(11-06-2014, 03:40 PM)Voelund Wrote: What lovely language. I dontunderstand a word but it sounds so good !
Enda has great form of expressiveness in his vocal which oozes a certain kind of gracefulness, charm and eloquence, even sincerity, aided by great pitch and a smooth, warm timbre. he's certainly very engaging.
i liked the approach in this mix. not familiar with the raw goods though, it's difficult to be analytical in that sense, but the open delivery and connectedness of the instruments and musicians, i thought, was super. i wouldn't have known about your edits unless you'd said, so the transparency was great. i'd agree that anything we can do to add some synergy to a delivery can only be a good thing....and you do this well, spotting and working opportunities with consummate ease. that's a gift.
i thought the overall tonality of the song could have been moved to a slightly warmer bias perhaps, noting in particular the acoustic and mandolin. the intro, by way of example, had a brittleness coming from these two which would normally have turned me off, away, and gone for ever? i do understand, and to some extent sympathise with the view that if this is what the instrument is doing, then let it be, kind of thing (the discussion regarding the bass, for example). however, there comes a point where distraction and discomfort also need to be considered. microphones tell lies and sometimes if those lies encroach on our enjoyment, they need to be controlled accordingly. our ears behave differently to a microphone and what the ears hear aint what the mic is hearing. the audience listening to the recordings won't know any different if things are fixed, sweetened or enhanced in some way....but they will if the bugs are allowed to prevail. i'm not talking about radical changes here, just some control and balance in the sensitive areas of our hearing - especially around the 1-5Khz zone, where acoustics and mandolins can get ragged. but you had these instruments positioned well in the stereo panorama by way of level and in the depth field especially, which was cool.
not hearing the raw bass, it's difficult to say how much of the battle you won, but it's still a little ungainly in the mix, unfortunately. i don't think it would have needed much more processing to get it to behave, so maybe you gave up at a crucial moment? multiband compression would have nailed this, simply running one band! and it would have given the mix more headroom to work in too. the chat about the snoring bass made my day!
Thank goodness one of the musicians didn't fart! i'm afraid i'm with Olli on that one.....
last point from me here, but by no means least, is the vocal. Enda's dynamic delivery and change in tone, can sometimes result in a loss of clarity now and again in the mix, especially when the bass is roaring. i'd say this is a compression issue, rather than EQ because that side of the equation is working fine. indeed, if the acoustic and mandolin were tamed, it would automatically add clarity to the vocal in that all important mid range where our ears are most sensitive on the equal-loudness contour, but it wouldn't help the quiet bits when he's low in the register. vocal is king....it's crucial that it's working to the max.
no, this is the final bit....i like your processing on the master buss - your approach displays a sympathetic ear and a respect for the musician's performance. nice.
cheers!
time for a coffee...
