Revelations

[pauli]

This is my first go at mixing from a tape source, but I feel pretty good about it? Hopefully there is a good blend of old and new... tried for a brighter sound but with a controlled bass response the way current ears tend to prefer, but I did what I could to avoid any sort of aggressive EQ/Compression
that'd ruin the analog sound. Great song


I read a lot about how time affects magnetic tape over time... the high end is slowly lost and the transients get a little blunted... that made sense to me because I felt the overall tonality was a little on the dark side and a lot of parts, especially the guitars, had kinda smeary transients.

Anyway, I worked really hard on this and I feel like my vision for the mix came together the way I'd hoped, so any thoughts are welcome and appreciated.

Maybe I used the word "I" too often?

[pauli]

Rested on the last mix, and now I'm not happy with it at all. So hopefully this one is a bit better. Don't forget to take coffee breaks... lesson learned (again )

[juanjose1967]

Hi, Pauli! well, it's not that bad to have a dark song once in a while. Besides, the song has that retro sound that traps you right away. You can always use amps on guitars so you can make them brighter if you want to. But in my opinion, I think they sound very good the way they do in your second mix.

There's only one thing I would change it the mix: in the beginning, at 0:10 more or less, I think that the guitar on the right should be closer to the center because there are less instruments playing. Later, with some automation, I spread guitars and instruments apart. But this is only a matter of taste and it doesn't mean it's wrong the way it is now

[Voelund]

Its a cool mix, I think the guitars and drums sound very authentic 70´s. Bas is solid.
More organ, it playes some nice hi notes I dont hear for the guitars. Could it be a denoiser has killed the hinotes ?
Now my ears have adjusted i can hear the organ but not the hi notes I know is there.
The lvl of voice could be little lower.

One can always discuss if denoising is the way to go, it cant be hleped but throw some of the baby out with the bathing water so to speak, I find myself in the fortunate situation of not owning a decent denoiser so I just leave the noise

I think you are getting really good at this mixin business pauli, lots have happened since I heard your work. Thumbs up ! Cool bass !

[pauli]

Hi, Pauli! well, it's not that bad to have a dark song once in a while. Besides, the song has that retro sound that traps you right away. You can always use amps on guitars so you can make them brighter if you want to. But in my opinion, I think they sound very good the way they do in your second mix.

There's only one thing I would change it the mix: in the beginning, at 0:10 more or less, I think that the guitar on the right should be closer to the center because there are less instruments playing. Later, with some automation, I spread guitars and instruments apart. But this is only a matter of taste and it doesn't mean it's wrong the way it is now

Hey Juan, you're always awesome about giving me feedback that makes me say "why the heck didn't I think of that!?" . I think you're absolutely on point... Thanks for that I was really struggling to get that intro sounding big, but it's sort of a lost cause if there's a gaping hole in the center of the stereo image, huh?

[pauli]

Its a cool mix, I think the guitars and drums sound very authentic 70´s. Bas is solid.
More organ, it playes some nice hi notes I dont hear for the guitars. Could it be a denoiser has killed the hinotes ?
Now my ears have adjusted i can hear the organ but not the hi notes I know is there.
The lvl of voice could be little lower.

One can always discuss if denoising is the way to go, it cant be hleped but throw some of the baby out with the bathing water so to speak, I find myself in the fortunate situation of not owning a decent denoiser so I just leave the noise

I think you are getting really good at this mixin business pauli, lots have happened since I heard your work. Thumbs up ! Cool bass !

You're back! Thanks for feedback and kind words, I owe much of my progress to your generous guidance, especially in the beginning when I was riding on the seat of my pants

I don't have a dedicated denoiser either and the noise in this one is hovering in a critical area of the upper midrange :/ but the organ track was the only really egregious example IMHO. And I like a little tape noise, so I tried to let the organ mostly live in all of the low mids I scooped out of the guitars. I wonder how I might get some more brightness without reintroducing the noise? I'm tempted to program a subtle pad but I really doubt I'd be able to do it without losing the old school sound...

[takka360]

I think a lp on the bass would help maybe bring some more sparkle to the mix .
You only want the bass in the bottom at the end of the day.

[pauli]

I think a lp on the bass would help maybe bring some more sparkle to the mix .
You only want the bass in the bottom at the end of the day.

That's an interesting idea... I actually boosted the crap out of the top end of the bass, thinking it would help it cut through the mix and keep the instrument audible on smaller speaker systems. Do you think it's interfering with the top end of the guitars/hammond?

[takka360]

I don't know for deffo but it will help not being there.

[HbGuitar]

Jumping into the conversation between you and Takka, I will always look to boost upper harmonics on bass. I use very narrow peaks e.g. if 1st harmonic is around 120hz, I'll boost peaks at 480 & 960 (sometimes 240 and 1920 as well, depending on track). If you scoop out a hole in the kick at around 400Hz, it sits beautifully and will cut through mix. Very important for melodic bass playing styles with lots of 1st and 2nd octave action, less so for chunky open string grinds.

Back to your mix - i like it a lot. Everything in the backing track sits really nicely. Love the sound of your drums....Jealous. Hammond, bass and guitar all sound good and groove together.

the ONLY thing I can offer is perhaps for the vocals...they seem a smidgen light in parts...maybe a bit of/more parallel comp. to thicken up and add urgency. This may allow you to drop the vocal level slightly and bring it back into the band......but this only a preference of mine, not a criticism....you've heard my mix and know I like it aggressive.