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Mikes Mix
#1
Here is a mix of this tune..I cut out a bit of the start.

Im finding it hard to cut out the ''Wanda'' bit that one of the musicians must have said-Maybe he was ordering a drink from the bar?? : (2:16)

Im gonna do another mix as I think the fiddle needs something extra and there might be a little bit too much compression on the drums
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.mp3    Telefunken Java Jive Sessions Song 2.mp3 --  (Download: 7.08 MB)


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#2
you need to be careful when alot of percation staf going on, its like a battle in here the hi hat i fighting the gtr ,and evry one fighting with evry one.
you need to automate the nice parts up and the not so nice down so evry one has its own time . and not so much eq evry thing so bright.
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#3
I suspect that you've probably unwittingly imported the 44.1kHz multitracks into a 48kHz DAW project without sample-rate converting them. Either that, or you've slowed the tempo down eight percent and dropped the pitch a semitone and a half for artistic reasons! Wink

That aside, though, I have to admit I had trouble connecting with this mix for a number of reasons. The first issue was the heavy compression pumping, which feels alien to this kind of music. There's a natural balance and 'push-pull' to an ensemble performance like this, and that really suffers if you push the dynamics processing this hard. That element of the processing also makes it a bit tricky for me to make an useful comments about the balance, simply because the compression is making everything seem like it's fighting everything else. The second main thing that seems amiss to me is that there's a lot of cloudy low mid-range in the mix that's surplus to requirements, and well as lots of super-low-frequency rumble that made my subwoofer break out in a sweat for no significant musical gain in terms of bass fullness.

Apologies if this seems rather negative, and I realise that the above may not in itself be particularly useful to you. To try to bring things back onto a more constructive route, what I'd say is that I think you'll probably get the most benefit here if you take this mix right back to the drawing board, trying to get a balance without any dynamics processing at all. See how far you can high-pass filter the acoustic guitar and violin mics without impacting their tone, but otherwise try to use the phase-relationships between the mics to give the timbres you need, in order to minimise the EQ. For what it's worth, when I put together a quick balance while writing the 'About This Multitrack' info sticky, my total EQ use across all 15 tracks was only six bands: two high-pass filters, three narrow EQ notches, and a 2.5dB low shelving cut. While I'd certainly use more refinement for a final mix, what I'm trying to indicate is that if you're using three bands per channel then I reckon you're almost certainly overdoing it.

Once you've got the basic balance and EQ working respectably, then by all means add some compression to individual tracks to solidify the balance a little or add some sustain, although again I'd probably steer clear of hard knees and fast time settings, and ask yourself some serious questions before hitting more than 6dB of gain reduction (unless you're using a parallel compression scheme of some kind and the compressor's mix level isn't too dominant). This compression approach won't nail the balance on its own, but that's as it should be if you want to keep compression side-effects to a minimum. Once you've got all the nice-sounding gain control you can get out of your dynamics plug-ins, then try to do the rest of the balancing work with the faders using your DAW's automation system. As for buss compression, a mix like this shouldn't need any of that to function properly, but try a couple of decibels at 1.2:1 if you want a touch of extra 'glue'.

Hope that all makes some sense and helps at least a little!
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#4
(30-04-2012, 07:55 PM)Mike Senior Wrote: I suspect that you've probably unwittingly imported the 44.1kHz multitracks into a 48kHz DAW project without sample-rate converting them. Either that, or you've slowed the tempo down eight percent and dropped the pitch a semitone and a half for artistic reasons! Wink

That aside, though, I have to admit I had trouble connecting with this mix for a number of reasons. The first issue was the heavy compression pumping, which feels alien to this kind of music. There's a natural balance and 'push-pull' to an ensemble performance like this, and that really suffers if you push the dynamics processing this hard. That element of the processing also makes it a bit tricky for me to make an useful comments about the balance, simply because the compression is making everything seem like it's fighting everything else. The second main thing that seems amiss to me is that there's a lot of cloudy low mid-range in the mix that's surplus to requirements, and well as lots of super-low-frequency rumble that made my subwoofer break out in a sweat for no significant musical gain in terms of bass fullness.

Apologies if this seems rather negative, and I realise that the above may not in itself be particularly useful to you. To try to bring things back onto a more constructive route, what I'd say is that I think you'll probably get the most benefit here if you take this mix right back to the drawing board, trying to get a balance without any dynamics processing at all. See how far you can high-pass filter the acoustic guitar and violin mics without impacting their tone, but otherwise try to use the phase-relationships between the mics to give the timbres you need, in order to minimise the EQ. For what it's worth, when I put together a quick balance while writing the 'About This Multitrack' info sticky, my total EQ use across all 15 tracks was only six bands: two high-pass filters, three narrow EQ notches, and a 2.5dB low shelving cut. While I'd certainly use more refinement for a final mix, what I'm trying to indicate is that if you're using three bands per channel then I reckon you're almost certainly overdoing it.

Once you've got the basic balance and EQ working respectably, then by all means add some compression to individual tracks to solidify the balance a little or add some sustain, although again I'd probably steer clear of hard knees and fast time settings, and ask yourself some serious questions before hitting more than 6dB of gain reduction (unless you're using a parallel compression scheme of some kind and the compressor's mix level isn't too dominant). This compression approach won't nail the balance on its own, but that's as it should be if you want to keep compression side-effects to a minimum. Once you've got all the nice-sounding gain control you can get out of your dynamics plug-ins, then try to do the rest of the balancing work with the faders using your DAW's automation system. As for buss compression, a mix like this shouldn't need any of that to function properly, but try a couple of decibels at 1.2:1 if you want a touch of extra 'glue'.

Hope that all makes some sense and helps at least a little!

Once again I agree with everything you are saying. I somehow made a nice swing tune turn into a dark death metal type tune. The compression is all wrong. I must have unwittingly imported the 44.1kHz multitracks into a 48kHz DAW project without sample-rate converting them. I'll definitely go back to the drawing board and keep it natural and loose.Thank you!
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