04-04-2014, 04:51 AM
hi there,
my first experience of listening to big band, was my father's old shellac albums at the tender age of 8 (some sourced from American servicemen during his stint back in the day), so it's a vibe that has helped form my Terms of Reference over the years. Glen Miller is difficult to beat, but then 'modern' presentations by the likes of Henry Mancini (Pink Panther signature) et al also predominate. but i digress!
i really do like V3 here. indeed, i think you might have inspired me to load this one up and have a crack at it; perhaps Song of India. but i think you've set a rather awesome mark in the sand and i'm not entirely confident i could get mine to this standard! can i also say, that i admire anyone who comes back to an old project further down the self-development path, and has another go, because i think this REALLY shows serious commitment. one chap in the forum, who on printing his mix, then deletes it with the excuse that he has no hard drive space. he will go far...nowhere.
now, to be fair, i'm being critical on the analytical degree here. i thought i needed to say that in order to keep things in perspective. everything is relative, ok:
- the drums. i'm struggling here. my recommendation would be to keep them mono (because of their distance back in the band) and drop a stereo reverb on top? your application of ambiance on the drum kit, coupled with their width is unrealistic to me and it's drawing my attention for this reason. your kit sounds almost frontal some of the time - things move around??
- the claps...it's unrealistic to expect them to cover the full stereo width. ordinarily, the claps come from the musicians who are taking an instrumental pause while the other band participants are in the spot light doing their thang. i also felt the claps had an odd ambiance that didn't fit the rest of the performance space?
- eguitar...it wasn't in the same room as the band
- big bass....now this is going to be difficult. should this sort of bass be included in the ambiance of the room? if it isn't, you have the risk of it being detached. and if it is, you run some risk of muddying up the mix somewhat. i think you need to strike a careful balance here. mono monitoring will help you define if your mix is running the risk of heading towards low-mid congestion. but as it is currently, it's not giving my brain what it's expecting....and if a big bass is in a room, it's going to be adding to the ambiance one way or another and helping me locate it's position in terms of depth and panorama.
- vocal....not quite. i think the problem is part of the theme here...ambiance and depth. the perception you are giving me here isn't making sense. it's ambiguous? i can't give you the answer, other than point you in the direction of working on your use of reverb(s). can i ask what reverb you used on this vocal, and the settings?
- trumpet section....fatiguing.
there's a lack of dynamics in your mix, generally speaking, which perhaps is also adding to fatigue.
get this stuff sorted and you will be "Don the Dominator"!
[monitored with headphones: Stennheiser Ovation II HD560's]
cheers
Dave
my first experience of listening to big band, was my father's old shellac albums at the tender age of 8 (some sourced from American servicemen during his stint back in the day), so it's a vibe that has helped form my Terms of Reference over the years. Glen Miller is difficult to beat, but then 'modern' presentations by the likes of Henry Mancini (Pink Panther signature) et al also predominate. but i digress!
i really do like V3 here. indeed, i think you might have inspired me to load this one up and have a crack at it; perhaps Song of India. but i think you've set a rather awesome mark in the sand and i'm not entirely confident i could get mine to this standard! can i also say, that i admire anyone who comes back to an old project further down the self-development path, and has another go, because i think this REALLY shows serious commitment. one chap in the forum, who on printing his mix, then deletes it with the excuse that he has no hard drive space. he will go far...nowhere.
now, to be fair, i'm being critical on the analytical degree here. i thought i needed to say that in order to keep things in perspective. everything is relative, ok:
- the drums. i'm struggling here. my recommendation would be to keep them mono (because of their distance back in the band) and drop a stereo reverb on top? your application of ambiance on the drum kit, coupled with their width is unrealistic to me and it's drawing my attention for this reason. your kit sounds almost frontal some of the time - things move around??
- the claps...it's unrealistic to expect them to cover the full stereo width. ordinarily, the claps come from the musicians who are taking an instrumental pause while the other band participants are in the spot light doing their thang. i also felt the claps had an odd ambiance that didn't fit the rest of the performance space?
- eguitar...it wasn't in the same room as the band
- big bass....now this is going to be difficult. should this sort of bass be included in the ambiance of the room? if it isn't, you have the risk of it being detached. and if it is, you run some risk of muddying up the mix somewhat. i think you need to strike a careful balance here. mono monitoring will help you define if your mix is running the risk of heading towards low-mid congestion. but as it is currently, it's not giving my brain what it's expecting....and if a big bass is in a room, it's going to be adding to the ambiance one way or another and helping me locate it's position in terms of depth and panorama.
- vocal....not quite. i think the problem is part of the theme here...ambiance and depth. the perception you are giving me here isn't making sense. it's ambiguous? i can't give you the answer, other than point you in the direction of working on your use of reverb(s). can i ask what reverb you used on this vocal, and the settings?
- trumpet section....fatiguing.
there's a lack of dynamics in your mix, generally speaking, which perhaps is also adding to fatigue.
get this stuff sorted and you will be "Don the Dominator"!
[monitored with headphones: Stennheiser Ovation II HD560's]
cheers
Dave
Beware...........Cognitive Dissonance!