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Jesper Buhl Trio - First full mix
#1
Hi, what a cool site/community here. Looking forward to practicing mixing with as many of these tracks as I have time for.

I'm a musician and have done basic stereo recordings before but never had an opportunity to mix so this is a treat.

I spent the better part of the day tweaking things and I'm happy with this one for now. I found the upright bass and snare to be the most difficult to shape the way I wanted. The drums are still a little thin for my liking but as long as the rhythm is present I prefer to hear more bass than toms/bass drum. At least for today.

Would love to hear what others think.

Thanks!


Version 2: More narrow piano, little more bottom to the bass and less of the slaps.

Version 3: Bill Evan's recording inspired panning. Bass halfway left, Piano (no longer narrow) halfway right.


.m4a    Jesper Buhl Trio jawrmusic final mix.m4a --  (Download: 14.33 MB)


.m4a    Jesper Buhl Trio jawrmusic final mix 2.m4a --  (Download: 14.33 MB)


.m4a    Jesper Buhl Trio jawrmusic final mix 3.m4a --  (Download: 14.33 MB)


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#2
Well, those drums sound pretty neat to me, with a natural and vintagish feel, thou the wide stereo gives them a modern sound. Definitely the better part of the mix.
Piano has a nice sound and ring, but I don't think the stero width suits it for this tune. Studio creations doesn't make a lot of sense for classic combos like this, only thing that makes sense to me is going for a live sound, mostly experienced from the audience. The width of the drums is aceptable, because even thou as a member of the audience you'll never hear the drums as stereo, you can see the drummer dooing different things with her arms and kinda reconstruct the playing in your head and "feel" as stereo. But I don't see that happening with the piano, specially 'cos it's usually placed so it gives the profile to the audience and the sound comes to them as basically one sound source, thus mono or almost mono works better, IMO.

Bass could use some more round lowend and some more love, because the slappy noises get to be annoying.

Drums are the hardest part of most mixes for me, so kudos anyway because it's a very good starting point, welcome and keep on!
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#3
Thanks so much for the feedback!

Listening again I hear what you're saying. I checked my project and I had the piano panned center but I switched R/L I think to match where the ride symbol sounded like it was coming from in both piano and drums. I tried just switching it to mono and it does leave an enormous amount of space for the drums but sounded a little smaller than I'd like. Not sure of the best way to make it nearly mono as you suggest but I just used the direction mixer in logic set to 0.20 and it seems to work. The overall clarity of each instrument really comes out a lot without the piano taking up the whole space.

For the bass, I agree with you and now that the piano isn't so big it seems like it can take a bit more roundness in the bass without being as muddy. I just took a bit out of the highs as well and unfortunately a lot of the brightness in the drums is coming from the bass mic in my mix but I do think it's nicer than hearing too much of the slaps.

I don't have the luxury of spending all day on it again but I do like the changes. I might have gone a little overboard on the bass but I'll commit to this version for now.

Thanks!
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#4
I just listened to some Jazz trio recordings for reference and loved how they panned the bass and piano on some of Bill Evan's recordings. I tried it out with this mix and really like how it keeps the spaciousness but adds to the clarity. I removed the direction mixer so the piano is no longer more mono and panned it about halfway right and the bass halfway left.

I've always heard keep the bass in the center but since it has such an important role I like how this sounds panned.

(20-03-2019, 08:19 PM)Deliza Wrote: But I don't see that happening with the piano, specially 'cos it's usually placed so it gives the profile to the audience and the sound comes to them as basically one sound source, thus mono or almost mono works better, IMO.

This makes total sense to me now with this panning thanks!
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#5
That v3 has some mojo! Drums end up a little too wide, so the center of the mix feels a little empty, like there's ride playing all the time that comes from a vague point. Bass and piano have some real physical? presence (they have meat).

v2 is nice, too. It gets a better sense of space and ambiance than v1, but v3 is bolder and cooler... and it should be all about cool, so gyn and eyebrows up!
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