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On the line
#1
I looked to Neil Young's Harvest for many elements of this mix, the Grateful Dead and others, going for a blend between modern and retro sounds. I tried to use compression to create flavor since balancing without compression artifacts would have meant soul crushing hours of automation, but I felt the saturation effects and colorful compressors suited the material, so I opted for minimal automation.

I think the mix might be a bit midrangey, though?


.mp3    On the Line Master.mp3 --  (Download: 8.63 MB)


I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!
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#2
I like your mix. It just seems to me that the Vocal is a bit too dry and up front IMO. You got a nice balance between the kick and bass guitar but the rest of the drums are a bit buried in the mix until minute 3 when they get louder and balance well with the rest of the kit. But at this point your acoustic guitar almost disappears.

Thanks for sharing!
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#3
Sorry, just read there that you didnt use much automation. I think that is what this mix needs!

Cheers
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#4
Hey Cefe, thanks for listening and thoughtful comments. After taking an objective listen with your comments in mind, I'm forced to agree 100%.

I actually had a good laugh when you mentioned the kick and bass balanced because I think I spend more time balancing those two instruments than all other technical considerations in almost every mix I attempt, so I'm not surprised the rest of the kit suffered... perhaps some automated compression in the quieter elements, or maybe lowering the static volume of the lead vocal (you're right, it's way too loud) and rolling off highs a dB or 2 in the spots where the overheads are being masked?

It's not good the acoustic is disappearing though... that obviously needs to be the harmonic lynchpin of the tune... the minstrel and his guitar. Unfortunately I'm coming up empty on how best to resolve the issue. It may just be the I need to use less gain reduction in the compressors and use more automation to create space, or perhaps mult the drum kit to a separate mid/side based channel and push the kit more into the sides where the acoustic guitar is fighting for space in the center. Or maybe just a teeny bit of all these tweaks in combination.

Thanks again for your detailed listen and insight! I'll have to start practicing some finer automation work, even if it usually winds up keeping me up until 3 in the morning Tongue
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!
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#5
This song is just a matter of the right buss comp. settings. I disagree with your decision to make the mandolins so prominent even though they sounded very good. Vocals a bit cold. Really I think cold is a good way to describe the mix which is not what I'm feeling from the song. Its not a bad mix at all just very different to where I think the song should go. I liked that you didn't compress the crap out of the bass and liked the tone.
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#6
(10-04-2014, 05:27 AM)hanibal005 Wrote: This song is just a matter of the right buss comp. settings. I disagree with your decision to make the mandolins so prominent even though they sounded very good. Vocals a bit cold. Really I think cold is a good way to describe the mix which is not what I'm feeling from the song. Its not a bad mix at all just very different to where I think the song should go. I liked that you didn't compress the crap out of the bass and liked the tone.

Hey man, thanks for your comment.

I rather agree with your opinion that the mix sounds cold, and I gave the project a quick look to see if I could figure out why.

From the looks of it, I'd say I was way too cavalier with the high pass filtering on many instruments... filtering out the low rumble and the uglies is always at the top of my FX chain, so if I blow it there, I'm probably not going to be able to resolve it later on. And by the time I get to "later on" my ears will probably already be used to hearing it that way, which is why I felt it sounded midrangey... I think cold is a better word to describe the quality I'm referring to, though. All the lovely, warm low mid content is scooped out here, which is a shame because the cellos have so much to offer in this department!

I'll give this one another go now that I've given you and Cefe's comments some time to incubate and we'll see what we see! Thanks for your observations Big Grin

BTW... the mandolins... is that an artistic opinion or do you think it's hurting the mix balance?
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!
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#7
I think its a combination of the panning and eq. To me the mandolins would be best served in the center as a counter melody to the vocals. Perhaps retaining a bit more of the low mids and a slight level drop would take some of the bite out giving them a more sweet and sensual lacquer. The panning I think would be an artistic expression taste and eq more a mix balance thing
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#8
Personally, I like the mandolins exactly the way they are. I don't think they hurt the mix balance at all; they sound great IMHO. Smile

The big problem I hear here is in those vocals. The reverb you used just doesn't work; sounds like he's singing in his shower. Interestingly, though, the reverb does work once the full range of the backing instruments kick in; it's just when the vocal is standing more in relief, particularly at the beginning of the song, where the reverb doesn't sound right.

And yes, the mix is a bit midrangey, particularly in the bass.

This was one of the first mixes I did from the site (I've done 142 so far; this was number 15 Wink) but I've never gotten around to posting it. I'm going to go correct that oversight right now if you'd like to listen to how I approached this one. Wink
John A. Ardelli
Pedaling Prince Pictures
http://www.youtube.com/user/PedalingPrince
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