16-12-2023, 11:36 AM
This was supposed to be a quick mix to test my new x64 mixing setup, but it turned out OK, so I'm posting it here 
The thing that struck me the most when I first listened to the tracks was the unique character of the vocals, so that was something I really wanted to stand out in my mix.
I listened to 9 other mixes, and I found them all quite muddy. I suspect what's happened is that people have included all the drum overhead/ambience tracks, but not addressed the low-end. They're not particularly muddy in themselves, but it adds up, and adding a low-shelf cut to the combined tracks helped clear up the overall tonality a lot. People may have also been referencing against the preview mix, which feels a bit bloated.
I'm getting a bit sick of "modern" mixes, where everything is super-clear, each instrument is clearly delineated, with lots of space in-between. My philosophy has always been that you should hear a song, not a bunch of separate instruments that happen to be playing at the same time. It should sound like a bunch of guys playing together in a room, even if it was recorded at different places around the world over the course of several years
So... I tried something a little different with the bass for this mix. Since it's not playing anything particularly interesting, just supporting the groove, I gave the guitars a lot more low-end than I might have otherwise, and while the bass is not very clear, the low-end of the mix overall is definitely thumping. Not sure if I like it, though...
The overall mix sounds like it's in two parts - a thumpin' low-end, vox and guitar solo clear and bright floating on top of it - but not as coherent as I would like.
I lopped off a bunch of low-end from the Hammond (1 dB very wide cut at 175 Hz), to make space for all the mush from the guitars and bass at the low-end, and added air using VibeEQ (which is amazing for this, but so strong, I usually have it set to around 50% mix), then spread it wide.
The vocal was relatively easy to mix, just sliced off some of the low end, a bit of a cut at 1.7 kHz, and a bit of de-ess'ing. I also fattened it up a bit, using parallel compression in the 500-2000 Hz range.
I just ditched the rainstick, since I couldn't get it to fit. At best, it was distracting from the groove, at worst it sounded like a glitch in the audio
Not a big fan of extended intros, so I ditched that, as well. Perhaps a little harsh, but I'm getting grumpier as I get older...
The thing that struck me the most when I first listened to the tracks was the unique character of the vocals, so that was something I really wanted to stand out in my mix.
I listened to 9 other mixes, and I found them all quite muddy. I suspect what's happened is that people have included all the drum overhead/ambience tracks, but not addressed the low-end. They're not particularly muddy in themselves, but it adds up, and adding a low-shelf cut to the combined tracks helped clear up the overall tonality a lot. People may have also been referencing against the preview mix, which feels a bit bloated.
I'm getting a bit sick of "modern" mixes, where everything is super-clear, each instrument is clearly delineated, with lots of space in-between. My philosophy has always been that you should hear a song, not a bunch of separate instruments that happen to be playing at the same time. It should sound like a bunch of guys playing together in a room, even if it was recorded at different places around the world over the course of several years
So... I tried something a little different with the bass for this mix. Since it's not playing anything particularly interesting, just supporting the groove, I gave the guitars a lot more low-end than I might have otherwise, and while the bass is not very clear, the low-end of the mix overall is definitely thumping. Not sure if I like it, though...
The overall mix sounds like it's in two parts - a thumpin' low-end, vox and guitar solo clear and bright floating on top of it - but not as coherent as I would like.I lopped off a bunch of low-end from the Hammond (1 dB very wide cut at 175 Hz), to make space for all the mush from the guitars and bass at the low-end, and added air using VibeEQ (which is amazing for this, but so strong, I usually have it set to around 50% mix), then spread it wide.
The vocal was relatively easy to mix, just sliced off some of the low end, a bit of a cut at 1.7 kHz, and a bit of de-ess'ing. I also fattened it up a bit, using parallel compression in the 500-2000 Hz range.
I just ditched the rainstick, since I couldn't get it to fit. At best, it was distracting from the groove, at worst it sounded like a glitch in the audio
Not a big fan of extended intros, so I ditched that, as well. Perhaps a little harsh, but I'm getting grumpier as I get older...