Lovely song tho there's a certain sadness to it. I enjoy mixing it. The hardest to work on would prob be the snare and the guitars @the solo. And yeah, don't forget the owl. Thanks for the listen.
Overall it works fairly well.
I like the toms being centered. I do think they could be a bit ‘rounder’. If I didn’t know better I’d just think that Tom 2 (I think) was a a snare. The accented hits feels a bit too accented for the part.
I’d consider muting the snare bottom mic, maybe the top too, to keep that section a little cleaner and minimize the sympathetic rattle.
That said, it works as is.
I feel like I’m hearing some gating on the snare? Not sure but every once in a while it jumps out at me.
The Bass guitar might be a bit loud. I can’t say. It works for this song but still think that it could sit back in the mix.
Guitar 2 could come back some in the B section of the verse. It feels on top of the mix.
I hear the guy yelling something at 3:10 which isn’t important at all but I remember a few times when I was mixing and getting thrown off in the solo. I kept stopping and thinking someone was calling be before I realized it was on the track. It seems to stand out more here which is fine and more cool than anything.
I’m not sure mixing the DI and the processed solo sound together works. If you’re doing it to get some more definition then that’s cool but the DI would probably need some compression and whatever to help it sit better. Right now it just pokes out.
I think the background vocals could come back. Especially when compared with the Lead Vocal going into the 2nd Verse.
I’m not a fan of the nature sound effects, myself. I dropped them entirely. But if left in I think they should come back and be more ‘felt’ in the background and less prominent. Also there doesn't need to be a few minutes of waves after the song is over. you can totally chop that off. In a tasteful way, of course.
Overall, tonally it pretty much works. It’s not unpleasant to listen to. It feels balanced, frequency wise. Maybe bass heavy. Maybe a lille midrang-y in the 600-700 hz area.
I think I keep saying things should come back and I think it speaks to a blending issue. I can hear everything but it could feel more ‘congealed’, if that makes sense, for my taste. Maybe automation would help. Hard for me to say at the moment. It also is somewhat dry. Some reverb or other spacial effects might make blend together.
Or maybe not? Just my thoughts. Hope that helps.
Cheers.
@Roy. Cool. I forgot what I did, but I am sure those pointed out are valid. Thanks a lot for the time, man, especially on the levels of everything. I mixed this song, and more in the foreseeable future, with headphones. I had been mixing with a pair of speakers for the last 3-4 yrs. Now all of a sudden I have to resort to headphones. That's, in itself, already anxiety inducing
. So hard for me to balance the level as I am just getting used to with these cans again. Right now I have no speakers, just pro tools and the cans. After that I'd prob need your help with FX (if you have time, of course). I kept most of my mixes pretty dry bc whenever I strap on a reverb/delay, they just sound so weird, either too much or too little, so I erred on the side of caution. Something I have to get use to from here on out, or until I get a place where I can sit my speakers. I'll work on it. Thanks, man. I appreciate the time and effort. I need help with balance more than anything, especially levels balancing.
Roy has some good pointers. I think your balances can get better and all of this obviously will come with practice. I know roy pointed them out but I'll maybe repeat some things.
"Oh here she comes" back vocals are very loud in comparison even with the solo so you should switch from location to location comparing the main vocals with back vocals. This will get you closer to where things have to be at.
Drums on these tracks have a bleed problem. I remember I had to go deleting anything but the exact hits of the toms to get rid of the bad bleed. I also gated the snare top and bottom mic just enough to get rid of that snare rattle when the toms hit. Overall the drums are not easy to deal with. It takes a bit of time to tweak levels and in some tracks you even have to flip the Phase. Sometimes when I mix I flip the phase on overheads or room track just to hear what it sounds like. You'd be surprised how dramatic a change you find on some tracks (not all the time). Whatever you gotta do to make it work as a group of tracks right? Some reverb in the drums would be nice especially with these particular songs where there is A TON of space to fill in between things. I can take a guess as to why you went with toms in the center. Is it because panning them gave you a bunch of background distracting bleed? I too though of doing the center toms but.. The song needs separation to shine so I kept working till I made them work.
Lead guitar sounds louder than the vocal at times so You should A/B compare between lead vocals and lead guitars.
Ocean track is meant to be there as a filler mostly. you are not supposed to make it obvious but rather a neat thing for people to discover as they hear the song. The owl track is kinda loud too. I agree with Roy the ending should be faded out so you don't have a long nature sound that's pretty much not necessary.
Last but not least on that chorus "oh here she comes", it should have some time of excitement going on to make different than the verse. Use the cymbals, the snare (which should be nice sounding) and the back vocals to enhance that section. I feel your snare is a bit dead sounding so it's gonna need some more EQ work to make it shine.
@Shul. It's good to hear from you , man. Sure, I'll do whatever you guys thought needed to be done. Tbh, I don't care too much about fades (for the time being) and thought the out-tro was especially long, too. My intention was to work on the music first. I put them up so I can hear them (now I know it's too much). I'll sort them out soon enough. Sure I want to put some fx to it. but right now (key word) I'd rather work on the balances first. Bringing in the fx while the balances are off will do no good for me. But when I am ready, I hope you'd be around to make sure I don't go too crazy, right?
. I know I'd appreciate that. Thanks for leaving a comment.
Hi sonic ,pre delay and high and low pass are you friends when it comes to reverb and effects.
(18-04-2024, 01:21 PM)Rustyruss Wrote: [ -> ]Hi sonic ,pre delay and high and low pass are you friends when it comes to reverb and effects.
@Rustyruss. Thanks, man. I want to be their friend, but right now they are just too cool for me. But i'll keep working on it. That's the name of the game, right? Keep working on it until it sounds right. I kinda have an idea but haven't applied to this song yet. I will tho. Thanks for the tips.
I agree, there is so much to learn, I have a sound in my head that I would like to have in my mix, but it always seems a lot of trail and error with me banging my head on the desk, and most times I never get there.
That is why I like this site ,it a good way to listen to what other do; compare ,learn new tips and encourage others.
I get frustrated when I hear a great sounding vocal in a mix and wanting that sound but not knowing how to get it.
hey ,as you say, keep working at it .
Keep on keeping on.
@RustyRuss. Yeah, man. You pretty much summed it up. I, like you, and still, banging my head on the desk in frustration. We all just have to work at it. No one is spared from it. The key is to know what's going on with the sounds when we process it. Easy said than done, but what isn't so? right? Our job is to take care of it, whatever way works for us. There are many ways to swing a cat by its tail, I heard they say. But there are only a few right ways. All we need is to find them. With enough love and passion, I am sure you and I, and everybody else for that matter, will find the way. It's our pace of learning that is more of a concern. I want to pick up the pace as soon as I can. But, they also say, you cannot rush greatness
. So take your time, my comrade. It's better to know. Confidence matters. And sure, man. I will keep on keeping on. I am in way too deep.
@Shul. About the toms. It's not really in the middle; they are off to the side but not much. The way I imagine the toms in a drum set, they are not really that wide, right? Well, maybe the floor tom on the far right (drummer's perspective), but if they are toms, I pretty much pan them slightly, unless the track says 'floor tom,' in that case I'd pan them to the right.