09-10-2019, 02:45 AM
(This post was last modified: 27-10-2019, 07:35 PM by Mixinthecloud.)
I have really enjoyed David's work which has been presented here previously. He is a great singer/song writer and engineer.
Over-all, this recording was excellent although there were some real issues with vocal punches on the lead track. Matching intensities, timbre and levels was a bit of a challenge. Resolution of those issues was two stages of compression and lots of automation. The lead vocals were very dry and needed both ambient touches and an engaging and distinctive hall. Those were fun to create.
True to my love of big drums I established an explosive snare placed in a big room. Overheads, toms and kick were also spiced with the same sprinkling of hall reverb. Percussion too. As a matter of fact, the drum hall was used on most every instrument which I feel glued things together pretty nicely.
It was pretty easy to establish good location for the various guitars and keyboards which all had great tone and content. A bit of top end EQ on the acoustics had them sitting pretty. I added some trickery to the bass which filled out the bottom very nicely. The heart-beat cried out for either a long echo or something as it felt to have ended prematurely in the phrase. I chose to copy the wave form and tailor the levels to mimic a trailing echo. A touch of the drum hall was added as well. And there was an ugly transient at the top of the organ after the heart-beat break which required some trickery too.
True to David's wonderful composition skills and vocal talents the backgrounds added the finishing touches on the undeniable emotional content of this great song and I hope I did the arrangement well with my vocal treatment.
I spent a few days bouncing out mixes to listen to later and to give me ears a chance to rest between listens. It is very easy to second guess yourself especially when this is a contest song. I am hoping I will not revisit this mix as I find too much fiddling ends up spoiling the emotional content and power of the song. so here it is for review.
I hope you enjoy my take on another of David's great compositions.
Thanks,
mITc
-11.5 LUFS
David Tyo - Long Way Home - Pass 4a
More detail in the guitars, bigger vocals and more automation on the over all dynamics of the song have been added to enhance the emotional content of the piece and performance.
David Tyo - Long Way Home - Pass 7a
Modified the drum room. Although it is still big the character has changed some.
Made some minor vocal arrangement changes to try an add some more emotional build up.
Made some ensemble changes to clarify instrumental parts.
-11.2 LUFS; 8.6 LU
David Tyo - Long Way Home - Pass 8
I think I finally got the vocals right. Present and full and sitting better.
That clarity induced a few other minor tweeks, I believe all for the better.
David Tyo - Long Way Home - Pass 9
Re-imaged the guitars for a touch more dynamics and clarity and executed some minor arrangement changes on the voice. Cleaned up the bass some too.
-13.4 LUFS; 8.6 LU
David Tyo - Long Way Home - Pass 10
Just some final tweaks across the board
-11.5 LUFS; 9.5 LU
What do you think? Thanks.
It's been a real pleasure to work on this wonderful composition. The arrangement and instrument choices and voiceings are beautifully presented. If I had one thing to say it would be about some lyric choices to enrich the emotional context.
Over-all, this recording was excellent although there were some real issues with vocal punches on the lead track. Matching intensities, timbre and levels was a bit of a challenge. Resolution of those issues was two stages of compression and lots of automation. The lead vocals were very dry and needed both ambient touches and an engaging and distinctive hall. Those were fun to create.
True to my love of big drums I established an explosive snare placed in a big room. Overheads, toms and kick were also spiced with the same sprinkling of hall reverb. Percussion too. As a matter of fact, the drum hall was used on most every instrument which I feel glued things together pretty nicely.
It was pretty easy to establish good location for the various guitars and keyboards which all had great tone and content. A bit of top end EQ on the acoustics had them sitting pretty. I added some trickery to the bass which filled out the bottom very nicely. The heart-beat cried out for either a long echo or something as it felt to have ended prematurely in the phrase. I chose to copy the wave form and tailor the levels to mimic a trailing echo. A touch of the drum hall was added as well. And there was an ugly transient at the top of the organ after the heart-beat break which required some trickery too.
True to David's wonderful composition skills and vocal talents the backgrounds added the finishing touches on the undeniable emotional content of this great song and I hope I did the arrangement well with my vocal treatment.
I spent a few days bouncing out mixes to listen to later and to give me ears a chance to rest between listens. It is very easy to second guess yourself especially when this is a contest song. I am hoping I will not revisit this mix as I find too much fiddling ends up spoiling the emotional content and power of the song. so here it is for review.
I hope you enjoy my take on another of David's great compositions.
Thanks,
mITc
-11.5 LUFS
David Tyo - Long Way Home - Pass 4a
More detail in the guitars, bigger vocals and more automation on the over all dynamics of the song have been added to enhance the emotional content of the piece and performance.
David Tyo - Long Way Home - Pass 7a
Modified the drum room. Although it is still big the character has changed some.
Made some minor vocal arrangement changes to try an add some more emotional build up.
Made some ensemble changes to clarify instrumental parts.
-11.2 LUFS; 8.6 LU
David Tyo - Long Way Home - Pass 8
I think I finally got the vocals right. Present and full and sitting better.
That clarity induced a few other minor tweeks, I believe all for the better.
David Tyo - Long Way Home - Pass 9
Re-imaged the guitars for a touch more dynamics and clarity and executed some minor arrangement changes on the voice. Cleaned up the bass some too.
-13.4 LUFS; 8.6 LU
David Tyo - Long Way Home - Pass 10
Just some final tweaks across the board
-11.5 LUFS; 9.5 LU
What do you think? Thanks.
It's been a real pleasure to work on this wonderful composition. The arrangement and instrument choices and voiceings are beautifully presented. If I had one thing to say it would be about some lyric choices to enrich the emotional context.
PreSonus Studio One DAW
[email protected]
[email protected]