04-11-2014, 10:40 PM
Hey Blue Bus,
Sorry I've been so slow to reciprocate your comments lately! Usually I'm much better about that...
This is a very tricky multi-track to mix owing to the nature of the genre and the sparseness of the arrangement, and I hear many of the things I've had a hard time with in your version as well. The main thing I'd call to your attention is that the clarity is lacking, and much of the transient content seems pillowy for some reason, especially on the guitars, whereas the bass sort of pokes me in the eye every now and then. There's a pretty good bit of buildup in the midrange when the guitars, rhodes and vibraphone start piling up.... occasional mutes, automation, or some seriously disciplined EQ are unfortunately going to be necessary to get a good balance, but that's soft jazz for you... nature of the beast. I think the piling up in the midrange is probably from where the difficulty of brightening the mix stems, so I'd look into that as a priority.
Of secondary importance, I noticed the guitars don't feel as "live" as the rest of the mix, meaning that they don't interact with the virtual room in the same manner as the pads and drums, which are quite roomy. Bringing the volume/sustain/stereo width down on the pads would help, but I think the guitars probably do need a little more ambience to sit in the mix realistically. I'm in agreement with Patrick on the delay, but that's more of a matter of personal taste... a similar delay, lower in level, with taps a little to the left and right, could give the vocal a bit more width and help it sit if you care to try.
Hope some of that is helpful
Sorry again for the late.
Sorry I've been so slow to reciprocate your comments lately! Usually I'm much better about that...
This is a very tricky multi-track to mix owing to the nature of the genre and the sparseness of the arrangement, and I hear many of the things I've had a hard time with in your version as well. The main thing I'd call to your attention is that the clarity is lacking, and much of the transient content seems pillowy for some reason, especially on the guitars, whereas the bass sort of pokes me in the eye every now and then. There's a pretty good bit of buildup in the midrange when the guitars, rhodes and vibraphone start piling up.... occasional mutes, automation, or some seriously disciplined EQ are unfortunately going to be necessary to get a good balance, but that's soft jazz for you... nature of the beast. I think the piling up in the midrange is probably from where the difficulty of brightening the mix stems, so I'd look into that as a priority.
Of secondary importance, I noticed the guitars don't feel as "live" as the rest of the mix, meaning that they don't interact with the virtual room in the same manner as the pads and drums, which are quite roomy. Bringing the volume/sustain/stereo width down on the pads would help, but I think the guitars probably do need a little more ambience to sit in the mix realistically. I'm in agreement with Patrick on the delay, but that's more of a matter of personal taste... a similar delay, lower in level, with taps a little to the left and right, could give the vocal a bit more width and help it sit if you care to try.
Hope some of that is helpful
Sorry again for the late.
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!