23-01-2019, 10:48 PM
Hi HbGuitar! The basic balancing here is pretty decent, as I see it. Even on my Avantone single-driver midrange speaker the levels all seem to stack up well, with nicely managed vocal levels, good bass tranlation, and the sense that interesting details are being ushered forward subtly in the gaps between vocal phrases to keep me entertained. The long-term mix dynamics are also pretty good -- only towards the end of the Outro did I feel that maybe the mob vocals could have been balanced a little higher to bring out more of the party atmosphere, but that's a pretty small niggle. Some more assertive automation of effects could have improved the section contrast, though, so that'd be something worth still focusing on some more. In particular, the strong reverb/modulation widening of the vocal effects at the outset makes the singing feel a little too obviously produced to my ears, which I think slightly undercuts a sense of emotional immediacy from his performance. Maybe it's just a case of putting a bit more predelay on the vocal effects and rolling off some high end.
The sound is fairly ambient overall, though, and I do get a sense that we're losing some clarity as a result. As you're probably already aware, I have a natural inclination towards clearer and drier mixes, so this critique point is of course partly a question of my own personal preferences, but even taking that into account I think you could still do a bit more EQing of effect returns to clear a little more room for dry details. A touch less of the drum room in the mix would also probably help too, as that's a little bit murky by nature, and you could also cut some 150Hz from the mix as a whole, as there's a bit of a build-up of energy in that range that makes things sound slightly woolly. One small thing that also niggles me about the depth axis is that the conga feels rather upfront compared with the drum kit and lead vocal, and I'd probably add a bit of ambience to that myself to sit it back a little further. And, speaking of the congas, there's a strong pitched resonance from the lower drum around 210Hz, and that seems to me to distract from the pitch line of the bass when it appears. If that bothers you too, it's easy to notch down with EQ to a less obtrusive level. I wonder too whether the cymbals are a touch harsh in the 3-4kHz zone. I noticed it particularly at the beginning of the Reintro and during the Mid-section, and the latter section in particular masks the vocal more than is ideal, I reckon.
I like your guitar sounds in general and the variety of the effects you've used on them. I'd maybe work your fader automation a little harder for those parts, though, especially in Verse 2 where some of the lower-level notes feel like they're not getting quite enough love. The rising line into the Outro did get a touch piercing, and I suspect that it's a result of a resonance peak around 2.6kHz, so try notching in that zone to see if that smooths it out. The whistle tracks definitely appealed to me during the Outro: wide enough to stick out, but ambient enough not to dislocate entirely from the mix as a whole.
It sounds like you've already engaged somewhat with the lead vocal's low-frequency vagaries, and I think that's reflected in the overall solid vocal balance I'm hearing. Lyric intelligibility is also good, which speaks of either careful dynamics processing, or sensitive automation, or both. I reckon I might trade in a bit of the 100-200Hz range for a fraction more energy at 1kHz, which will help bring the vocal forward a little and give slightly more robust projection on smaller speakers, which I think would be a benefit from a mainstream market perspective.
The stereo spread is good, but not quite as mono-compatible as I might like. It's not that anything disastrous happens to the balance, but the choruses in particular seem a little bit dull and lacking in 'air' in mono. It sounds to me as if it's the Hammond and the vocal widening effects that are probably most responsible for this impression, so I wonder whether a little adjusting of either or both of those using an MS EQ to even up the Mid and Sides tonality might improve matters there. Obviously there's always going to be a trade-off, but I suspect there may be a better compromise to be had in this case.
Overall, though, this is already a very respectable mix. For all its confident handling of the provided resources, though, I do wonder whether it's a bit 'safe', for want of a better word. Maybe it's just because I've trawled through dozens of mix versions by now, but there's a danger that this mix might get overlooked in a competition environment because there's nothing that really sets it apart from the crowd -- and particularly from the small handful of other mixers here who've already displayed similarly high-level balancing chops. So my final word here would just be to consider whether there's some little spice you can put in that'll cement your version more in the memory and give it the edge when it comes to judging time.
Hope some of that helps! Thanks for posting your version for us all to learn from -- and also for your continuing commitment to providing helpful feedback for other Discussion Zone users!
The sound is fairly ambient overall, though, and I do get a sense that we're losing some clarity as a result. As you're probably already aware, I have a natural inclination towards clearer and drier mixes, so this critique point is of course partly a question of my own personal preferences, but even taking that into account I think you could still do a bit more EQing of effect returns to clear a little more room for dry details. A touch less of the drum room in the mix would also probably help too, as that's a little bit murky by nature, and you could also cut some 150Hz from the mix as a whole, as there's a bit of a build-up of energy in that range that makes things sound slightly woolly. One small thing that also niggles me about the depth axis is that the conga feels rather upfront compared with the drum kit and lead vocal, and I'd probably add a bit of ambience to that myself to sit it back a little further. And, speaking of the congas, there's a strong pitched resonance from the lower drum around 210Hz, and that seems to me to distract from the pitch line of the bass when it appears. If that bothers you too, it's easy to notch down with EQ to a less obtrusive level. I wonder too whether the cymbals are a touch harsh in the 3-4kHz zone. I noticed it particularly at the beginning of the Reintro and during the Mid-section, and the latter section in particular masks the vocal more than is ideal, I reckon.
I like your guitar sounds in general and the variety of the effects you've used on them. I'd maybe work your fader automation a little harder for those parts, though, especially in Verse 2 where some of the lower-level notes feel like they're not getting quite enough love. The rising line into the Outro did get a touch piercing, and I suspect that it's a result of a resonance peak around 2.6kHz, so try notching in that zone to see if that smooths it out. The whistle tracks definitely appealed to me during the Outro: wide enough to stick out, but ambient enough not to dislocate entirely from the mix as a whole.
It sounds like you've already engaged somewhat with the lead vocal's low-frequency vagaries, and I think that's reflected in the overall solid vocal balance I'm hearing. Lyric intelligibility is also good, which speaks of either careful dynamics processing, or sensitive automation, or both. I reckon I might trade in a bit of the 100-200Hz range for a fraction more energy at 1kHz, which will help bring the vocal forward a little and give slightly more robust projection on smaller speakers, which I think would be a benefit from a mainstream market perspective.
The stereo spread is good, but not quite as mono-compatible as I might like. It's not that anything disastrous happens to the balance, but the choruses in particular seem a little bit dull and lacking in 'air' in mono. It sounds to me as if it's the Hammond and the vocal widening effects that are probably most responsible for this impression, so I wonder whether a little adjusting of either or both of those using an MS EQ to even up the Mid and Sides tonality might improve matters there. Obviously there's always going to be a trade-off, but I suspect there may be a better compromise to be had in this case.
Overall, though, this is already a very respectable mix. For all its confident handling of the provided resources, though, I do wonder whether it's a bit 'safe', for want of a better word. Maybe it's just because I've trawled through dozens of mix versions by now, but there's a danger that this mix might get overlooked in a competition environment because there's nothing that really sets it apart from the crowd -- and particularly from the small handful of other mixers here who've already displayed similarly high-level balancing chops. So my final word here would just be to consider whether there's some little spice you can put in that'll cement your version more in the memory and give it the edge when it comes to judging time.
Hope some of that helps! Thanks for posting your version for us all to learn from -- and also for your continuing commitment to providing helpful feedback for other Discussion Zone users!