Discussion Zone

Here's my mix of this great song!

As usual, comments and suggestions are welcomed!

Sounds good, man. I haven't seen the raw multitracks to this one yet but here are some observations/suggestions.

There's a lot of pick noise on that guitar in the intro and elsewhere in the tune. If you find it distracting you can soften it with a de-esser. I think most of the guitars could also lose a bit in the broader upper mids so they won't be so harsh.

The harmonic density of the mix as a whole seems sort of thin during the choruses... from what I can tell it's because the instrumentation is sparse, but overly cavalier low cuts might cause that, too. You can use simulated tube distortion/analog soft clipping to thicken up individual tracks, and saturation on the entire mix would probably suit the track a great deal. If there's one track the serves entirely different purposes in different places, cut it up and process them differently... maybe if the same guitar is playing during the verse and the chorus, you can mult the chorus section over to another track, duplicate it and pan it in opposition and that'd thicken it up.

Other than that, it's great, but I have no idea what the challenges are with this one, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt!

Good work as always!

Hi, Pauli! thank you again for your opinion!

Yes, I noticed the guitar pick noises all over the song, but in the past I tried to 'tame' that without success. After a few months since my last attempts, I've tried to give it another go.

I found that applying a de-esser on all the guitars was killing them, so I decided to find which guitar had more of those pick noises and there I applied the de-esser. I've tried to make it subtle because the guitar was starting to sound dull and that's something I wanted to avoid.

About the choruses, I've added some automated saturation but only in some instruments. Again, in a subtle way.

So here's the second version with those changes. Thank you again!!!

The second lacks in kick.i would cut the verb back a tad on snare and vox but good job mate.
The second has some strange noise going on also

Juan cuando tenes ese problema de picking de guitarras,tenes que ver cual es la frecuencia del picking en un analizador de espectro y hacerle un corte bien finito solamente a esa frecuencia, y vas a ver como te cambia todo.
esta tarde te voy a preparar un tutorial de toms para vos.
una abrazo

Sergio

What settings are you using on the de-esser? I doubt the same settings you'd use for a vocal would work. If it's taming the noise but dulling the sound, try increasing the threshold slowly, or adjusting the bandwidth, until you get the right compromise between reduction and punch. You could also try a transient processor to boost the attack after the de-esser and see if it helps bring back the attack.

My spanish is weak but I think sergio is recommending using an analyzer to figure out which pitch is poking out, and that's really good advice. Those picking noise transients are so short that it's hard to tell by ear alone where they're hanging out in the frequency spectrum.

Where in the FX chain is the de-esser? If there's a strong compression after the de-esser it might be fighting your adjustments, and I could see that dulling the guitars.

This is all taste... some mix engineers are happy to leave pick noise alone, some people don't mind pick noise. Sometimes guitarists tend to focus on the guitars unduly so the pick noise might not be a problem at all.

I'm not sure where you've applied the saturation (which is a good thing) but there is a different color to the mix... good job! It's tough to improve the quality of a mix in a subliminal way like that.

I decided to get rid of the deesser on the guitar and follow Sergio's advice. I checked it on a spectrum analyzer, tried to find the frequencies that were causing that sound and notch them out. I've tried it but I can still hear it, but I guess now it won't that that loud. Besides, I don't think it's good to get rid of it completely.

I've also lowered the reverb on the snare. I don't know about the kick because there were no changes between mix No1 and No2... I don't know...

Anyway, thank you guys for your help and advice! you're the best!

estimado juan, aqui te dejo mi configuracion de las guitarras de este tema , quiza te aclare un poco mas , o no, las dudas sobre las mismas.
Creo que la guitarra mia sonaba bien y no tenia ese picking del que hablan y que parece que molestara tanto.

Saludos

Sergio

voy a ver Sergio, porque no tengo este plugin TG12412, pero da la sensación de que aumentas algunos db en las frecuencias y no las bajas para deshacerte del picking... es raro. Bueno, voy a ver si aprendo algo de este plugin por internet y por ahí saco la información! muchas gracias!!

fijate en abbey road plugins EMI son muy buenos !!!!