Hi,
Separation and unmasking. That's quite a big question, and it's quite difficult to explain how I internalise it. I feel everyone has their own way of thinking about it.
As I see it - you don't actually have to hear everything all the time. It's a mix, not a collection of individual, perfectly frequency separated parts as such. I think a mix would sound a bit odd if you had the kick perfectly bracketed to fill only 30-70hz, the bass 70-150, the guitar 200-3k, the vocal 3k-7k, the hi-hat 8-12k, etc.
It's more about first thinking of the frequency range as a whole. Figuring out what instrumentation you've got in the session, where they are all going to sit in the spectrum, and figuring out which freqs of each instrument you want to be cutting through at any given time. A bit like a play at the theatre. You have various 'characters' in the mix and they are not all going to be centre stage all at once. You have to figure out who the main characters are, who is in the supporting cast, and who needs to be in the spotlight at any given time.
I mean, you've maybe got some broad basics, like, I dunno, boosting the fundamental of the kick, and maybe a little 3k, cutting some stuff you don't want, like any resonances or perhaps mud/room tones around 400-800Hz or whatever. Maybe in the mix with everything playing you might want to boost that 3k a bit more, or maybe it's 2k or 4k boost to get it to cut. Perhaps the kick has too much 3k... Basically you have to figure out what you want to hear (or not hear) as you get everything playing together as the mix progresses.
It's a combination of eq, automation and using the mute buttons to figure it all out. Do you need to high pass the bass a bit as it's masking the low end of the kick, or whatever.
Over time you'll figure out your own favourite frequencies to boost and cut for each instrument or sound. I think I started off by looking at the CLA presets in the (W*ves) SSL channel plugin and seeing how all the different instrument presets kind of broadly fitted together in a full mix and went from there.
If you've got a decent initial balance, as Blitzzz said in his post above you'll likely have a good idea of what needs to be fixed.
Not sure if I've actually answered your question there....
Oh, forgot to mention a little eq on the instrument busses can often be that final touch to get everything sitting nicely.
On to the latest mix. Right now I'm listening on earbuds which are not the greatest so my comments here might be a little off. To be honest, as per your previous mix, I feel its more a bit of balance and automation that is required rather than anything else at this point.
Intro - I feel the synth could perhaps come up a db or so. The snare is sounding a little loud compared the guitar. I feel I want the rhythm guitar to be more in the spotlight, rather than the snare, as such. At the 18 second mark, I'm wanting the guitar riff to be taking over that centre stage spot a little more than the snare. Then the vocal can take over the spotlight as we go into the first verse.
During the verse I think the drums are perhaps dominating a little too much and are pushing the vocals into the background. The drums are feeling kind of on top of the mix to me, rather than a part of it.
Actually I think perhaps it's the drums as whole are just a little too loud in the mix and are throwing the whole thing off balance. Try lowering the volume of the whole drum group so they kind of blend a little more with the guitars in the mix. That will probably do the trick perhaps? Check out the drums balance in the library mix.
The guitar riff at 3;23 and 3:33 is still too low - I would maybe try making it the same volume as the guitar solo. So it's the solo in the spotlight, then the riff steps forward, then the solo, then the riff again. Direct the listeners ear! (Edit: That riff is one of the hooks throughout the song, so they need to be loud).
Vocal from 3:53 needs to be a touch louder to lift it above the guitars. I'd try setting the vocal level at that point by playing the guitars and vocal on their own, then see how it works in the full mix.
That's about it I think for now.
Cheers!
Separation and unmasking. That's quite a big question, and it's quite difficult to explain how I internalise it. I feel everyone has their own way of thinking about it.
As I see it - you don't actually have to hear everything all the time. It's a mix, not a collection of individual, perfectly frequency separated parts as such. I think a mix would sound a bit odd if you had the kick perfectly bracketed to fill only 30-70hz, the bass 70-150, the guitar 200-3k, the vocal 3k-7k, the hi-hat 8-12k, etc.
It's more about first thinking of the frequency range as a whole. Figuring out what instrumentation you've got in the session, where they are all going to sit in the spectrum, and figuring out which freqs of each instrument you want to be cutting through at any given time. A bit like a play at the theatre. You have various 'characters' in the mix and they are not all going to be centre stage all at once. You have to figure out who the main characters are, who is in the supporting cast, and who needs to be in the spotlight at any given time.
I mean, you've maybe got some broad basics, like, I dunno, boosting the fundamental of the kick, and maybe a little 3k, cutting some stuff you don't want, like any resonances or perhaps mud/room tones around 400-800Hz or whatever. Maybe in the mix with everything playing you might want to boost that 3k a bit more, or maybe it's 2k or 4k boost to get it to cut. Perhaps the kick has too much 3k... Basically you have to figure out what you want to hear (or not hear) as you get everything playing together as the mix progresses.
It's a combination of eq, automation and using the mute buttons to figure it all out. Do you need to high pass the bass a bit as it's masking the low end of the kick, or whatever.
Over time you'll figure out your own favourite frequencies to boost and cut for each instrument or sound. I think I started off by looking at the CLA presets in the (W*ves) SSL channel plugin and seeing how all the different instrument presets kind of broadly fitted together in a full mix and went from there.
If you've got a decent initial balance, as Blitzzz said in his post above you'll likely have a good idea of what needs to be fixed.
Not sure if I've actually answered your question there....
Oh, forgot to mention a little eq on the instrument busses can often be that final touch to get everything sitting nicely.
On to the latest mix. Right now I'm listening on earbuds which are not the greatest so my comments here might be a little off. To be honest, as per your previous mix, I feel its more a bit of balance and automation that is required rather than anything else at this point.
Intro - I feel the synth could perhaps come up a db or so. The snare is sounding a little loud compared the guitar. I feel I want the rhythm guitar to be more in the spotlight, rather than the snare, as such. At the 18 second mark, I'm wanting the guitar riff to be taking over that centre stage spot a little more than the snare. Then the vocal can take over the spotlight as we go into the first verse.
During the verse I think the drums are perhaps dominating a little too much and are pushing the vocals into the background. The drums are feeling kind of on top of the mix to me, rather than a part of it.
Actually I think perhaps it's the drums as whole are just a little too loud in the mix and are throwing the whole thing off balance. Try lowering the volume of the whole drum group so they kind of blend a little more with the guitars in the mix. That will probably do the trick perhaps? Check out the drums balance in the library mix.
The guitar riff at 3;23 and 3:33 is still too low - I would maybe try making it the same volume as the guitar solo. So it's the solo in the spotlight, then the riff steps forward, then the solo, then the riff again. Direct the listeners ear! (Edit: That riff is one of the hooks throughout the song, so they need to be loud).
Vocal from 3:53 needs to be a touch louder to lift it above the guitars. I'd try setting the vocal level at that point by playing the guitars and vocal on their own, then see how it works in the full mix.
That's about it I think for now.
Cheers!
Just uploaded a mix/master? Waiting for comments? Why not give back and critique a mix/master, or two!