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Full Version: APZX: 'From Earth To Planet Omega'
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This is my mix. A long song but quite good to add effects and try new things!

I hope you like it!
with such a long mix, there's a lot to keep an eye on.

a space theme gives lots of scope for big reverb washes and a chance to work the stereo field in both depth and width and introduce panning automation to give a sense of movement and flow. there were times i thought you missed some opportunities on the panning aspects, which would have helped give a sense of journey, but 15 minutes with interludes(?) is a lot of mixing and it depends on the kind of detail we are seeking to illustrate and the specific goals we wish to attain as a priority.

on the technical front, there are moments where the low-end of the mix gets highly congested. one of the challenges this mix offers, is by way of the big synths and the amount of bass instrumentation on occasion. this needed effective management for the mix to remain clear. often an outcome of low-end congestion is a need to push more of the high-end frequency in order to maintain tonality overall, otherwise the mix will sound warm (dark) which has it's own issues regarding emotion. i suspect some of the brighter elements which were panned wide (good move!) were brighter than they'd otherwise need to be and this can make things a little fatiguing. for example, if you prioritized which bass material was going to be dominant, and EQ'd the fundamentals of the remaining by applying suitable high-pass filters with slopes of choice to fit the purpose and situation, you'd be able to roll off the high end material, maintain apparent tonality in the mix overall and remove the risk of fatigue. importantly, you'd also maintain a sense of power in the presentation. also be aware that too much low-end congestion is also another source of fatigue because the brain has to work harder at trying to hear and work out the detail - another reason why "less is more" in mixing. this factor works often at the unconscious level with people, and will result in them "tuning out" and losing interest....or hitting the skip button to avoid the issue. they might not actually be consciously aware of why they are skipping but is a reflex to the situation.

there is a major problem in the forum generally, it must be said, where people push a lot of bass out to the sides because they like the ear candy while they sit in the sweet spot during mixing - it sounds powerful and encompassing. as well as this bass on the sides, there's bass in the middle too....and all this bass together ain't good outside of the sweet spot....nor for the speakers which are trying to make a 4 meter sound wave (80Hz) and a 0.13 meter wave (2500Hz) from it's woofer at the same time!!!! too much 80Hz, or even 250Hz (i.e. low-mid) is going to muddy the audio simply because the speaker can't mechanically deliver the detail.

if you focus on this aspect over future mixes, you will raise them to a new level. but given the sheer scale of this mix, i think you did an admirable job overall.
Hey Juan, it's been a while since I commented on you work last, so now I correct (and apologize) for that oversight.

First of all, it takes a lot of courage to tackle something like this. This story is epic in scope, and while its challenges in isolation aren't extreme, weaving each movement into a cohesive symphony is the ultimate challenge, and this piece is unique to the forum in this way... So really, much praise for having the balls and the patience to work on this.

My main comment is that I feel you may have approached this much the way a mix engineer would approach a normal electronica work... My advice should you choose to take another look is to think about this one less technically wherever you can, with exception to Dave's excellent point about to bass congestion. Be bold and do things you'd never imagine doing in another song... Big reverbs, absurdly big dynamics, spacious panning (who's ever going to hear this in mono??)

Imagine a story... I launched, drifted in the depths of space in my capsule, encountering strange phenomena and even stranger technology until I entered the omega cluster (where the drums enter)... And upon landing at the colony, was surprised to find it in ruins... I escaped from the capsule and watched one of the few surviving colonists gunned down. Maybe it's what APZX was after, maybe not, but it provided me with a narrative to guide the transitions between sections and to create the spacial depth for each situation I encountered.

Visualize the story the music is telling and it will guide you in making emotional decisions and a seamless, unified work... Much like Night On Bald Mountain tells the story of a witch's sabbath, summoning the demon chernabog with sacrificial rites, so must this symphony tell a story that APZX has graciously allowed us to interpret.

Your work is excellent, I just personally feel this mix needs to be seen less as a song and more of a series of movements that each encapsulate different aspects of the listeners journey.

Now I'm the one making spherical comments...
Thank you for your comments, Dave and Pauli. I don't know why, but I missed Dave's answer and I hadn't seen it until now. I've been traveling a lot lately because of work and maybe that's why I didn't see it because in fact, I haven't had too much time to mix or take a look at the forum.

Anyway, I'm going to work a little bit more on the subjects you've been telling me and I will post another version with some improvements. Let's see if I get the point... I confess that I'm not too good on putting emotions into mixes!
I've tried to clear up the lower section of the song and I've also tried to create a more 'dynamic' mix and less 'static'.

I've tried to recreate some movement in certain instruments, so I can give the feel of a travel to the mix. Whether I've succeeded or not, it's you who can tell! Big Grin

Thank you in advance!