23-11-2016, 09:51 PM
The basic balancing makes a lot of sense here, and I like the emphasis on the vocal, since that's the star turn, after all. However, there's a bit of a mismatch between the tonality of your backing track (which is rather heavy on the 100-200Hz region and generally lacking high end) and that of the lead vocal (which, while far from bright, still has considerably more energy in the upper octaves of the spectrum). While a bit of master-buss EQ can help redress the backing track's tonality, it also overbrightens the vocal, so you'll need to do some work with at least the vocal channel EQ as well to find a more convincingly balanced spectrum overall. I realise that keeping the backing track less bright makes the vocal less masked, but if this was the thinking then I think you've perhaps pursued that goal too far in this case.
One side-effect of the aforementioned mismatch is that the lead vocal never really sits well with the rest of the backing track (which otherwise isn't at all badly blended), but rather seems to float over it. You seem to have added some kind of subtle stereo ambience to help glue it in there, but it's not doing the whole job yet, for me. That said, I reckon that if you deal with the EQ issue, it may actually end up being enough.
As with many other mixes in this sub-forum, I think you've let the kick-drum dominate unduly below 100Hz. Try giving the bass a little support in this area instead, and I think the mix as a whole will see more wide-bandwidth -- it'll also mean you don't have to rely as much on the 150Hz zone to hold the bass's place in the mix. Another thing that might also help open up the sound subjectively is if you widened the stereo picture for the main riff a bit. The drums are wide enough, admittedly, but the guitars all seem rather narrow. Although this does give you some extra contrast for the Mid-section when the wide-panned clean guitars arrive, I think there's enough opportunity for timbral/effect changes there that you don't really need to rely on the stereo change that heavily.
The backing vocals have caused problems for some people, but I like what you've done with them. they're a little bit more upfront than the band, but less so than the lead vocal and not seriously endangering the apparent power of the backing track.
Hope some of that makes sense and is helpful -- and thanks for posting!
One side-effect of the aforementioned mismatch is that the lead vocal never really sits well with the rest of the backing track (which otherwise isn't at all badly blended), but rather seems to float over it. You seem to have added some kind of subtle stereo ambience to help glue it in there, but it's not doing the whole job yet, for me. That said, I reckon that if you deal with the EQ issue, it may actually end up being enough.
As with many other mixes in this sub-forum, I think you've let the kick-drum dominate unduly below 100Hz. Try giving the bass a little support in this area instead, and I think the mix as a whole will see more wide-bandwidth -- it'll also mean you don't have to rely as much on the 150Hz zone to hold the bass's place in the mix. Another thing that might also help open up the sound subjectively is if you widened the stereo picture for the main riff a bit. The drums are wide enough, admittedly, but the guitars all seem rather narrow. Although this does give you some extra contrast for the Mid-section when the wide-panned clean guitars arrive, I think there's enough opportunity for timbral/effect changes there that you don't really need to rely on the stereo change that heavily.
The backing vocals have caused problems for some people, but I like what you've done with them. they're a little bit more upfront than the band, but less so than the lead vocal and not seriously endangering the apparent power of the backing track.
Hope some of that makes sense and is helpful -- and thanks for posting!