Sea Of Leaves - that was a hard one to mix!

[laurieharrison]

Here's my attempt at this one. This was a tricky one in all sorts of ways: getting enough power in the guitars while still allowing the vocals to cut through; lots of automation on the bass between different sections on the song. I felt this one needed a lot of 'oomph', so I was quite heavy-handed with the compression and distortion.

[mike]

WERE IS IT

[laurieharrison]

Good point! Brain melted from too long mixing.... It's there now.

WERE IS IT

[manuke]

Hey Laurie, yeah the comp/distortion is a bit much, a little hard on the ear. But what I do like is that it's got a real energy about it and it's dynamic too, which is important on a tune like this. And it's a unique sounding mix which is something I'll always applaud. Sounds pretty wild!

[laurieharrison]

Cheers! Well, 'pretty wild' I'm happy with, but hard on the ear isn't the intention... Might try a few tweaks to see if I can deal with that.

[Obelix]

Good mix, I like the drum tone. I think that overral mix is a bit mid heavy. And that bass track, (to me it sounded like it was played on regular 6 string guitar) I brought an octave lower and it worked perfectly well. You could also try that and if you want to make it sound like 8 string (double course) bass.

[laurieharrison]

Thanks Obelix - I'll have a listen to your version and see if I agree about that bass! I didn't really see it as problematic, but an interesting idea to turn it into a simulated 8-string.

[FytaKyte]

Hey Laurie... Really digging your mix - love the effects & the automation.. Very imaginative - It's obvious you put a lot of thought & effort into it.

The overall eq & balances sound very good too. The low end is a bit "spongy" sounding - to my ear - not as punchy as it could be; It could use a little more tightness - maybe pulling some low mid mud out would help to clean it up.

The creative ideas you have are excellent, & they really add excitement to the track. I can hear that you are mixing musically & emotionally, & not as a cold technician - & that's great!...

That said, I think the FX could be tempered a bit to help them to not draw so much attention to themselves. Remember, the song is the star, so you don't want the mix to draw more attention than the song....

Nevertheless, don't lose your enthusiasm for bold sonic choices. Nice work!