Thanks Mike,
This was lovely reading indeed and has certainly put me in a good mood over the weekend. I will give your critique some thought over the next few days and try a build on what I have already achieved. I am quite keen to have a play around with the Loudness. Something I've never explored before. For this I think I will rely on listening to similar commercial mixes and see how far I can push the mix towards these levels. All in good fun.
I think this is an issue with most of the mixes I've completed. It's an area of judgement that I struggle with and need to improve on. Referencing closely to similar sounding drums on commercial mixes is probably my best bet. See how I go.
Interesting point Mike, something to explore for sure.
No problems Mike, although I'm not sure this is the best way to explain it, but here we go.
I start by treating the Vox track with the basic eq clean up, high pass etc. Also there is the Sound Brigade plugin inserted first, which I used to tame some harshness that I was hearing and then on this occasion I've compressed with 2 compressors in series, both with light gain reduction just to even things up sonically. I then send this track to no less than 6 aux tracks. A parallel comp, small reverb, large reverb, stereo widening and a delay. There are other sends also to the global reverbs and a parallel comp bus, although these would have a smaller effect on the vox sound, they do contribute especially the // comp bus.
Now for the processing within these aux tracks I think the parallel comp track and the small reverb are the most significant for me in getting that "vocal sound" The small reverb is a glass or tiled room type reflective reverb. A little bit of this goes a long way, but it's great at bringing the vocal to the forefront. (try singing in front of a mirror or even in the car with the windscreen in front of you) it's the same effect. I tend to run this reverb as a mono track only, it does seem to work better that way.
The parallel comp track is for me where some of the magic happens. Apart for running a compressor (high ratio fast attack and 10-12dB gain reduction), I like to add distortion or saturation depending on the vocal performance. This is great for adding colour and body. I also usually run a dynamic eq to control some of the nasties and I find it quite useful controlling the sibilances here also. These rouge frequencies that I'm listening for are more in the overall Vox sound, not just the compression track that I'm processing them in. The Overall vox generally gets a good dose of this //compression aux track and therefore is quite significant in the overall vocal sound.
There are also 2 stereo widening tracks, nothing fancy just delay and pitch plugins (Straight out of the "Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio" book). I find these help flatten the "straight up the middle" vox a little. Once again a small dose goes a long way.
I have added a screenshot of these tracks to help visualise the process. I find working with aux tracks like this keeps the original track intact and the overall performance more natural sounding.
Also final fader riding of the vocal track is also beneficial, especially at bringing out those lost syllables and making the phrasing cleaner and well defined overall.
I hope all of that made some sense and is of some help to someone. If only I had your writing skills Mike
Thanks again for taking the time to complete this critique. You have certainly got your work cut out.
Dave
[/quote]
This was lovely reading indeed and has certainly put me in a good mood over the weekend. I will give your critique some thought over the next few days and try a build on what I have already achieved. I am quite keen to have a play around with the Loudness. Something I've never explored before. For this I think I will rely on listening to similar commercial mixes and see how far I can push the mix towards these levels. All in good fun.
(17-11-2016, 05:28 PM)Mike Senior Wrote: My only real criticism is that perhaps some of the compression is a touch too fast, particularly on the drums, as the mix as a whole seems to lack some midrange punch. I'd prefer to leave a few more peaks in there to add more of a real 'slam' to the attitude and excitement that's already on offer. That said, as it stands this mix does, by virtue of its well-controlled bass and 'less voltage, more illusion' drum sound, respond ridiculously well to loudness processing, if that happens to be appropriate -- go on, try it for yourself, it's surprising how far you can go without unacceptable processing side-effects.
I think this is an issue with most of the mixes I've completed. It's an area of judgement that I struggle with and need to improve on. Referencing closely to similar sounding drums on commercial mixes is probably my best bet. See how I go.
(17-11-2016, 05:28 PM)Mike Senior Wrote: And if I'm really picking nits: is the vocal a bit too recessed in the Mid-sections? I reckon it might work better to give it a bit of a new effect, something with a tail, to support the more open sound of that section as well as allowing you to pull the vocal a bit up in level without ungluing it. Just a thought.
Interesting point Mike, something to explore for sure.
(17-11-2016, 05:28 PM)Mike Senior Wrote: That aside, though, I would agree with the other poster who complimented you on the vocal sound in general -- very commercial and contemporary sounding. We could all learn something if you wanted to go into more detail about your specific settings there, I imagine!
No problems Mike, although I'm not sure this is the best way to explain it, but here we go.
I start by treating the Vox track with the basic eq clean up, high pass etc. Also there is the Sound Brigade plugin inserted first, which I used to tame some harshness that I was hearing and then on this occasion I've compressed with 2 compressors in series, both with light gain reduction just to even things up sonically. I then send this track to no less than 6 aux tracks. A parallel comp, small reverb, large reverb, stereo widening and a delay. There are other sends also to the global reverbs and a parallel comp bus, although these would have a smaller effect on the vox sound, they do contribute especially the // comp bus.
Now for the processing within these aux tracks I think the parallel comp track and the small reverb are the most significant for me in getting that "vocal sound" The small reverb is a glass or tiled room type reflective reverb. A little bit of this goes a long way, but it's great at bringing the vocal to the forefront. (try singing in front of a mirror or even in the car with the windscreen in front of you) it's the same effect. I tend to run this reverb as a mono track only, it does seem to work better that way.
The parallel comp track is for me where some of the magic happens. Apart for running a compressor (high ratio fast attack and 10-12dB gain reduction), I like to add distortion or saturation depending on the vocal performance. This is great for adding colour and body. I also usually run a dynamic eq to control some of the nasties and I find it quite useful controlling the sibilances here also. These rouge frequencies that I'm listening for are more in the overall Vox sound, not just the compression track that I'm processing them in. The Overall vox generally gets a good dose of this //compression aux track and therefore is quite significant in the overall vocal sound.
There are also 2 stereo widening tracks, nothing fancy just delay and pitch plugins (Straight out of the "Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio" book). I find these help flatten the "straight up the middle" vox a little. Once again a small dose goes a long way.
I have added a screenshot of these tracks to help visualise the process. I find working with aux tracks like this keeps the original track intact and the overall performance more natural sounding.
Also final fader riding of the vocal track is also beneficial, especially at bringing out those lost syllables and making the phrasing cleaner and well defined overall.
I hope all of that made some sense and is of some help to someone. If only I had your writing skills Mike
Thanks again for taking the time to complete this critique. You have certainly got your work cut out.
Dave
[/quote]