I did hear a small difference in reverb, but that didn't solve the issue that I found problematic. It maybe so that the thing that bothered me was the background vocals. The other mix is quite coherently retro, but those background vocals sound very modern.
For example: listen with headphones a place where background vocals disappear. To me it feels as if the main vocal sound shrinks into a small box at the same time. So, if you mute the background vocals, It may be so that nothing bothers me with the main vocals after that.
Sorry if I can't pinpoint exactly what causes the problem, and it may be so that the problem is only in my head.
many times it happens to me that I can't identify what's bothering me in the mix. But anyway, I've learned something very good about reverbs, and that's good in my opinion :-) thank you for your help, Olli!!
The problem could come from compression, makin the not very pleasant room sound louder, as the vox maybe are sung in the middle of my room, I dont remember ...
I have a corner setup with soundabsorbers but sometimes in the heat of the moment I just sing
And the workflow were pretty fast so I could, and probably are, the one to blame.
Old ears, old gear, little boy inside love music and sounds and my wife, not necessarily in that order
Hey, Niels! There are songs I've mixed that were supposed to have been recorded in a studio that were much worse than your recording in your room!
I've checked the compression and there was no sustain in the vocals that could give a hint that it had been recorded in a house. So I remembered that Olli mentioned something about the bg vocals to be too modern... and then I checked the reverb I had on them and voilá! for some reason, I found that there was one kind of 'modern' and 'aggresive' that could be causing this problem.
I have no idea what happened because I'm sure I didn't choose that one... but anyway, now the background vocals have a more classical reverb and hopefully this will solve the problem
(02-11-2013, 11:33 AM)juanjose1967 Wrote: Difficult mix for one simple reason: it's the song of a dear friend and I feel some pressure to make it sound not good, but GREAT!
Some people tell me that I work better under pressure, so let's see if in this case they're right or not.
But whatever you think of my mix -and of course, advice will always be welcomed- I had a great time working on this beautiful song!
Thank you, Niels for letting us have the chance to mix one of your songs!!
A very dry sound here, something I don't usually like. However, for this particular mix it works extraordinarily well. You've brought out a lot of detail among the instruments, and reverb would probably just blur a lot of that, anyway. It has a very tight, "garage band" feel to it that suits the song surprisingly well.
LOVE that "thump" you got out of the kick!
Only one problem here. The guitar tends to interfere with lyric intelligibility from time to time. Myself personally I usually avoid automation when I can, but this is one case where the rest of the mix works so well that's probably how I would solve that problem: pull the guitar back maybe 6 dB or so when it plays during the vocal.
Other than that, an unusual but first class mix IMHO.
(02-11-2013, 07:03 PM)juanjose1967 Wrote: Yes, it's the first comp I've done in my life. I got the parts from the three tracks that I thought that would fit better in the song and there you got the result!
Now the rides are a little bit higher and I've added a bass amp. By the way, is the bass too loud now? I think it was too low in my initial mix.
I couldn't use the plugins from that site you suggested because I don't have a mac and they don't work on windows. So you can see that you're not the only one buying cheap stuff
Anyway, a coffee or a beer will be welcomed some day! you can count on the same thing if you ever come to the south of Spain!
Actually, I think it could still use a little MORE bass.
Also, now having listened to that guitar a second time I think maybe it's too loud in the mix OVERALL. I'd take it down 2-3 dB and then, using automation, an additional 2-3 dB during the parts where guitar plays over vocals.
(05-11-2013, 05:05 PM)juanjose1967 Wrote: the video was very interesting and I learned something good about delays and reverbs that I've already started to apply on the mix.
The difference is subtle because I didn't want to drown the lead vocals in reverbs, but I think that if you pay attention, you can hear the difference.
I've already downloaded the tracks to mix that song
Thanks, Olli!!!!
Vocals do sound a little more open here, but also a tad harsh. Might try pulling back a bit on the EQ in the 5-6 kHz range just a tad.
Also, guitars are still biting into the intelligibility of the vocals. And, with the modifications you've made to them, they might need to be up 1-2 dB higher to compete with the backing.
(06-11-2013, 09:17 AM)juanjose1967 Wrote: Hey, Niels! There are songs I've mixed that were supposed to have been recorded in a studio that were much worse than your recording in your room!
I've checked the compression and there was no sustain in the vocals that could give a hint that it had been recorded in a house. So I remembered that Olli mentioned something about the bg vocals to be too modern... and then I checked the reverb I had on them and voilá! for some reason, I found that there was one kind of 'modern' and 'aggresive' that could be causing this problem.
I have no idea what happened because I'm sure I didn't choose that one... but anyway, now the background vocals have a more classical reverb and hopefully this will solve the problem
Thank you, guys for your patience!!
Backing vocals do sound better. Still need to work on that harshness in the vocal and the guitar interfering with it.
Perhaps sending the vocal signal to the sidechain of a very mild compressor on the guitar could allow the two to weave in and out of one another the way you've attempted. Sometimes a barely noticeable stereo chorus/flange/phase can free up some real estate for the vocal, but there's a potential mono compatibility issue there unless you do a lot of precision EQ, which may or may not be worth it. It's a tough thing to do when the vocal track isn't recorded under ideal conditions, which is a small studio reality, so the sidechain compressor is probably the best bet.
Or you could sacrifice an upfront guitar sound for something wetter and a little quieter, which is a more classic tack.
I wouldn't go TOO crazy on the bass because in the analog tape days, your frequency cutoff is around 40 Hz, so I'm not sure it would suit the track. Voelund's room has a lot of corners, too, so consistency in the very low frequency ranges might take a lot of extra processing if it's possible at all, and the potential for undesirable artifacts is pretty high in those situations, although I automatically high passed the entire mix at 40 Hz so I'm really not sure. If an aggressive, modern sound is what your going for though, sub bass is necessary and if consistency is an issue on non-ideal listening equipment, dynamic EQ or frequency selective compression is usually the way to go.
Mr. Ardelli avoids extraneous processsing and has a great talent for balance, which is usually a pretty good idea in my opinion, especially on a track recorded in not the best of rooms, so he'd probably be the one to ask about any sort of processing dodge if you want to take a similar approach .
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!
