02-08-2014, 10:22 PM
I really like this, Olli. From a personal taste standpoint, I think the ending could be more climactic, but that's simply my interpretation of the song. It would seem most of us are preferring a much more bottom heavy sound than I'm hearing in my head as well, so although I feel there's too much, the instruments are pretty well distinct from one another. Maybe make a bit more space for a bigger timpani at the end? The harmonica gave me chills when it came in... perfectly placed in the mix with a lovely reverb. Almost broke my heart, in a good way 
The two main issues with the raw tracks in my opinion is that the proximity bass boost on the vocals makes it sound congested, and the bump in the 3000 range on those same track. cheap microphone maybe? I have a inexpensive condenser mic with similar qualities. The first issue to me is easily treatable with a low shelving cut before any compression is applied. This seems to be a personal taste viewpoint as many have disagreed. However, it's possible for us to reduce the impact of the 3000 kHz boost with various forms of EQ and compression, and I think you've done an excellent job there. The sibilance on the vocal is really hard on this track... it impacts the sonics so much that you can tell where the S sounds are just by looking at the waveform, and you handled it really well. Is the vocal a bit too loud, perhaps sitting on the mix a bit too much?
The only real "problem" I find with your mix is that the strings, although they sound absolutely beautiful, don't seem to fit with the rest of the track when they first come in. The ambience of the strings is lush and sexy, and I think the level of brightness is perfect... or it would be if the rest of the track were a bit brighter. Basically, the strings in your mix contain so much brilliance and resplendence that I feel imbuing some of those same qualities broadly to the rest of mix would be a better move than reducing the brightness... because I think they sound too fantastic to change them. Something about the way the reverb is working on the strings also "feels" a little different, almost like they were recorded in a different room, although I think that's part of why I love the sound so much. The disconnectedness isn't jarring and it doesn't ruin the mix for me, but it makes me want slightly more high end sheen in the surrounding tracks.
That's tough of course, because the only tracks here with any appreciable high end content are relatively unimportant to the musical message, and I'm still not happy with mine... I'm in a very intense revision process after your and Alan's comments opened my ears to a few problems. My current strategy is using tape-saturation to fill out the vocal sound so that a treble enhancer can do its work without being "needling" or overemphasizing the 3000 boost... mixed results, there. Niells' mix gave me an idea... I wonder if tonal plate reverbs might add a little more flavor and brilliance to the tracks that are too dark?
Again... fantastic work. I always love comparing your work to mine because it always seems to give me an idea that improves my work in a lasting way.
BTW, adding samples is NOT cheating in my book. Obviously he used a bass sample in the first place because his recording environment wasn't suitable for tracking such a difficult bass instrument, so he's already doing us a huge favor and sending a message at the same time. I doubt he would have included the session midi if he didn't feel his work could be improved with a higher quality sample. To me it's no different than hiring a session musician to track a part properly. I always use my brother when I need a good piano part... because he's a great pianist and I'm god awful. And one of the principle criticisms of David Bowie's early records was his instance on tracking his own guitar parts. Many feel they would have sounded better with a more qualified guitarist... so if a better sample improves an artists work, he and the record company would have been thankful.
The two main issues with the raw tracks in my opinion is that the proximity bass boost on the vocals makes it sound congested, and the bump in the 3000 range on those same track. cheap microphone maybe? I have a inexpensive condenser mic with similar qualities. The first issue to me is easily treatable with a low shelving cut before any compression is applied. This seems to be a personal taste viewpoint as many have disagreed. However, it's possible for us to reduce the impact of the 3000 kHz boost with various forms of EQ and compression, and I think you've done an excellent job there. The sibilance on the vocal is really hard on this track... it impacts the sonics so much that you can tell where the S sounds are just by looking at the waveform, and you handled it really well. Is the vocal a bit too loud, perhaps sitting on the mix a bit too much?
The only real "problem" I find with your mix is that the strings, although they sound absolutely beautiful, don't seem to fit with the rest of the track when they first come in. The ambience of the strings is lush and sexy, and I think the level of brightness is perfect... or it would be if the rest of the track were a bit brighter. Basically, the strings in your mix contain so much brilliance and resplendence that I feel imbuing some of those same qualities broadly to the rest of mix would be a better move than reducing the brightness... because I think they sound too fantastic to change them. Something about the way the reverb is working on the strings also "feels" a little different, almost like they were recorded in a different room, although I think that's part of why I love the sound so much. The disconnectedness isn't jarring and it doesn't ruin the mix for me, but it makes me want slightly more high end sheen in the surrounding tracks.
That's tough of course, because the only tracks here with any appreciable high end content are relatively unimportant to the musical message, and I'm still not happy with mine... I'm in a very intense revision process after your and Alan's comments opened my ears to a few problems. My current strategy is using tape-saturation to fill out the vocal sound so that a treble enhancer can do its work without being "needling" or overemphasizing the 3000 boost... mixed results, there. Niells' mix gave me an idea... I wonder if tonal plate reverbs might add a little more flavor and brilliance to the tracks that are too dark?
Again... fantastic work. I always love comparing your work to mine because it always seems to give me an idea that improves my work in a lasting way.
BTW, adding samples is NOT cheating in my book. Obviously he used a bass sample in the first place because his recording environment wasn't suitable for tracking such a difficult bass instrument, so he's already doing us a huge favor and sending a message at the same time. I doubt he would have included the session midi if he didn't feel his work could be improved with a higher quality sample. To me it's no different than hiring a session musician to track a part properly. I always use my brother when I need a good piano part... because he's a great pianist and I'm god awful. And one of the principle criticisms of David Bowie's early records was his instance on tracking his own guitar parts. Many feel they would have sounded better with a more qualified guitarist... so if a better sample improves an artists work, he and the record company would have been thankful.
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!