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The Brew - What I Want
#1
Yet another great song.....funny how some of them grow on you when you should be sick of them after spending hours in front of a computer trying to make them sound nice.

Anyway, here's my attempt at a mix, and as usual, here's a self-criticism....please feel free to add to it! Big Grin

What I struggled with :
1. Drums (aaargh....always with the drums, he says, in a Billy Crystal voice)..however, this time I had a new weapon - I upgraded my Sonar Pro to Platinum and got the BT Analog Trackbox, and it's really nice. I had tried gating the drums with the Waves gate, but it sounded so anemic compared to the BT thing, so if anyone's wondering, it's a mighty fine piece of kit. Anyway, even using it I think I could possibly try to get the drums to cut through a bit more maybe.....on my most recent listening to this track I noted down "snare cut through"....

2. Volume. I seem to be having a bit of trouble getting my volume settings right. I think what I probably need to learn about is 'gain staging'....? I found that towards the end of the process I had to select every track and turn down all volumes to give myself more room to make final tweaks. It's a mistake I have made before.......but I think I am still learning what is a 'proper' level to monitor at when mixing. I have a nice pair of Eris E5s......but every beginner tutorial says that turning up is bad for mixing, so I have always been afraid to turn up......but this time I came to the conclusion that turning up isn't necessarily bad if you are using that volume so that you can actually properly hear the changes you are making.



What I think I did well :
1. The swirling guitar thing. Another of my Vodka-inspired adventures....I spent ages trying to get the sound (what I thought was) right, and audible at the right times, so I hope it sounds OK to ears other than mine.
2. Bass. The bass tracks were great to work with, and after applying my bass weapon of choice I reckon it sounds quite nice. Hopefully there's enough bottom end in it, as I have a habit of shaving the balls off the bass sometimes (inadvertently, of course)
3. The overall sound. You really gotta love Izotope and Ozone. I'm sure everyone has their favourites, but I just love what you can do to a track with Ozone

Things that I could improve on this mix :
1. I think the high hat might be a bit loud in some sections
2. There's a couple of spots where the balance between keyboards and guitars could be a bit better
3. A couple more creative tweaks
4. I forgot to cut the fuzz from the front of the track.....D'Oh!
5. The end.......I kept all the audio because I was amused by what sounds like the guitarist yelling 'still no cans'......or something. I kinda like quirks like that!

OK.....I'll shut up now. Have a listen and let me know what you think.


.mp3    brew-new V2.mp3 --  (Download: 9.13 MB)


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#2
I'll run down in the order that you have not so much order of importance.
1. The drums are weak. I think that might be my biggest issue with this mix. I don't remember how the original tracks are on this (I messed with it a while ago but moved on). Mostly I hear hi hat and ride. The feel mono. Spreading out the overheads and toms might open up the drums a little bit. Don't worry about gating unless leakage is really a big issue. It's a funky tune and the drum groove should be as important as anything else.
2. Gain staging is really important. Mostly when a tutorial refers to "turning up is bad" they mean that making a bad mix louder will often give the illusion that is sounds good. Having your monitors at a louder level from the beginning isn't necessarily a bad thing. The faders become "volume knobs" to some people and if the monitors are low the kick fader gets turned up to compensate. Then the snare...On and on until everything is maxed. If the monitors are at a "proper" level the kick is hear properly at a low fader level. I could go on but I'm terrible at explaining things. There's plenty of resources online to check out about gain staging.

The swirling guitar is a cool sound but I think it's a bit much. Maybe if that sound swirled around a drier, anchored part it'd be less distracting.
The bass does sound good. I don't have any issues with that.
I'm not familiar with Isotope or Ozone so I can't comment on that.

I'm not a fan of the random, leakage noises being left in. It feel like it's supposed to be a polished tune and those things take away from that in this instance.

Hope that helps

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#3
Hi Roy,

Thanks for that. Constructive and valid points, as always.

Gerry
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