The last is definately the best of the bunch. Really curious about your reasoning when ditching half+ of your processing.
Hey mange, typically when I get into the weeds and I hear that things just don't sound natural to me, I fight with a mix for too long and I don't see any improvement, I will start disabling plugins one at a time, and seeing if it the plugin helps or hinders the mix. This time I had done a bunch of notch filtering, because I kept hearing resonant frequencies on the tracks. After disabling all of my EQing, I realized that I had taken all of the life away from the vox.
With vocal music, I have found that the less you can get away with from a plugin stance (well, this is true of every genre, but I find it particularly true of vocal groups) the better.
Plus, I've learned that over the years I do have a tendency to over process sometimes, so if I have spent more than 3-4 hours on a mix (if it's not a huge mix) that I am doing something wrong and I go back and check my choices. If an earlier mix sounds better, I have no qualms about blowing up all of the processing that I have put onto the tracks.
I hope that gives a little of insight on when I decide to blow it up!
Draper
(10-02-2016, 10:56 AM)The_Metallurgist Wrote: [ -> ]perhaps understanding the consequences of the Habituation Effect will help avoid some of the issues/pitfalls confronting you in your mixing processes.
There is no doubt that this is the case, Simon! I'm aware of it, but I deny while I'm in the middle of it. When I come back and listen I can tell almost immediately that I have gone too far into "bat country."
Draper
First one seems fairly good in terms of tonal taste.
I was about to mix this one too only if it was recorded with a proper stereo pair (ORTF or anything else) in a proper room and with real piano or better synth sound and if song was more academic.