Spike Mullings's 'Mike's Sulking' - Cefe's Mix

[Cefe]

I enjoyed working on this one. It has some nice guitar parts. My concern is on the vocal. Is it too low in the mix? I really didn't know where to place them. Maybe the processing I used on them is not the right one.

Anyways, if you have some spare time, please me know what you think.

Thanks for listening.
Cheers!

[bmullen]

I think the lead vocal should come up a bit and the guitar panned hard left down a bit. The processing on the vocal sounds ok to me.

[HbGuitar]

Hey Cefe,

overall i like this mix. I think Bmullen is right. lead vox is too low and/or too wet and as a result is getting a bit lost in the mix.

Also agree left panned guitar is a smidge loud...but maybe because the vox is too low. If the vox came up, maybe the guitar would be more balanced and sit OK at its current level.

cheers

[pauli]

The old Mick Jagger trick is sometimes useful: Turn the music down to where you can barely hear anything at all, and you'll only hear the snare and vocal. That doesn't apply in every scenario, but it's a good starting point for rock and pop music. The snare is a lot easier to place in the mix and as such can be a good reference point... it's tempting to leave the vocal too loud when it's the first track you fade into the balance. For rock I usually prefer to dial in the drums or rhythm guitars first for that reason.

Another quick tip: if you're having trouble finding the right level for the vocal, it's usually an indicator of a dynamics issue somewhere in the mix that will need compression and likely automation to solve. If you keep finding yourself pushing the vocal too loud, it often means you're struggling with clarity due to excessive content in the low mid, and it just as often means that some vocal riding is in order. Vocal rides are much easier if you're compressing them at the same time and you're using fast square shaped rides... the compression makes things more forgiving as far as level, and the human ear usually can't keep up with fast jumps in volume in a mix, so likely will not notice any slightly errant timing

[Cefe]

Hey guys, thanks very much for your comments and advices, much appreciated! I will do a revision on this one soon...

[Mike Caliri]

The opening guitar way to thin,I,m working on this one,very challenging.Drum levels recorded all over the place.Lead vox thin to begin with.