14-08-2014, 11:06 PM
Hey Daniel, sorry for the delay in reviewing your mix.
Actually, it sounds like you're on the right path, to me... you seem to basically understand the arrangement and what instruments should be taking priority in most situations, i.e. your level choices are pretty good. Many of your EQ boosts seem to be enhancing the subjective character of the guitar and vocal, so you're generally getting the picture. But I'm hearing several distracting technical mistakes that are preventing your mix from being engaging, so I'll try and go through them one at a time since you mentioned wanting an in depth conversation...
The main thing that's hurting your balance here is that there's not enough separation between the instruments. As I mentioned in our conversations, it's better to focus on cutting rather than boosting, and this is a really good argument for that case. Right now, I think you're focusing too much on improving the sound of each instrument and you're losing sight of the big picture. For instance, in the climax of the song when almost every instrument is playing, there are very noticeable frequency buildups in the low mids... meaning that from around 200 hz to 500 hz, too many instruments are feeding too much sound into the mix. In the low mids, excess damages clarity, which is why you're having a hard time balancing the lead vocal and probably why you're hearing so much of the 8000 hz "air" in comparison to the rest of the vocal part... the low mids in the mix are swallowing everything else and this is feeding into your perception that the vocal track is harsh. Check each track out on an analyzer and make notes of which instruments are contributing heavily to that region... and whether or not they need to be. For my money, I'd look at the guitars and piano as the primary culprits.
Secondly... I'd rethink your drums quite a bit. You generally don't want the kick to be masked, and there are other ways of making it less up front... like a high shelving dip, for instance, but you're going to want that low end contribution, and your mix will be more believable if the kick's attack is heard a little more clearly. Ballads need to be reverberant and spacious for sure, but definition is paramount in any modern pop song.
I've already somewhat addressed the vocal harshness.... it's honestly not an issue in my opinion. Are you sure the vocal is harsh, or is the txk txk txk sound you're mentioning the sibilant consonants? There's some very noteworthy sibilance in the vocal track and I'm willing to bet that's what's bothering you. A static EQ cut at 8000 would certainly solve the problem, but it would kill the vocal track stone dead. Instead you'll want a tool that responds to sudden spikes in the sibilant frequencies, and as Don mentioned, that's a de-esser. De-essing can be tricky at first, but it sounds like you're already aware of where the sibilance is. Usually dialing in a quick gain reduction of 3dB is enough to make sibilance a non-issue. BTW, virtually every small studio mix you'll ever encounter will have vocals recorded on condenser mics... some of them have annoying boosts around 3000, especially the cheaper ones, but as your EQ skill improves, you'll find it's not usually too hard to fix. To my ears, this vocal is recorded splendidly, so relax and let the arrangement fill out a bit before you start notching all of the life out of it... sometimes the best thing to do is nothing
The vocals in "Frozen" (you're talking about the film, right? I have kids so I know it very well) and in virtually every Disney movie post-1989 are recorded by the very best engineers with the best equipment out there, so I think you might be looking for something that's not there and it's coloring your perception... in fact, I think some of the Disney films of the last 10 to 15 years or so would be excellent references for this song... for example, Michael Bolton's "Go The Distance" in the closing credits of Hercules are very appropriate.
Finally... your reverb needs some more finesse. Most of the time people worry way too much reverb, but in a ballad like this it's critical and it needs to be perfect. Unfortunately reverb is a very complicated topic. When Don mentioned that your vocal sounded like it was recorded in an empty room with a wooden floor, I agree... but it sounds completely disconnected from the rest of the track. You're going to want some commonality in the spacial sound in a song like this, so I'd recommend at least one reverb that applies broadly across the entire mix, preferably something lush... and I'd introduce this early in your balancing process to make sure you're leaving room for it, and vary the levels to which each part of the mix is sending to the reverb channel. It makes sense to me to then apply more individual reverbs to each part depending on where you want to place it in the mix and how much it should blend. I'd listen to the pads while judging these reverbs, so your gauge of depth a size is relaive to them. Experiment experiment experiment!
This sounds like a lot of negatives, but I mean it when I say you're on the right track and on your way to a nice sound. I recommend you check out the track "Queen's Light" by Dino's on the loose for a less challenging mix to practice your skills while you finesse this one: the reverb situation isn't nearly as complicated and I think you'll find the overall sonics a lot easier to manage.
Hopefully this helps at least a little. Practice your listening skills by commenting on the mixes of others while you're learning how to use the various forms of processing, and concentrate on BALANCE for now. If you can get a good balance, it will be considerably easier to get subjectively better sounds out of each instrument... and if you can't get a nice sound out of an instrument that balances the trick... well, that's a good argument for deleting it, isn't it? In particular, I'd check out mixes by Voelund, theDon, juanjose1967, TheMetallurgist and takka360. 5 very skilled mixers with 5 very different attitudes/approaches to the craft, all of whom helped me considerably when I was wearing your shoes. You're more than welcome to speak your mind about any of my work also... if you check out my very very early mixes, you'll find my opportunities were very similar to your own!
