Will Knox - 'Cog In The Machine'

[takka360]

I've played the singer and the guitar alone, closed my eyes and tried to picture him playing the guitar right there on stage.

cool. the guitar and vocal are now center...but how close should they be to me....and how close are the other musicians to me and each other? applying a reverb to the vocal and not treating his guitar the same way immediately throws the perspectives out the window, so be careful.

let me give you a powerful clue here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_sound

and why a stage?

I've added a slight hall reverb to the drums, similar to the vox. In this last step I don't know if I've done it right because I tend to add too much reverb to things, so I've tried not to be too noticeable.

hall reverb? well, this would support a stage presence, but is this your vision for the mix? personally, i'd have made it small and cozy with the appropriate applications of ambiance to place the musicians individually in the depth perspective.

this is your problem...your perspective is not communicating the right signals for me to believe in the space you are applying here. sure, hall reverb, i get that signal...or do i? if everything was in the hall then you'd be on the way. however, even if sticking with your vision, the signals you're giving my ears isn't telling me where the musicians are relative to each other....and relative to the space you've put them in...i.e. a hall. think "DEPTH" here. what are the tools available to you for communicating this aspect of your mix?

you are now entering one of THE MOST CHALLENGING aspects of mixing, so it won't be fixed in 5 minutes, do go easy on yourself. here's a clue to help guide you (or maybe confuse....such is the subject material):

think about using more than one reverb to help present your signals.

the problem you are up against, is that humans instinctively understand space....and their eyes merely confirm what their ears are hearing. take the eyes out of the equation - walk around blind-folded for a day because this will REALLY sharpen your listening skills, and you will soon understand what i mean. this will FORCE you to LISTEN AND HEAR REVERB AND AMBIANCE, instead of taking it for granted, as most of us tend to do. try it, but make sure someone is helping you so you don't bump into things and have an accident. if you do this, you will learn more in this day for your mixing skills than the forum can provide in a year!

until you can replicate synthetically your envisioned space for this mix, or ANY mix, you won't deliver it effectively. it will sound odd at the subconscious level to most people (if they are human!), and because of this, you will fail to deliver the fullest possible emotion. not many DIY mixing engineers can do this, which is why their/our mixes still suck - some more than others....and that's more by luck than intention.

this principle goes to the CORE of your mixing strategy and how you approach future mixes. it takes a lot of research - more than a day with a blindfold on.....so please don't expect to nail it just like that.

i will also add, that while things like levels of guitars, kicks, bass, EQ and all that stuff might seem important, they aren't! because if the space isn't signaled properly, even if everything else is right in the mix...IT WILL FAIL TO CONNECT. it's a priority, that's what i'm saying, above all else....but of course, you can still keep working at the other stuff too, but that DEPTH perspective is CRITICAL. darn, it's all critical lol.

NB: a Hall reverb signals the HEIGHT perspective...it's NOT enough because height is only one part of the equation/dimension game. you also need to make this hall reverb work....unfortunately it's not at the moment because you aren't applying it correctly within the context of your vision.

when you start to research this subject in more detail, the above will begin to make sense.

[capitals for emphasis, not shouting]

'asta!
Dave

PS: i'm going to drop this in as an afterthought....but it's essential that you are conscious of it....NOT MANY MUSICIANS UNDERSTAND ACOUSTICS...SO WHEN THEY RECORD, THEIR MIC IS CAPTURING THE AMBIANCE OF THEIR ROOM (only 1 out of 500,000 will know how to professionally treat their room so this effect is minimised, and of these, only 1 out of 10,000,000 can afford to treat it. now this ambiance becomes a problem at mixing. you can't remove it. the brain hears this....and understands the space. now, if you apply a different ambiance on top of this...WHAT DO YOU GET?

Great advice here.