02-02-2014, 12:54 AM
ok, so the word "revisions" is being used very generously... I scratched the original mix and took it from the top. I feel the new version is greatly improved and I'd like to hear your thoughts.
Many of my poor judgement decisions in the original mix were rooted in three main issues: skimpy attention to detail (lots of tracks, got it done quickly, under-processed, should have known better), forgetting to crank the volume every now and then (I mix at low levels so my ears don't adjust to the high mids as quickly, cranking the volume revealed egregious errors) and not keeping my ears calibrated (typical mistake for someone who's still learning
).
So my revisions were based largely on your suggestions:
1. the stereo tracks were slightly narrowed so I could spread them out more without the phase gremlins ruining the mix.
2. I had the mix as a whole way too loud and excessively limited... it's peaking around -2dB now and the limiting has been reduced to near nonexistence, just catching the stray transients that were distracting without processing.
3. Lots more low end... I turned off the subwoofer while mixing the low frequencies to ensure I had enough bass. In order to prevent the low-range buildup that was fooling my perceptions, I used very light side chain compression in a few places and high-pass filtered the entire mix just under 20 Hz for more headroom.
4. I lowered the volumes of some tracks and increased the volume of other tracks to strike a better balance... there's quite a bit of light sidechain compression in various places to allow the vocals and synth tracks to come through where I wanted them.
In addition to those adjustments based on your mixes and suggestions, I did a little more tweaking... I enveloped the entire track to enhance the macro-dynamics of the piece and keep it moving forward, did a lot more EQ detail work to remove resonances and low midrange filth (I was very neglectful on this score in the original, put a limiter on the bass toward the end where it distorts, and faded the track out so it wasn't so long.
In retrospect, I realize I bit off a little more than I could chew with such a huge project after only a few months of mixing. I have a great ear for music and have been playing all my life, but implementation is still a great struggle for me.
Side by side, this seems like a huge improvement over the original and I'm a lot happier with it, but it's definitely not polished enough, so it'd be great to hear how you guys feel about the improvements and what I could do to improve it further.
Many of my poor judgement decisions in the original mix were rooted in three main issues: skimpy attention to detail (lots of tracks, got it done quickly, under-processed, should have known better), forgetting to crank the volume every now and then (I mix at low levels so my ears don't adjust to the high mids as quickly, cranking the volume revealed egregious errors) and not keeping my ears calibrated (typical mistake for someone who's still learning
).So my revisions were based largely on your suggestions:
1. the stereo tracks were slightly narrowed so I could spread them out more without the phase gremlins ruining the mix.
2. I had the mix as a whole way too loud and excessively limited... it's peaking around -2dB now and the limiting has been reduced to near nonexistence, just catching the stray transients that were distracting without processing.
3. Lots more low end... I turned off the subwoofer while mixing the low frequencies to ensure I had enough bass. In order to prevent the low-range buildup that was fooling my perceptions, I used very light side chain compression in a few places and high-pass filtered the entire mix just under 20 Hz for more headroom.
4. I lowered the volumes of some tracks and increased the volume of other tracks to strike a better balance... there's quite a bit of light sidechain compression in various places to allow the vocals and synth tracks to come through where I wanted them.
In addition to those adjustments based on your mixes and suggestions, I did a little more tweaking... I enveloped the entire track to enhance the macro-dynamics of the piece and keep it moving forward, did a lot more EQ detail work to remove resonances and low midrange filth (I was very neglectful on this score in the original, put a limiter on the bass toward the end where it distorts, and faded the track out so it wasn't so long.
In retrospect, I realize I bit off a little more than I could chew with such a huge project after only a few months of mixing
. I have a great ear for music and have been playing all my life, but implementation is still a great struggle for me.Side by side, this seems like a huge improvement over the original and I'm a lot happier with it, but it's definitely not polished enough, so it'd be great to hear how you guys feel about the improvements and what I could do to improve it further.
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!