Dead Roses RJRMIX

[ERJEE]

Nice atmospheric and well-recorded production! 
To my taste the tracks had a bit too much HF content , so I tried to mellow down everything..
Cheers!

[mikej]

Hi,

I gave this one a good listen.

I do feel this mix is simply a little too heavy handed for my taste. Everything seems just that bit too overprocessed and heavy, and it sounds kind of edgy, rather than smooth to me. For this material I'd prefer a more delicate touch and a slighty more natural sounding mix. More along the lines of Al Schmitt / Chuck Ainlay? No need for quite so heavy kick/snare. The vocal is also perhaps a touch too forward, and the vocal blends could be a bit better?

Sorry to be a bit of a downer!

For me these kind of mixes are the hardest - you have to do just enough to make a good mix, but not so much that it loses the natural feel and sound.

Cheers!

[ERJEE]

Hi, thanks for listening and your comments - no worries, I appreciate all feedback!
I indeed feel I pushed this a bit too much. I smoothed the edges in V3!

[filipandrei]

Hey ERJEE,

Mix3 sounding really nice ( much better than no.2 )
I agree with mikej, the first one was a bit "aggressive" for this type of music

Well done

Cheers
Andrei

[ERJEE]

Thanks Andrei!

[mikej]

Hi!

Yeah mix 3 is much, much better. I still think you might be able to go further though!

My main problem is that I do really like that Telefunken mix! If it helps, the things that stand out to me are:

- The dynamics and delicate nature of the drums gently underpinning everything.

- The dynamics in the vocals. They are not having to fight or punch through against anything as such, so they don't really need to be pinned to a fixed level with compression. For me the vocal dynamics really add to the apprehensiveness and sensitivity of the lyric.

- The natural dynamics of the vocals and playing really adds to the verse/chorus transitions. This can be missed with a little too much compression I think?

- The tone of the piano. It's more sort of lower midrangy, than bright. It doesn't fight with the vocals, isn't standing out as a main feature as such for the whole song, and it's supporting the vocals.

Most of the Telefunken mixes seem to have that knack of keeping things present, whilst also retaining the tone and dynamics of the live performance. As I mentioned before, it's really not easy.

It's also important to note that I sometimes head off in the wrong direction on mixes too. For me it's kind of my number one frustration really. Some tracks I find the direction immediately obvious, others perhaps not so. It's also not always clear from the Library mixes as to the right direction either - as some of them can be a bit too smashed sounding for some reason, or have other issues.

I hope that gives some insight in to my way of thinking with this one?

Cheers!

[ERJEE]

Hi, Thanks for your extensive reply! Where can I find the Telefunken mix, I only see the cambridge preview mix?
Yes, a natural feel is important for this song, I agree. I think the challenge here is to make it natural but polished.
The thing in mixing is that we have to zoom in, but more importantly, to zoom out often!

Funny that I did not use much compression on anything actually (vocals just a bit of Rvox, no compression on drums), so the mix is mainly eq and balance

I made a V4 in which I mellowed the piano and made the Eguitar less mid-rangy, I think I'm pretty ok with it now!

Cheers!

[mikej]

Hi,

Sorry, I did mean the library mix. (I'm thinking it's a Telefunken mix, but I could be wrong!).

Well, I'm pretty ok with V4 too. More than ok actually, sounds great! Everything really gels just that little bit better and the backing is nicely supporting the vocal. Great snare sound too! For me it's a big difference in listening experience from the first mix.

Good stuff!

Cheers!

[ERJEE]

Thanks again for sharing your feedback,
Cheers!