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Hannes Keseberg - You Know Better (PlasticDish Mix)
#1
Hello.

Here is my first mix for this song.
I guess maybe it's a lot of compression in my mix.

Please, feel free to give it a listen and critique.
Would love to hear what you think about my mix.
I really want to become better in mixing.

Thank you.


.mp3    Hannes Keseberg - You Know Better (PlasticDish Mix).mp3 --  (Download: 8.41 MB)


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#2
Hi,
a warm and fat sounding mix, just the way I like it! :-) Not bad at all, but if you want some suggestions on what could be improved, here´s my opinion:

Like you guessed there seem to be some problems with the compression settings in deed. Hard to say if it´s bus compression or on individual channels. You can hear the initial crash cymbal is extremely influenced by compression, probably on the drum bus, it gets ducked initially then comes back up slowly. You always hear it on the cymbals first when there is too much compression going on on the drum bus. They start sounding overprocessed and unnatural pretty quickly. Instead I would rather compress the drums individually or alternatively set up two drum busses, one "transient bus" for shells (like snare, kick and toms), and one for cymbals/overheads and leave the latter one alone. Also, if applying compression, you could probably do better with setting the attack and release times. Because if not done correctly you will either have too much attack/punch or too little from wrong attack times, or pumping from wrong release times. I would assume, the release time on the drum bus is set too long, and the attack times on some other compressors mostly pretty short/fast since the mix generally could sound a bit punchier, what you will get if you set attack times slower and let more of the transients through. It takes a while to "hear" compression, respectively what´s wrong with it, but when you just started mixing it´s probably enough to just "see" compression for now. Meaning, whatever compressor you try to dial in: Always watch the gain reduction meter, you don´t want it to move to much or even get slammed completely.
Hope that helps!
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#3
(15-02-2019, 07:13 PM)Herb Felho Wrote: Hi,
a warm and fat sounding mix, just the way I like it! :-) Not bad at all, but if you want some suggestions on what could be improved, here´s my opinion:

Like you guessed there seem to be some problems with the compression settings in deed. Hard to say if it´s bus compression or on individual channels. You can hear the initial crash cymbal is extremely influenced by compression, probably on the drum bus, it gets ducked initially then comes back up slowly. You always hear it on the cymbals first when there is too much compression going on on the drum bus. They start sounding overprocessed and unnatural pretty quickly. Instead I would rather compress the drums individually or alternatively set up two drum busses, one "transient bus" for shells (like snare, kick and toms), and one for cymbals/overheads and leave the latter one alone. Also, if applying compression, you could probably do better with setting the attack and release times. Because if not done correctly you will either have too much attack/punch or too little from wrong attack times, or pumping from wrong release times. I would assume, the release time on the drum bus is set too long, and the attack times on some other compressors mostly pretty short/fast since the mix generally could sound a bit punchier, what you will get if you set attack times slower and let more of the transients through. It takes a while to "hear" compression, respectively what´s wrong with it, but when you just started mixing it´s probably enough to just "see" compression for now. Meaning, whatever compressor you try to dial in: Always watch the gain reduction meter, you don´t want it to move to much or even get slammed completely.
Hope that helps!

Hello, Herb Felho.
And thank you so much for such a detailed review. It's really helpful for me. So I'll pay attention to compression settings. Especially, attack and release times. I felt, that there're some problems with compression settings, but couldn't realize, what exactly wrong. So I should train to listen to compression.
I appreciate your time.
Thank you!
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#4
Here is a few words about my mix.
Please, sorry for my English)

The main idea behind this mix was to translate the vocal part in the best way.
About a technical part:
Now, after the contest, I feel, that the my mix slightly overcompressed. If I could do it again, I would give some more dynamic to this mix.
I’ve used all the recorded tracks. And also I’ve added sampled kick to have more low end.
I’ve panned guitars to left and right, to have more space in the center for vocal.
I’ve used parallel processing (added some saturation on mids) for bass guitar to make it more audible in the mix.
And I’ve used a lot of automation for the different parts of song. It’s about delay, reverb and balance.
Also I’ve used a lot of compression on groups. E.g. for drums, guitars, percussions, back vocals.
It’s nothing really interesting about my master section.
But I can say, that I’ve used SLL EQ on my master. I now, it’s not correct and you have to solve problems, doing changes on individual tracks, but I like how it sounds in this song. I think it gives interesting colour to the mix.
Also there were tape emulation, compressor and limiter.
It’s hard to describe all the details about mix.
So you can download a project (Logic Pro X).

Thank you!
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#5
Hi plasticdish -- nice warm lead-vocal sound and plenty of nifty effects touches here! Strong balance, sensible overall tonality (maybe a little less 130Hz?), and decent stereo width too, so this is clearly a strong contender from the start. Some specific thoughts:
  • That fill before the second chorus is one of my favourite of the whole contest -- it's seems so natural, and yet it still catches you by surprise the way the drums drop out and there's that suspicion of reverse-envelope guitar. Wish I'd thought up that one myself! Smile
  • The cymbals feel like they get a bit overbearing during the Mid-section. You might get a more feel-good effect if you favour the hammond and backing vocals more instead, and then drop down a little further with the arrangement (or at least the effects levels) for Chorus 3.
  • Nice communal 'group get-together' vibe for the Outro. This was a section transition that foxed a lot of people. but you get a nice payoff here by making good use of the mob vocals, claps, and hammond.
  • The snare feels a bit underpowered by comparison with the kick, so the Reintro doesn't quite deliver the rhythmic drive I'd hope. Similarly, I reckon that fabulous fill would probably have been even more compelling had the snare tone been meatier.
  • I love the depth implied by the effects on the whistles and mob vocals before Chorus 1, but it'd have been further enhanced if the verses in general had been a bit tighter by comparison with the choruses and Reintro/Outro -- something that'd also have helped improve the long-term dynamics.
  • The vocal balancing's reasonable, but the low-frequency variability is still making that vocal fader a bit unstable during Verse 3, and the switches between falsetto and chest voice in the Choruses are also reducing intelligibility more than I'd hope.
  • It sounds like there's some kind of slow vibrato on the Hammond during the final fade-out, which makes it seem like the instrument's tuning is drifting. It doesn't bug me elsewhere, but I'd be tempted to avoid that potentially unflattering final impression using automation if possible.

Thanks for posting -- and congratulations on finding such favour with Hannes himself! Smile
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#6
Mike, thank you so much for such a detailed feedback.
Thanks again for this contest and great opportunity to improve our knowledge.
It's really priceless.
And of course, many thanks to Hannes Keseberg and Mixerman.
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