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A Place For Us - EKN Mix
#11
(18-05-2014, 03:10 PM)EKN Wrote:
(18-05-2014, 02:50 AM)Pedaling Prince Wrote: Oh wow... direct hit amidships by photon torpedo...

Not sure I get the photon torpedo reference, but in the context of your sentence I take it as a compliment Big Grin

It is, I assure you. Big Grin The quote comes from the Star Trek episode "Elaan of Troyius;" it's part of my personal lexicon, and basically its meaning is similar to "you hit the nail on the head" or "right on the nose."

(18-05-2014, 03:10 PM)EKN Wrote:
(18-05-2014, 02:50 AM)Pedaling Prince Wrote: I feel the compression on the vocals is a wee bit too aggressive; I'd dial that back a notch. On the backing vocals, I'd bring up the level of the "oh-woah-oh-ohs" a good 3-5 dB.

As for compression, I must confess I went the lazy route here Blush I had already spent so much time dealing with the drums and piano (more on that below), editing/retuning the vocals, and so on, that I decided a 2-step compression would do it, instead of adding yet some more automation tracks.

Which makes this a good example as to why I tend to minimize my use of compression as much as possible... Big Grin

(18-05-2014, 03:10 PM)EKN Wrote: As for the "oh-wow-oh-ohs", if I told you how much time I spent bringing them up, then down, then up again, you wouldn't believe me Big Grin The perfectionist in me kept deciding that +1dB was too much and then -1dB was not enough. After some time spent going back and forth, my brain wasn't able anymore to take any valid decision, so I settled down on this ! Will have to reassess this with fresh ears too.

Oh I'd believe you; this sounds just like me. Actually, you might want to go check out my remix of this song; I just came off of five hours of doing just that to get that to come out right... Blush

(18-05-2014, 03:10 PM)EKN Wrote:
(18-05-2014, 02:50 AM)Pedaling Prince Wrote: From the opening, with the beautiful definition you got out of the piano and nice, crisp, clean vocal sound I knew I was in for a treat here.

I'm really glad you noticed the piano sound as this was the first thing I knew I'd have to address when I first listened to the preview mix. I really didn't care for the original midrange-y upright piano sound, full of overwhelming harmonics and room ambiance. I decided this song needed a grand piano sound, you know that kind of instrument that gives you the chills just by playing low end notes full of magical harmonics Smile I then remembered that my DAW includes a copy of Melodyne that I'd never used until then, so I tried its polyphonic audio-to-midi feature. Well... hmmm... maybe it was my being new to this plugin, but the original track contains so many harmonics and ambiance that the plugin detected a lot of false ghost notes, however I adjusted the detection algorithm. I would have spent way too much time editing the outcome manually, so I ended up re-recording that track by learning the piano part and playing it on my keyboard.

Oh wow! I wish I knew how to play an instrument or two; I could've used this technique on Street Noise's "You Are the One" to replace the godawful acoustic guitar track. Confused Actually on this one, once I applied a little EQ to the piano to bring some life to it, I found it quite workable, though I must admit your version is much better. Any chance I could get a copy of that in raw, uncompressed 24-bit form so I can try working with it myself?

(18-05-2014, 03:10 PM)EKN Wrote:
(18-05-2014, 02:50 AM)Pedaling Prince Wrote: Not as sure I like your choice to fade out everything but the drums at the end. I'm thinking maybe bring up the backing vocals to go along with them? I was just thinking, with this particular mix, that the backing vocals standing on their own with the drums might be a cool effect...?

I have to admit here again that I somewhat rushed this part, I was already exhausted by this tough mix. I quickly routed some tracks to a bus and automated its volume, but didn't even bother to take care of the reverb automation for those same tracks. I may rethink this.

Yeah, that's the second time you mentioned fatigue being a reason for rushing some aspects of this mix. Actually, truth be told, that's why it took me a full week to do this mix. Usually I can do a mix quite a bit more quickly than that but this one was, as everyone knows, incredibly complex. I find the best thing to do when fatigue sets in, so long as you don't have a deadline to meet of course, is to just put the project aside for the day and come back to it the next day when your ears are fresh.

For something that was so hard on you, though, you certainly did a fantastic job. Big Grin

(18-05-2014, 03:10 PM)EKN Wrote: Once again John, thank you very much for taking the time to listen and comment so thoroughly. It's always appreciated.

Of course. I like to give the kind of detailed reviews and suggestions I would want to receive on my work, both in an attempt to be helpful and in the hope that the person whose work I'm reviewing might return the favour reviewing some of mine. Wink
John A. Ardelli
Pedaling Prince Pictures
http://www.youtube.com/user/PedalingPrince
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#12
Very nice mix Erick. I like the way you did the interlude and end. Very creative.

Grtz, Jan.
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#13
Great sounding mix. I love your choice and use of reverbs on this.
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#14
really enjoyed listening to this mix....you've created a well balanced sonic landscape here. whilst it can be weird listening to other people's mixes sometimes as one notices the differences as "faults", i think the choices that you made all work well in context....my only comment would be that you could boost the whoa wo's over the final drum outro for anthemic effect....a bit like an audience participation at a live show
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#15
Cheers all for the feedback !

@HbGuitar : Yes, I intend to reassess the outro (among other things), and I'm still undecided on what I'll do about it. I know I want to keep it drums-centric, and maybe I'll leave the slap bass until the end, or as you suggested leave the BGV with a kind of live feel.
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