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Purple Hat Mob: 'Access Denied' - Garrett Victor
#1
Hi friends,

I am a student and as per my assignment, I am instructed to post this for review.

All critiques are welcome/encouraged!


.mp3    Access Denied - Garrett Victor Mix.mp3 --  (Download: 10.84 MB)


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#2
Hi!

I think this is a very cool track to mix, and quite challenging.

Ok, these are my immediate thoughts at first listen:

Intro Siren: nice tone, seems like we’re off to a good start!

The drums: pretty good job, nice tones, could perhaps be a touch louder in the mix. Could maybe add a bit more top end to the overheads, I feel, but they are really hard to manage in this mix, I recall there are some quite loud higher frequencies in the raw overheads track, drumsticks catching or something. I think I buried them somewhat in my attempt at this.

Good snare sound. Could maybe dig in a bit with more with the compressor - a bit faster attack and release to get a bit more ‘smack’ out of it. You might be able to experiment and find a nice short ‘splatty’ reverb to put on a send to help it a bit too, rather than just a room verb. If you can find the right reverb you can really get the snare to sound more ‘3D’ and get it to pop out of the mix a bit.

Bass - Nice tone, perhaps could do with a bit more ‘weight’ in the low end though maybe (80hz -ish?). For me the bass and the drums really are the heartbeat and backbone of this track, and really act as a bed for everything else.

Intro - Guitar chords a touch loud for me I think when they first come in, but nicer balance later on. Balance is much better around the 3:40 mark, for example, although the synth line is a touch hot for me there. Again, nice tones I think.

30sec mark - Instruments come in a bit too hot for me (mainly the synth I think), things become a bit out of balance with the drums. The drums get a touch buried there. Might be worth experimenting with parallel compression for the drums, it will really help them to cut through the mix. Also worth trying a bit of volume automation per song section.

I do like the way you get the mix to build up and get louder though, you’ve kept the mix quite dynamic, and you get a good contrast between the loud and quiet sections, which does require a bit of planning.

Vocals: could be a touch louder in the mix for my taste, and a touch warmer (bit more low mids for me). You can also experiment with tucking in some sort of widening effect or similar under the vocals to get them to pop out the mix a bit more.

Overall, not a bad effort at all though I think. This is a difficult mix to fit everything in. There’s lots of big synth tracks to manage in this one, and then you have to get the big guitars in there as well, without burying the drums and vocals.

I think you’ve got some good tones and have the instruments working quite well together eq wise, but I feel the volume balance between them could do with some revision perhaps?

I feel it would be well worth spending some time referencing bands such as The Slow Readers Club, Glasspop, Muse, etc. too for mix ideas. I found it a great help, especially with regard to getting a good balance between instruments, as I personally find getting a satisfactory mix balance quite a challenge.

Anyway, what do I know? I hope this is somewhat helpful. Please do feel free to critique my mix too!

What are your thoughts? Which aspects of the mix did you find most challenging?
Just uploaded a mix/master?  Waiting for comments? Why not give back and critique a mix/master, or two!
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