13-01-2014, 11:21 AM
(This post was last modified: 13-01-2014, 11:26 AM by Pedaling Prince.)
I am self-taught both in video/film editing and audio engineering, having been experimenting with audio and video since my teen years back in the 1980s.
My guiding principle in mixing I call the "principle of least treatment."
Having heard the crystal clean sound of CDs from the earliest days of consumer digital sound in the 80s, comparing it to the overprocessed, overcompressed mess many commercial mixes are today, I have come to believe that current mixing techniques rely too heavily on processing, particularly in the use/abuse of compression in mastering.
In general, I go as gently as possible on all processing, using only the minimum EQ, automation and compression necessary to get everything to blend smoothly, and under no circumstances do I EVER apply processing or compression of ANY kind at the mastering stage; my goal is to preserve 100% of the dynamics of the original recording.
I joined this forum in order to get all of YOUR thoughts on what I've done with these multitracks. Criticism is welcome so long as its polite and constructive.
I was surprised by the high level of noise on these tracks until I found out later that they were actually recorded with analog techniques. Still, the noise didn't present a problem; I was able to scrub away most of it without harming the sonic quality any. Wesley's voice here is super compressed from the original track, an effect I normally find abrasive, but on this song it works extraordinarily well. The song reminds me of the style of Jace Everett's "Bad Things," which fans of True Blood will recognize as the theme of that show. Which is why I went out of my way to show this particular mix to my girlfriend, a huge True Blood fan.
In all seriousness, Wesley Morgan might want to consider submitting this song to the producers of True Blood for possible use as end title music; they usually play a different song over the end credits each week and "Backroom in Tulsa" would be a perfect fit to the flavor of the series IMHO.
"Seven years of bad luck child but, honey, I can keep you from harm;
"Just take the broken piece of glass, and carve my name into your arm."
Yup. That's True Blood material right enough...
My guiding principle in mixing I call the "principle of least treatment."
Having heard the crystal clean sound of CDs from the earliest days of consumer digital sound in the 80s, comparing it to the overprocessed, overcompressed mess many commercial mixes are today, I have come to believe that current mixing techniques rely too heavily on processing, particularly in the use/abuse of compression in mastering.
In general, I go as gently as possible on all processing, using only the minimum EQ, automation and compression necessary to get everything to blend smoothly, and under no circumstances do I EVER apply processing or compression of ANY kind at the mastering stage; my goal is to preserve 100% of the dynamics of the original recording.
I joined this forum in order to get all of YOUR thoughts on what I've done with these multitracks. Criticism is welcome so long as its polite and constructive.
I was surprised by the high level of noise on these tracks until I found out later that they were actually recorded with analog techniques. Still, the noise didn't present a problem; I was able to scrub away most of it without harming the sonic quality any. Wesley's voice here is super compressed from the original track, an effect I normally find abrasive, but on this song it works extraordinarily well. The song reminds me of the style of Jace Everett's "Bad Things," which fans of True Blood will recognize as the theme of that show. Which is why I went out of my way to show this particular mix to my girlfriend, a huge True Blood fan.
In all seriousness, Wesley Morgan might want to consider submitting this song to the producers of True Blood for possible use as end title music; they usually play a different song over the end credits each week and "Backroom in Tulsa" would be a perfect fit to the flavor of the series IMHO.
"Seven years of bad luck child but, honey, I can keep you from harm;
"Just take the broken piece of glass, and carve my name into your arm."
Yup. That's True Blood material right enough...