Why Don't You Stay Mixed by Doug

[dcp10200]

This track (to me at least) had a sort of Tragically Hip vibe to it, so my mix reference was Long Time Running by The Hip from the Yer Favorites compilation (side note, if you haven't already and want to get into The Tragically Hip, this is the best place to start as it's a good mix of their big hits and some deeper cuts as well ).

This mix is for the most part pretty static and could use some more automation to help things fit abit more (particularly the distorted guitar before the solo) but I think this gets across the sound I'm after here on this track, "live from the studio" I guess . I did do a faux master to it to make it sound a bit closer to the reference mix and to bring it up to a more commercial volume, otherwise it's a basic mix.

Cheers,
Doug

Update: I came back this morning and did some work to the mix and ended up cleaning up some low end on the clean electrics (that was where that 151 Hz resonance was coming from, I also tried it on the bass, acoustic guitar and even the snare. It also resulted in the mix actually gaining a bit of low end). As a consequence of having a tighter low end, the mix could be pushed more with the limiter without an increase in gain reduction and having the waveform looking like a 2x4 piece of lumber . I also did a small arrangement change with muting the bass and acoustic guitar out during the half of the second verse, along with some volume automation to make the vocals shine a bit more during the verses. The quad tracked backing vocals are also louder and don't show up untill the second chorus

Update 2: I noticed the bass was alittle bit loud in the mix so I hauled it back abit and included a version without the arrangement changes (Bass Fix= Arrangement changes, No Arrangement= Bass Fix version without the arrangement changes)

Update 3: I've made a completely new mix and master, this time using Peaceful Easy Feeling by The Eagles as my reference and trying to go for a modern interpritation of a vintage mix for lack of a better word . This new master is quieter than the other versions on here (my VU meter was set to -14 dBFS=0 VU) to match the loudness of The Eagles' "Thier Greatest Hits (1971-1975)" album.

[thedon]

Hey Doug I like your mix a lot ,I like the sense of space and separation you have created a sounds lot better what I have come up with so far !
Some minor things I can hear !
The attack on the upper frequencies of the strumming acoustics maybe popping out just a touch ,but taming them (which I did and over did it ) may spoil the nice space you have created.
Maybe taming some resonant frequencies on mainly the acoustic in the intro and also the bass around 150 hz may help clean up some bottom end ?

[dcp10200]

Hey Doug I like your mix a lot ,I like the sense of space and separation you have created a sounds lot better what I have come up with so far !
Some minor things I can hear !
The attack on the upper frequencies of the strumming acoustics maybe popping out just a touch ,but taming them (which I did and over did it ) may spoil the nice space you have created.
Maybe taming some resonant frequencies on mainly the acoustic in the intro and also the bass around 150 hz may help clean up some bottom end ?
Here is a very quick eq of your mix with a narrow dip at 151 hz and rolled off everything below 35hz.

Wondering if you of anyone else can hear the difference ?

Thanks Don! Those resonances in the acoustics have been nuked out already. I used a some really surgical -18 dB parametric eq at 887 Hz and 254 Hz with a high pass at 150 Hz. The kick has a highpass at 50 Hz and the bass is high passed at 80 Hz, all of the non bass instruments are also high passed at 100 Hz (the lead ambient guitar bit is high passed at 300 Hz). I did notice that the file you uploaded was louder than my master, and flicking back and forth I really only noticed the track losing it's density a bit but I think it's just more of a volume difference than anything. I do agree with you on the acoustics though, there's an 1176 emulation on the acoustics to even them out but the acoustics are fairly loud in the mix.

Cheers,
Doug

[dcp10200]

I've updated the mix with some of Don's suggestions, details in the OP.

[Roy]

Sounds great. Love the intro. Very nice. Very open and spacious sounding.
No real issues that I can hear. I'm not a fan of the bass drop out in the second verse but that's a taste thing.
It's interesting how many directions this song can go in.

Good job.

[thedon]

Sounds great !

Well done

[dcp10200]

Sounds great !

Well done

Thanks Don, I did notice that the bass was abit too far up so I hauled it back down again.

Cheers,
Doug

[dcp10200]

Sounds great. Love the intro. Very nice. Very open and spacious sounding.
No real issues that I can hear. I'm not a fan of the bass drop out in the second verse but that's a taste thing.
It's interesting how many directions this song can go in.

Good job.

Thanks Roy, I've included a version without the bass dropout and other arrangement changes. Really I think the arrangement change wasn't needed in hindsight but still it gives it a different spin.

Cheers,
Doug

[dcp10200]

New version up in the original post