Siren - Pauli

[The_Metallurgist]

.....but I'm clearly trying to achieve a sound that's not my style.

i think that takes courage! well done.

.... but I think I'm going to re-work this one in a mixing style more my own. Maybe be a little more fearless with the panning, too!

sometimes we can box ourselves into a corner, so i think you are right to take this approach. after all, it's your vision, your personality that is your signature. own the mix make it yours, take chances, go with your feelings, push your own boundaries and even challenge the audience while you're at it

thanks for the input, dudes. better mix coming your way.

cooooool, nice attitude

[bladerunner]

My honest general assessment - The mix generally lacks low end; Some of the guitars seem a little loud and are too bright imo; There are some shrill guitar note sustains (the one at 1'40 - 1'46 being the example) that are quite a bit too loud; The side channels sound a bit too separated from the rest of the mix; There is imo, too much compression/limiting over the whole mix - i can hear how the whole mix ducks at intense points (that point at 1'40 being a good example - the vocal is pushed 'down' by the sustained guitar note) - the compression generally feels a bit uncomfortable.

This might sound like a long list of negatives but having said all that it does has the makings of a decent mix and with a few tweaks it could sound a lot better i think. Some of my criticisms are subjective but i hope they are helpful. Would really like to hear any future revisions

[pauli]

ok, so the word "revisions" is being used very generously... I scratched the original mix and took it from the top. I feel the new version is greatly improved and I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Many of my poor judgement decisions in the original mix were rooted in three main issues: skimpy attention to detail (lots of tracks, got it done quickly, under-processed, should have known better), forgetting to crank the volume every now and then (I mix at low levels so my ears don't adjust to the high mids as quickly, cranking the volume revealed egregious errors) and not keeping my ears calibrated (typical mistake for someone who's still learning ).

So my revisions were based largely on your suggestions:

1. the stereo tracks were slightly narrowed so I could spread them out more without the phase gremlins ruining the mix.

2. I had the mix as a whole way too loud and excessively limited... it's peaking around -2dB now and the limiting has been reduced to near nonexistence, just catching the stray transients that were distracting without processing.

3. Lots more low end... I turned off the subwoofer while mixing the low frequencies to ensure I had enough bass. In order to prevent the low-range buildup that was fooling my perceptions, I used very light side chain compression in a few places and high-pass filtered the entire mix just under 20 Hz for more headroom.

4. I lowered the volumes of some tracks and increased the volume of other tracks to strike a better balance... there's quite a bit of light sidechain compression in various places to allow the vocals and synth tracks to come through where I wanted them.

In addition to those adjustments based on your mixes and suggestions, I did a little more tweaking... I enveloped the entire track to enhance the macro-dynamics of the piece and keep it moving forward, did a lot more EQ detail work to remove resonances and low midrange filth (I was very neglectful on this score in the original, put a limiter on the bass toward the end where it distorts, and faded the track out so it wasn't so long.

In retrospect, I realize I bit off a little more than I could chew with such a huge project after only a few months of mixing . I have a great ear for music and have been playing all my life, but implementation is still a great struggle for me.

Side by side, this seems like a huge improvement over the original and I'm a lot happier with it, but it's definitely not polished enough, so it'd be great to hear how you guys feel about the improvements and what I could do to improve it further.

[Spede]

The second mix sounds a lot better here.

[The_Metallurgist]

hi Pauli, well done for having a really good crack at the whip here.

heard of Alfrado Pareto or the 80/20 rule? how could you apply it to a multi like this....of 59 tracks?

happy contemplation meanwhile
Dave

[The_Metallurgist]

The second mix sounds a lot better here.

ummmmmmm, i think he knows that already?

[pauli]

heard of Alfrado Pareto or the 80/20 rule? how could you apply it to a multi like this....of 59 tracks?

Hmmm, so you're suggesting that perhaps 80% of the emotion is being contributed by 20% of the audio? Maybe give the mute button a bit of a workout?

That certainly makes sense and probably would've spared me all the effort of side-chaining everything to everything to eliminate the conflicts .

[ALX]

3. Lots more low end... I turned off the subwoofer while mixing the low frequencies to ensure I had enough bass. In order to prevent the low-range buildup that was fooling my perceptions, I used very light side chain compression in a few places and high-pass filtered the entire mix just under 20 Hz for more headroom.

Always a good idea. Because this is synth and sample based song, you could try using mid/side HP EQ also. Set the Mid to 20Hz like you have and set the sides to 100HZ to 120Hz. Set the Side to a frequency that gives you the most powerful focused low end. Most clubs mono everything under 120Hz. You can do this with the Brainworx bx-control plugin also.

[pauli]

Good idea! I'm working on another dancey tune ATM and I'll give mid/side EQ a try. I have a plug-in but until your explanation I really wasn't sure how or why to use it.

[Voelund]

Always a good idea. Because this is synth and sample based song, you could try using mid/side HP EQ also. Set the Mid to 20Hz like you have and set the sides to 100HZ to 120Hz. Set the Side to a frequency that gives you the most powerful focused low end. Most clubs mono everything under 120Hz. You can do this with the Brainworx bx-control plugin also.

Thank you for posting this ! You made me investigate the M/S mystery as I use antique hardware not supportin the M/S tools available today. Im goin to experiment with masterin via a M/S matrix I now know how to setup, thx to your post and some guidelines posted elsewhere, but I wouldnt have investigated the matter had it not been for you writing this.
It looks quite simple and also looks like lots of exciting decisions
Thank you !