Discussion Zone - Schoolboy Fascination (Stepan Zajicek mix)

Hi All,

Well, this was way out of my comfort zone. Despite the number of layers and not being very familiar with the genre, I found this song quite easy to mix. I love the positive vibe and the quirky ideas and the "beatlesque" vocal harmonies. Also the pre-breakdown instrumental section, which completely changes the mood of the song for a moment, is great.

The only real trouble during the mix was blending the acoustic and electric guitars. In the end I decided to hide the electric guitars until the very last chorus, where they appear to make the song sound a bit bigger. The closing vocal was chopped in the source files, so I have replaced with a tuned version of the "radio" vocal from middle of the song, which works fine for me. Comparing to the original mix, I would say mine is much darker, but I guess that is just my style!

Thanks to the song provider for the opportunity to mix this, I'd be curious to hear any feedback!
Stepan

Hi Stepan, I'm guessing your mix isn't mastered, since it's pretty low in volume. However, I think they have an excess of reverb that makes the mix a bit dirty. I think that if the effects were filtered a little more, the mix would gain a lot. However, the mix is not bad.

(16-06-2022, 09:37 AM)Enrique Wrote: [ -> ]Hi Stepan, I'm guessing your mix isn't mastered, since it's pretty low in volume. However, I think they have an excess of reverb that makes the mix a bit dirty. I think that if the effects were filtered a little more, the mix would gain a lot. However, the mix is not bad.

Hi Enrique, thanks so much for your feedback, I really appretiate it! You're absolutely right, once you made me aware of this, the reverb problem was absolutely obvious. In fact, it was mostly my "fake drum room" sound I used to liven the drums a bit, but went too far. I have fixed this and made some of other changes while I was at it. I have also done some rudimentary mastering to get it to a competetive level. It would be great to hear what you think Wink

Cheers!
Stepan

(18-06-2022, 08:24 PM)SZajicek Wrote: [ -> ]
(16-06-2022, 09:37 AM)Enrique Wrote: [ -> ]Hi Stepan, I'm guessing your mix isn't mastered, since it's pretty low in volume. However, I think they have an excess of reverb that makes the mix a bit dirty. I think that if the effects were filtered a little more, the mix would gain a lot. However, the mix is not bad.
Hi Enrique, thanks so much for your feedback, I really appretiate it! You're absolutely right, once you made me aware of this, the reverb problem was absolutely obvious. In fact, it was mostly my "fake drum room" sound I used to liven the drums a bit, but went too far. I have fixed this and made some of other changes while I was at it. I have also done some rudimentary mastering to get it to a competetive level. It would be great to hear what you think

Cheers!
Stepan

Hi Stephen!!! This version is much better. It already has a pretty good volume although you could still turn it up another 2 or 3 dBs. Much better now the reverb, puts the voice more forward. Good correction.
Cheers!

(26-06-2022, 12:11 PM)Enrique Wrote: [ -> ]
(18-06-2022, 08:24 PM)SZajicek Wrote: [ -> ]
(16-06-2022, 09:37 AM)Enrique Wrote: [ -> ]Hi Stepan, I'm guessing your mix isn't mastered, since it's pretty low in volume. However, I think they have an excess of reverb that makes the mix a bit dirty. I think that if the effects were filtered a little more, the mix would gain a lot. However, the mix is not bad.
Hi Enrique, thanks so much for your feedback, I really appretiate it! You're absolutely right, once you made me aware of this, the reverb problem was absolutely obvious. In fact, it was mostly my "fake drum room" sound I used to liven the drums a bit, but went too far. I have fixed this and made some of other changes while I was at it. I have also done some rudimentary mastering to get it to a competetive level. It would be great to hear what you think

Cheers!
Stepan
Hi Stephen!!! This version is much better. It already has a pretty good volume although you could still turn it up another 2 or 3 dBs. Much better now the reverb, puts the voice more forward. Good correction.
Cheers!

Hi Enrique, awesome, thanks for the feedback!

Stepan