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Bolz & Knecht: Brahms's 'Hungarian Dance No. 5' mix
#1
I found this pretty hard to mix for having just three tracks. The guitar playing sounds (e.g. muting the strings) were the biggest challenge for me.


.mp3    bolz and knecht brahms mix (1).mp3 --  (Download: 5.18 MB)


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#2
A lovely softer mix and ambience. Listening though headphones the reverb may be a little heavy in the lower freqs for my taste making it sound a touch foggy. This is purely subjective and may be a desired effect or a headphone thing. Will have a listen through speakers tomorrow.
I agree that the guitar was challenging, managing the percussive and sustain elements through the playing styles was my main focus also.

Well Done, very enjoyable Wink
Dave
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#3
Thank you for the comments. I might try to EQ out a bit more of the low end on the reverb!
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#4
You're right, three tracks is not much to work with. I think that's part of the point: this exercise stresses working with isolated tracks much more. In fact, you're arguably given more than you need for a duet ;-)

The saxophone sounds pretty dark. Tenor saxophone (and it's captured well in this recording) has a bright and rich tone which sounds like it's getting masked either by your EQ or reverberation.

Also, the guitar part is to the fore which should not be. I think the amount of reverb is fine, but either you need to get a brighter signal to avoid a muddy sound.

Good work!
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#5
Hi Smile

Some suggestions :-
1) Saxophone sounds very soothing but needs a little low cut on the reverb as guitar also have bass and attacking notes. Smile
2) Let the saxophone contribute to some body. For now, it seems that guitar is doing most of the part.
3) Bring the saxophone a little more to the center. Shift the guitar DI a little to the left.
4) You have emphasized guitar highs to make the hits obvious. Reduce them a little. Guitar can use some reverb in the mid-high frequency range and level adjustments to match the amazing saxo performance.
5) There are some parts of the guitar where it fades out while playing, kindly automate the fader to make them relatively even with the rest of the performance. Emphasizing highs is a way to do that but it brings out some more stuff you may not want :-)
6) Mix sounds a little dull if we take performance into account. Saxophone is always behind the guitar. To make things interesting, make it like a fun catch-and-throw between these two sounds. Automation is a friend who can help Big Grin
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