Nerve 9 - Living Lie (M&F)

[Digitaldruglord]

Hi Digitaldruglord - thanks for mixing our track!  I just had a listen through - really nice job - it's really one of my favourite mixes so far.  I have a few comments as I listened through - most are minor in nature and likely subjective too.

- intro is really nice both in terms of atmosphere and the balance between the verse guitar and vocal.  Really loving the vocal effects - I'll ask you a cheeky question about the approach you took between reverb and delay - whatever it is, I like the recipe a lot
- drums sounds really great.  It would be nice to have a little more space or room added to them, but a subjective comment, as it may be part of your mix vision.  A little more blend of some kind might tuck them in a tad more.
- chorus impact was great.  In my own mix, I did have a multiband compressor to reduce the 3-5kHz region, namely in the chorus, as otherwise it was hard to balance.  The vocal really opens up effects wise in the chorus and it made me pay attention.
- middle lead guitar part.  The lead part felt a little darker eq-wise to me which pushed it back a little in the soundscape.  Perhaps a little more volume on it and/or high-end would remedy.  Subjective comment again.
- Loved the middle section - prominent whisper part and the time you took to automate the panning of the slide guitar (ghostly part through effects).  Really effective ear candy.
- Background vocal treatment was great - enjoyed the slight flange on it.
- I was noticing in the chorus' that the lead vocal could use a touch more high end - or a touch less de-ess or something of that nature.  Minor point.
- Outro was great for me - lots of energy to conclude.

Thanks again for mixing our song - thought your mix was great - an enjoyable listen, so thanks for sharing.  I hope some of these observations are helpful to you.

Best regards,

Thomas

Hi Thomas, thanks for your listen and review, and even more, offering your beautiful songs to the CMT community. The client/artist/producer ear is the ultimate boss and the things you mention are all great moves which can be easily applied in keeping with the foundation of this mix direction.

The reverb and delay on the vocal were adjusted 100% based on feel.. Lexicon PCM Hall and SoundToys EchoBoy.. the delay is tied to the tempo of the song to keep it neat.. I did use a gate after the reverb to keep the reverb tail tapered and to give the vocal a more dynamic feel throughout the song.