Finlay - Same Kind Of Life (Piano and Vocals only)

[AxisSounds]

Hey folks.

I really enjoyed this song and heard some amazing mixes but always felt the vocals and piano were relegated behind some other sounds, or came across a little too thin and distant.

I tried my hand at a stripped back mix with a focus on keeping it dynamic and organic. Obviously, the producer/writer envisaged a lot more from this song but folk are always telling me to strip back my own compositions so I tried that with this one. I used a lot of analogue summing and harmonic saturation on the way in, i.e. colouring the sounds before I started mixing. I wouldn't normally do this so heavily but as I was only using a couple of tracks I felt the need (or just plainly wanted) to glue them all together.

Any thoughts?

Processes:
Mid-Side EQ on the piano to clear the way for vocals.
EQ on the vocals to bring out some body (quite a lot boosting around 185Hz). Parallel processed with a gently distorted duplicate with roll-off around 5K. All blended in.

Reverbs were the EMT140 from Avid's Space, and Abbey Road chamber blended in to give the vocals and piano some low-mid, early reflection character.

SSL bus compressor used on the master bus with Waves C4 gently mixed in to catch some of those big transient stabs.

Scheps OmniChannel
SSL Channel (E-series)
Roto-Speaker
Avid Space (EMT140B long)
Abbey Road Chambers
Abbey Roads TG Mastering Console
SSL Compressor
Waves NLS (set to SSL console - so much warmth)
Waves C4

- B

[Roy]

I'm usually not a fan of M/S Eq but I suppose it works ok in this case. Or at least I can't find a reason to criticize it in this case. But I suspect that regular eq-ing would have worked just as well. I do think the 185hz boost just adds some excess fat to the vocal. It's already kind of mumbly and if anything, needs clarity. But I understand you stripped the arrangement down and that adjustment was based on the stripped down version. In the end it blends it in with the piano.
The vocal gets overshadowed by the piano. For a stripped down version the vocal gets buried between the piano and EQ. There's a lot of mentions to the reverb but I don't really notice it. Which I get is the point of reverb to some extent.

I do like the tremolo effect. There is a a tremolo on Piano 1 right? Or am i having a stroke? I need to know ASAFP. The F stands for 'feasible', of course. (oh wait, I see, Roto Speaker. I will call off the Ambulance. They will not be happy.)

It sounds fine but ultimately, kinda boring. That's what the other parts of the arrangement were for. I get stripping it down and trying to find the 'soul' of the song (eww). I think that's a smart move. But, I think the rest of the parts should fill in around those elements to fill out the song. It sounds good. Don't misunderstand. We just need those other parts to trigger our interest in the lyrics.

It's not even 8am EST (God's time zone) and I"ve barely sipped my coffee so I reserve the right to be wrong.