24-06-2014, 10:28 PM
with such a long mix, there's a lot to keep an eye on.
a space theme gives lots of scope for big reverb washes and a chance to work the stereo field in both depth and width and introduce panning automation to give a sense of movement and flow. there were times i thought you missed some opportunities on the panning aspects, which would have helped give a sense of journey, but 15 minutes with interludes(?) is a lot of mixing and it depends on the kind of detail we are seeking to illustrate and the specific goals we wish to attain as a priority.
on the technical front, there are moments where the low-end of the mix gets highly congested. one of the challenges this mix offers, is by way of the big synths and the amount of bass instrumentation on occasion. this needed effective management for the mix to remain clear. often an outcome of low-end congestion is a need to push more of the high-end frequency in order to maintain tonality overall, otherwise the mix will sound warm (dark) which has it's own issues regarding emotion. i suspect some of the brighter elements which were panned wide (good move!) were brighter than they'd otherwise need to be and this can make things a little fatiguing. for example, if you prioritized which bass material was going to be dominant, and EQ'd the fundamentals of the remaining by applying suitable high-pass filters with slopes of choice to fit the purpose and situation, you'd be able to roll off the high end material, maintain apparent tonality in the mix overall and remove the risk of fatigue. importantly, you'd also maintain a sense of power in the presentation. also be aware that too much low-end congestion is also another source of fatigue because the brain has to work harder at trying to hear and work out the detail - another reason why "less is more" in mixing. this factor works often at the unconscious level with people, and will result in them "tuning out" and losing interest....or hitting the skip button to avoid the issue. they might not actually be consciously aware of why they are skipping but is a reflex to the situation.
there is a major problem in the forum generally, it must be said, where people push a lot of bass out to the sides because they like the ear candy while they sit in the sweet spot during mixing - it sounds powerful and encompassing. as well as this bass on the sides, there's bass in the middle too....and all this bass together ain't good outside of the sweet spot....nor for the speakers which are trying to make a 4 meter sound wave (80Hz) and a 0.13 meter wave (2500Hz) from it's woofer at the same time!!!! too much 80Hz, or even 250Hz (i.e. low-mid) is going to muddy the audio simply because the speaker can't mechanically deliver the detail.
if you focus on this aspect over future mixes, you will raise them to a new level. but given the sheer scale of this mix, i think you did an admirable job overall.
a space theme gives lots of scope for big reverb washes and a chance to work the stereo field in both depth and width and introduce panning automation to give a sense of movement and flow. there were times i thought you missed some opportunities on the panning aspects, which would have helped give a sense of journey, but 15 minutes with interludes(?) is a lot of mixing and it depends on the kind of detail we are seeking to illustrate and the specific goals we wish to attain as a priority.
on the technical front, there are moments where the low-end of the mix gets highly congested. one of the challenges this mix offers, is by way of the big synths and the amount of bass instrumentation on occasion. this needed effective management for the mix to remain clear. often an outcome of low-end congestion is a need to push more of the high-end frequency in order to maintain tonality overall, otherwise the mix will sound warm (dark) which has it's own issues regarding emotion. i suspect some of the brighter elements which were panned wide (good move!) were brighter than they'd otherwise need to be and this can make things a little fatiguing. for example, if you prioritized which bass material was going to be dominant, and EQ'd the fundamentals of the remaining by applying suitable high-pass filters with slopes of choice to fit the purpose and situation, you'd be able to roll off the high end material, maintain apparent tonality in the mix overall and remove the risk of fatigue. importantly, you'd also maintain a sense of power in the presentation. also be aware that too much low-end congestion is also another source of fatigue because the brain has to work harder at trying to hear and work out the detail - another reason why "less is more" in mixing. this factor works often at the unconscious level with people, and will result in them "tuning out" and losing interest....or hitting the skip button to avoid the issue. they might not actually be consciously aware of why they are skipping but is a reflex to the situation.
there is a major problem in the forum generally, it must be said, where people push a lot of bass out to the sides because they like the ear candy while they sit in the sweet spot during mixing - it sounds powerful and encompassing. as well as this bass on the sides, there's bass in the middle too....and all this bass together ain't good outside of the sweet spot....nor for the speakers which are trying to make a 4 meter sound wave (80Hz) and a 0.13 meter wave (2500Hz) from it's woofer at the same time!!!! too much 80Hz, or even 250Hz (i.e. low-mid) is going to muddy the audio simply because the speaker can't mechanically deliver the detail.
if you focus on this aspect over future mixes, you will raise them to a new level. but given the sheer scale of this mix, i think you did an admirable job overall.
Beware...........Cognitive Dissonance!