Actually, it sounds like you're on the right path, to me... you seem to basically understand the arrangement and what instruments should be taking priority in most situations, i.e. your level choices are pretty good. Many of your EQ boosts seem to be enhancing the subjective character of the guitar and vocal, so you're generally getting the picture. But I'm hearing several distracting technical mistakes that are preventing your mix from being engaging, so I'll try and go through them one at a time since you mentioned wanting an in depth conversation...
The main thing that's hurting your balance here is that there's not enough separation between the instruments. As I mentioned in our conversations, it's better to focus on cutting rather than boosting, and this is a really good argument for that case. Right now, I think you're focusing too much on improving the sound of each instrument and you're losing sight of the big picture. For instance, in the climax of the song when almost every instrument is playing, there are very noticeable frequency buildups in the low mids... meaning that from around 200 hz to 500 hz, too many instruments are feeding too much sound into the mix. In the low mids, excess damages clarity, which is why you're having a hard time balancing the lead vocal and probably why you're hearing so much of the 8000 hz "air" in comparison to the rest of the vocal part... the low mids in the mix are swallowing everything else and this is feeding into your perception that the vocal track is harsh. Check each track out on an analyzer and make notes of which instruments are contributing heavily to that region... and whether or not they need to be. For my money, I'd look at the guitars and piano as the primary culprits.
Secondly... I'd rethink your drums quite a bit. You generally don't want the kick to be masked, and there are other ways of making it less up front... like a high shelving dip, for instance, but you're going to want that low end contribution, and your mix will be more believable if the kick's attack is heard a little more clearly. Ballads need to be reverberant and spacious for sure, but definition is paramount in any modern pop song.
I've already somewhat addressed the vocal harshness.... it's honestly not an issue in my opinion. Are you sure the vocal is harsh, or is the txk txk txk sound you're mentioning the sibilant consonants? There's some very noteworthy sibilance in the vocal track and I'm willing to bet that's what's bothering you. A static EQ cut at 8000 would certainly solve the problem, but it would kill the vocal track stone dead. Instead you'll want a tool that responds to sudden spikes in the sibilant frequencies, and as Don mentioned, that's a de-esser. De-essing can be tricky at first, but it sounds like you're already aware of where the sibilance is. Usually dialing in a quick gain reduction of 3dB is enough to make sibilance a non-issue. BTW, virtually every small studio mix you'll ever encounter will have vocals recorded on condenser mics... some of them have annoying boosts around 3000, especially the cheaper ones, but as your EQ skill improves, you'll find it's not usually too hard to fix. To my ears, this vocal is recorded splendidly, so relax and let the arrangement fill out a bit before you start notching all of the life out of it... sometimes the best thing to do is nothing
The vocals in "Frozen" (you're talking about the film, right? I have kids so I know it very well) and in virtually every Disney movie post-1989 are recorded by the very best engineers with the best equipment out there, so I think you might be looking for something that's not there and it's coloring your perception... in fact, I think some of the Disney films of the last 10 to 15 years or so would be excellent references for this song... for example, Michael Bolton's "Go The Distance" in the closing credits of Hercules are very appropriate.Finally... your reverb needs some more finesse. Most of the time people worry way too much reverb, but in a ballad like this it's critical and it needs to be perfect. Unfortunately reverb is a very complicated topic. When Don mentioned that your vocal sounded like it was recorded in an empty room with a wooden floor, I agree... but it sounds completely disconnected from the rest of the track. You're going to want some commonality in the spacial sound in a song like this, so I'd recommend at least one reverb that applies broadly across the entire mix, preferably something lush... and I'd introduce this early in your balancing process to make sure you're leaving room for it, and vary the levels to which each part of the mix is sending to the reverb channel. It makes sense to me to then apply more individual reverbs to each part depending on where you want to place it in the mix and how much it should blend. I'd listen to the pads while judging these reverbs, so your gauge of depth a size is relaive to them. Experiment experiment experiment!
This sounds like a lot of negatives, but I mean it when I say you're on the right track and on your way to a nice sound. I recommend you check out the track "Queen's Light" by Dino's on the loose for a less challenging mix to practice your skills while you finesse this one: the reverb situation isn't nearly as complicated and I think you'll find the overall sonics a lot easier to manage.
Hopefully this helps at least a little. Practice your listening skills by commenting on the mixes of others while you're learning how to use the various forms of processing, and concentrate on BALANCE for now. If you can get a good balance, it will be considerably easier to get subjectively better sounds out of each instrument... and if you can't get a nice sound out of an instrument that balances the trick... well, that's a good argument for deleting it, isn't it? In particular, I'd check out mixes by Voelund, theDon, juanjose1967, TheMetallurgist and takka360. 5 very skilled mixers with 5 very different attitudes/approaches to the craft, all of whom helped me considerably when I was wearing your shoes. You're more than welcome to speak your mind about any of my work also... if you check out my very very early mixes, you'll find my opportunities were very similar to your own!
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!