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Finlay - A Different Approach
#1
So, I decided to take a producer's (as opposed to mixing) approach and without altering the content (as I'm sure there are licencing issues involved in doing that) I wanted to "alter the content."

What I wanted to alter:
Dynamics. That's it. It's a well-recorded track which sounds FULL in sections, sparse in others. I wanted to exaggerate this.

How I went about this:
1. Reverb. the "snare sample" track sounds like a snare, handclap and tambourine hit. I compressed and added a reasonable amount of reverb to this to give it exaggerated impact.
2. Riding the Master Limiter. I ran a limiter on the Master Bus. I set a good overall amount of headroom throughout the track (about 1-2dB of gain reduction). But, in the sections of the track that needed to be loudest, I automated the threshold on the limiter to squeeeeze that mother. This is most evident on the penultimate and final loud sections. Brickwalling the master is an awful practice, but in this instance, I believe it was used to musical effect.

Anyway, have a listen. I am open to critique.


.mp3    Finlay - Same Kind of Life.mp3 --  (Download: 6.85 MB)


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#2
I gave it a couple of listens. To be honest, overall it feels a little small and thin. I'm missing the excitement. I'm not getting the exaggerated dynamics that you've mentioned. Maybe a bit, volume wise but not tonally from low to high. I'm missing the bass (though I'm not sure what the deal was with the bass in this song, it's been awhile). Or maybe just the low end. My biggest issue is the vocal seems a little 'slighted' in the mix. In most songs the vocals are the most important thing but I think especially the focus in this song. In this mix it feels just a little in the back and far away. Especially by the chorus when more elements enter the picture and the cymbals really accent.

I do appreciate what your intent was. And I think this song really needs the dynamics pushed. I think it might have to expand in all three dimensions volume, frequency and stereo.
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#3
I like what you've done with the combined snare/ clap/ tambourine sample, it pokes through the mix with a nice impact. However, I'm not sure about the vocal processing. Maybe it's a preference thing, but I think it sounds a bit thin and top end heavy. I'm also not sure I'm fond of the lead vocal delay hard left, again this may be a preference thing. I do like your process of starting the project with a goal in mind.
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