Update: 10-27 - David Tyo's - Long Way Home - Final Tweaks

[Roy]

I'm listening to mix 7a. It's a very good mix. I like all of the little bits of the band that you've brought out and highlighted. I have some minor thoughts.

I'm not a fan of the vocal effects, at least as I notice them in the verse. The effects are cool but seem a little distracting from the vocal and I'm not sure they actually add anything to the track. I think the vocal can come up/be more in the spotlight and maybe could use some more automation.

The instruments in this track tend to exist in the upper mids (?) and there feels like a slight bit of a traffic jam up there. And since there's so much energy up there it feels top heavy and maybe a tad thin. The guitar solo in particular seems harsh.

I'm missing the BgVs in the 1st verse but that could just be I'm so used to them being there.

I think that's everything. All minor points, it sounds really good. Good job.

Roy,
These are excellent comments.

You are quite right. I do tend to fill my upper-mids. I have been operating under the influence of a pair of Bearfoot MM27 Micro-Mains. Besides being a brilliant monitor solution, these have a selection of presets which includes emulation of NS 10Ms* and their idea of "hi-fi". The latter scoops out that upper-mid or adds a loudness contour around that area. I found that when I sent the stereo mix through board channels with API 550s I ended up scooping out the same area on the flat MM27s. That kind of indicates several things. Either I'm deaf, or my playback monitors tend to be on the "hi-fi" side (or both) and that you, my friend, have accurate monitors. Admittedly, mine lean towards "hi-fi". I do find however, my mix definition is better on mobile devices. So a quandary ensues. You can guess the rest of the angst...

The missing BGVs in the first chorus is intentional. I felt they added too much energy too soon in the song so I tried to emphasize the lead singer's intimacy instead. May not have worked...

There are so many dynamic moves on the lead vocal I may have gotten lost in the weeds. I felt I was battling issues for punched vocal phrases which have varying intensities and slight EQ changes too. At least that's what I was hearing through the verses. Some of my changes were done with wave form editing and others with volume envelopes since the overall phrase may have been lifted. Wha...What??? yeah. So yes; a bit lost in the weeds with so many dynamics moves. I will revisit vocal phrases in need of a better dynamic statement.

Thank, RM.. Good stuff.

* The NS-10M emulation is uncanny, if not unnerving!

PS: How many Mixers audition mixes on mobile phones?

Yeah, the punches on this song are annoying. I still hear the double breaths on a punch in the first verse.

I will say one thing that I've been curious to try is reverse compression/vocal riding. I'm literally trying it at the moment on this vocal. Essentially you take the track, reverse it, compress that, and reverse it back. So far it hasn't worked ideally with compression but I do have the Waves Vocal Rider and since it's a little slower and adapts to the input is seems like it might do the job on this track. At least, getting it to a better starting point. It feels like a more gentle way of compressing the track. We'll see. I've kept wanting to try it before but Logic is a bit of a pain when it comes to reversing tracks. Too many steps.

I like NS10s. Back at the studio I worked at they had Genelecs and NS10s but we always used the Genelecs. Mostly because when you switched to the NS10s the mix sounded horrible. But mixes weren't really translating. Then I started a mix on the NS10s and got it sound ing good and it still sounded good on the Genelecs. I've not heard of the Bearfoot MM27 Micro-Mains but they sound interesting. At least, if I can ever afford to graduate from earbuds.