Sea of Leaves

[pauli]

Found this song to be very mixable, but I'm still not completely satisfied.

So there's high-pass filtering, timing correction for phase alignment in the drums, guitars and bass where necessary... other than that, not too much going on here.

autopan on the lead synth to help it poke out, bandpass on the pad to keep it outta the way, touch of verb on the drums and backing vocals, delay on the vocals... compression here and there, tape saturation for the guitars.

Mastering chain was simple... stereo widening, mid side compression for more control, and a limiter.

Longterm dynamics are obviously an issue that I've overlooked but I have some ideas as to how to fix it... what else do you think would improve this mix?

[juanjose1967]

I think that you got a good mix here. There's more instrument separation than in other mixes. The lead voice is sometimes low and gets a little bit lost in the music, for example, check it at 2:00

[pauli]

I think that you got a good mix here. There's more instrument separation than in other mixes. The lead voice is sometimes low and gets a little bit lost in the music, for example, check it at 2:00

Agreed on the lost vocal... I caught that in the mastering stage... will try to nail it down in a remix. I also noticed when I peaked at the waveform that the track peaks in the beginning and remains static throughout, which is obviously a bit of a problem

Thanks for your comment on separation! That's often astruggle for me and a huge focus for me on this tune.

Thaks for listening dude!

[juanjose1967]

I remember learning a lot about mixing workflow when I watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pmZM4NW_...HtclyujnrQ

This is the first part, but altogether, there are 7 parts. You can spend almost three hours watching how this guy mixes a song. But I can tell that there was a 'before' and 'after' in my mixes after watching these videos. It so happens that that guy uses the same daw that I do and makes everything easier for me; but if you have a different one, just keep in mind that it's the workflow what will make everything easier for you! Most of the times, I do exactly what he does during the whole process

[The_Metallurgist]

@pauli
greets! have you worked out how you missed the vocal issue during mixing? i'm interested in knowing...

i thought you did a good job on this mix. i didn't think it was as straight forward as it first appeared though, and i got in a mess towards the end when everything started collapsing around my ears. it all got very complicated, perhaps not helped by all the effects i did, some of which had quite manic insert chains running....and then automation on top! but i just can't stop myself!! :/

i recommend you think carefully about auto panning stuff, especially if the part doesn't have a rhythmic element that fits the panning symmetry? it can sound odd and bring attention to itself otherwise. the level you had on this auto panned synth part could have had it's fader pulled down somewhat; sorry i can't quote values...because it won't be valid Oh, i'd also think about how you control it's dynamics while you are there...i think it needs restraining to better fit the balance of the rest of the mix. also still on this part, it hurt my ears on it's exit, so perhaps take a look at it's frequency content by perhaps rolling off it's hi's for example? please be alive to the fact that auto panning can, if it's wide in the stereo field, make some people feel sick - i'm not joking; headphones/plugs especially. if it was me, i'd make this effect much more subtle, if only for the reason that it's a distraction from the vocal otherwise...THE most important instrument in the mix, yeah? the vocal is the reason you do anything in a mix, to help deliver it's emotion and message. i thought the panning detracted from this.....and was an effect for the sake of it? but exploration is valid, of course.

if you want to look further at the separation element in your mix, i can strongly recommend you have a go at adding ambiance and reverb to your various instruments to help place them in the depth dimension. i know this potentially opens a serious can of worms involving all sorts of complicated settings and even equalisation and levels, as well as create other issues like frequency masking. it's a big subject and needs quite a lot of research and a broad range of reference material, but it will offer you massive opportunities for progressing your mixes far more than stereo widening...and messing around with mid-side nonsense. sure, when you've got your mixes working well, moving on to mid-side can help manage the final, minimal tweaks. but right now, i'd say it's probably making things worse for you...and it's a distraction from far more important issues?

perhaps you could take a vocal on it's own, and experiment. presets are a good place to start, but are NEVER a solution in their own right and have to be adjusted somehow to make them fit your specific, highly individual and never repeatable mix situation. this is why you need to understand the science of acoustics a little first...and why pre-delays for example, are a key element. if you posted just a vocal track herein with your reverb of choice rendered into it, along with the emulator's settings, peeps here could offer direction? reverb and ambiance is a difficult journey, but once you can master it, you WILL be a mixing engineer.

it's really good to hear your mixes coming along though....when i have some time, i'll have a listen to your other stuff - i've been off site for a bit...need to catch up! only spotted your post by chance, while posting mine up - it had been hanging around for ages and i needed to clear it.

@juanjose1967
how on earth can you handle listening to all those really irritating mouse clicks?! i'd have to mute them straight away! lol

laters guys
Dave

[pauli]

hey dave! thanks as always for taking the time for an in-depth listen, comments and suggestions!

As far as missing the vocal, I think that was an honest to goodness stupid mistake... I don't remember the circumstances, but something that has happened to me before and will most likely happen again is that it was getting late and I rushed through the finishing touches. After a quick look at the mix, it looks like I even multed that part out to sort out some issue, presumably the level, and see that I did nothing different to it at all, which is actually pretty hilarious! It's an issue I've been alerted to more than once, so I spank myself and promise not to do it again

The autopanned synth isn't working for me as well as it did at the time... the intent was trying to let it be heard whilst still remaining out of the vocals way, but my current strategies there are more towards rolling off the highs and increasing the levels of reverb sends, or perhaps using a more distant reverb altogether, so your point is well taken. There's another multi on this site that has a 100% left to right autopan SUB BASS, and I almost did get sick because I was listening in cans. I'd also imagine that's a recipe for damaging the subwoofer cones if there's much else going on bass-wise, but I'm rambling. Mostly I like a very subtle autopan on delay returns for that "shimmering" quality, but after that howler with the autopanned bass I learned my lesson

I'll experiment more with reverbs as suggested and I absolutely agree. It's too easy to rush through those final sweetening phases and accept less than the best. Practice doesn't make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect, ja?

Glad you think I'm coming along, dude, I work really hard. Thanks as always for your time and insight!

[lahdez]

Nice mix! But I agree that the panning synth is poking out too much and the vocals tend to get behind some times.

[pauli]

Thanks for the listen and comments, Antonio. This is a pretty old mix and I've learned a lot since this one... you've inspired me to give it another look, and maybe take another stab at it.. I love this song