19-11-2016, 06:14 PM
Just had a listen to your v4 mix -- originally downloaded the v3 one, but just saw you had a new version posted so checked the latest version out instead! Another nice alternative perspective here, focusing more on rich-sounding guitars and deep LF power from the kick. Actually, I wondered whether you might be a guitarist yourself, because you've brought out such a lot of nice tones from those instruments here. For the most part I like your balance decisions too (especially during the main riff), although I do wonder whether the clean guitars in the Mid-section are too loud and full-sounding in context -- I kind of lose focus on the vocal as a listener, and it also slightly undermines the illusion of power and rhythmic energy in the rest of the band. Another couple of things that also feel a bit far forward for me are the banjo transients in Verse 3/4 and the overall level of the backing vocals -- again both tend to make the rest of the backing parts sound subjectively less impressive by contrast for me.
The drum sound has a nice blend to it, which I like, but I'd maybe query the snare sound, which seems very dependent on the instrument's sustain, with very little front-end on the hits. My problem's less a pure sonic thing, it's more that it seems to make the groove lag, to my ears. The bass guitar recordings on the multitrack are quite light on the subs, so I also can see why you decided to let the kick-drum dominate that realm in your mix, but again this seems to slow things down somehow. Personally, I think a little EQ on the bass to give it more fundamental would have allowed you to keep the kick a touch more perky in terms of groove. (In fact, speaking of groove: has your vocal part shifted a fraction early on the timeline? Again, there's just something that feels a little shaky about the groove in your version compared with the others I've heard.)
Your arrangement changes are bold (which is always an endearing quality in my eyes!), and I like the way you shorten the intro to get to the lyrics more quickly, as this is often a canny move on a commercial level. I also like the way the band entry isn't exactly in tempo with the opening SFX section -- it leaves that moment of feeling like I'm 'holding my breath' just before the band arrives, which I often like. My only concern about the intro is that it's such a statement sonically that the actually band entry ends up sounding almost a bit of a let-down! If that's also a concern for you, then maybe you could try limiting the bandwidth and/or the stereo picture of the initial modulation effect? The outro is also a cool innovation, although from a musical perspective I did ask myself whether it might not be overkill to repeat the riff section further, given how often it appears in the rest of the song anyway. I agree it's a cool riff, though, and I could certainly listen to it all day myself -- but I'm a mix engineer, so I'm not sure how well I represent the regular punter in that respect!
Thanks for presenting another thought-provoking vision -- it's a mind-expanding business this mix critiquing!
The drum sound has a nice blend to it, which I like, but I'd maybe query the snare sound, which seems very dependent on the instrument's sustain, with very little front-end on the hits. My problem's less a pure sonic thing, it's more that it seems to make the groove lag, to my ears. The bass guitar recordings on the multitrack are quite light on the subs, so I also can see why you decided to let the kick-drum dominate that realm in your mix, but again this seems to slow things down somehow. Personally, I think a little EQ on the bass to give it more fundamental would have allowed you to keep the kick a touch more perky in terms of groove. (In fact, speaking of groove: has your vocal part shifted a fraction early on the timeline? Again, there's just something that feels a little shaky about the groove in your version compared with the others I've heard.)
Your arrangement changes are bold (which is always an endearing quality in my eyes!), and I like the way you shorten the intro to get to the lyrics more quickly, as this is often a canny move on a commercial level. I also like the way the band entry isn't exactly in tempo with the opening SFX section -- it leaves that moment of feeling like I'm 'holding my breath' just before the band arrives, which I often like. My only concern about the intro is that it's such a statement sonically that the actually band entry ends up sounding almost a bit of a let-down! If that's also a concern for you, then maybe you could try limiting the bandwidth and/or the stereo picture of the initial modulation effect? The outro is also a cool innovation, although from a musical perspective I did ask myself whether it might not be overkill to repeat the riff section further, given how often it appears in the rest of the song anyway. I agree it's a cool riff, though, and I could certainly listen to it all day myself -- but I'm a mix engineer, so I'm not sure how well I represent the regular punter in that respect!
Thanks for presenting another thought-provoking vision -- it's a mind-expanding business this mix critiquing!