Slow Down - Mixing Practice

[GarriGeorge]

On this one I was trying to clean up bad bleed and keep good bleed, still keeping a "live" feel. I also was having trouble trying to create a convincing stage - the guitar and keys seemed way too "in your face" and I wanted the vocal to be in front. I would love to hear if anybody has a different approach, or if you think there's a better way to go about it. Overall it was a fun song to work on.

[glukin]

Hey, good work on the mix, you definitely didn't loose the "live" feel.
Overall balance is OK I think, but I would look into the following areas:
1. Drums are missing some definition, would be good to really make then come through to make people want to dance.
2. Bass could perhaps drop a db or so
3. Have a look at the piano, its a bit lost sometimes.

Overall, great work, love the delay detail.

[GarriGeorge]

Hey, good work on the mix, you definitely didn't loose the "live" feel.
Overall balance is OK I think, but I would look into the following areas:
1. Drums are missing some definition, would be good to really make then come through to make people want to dance.
2. Bass could perhaps drop a db or so
3. Have a look at the piano, its a bit lost sometimes.

Overall, great work, love the delay detail.

glukin,
Thanks for the input. I agree the drums could use more punch and bass back off a bit. Did you use any particular references on your mix?

[Deliza]

Really natural DVD live feel, only crowd noise is missing! And nice automation touches on the last verse!
You managed to make background vocals way more usable than I thought possible. Lead voice is very good too, close and natural at the same time.

Agree with GarriGeorge, I guess what's keeping drums out of focus is too much of the room track. Less of that, plus some transient shaping on the direct mics could help to make rooms dryer and give them more bite. I'd also try to change snare tone (big mids boost) to give it more of a sould-disco feel. Maybe even adding some noise triggering if you feel so inclined. Floor tom is very well panned, but it might use some more definition, too (yeah I know "where's the 'definition' knob, dude?"), pretty much like snare drum (minus the noise triggering, that would be weird... or not?).

[glukin]

I didn't have a particular reference, just went with the general gut-feel.
Agree with Deliza, there is too much room track. I only used SD Drums-AK47-API track and processed it to keep only mid-highs. Didn't use hall, room and hihat.

[GarriGeorge]

Thank you all for the suggestions - I hear many of the things you mentioned. Very helpful!