Cheers,
Luc