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Pretty Saro - Carolina in the Pines - Two (and a half) ways...
#1
This was a very cool surprise. Really got a chance to work with the recorded space because of the Blumlein and Chamber tracks. And it came together rather quickly for me, which allowed me to do something new.

Before I began the mix I had decided on a direction with the space I wanted to build around the mix. This included two in-line reverbs. One for a present ambience and a second for a bigger large hall reverberent space to add depth. From the first note of playback I was happy with the initial choices and tweaked the spatial content throughout the mixing process to give me the character I was after.

Using the Blumlein with compression as my base I EQ'd it to using a M/S phase coherent EQ to get the most clarity and smoothness from it and to solidify the locations of the instruments in the sound field. This had to be optimized for the vocal since it was really the only source of vocals. I compressed and EQ'd the chamber to bring the native ambiance into focus. It had a very pleasant effect. I played around with flipping the phase of one side of the chamber and each choice added a different and delightful character to the vocals. Mmm, what fun!!! Placing the individual instruments in complimentary pans with their Blumlein locales brought those instruments into focus or, as in the case of the violin, which had a predominant location on the left with the Blumlein, this I chose to pan right to give it more prominence and to fill up the middle, which was pretty wide open. What better way to fill the middle than with a fiddle in the middle a bluegrass song? What say ye? Aiy; I thought so.
The bass was a pretty easy get with some compression and an API 550B. The mando and guitar had similar treatment, a Presonus stock compressor (which I really like) and the Waves API 550B 4-band EQ. This is a great sounding EQ.

The mix buss had a compressor on it (the Glue) and one of Mike's recent free plugin picks, the Oril River reverb. This is a very nice sounding unit and it's very intuitive. The second in-line reverb was a native Presonus OpenAir IR reverb. Presets for this are available anywhere you can get compatible samples and there are a tonne of them.

The buss compressor was a modified 2:1 parallel with moderate attack and quick release.

So this came together pretty quickly which allowed me to do something I had wanted to do previously but never made the grade. The first mix I am presenting (Mix 1) is the slicker mix with all the processing. The second mix (Raw) has ZERO processing (save for a limiter when mastered for level). Every patch and every insert was disabled just to hear what the mix would sound like in its most raw and organic form. I was amazed how good it sounded. The mix was not modified from the first mix but for the switching off of all processing. That's it.

So that's my take on this well played and well recorded piece. I hope you like my take(s).

Pretty Saro - Carolina in the Pines - Mix 1
The 'slick' mix'

Pretty Saro - Carolina in the Pines - Raw
The raw mix

Pretty Saro - Carolina in the Pines - Raw 2
The modified raw mix

I guess you couldn't quite call it raw any longer as I did some EQ in this new mastering. Added a few db in the low mids to support the voices and instruments and a bit of top end to balance the added mids.

As always, looking forward to your comments and discussions.

Pluckingly,
mITc


.mp3    Pretty Saro - Carolina In The Pines - Raw.mp3 --  (Download: 7.77 MB)


.mp3    Pretty Saro - Carolina In The Pines - Mix 1.mp3 --  (Download: 7.77 MB)


.mp3    Pretty Saro - Carolina In The Pines - Raw 2.mp3 --  (Download: 7.77 MB)


PreSonus Studio One DAW
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#2
Thank you for your "details" on your mix and for the "before & after" files.

It is very helpful that way! I like how it sounds!
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#3
Sounds natural and organic I read your mix notes before mixing .
Nice work Big Grin

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