Welcome your feedback on this mix. Really loved the guitarist performance.
Not sure if I over cooked the mix with to much ambience. I added some UAD EMT 140 Plate to brighten up the guitar and give a bit more life and then added a bit of medium hall as a space reverb.
You've gone for quite a warm sound here, which makes a bit of sense in general because of the need to manage the mechanical noises. However, given that these really need in-depth manual trouble-shooting work to get the best of I'd probably allow a bit more of the strings HF to permeate through, and maybe thin out a bit of the 200-300Hz zone a bit -- albeit perhaps with some automation to take account of the odd bit of sound-hole boom.
Other than that I'd like to hear some of those inner melodic lines smoothed out a little more, and it's only careful automation that can achieve that -- the section at 2:27-2:51 in particular comes to mind in this respect, because there's so much going on there contrapuntally.
As for the reverb, it's maybe a bit overbearing in the mids, just in terms of clouding some of the instrument's internal details, and you could maybe pull the returns down a decibel or so, but it's within the bounds of taste. Remember that you can also automate reverbs -- the same level won't suit the more sustained parts and the more percussive parts of a performance as varied as this.
Thanks for posting -- and thanks also for contributing so readily to this Discussion Zone. It's that attitude that is helping to turn this place into a really great learning environment for all of us!
Thank you Mike for giving this one a listen and for your much appreciated constructive feedback. I was a little hesitant at first to post this mix cause there was something about it I didn't like but couldn't put my finger on it; except for the fact that there was too much reverb. I love the guitar performance in this song and as well, the challenge it brought trying to mix it. I will definitely experiment with some of your suggestions to see if I can bring this mix to a new level and then I will repost. I'm thinking that this is a good time as any to go back and review the automation section in your amazing book "Mixing Secrets". Cheers!
I am content with this mix now. Can't wait for that day when my ears start honing in on the fine details in a mix. I truly believe it takes time and lots of practice and passion couple with perseverance to become a good confident mixer. I am in the process of designing a studio on Vancouver Island British Columbia, Canada and can't wait to start recording and mixing all the wonderful talent in my community. I am truly blessed to have found Mixing Secrets Free Multitrack download library it help me so much. Thanks Mike
