Kaathaadi - manuke mix

[manuke]

Despite all the required editing it was a real pleasure mixing this, liberating working in a genre where you don't know the rules. Didn't edit or tune the strings, they are what they are. Had to de-ess plenty of songs but this is the first time I've had to de-kay one.

2nd Mix. Took on board a couple of pauli's suggestions, reworked both vocals, muted or dulled the strings, also made a couple of arrangement tweaks.

[pauli]

Hey man, overall I like this a lot. You're defying genre conventions a little bit with the dubby-sounding kick drum, but it's cool and lends a bit of punch.

My main comment is that the reverb is washing out the "in front" elements just a little too much. Sometimes it's the vocals, sometimes the guitar, sometimes the strings (where you've chosen upfront roles for them)... it's not really distancing anything too much, but it's blurring the details a bit. I don't speak Tamil, but I'm wondering if the vocal intelligibility might be a little compromised here and there, though there's a bit too much low end weight (IMO) on the male vocal that may be contributing.

If you listen and find you agree with me, I have some suggestions. The first thing I'd try is routing the vocal (or whatever solo element is going on at the time) through and aux bus that delays the signal before it gets to the reverb aux, effectively giving the vocal a bit more pre-delay than the rest of the tracks... that alone might do the trick entirely. If that doesn't quite do it, I found that the vocal range between 1000 and 4000 was under constant attack from other instruments that needed broad automated cuts. It sounds like you heard what I'm talking about and boosted the highs on the female vocal a bit to compensate, but for my ears it's a bit too much and it's a little uncomfortable. Apart from that, a little more gain riding on the vocal is probably necessary if reverb isn't the only culprit.

One more thing... there are some painful high pitched resonances on the violas that could use a little smoothing out. IIRC I think I just notched them out.

Another great mix! Keep it up.

[manuke]

Hey thanks again pauli, great thing about getting detailed feedback like this is that I go back and listen with a fresh perspective. Tbh I'm fine with the male voc but I did re-open the session and have a look at it, nothing happening below 100 but a hefty peak around 200 at times, which maybe clashes with the bass, it had a similar peak, so you may be right. My problems with this mix are two things you mentioned, yeah those strings....made over a dozen cuts trying smooth them out and they still suck, hence their absence during the intro, dunno what else to do except start from scratch and don't think I have the stomach for that. The other is that the female voc does get scratchy esp when it's more exposed. Was aware of that, original track was very dull so I've obviously over compensated. Voc level I'm ok with but you know the score, easy to lose perspective on stuff like that after hearing it so many times so I'll take your word for it but there's no reverb except for one perc track, all delays so maybe the problem lies elsewhere, the main voc tracks are actually relatively dry, and notched out a ton of highs from all the drums/perc/synth tracks too so I don't imagine they're to blame either. Anyway, thanks for confirming my suspicions and once again, giving me stuff to ponder. Really should go back and fix stuff but think I may be done. Cheers mate.

[pauli]

Delays can cloud things, too... maybe take a look at the feedback levels? It'd also be a good idea to look at how any stereo delays are relating to the overall stereo image... if there's a good amount of feedback and the delay is running in stereo, that can cause buildups.

You mentioned you "de-kayed" and that could be what I'm hearing, too... I didn't mess with the vocal transients at all, so it may be that my ears are listening for a crisper attack.

It's odd you mentioned the female vocal felt dull... I think I actually took a little bit of high end off the female vocal to keep it from contrasting with the male vocal overmuch. That peak around 200 you mentioned on the male vocal was something I struggled with too, though. There was a lot of sacrifice in the other instruments to protect the vocal parts that was the only way I could deal with it. If I have to choose between a beautiful programmed bass and a beautiful lead vocal, usually I'll go with the vocal... it really hurts to cut anything on this bass though, lovely as it is.

[manuke]

Thanks again pauli, great to get your feedback, really helpful. Hopefully the new version is an improved one. Started from scratch with the fem voc, still gets a little scratchy when she goes high. Gonna have to do though, I'm so done with this one.