14-10-2014, 12:07 PM
with a sparse arrangement, we can afford to turn up some elements in a mix more so than if the arrangement is a busy one with lots going on. is this a true statement? furthermore, the depth-field becomes far more important to employ strategically to create the illusion of space. simply putting stuff across the stereo width just isn't enough (especially if it ever gets down-mixed to mono!). or is it?
sounds like some very decent separation between the instruments, Jaun (in my headphones). i'm wondering if there's some scope to reduce some of the low-mid spectral elements a wee bit; the bass guitar especially appears to be taking up perhaps more elbow room than the mix can afford on occasion? i don't mean attenuate it, but tame it with some choice EQ notches so you don't lose it's....bass? i think one of the sacrifices you might have made in finding clarity has been rather more material in the HF zone than is ideal for comfort....my ears are experiencing a slight degree of fatigue because of this, or could it be some of the more sensitive frequencies around the 4kHz region doing this? it's difficult to say precisely without taking it in the studio and sweeping the range. i might suggest the cymbal action could be rolled off a bit? it's quite possible that in making some minor adjustments to your low-mids where there's a lot of stuff going on presently, that this will help clarity thereby enabling you to ease up in the treble range....but you're really not far off, so if anything, make adjustments in future tweaks(?), nice and gentle. something worth remembering, is that we don't identify an instrument (or sound) primarily on it's "fundamental" but it's overtones. while some instruments in a song might share the same fundamental (hello frequency masking), they will never share the same overtones. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtone
check the dings at about 3:30...the last one (9th?) was painful - it was right in my sensitive zone, but the other dings i though were well sorted. if you listen over notebook speakers it might reveal the issue better?
vocal? i'm not sure about this, but i'm wondering if the song would benefit from a fader push here to bring him more forward in the mix. i know i'm on the perilous verges of subjective analysis, but you might find it works better for you. wiggle the fader about a bit and do some A/B'ing and see if you change your mind. some other ideas for tweaks which i think would help add some shine to an already well presented mix, might be to bring the organ out a little more, with EQ cuts in the mud-zone, and a little more presence in the mids without upsetting it's place in the mix (i.e. if you boost a certain frequency, make sure you adjust/attenuate the instrument's final output accordingly). and i'd also flag up automation as a chance to expose some of the instrumentation more during key moments (while pulling the irrelevant instruments back just a touch, which ever works best in your mix?). because as it is, it feels the mix is just a little "too well balanced", where all levels appear pretty similar - this doesn't convey a song's natural dynamic so well....by "dynamic", i'm not talking about compression, but how the song "moves", if you know what i mean?
i think with some fine-tuning, you'd have a really nice mix here mate! great work; Juan's back in business!
sounds like some very decent separation between the instruments, Jaun (in my headphones). i'm wondering if there's some scope to reduce some of the low-mid spectral elements a wee bit; the bass guitar especially appears to be taking up perhaps more elbow room than the mix can afford on occasion? i don't mean attenuate it, but tame it with some choice EQ notches so you don't lose it's....bass? i think one of the sacrifices you might have made in finding clarity has been rather more material in the HF zone than is ideal for comfort....my ears are experiencing a slight degree of fatigue because of this, or could it be some of the more sensitive frequencies around the 4kHz region doing this? it's difficult to say precisely without taking it in the studio and sweeping the range. i might suggest the cymbal action could be rolled off a bit? it's quite possible that in making some minor adjustments to your low-mids where there's a lot of stuff going on presently, that this will help clarity thereby enabling you to ease up in the treble range....but you're really not far off, so if anything, make adjustments in future tweaks(?), nice and gentle. something worth remembering, is that we don't identify an instrument (or sound) primarily on it's "fundamental" but it's overtones. while some instruments in a song might share the same fundamental (hello frequency masking), they will never share the same overtones. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtone
check the dings at about 3:30...the last one (9th?) was painful - it was right in my sensitive zone, but the other dings i though were well sorted. if you listen over notebook speakers it might reveal the issue better?
vocal? i'm not sure about this, but i'm wondering if the song would benefit from a fader push here to bring him more forward in the mix. i know i'm on the perilous verges of subjective analysis, but you might find it works better for you. wiggle the fader about a bit and do some A/B'ing and see if you change your mind. some other ideas for tweaks which i think would help add some shine to an already well presented mix, might be to bring the organ out a little more, with EQ cuts in the mud-zone, and a little more presence in the mids without upsetting it's place in the mix (i.e. if you boost a certain frequency, make sure you adjust/attenuate the instrument's final output accordingly). and i'd also flag up automation as a chance to expose some of the instrumentation more during key moments (while pulling the irrelevant instruments back just a touch, which ever works best in your mix?). because as it is, it feels the mix is just a little "too well balanced", where all levels appear pretty similar - this doesn't convey a song's natural dynamic so well....by "dynamic", i'm not talking about compression, but how the song "moves", if you know what i mean?
i think with some fine-tuning, you'd have a really nice mix here mate! great work; Juan's back in business!
Beware...........Cognitive Dissonance!