25-02-2015, 07:26 PM
Guys, thanks a lot for listening to my effort, and thanks for the comments 
Marroq and Nos, I wanted to comment about the low frequencies, lost vocals and snare sounds: They were all results of my mixing work method, which is based on three major points:
1. What I feel the song dictates, sound and performance-wise
2. What the band wants to sound like, based on available researched info & band's influences.
3. Comparing the mix to the contemporary market and audience, unless it's a tribute to something specific (like classical music, or a cover song that needs to sound just like the original).
So based on these points, here's what I followed:
1. Performance-wise, I felt the vocals were very pure, honest and clean, and wanted to keep them that way. Guitars felt very atmospheric to me so I wanted to keep them present and dynamic (hence the pan and reverb automations), but not over-the-top-edgy. Bass guitar had a more melodic and less rhythmic feel, and the drums really felt like they should get a post-80's sound treatment, with rich but not that-over-the-top reverb (Hence the distant snare drum sound, the most distinctive part of the kit in the 80's ). Since the bass guitar was more melodic, giving it that powerful low-end treatment you usually give a "married bass guitar and bass drum" performance felt pretty violent and kinda threw me out of the overall atmosphere, so I was careful with it. Pretty much all synths were high-pitched, so there wasn't much low-end to glorify there either...
2. From what I read about the band, I found out that they are defined as "shoegaze" - meaning that the fx-drenched atmosphere is pretty much above all and dictates the location of everything, including vocals. That's why I wasn't too worried about vocals getting a bit lost in the mix, compared to a regular piano\acoustic guitar&vocals arrangement, or a contemporary pop song where vocals are usually in-your-face and everything else is 600 db lower and squashed...
Guessing the influences, I felt that the mix needs to be something near Portishead\Hooverphonic, but a bit more on the melodic\acoustic side than on the heavy-electronic, so the synths were just a hint of spice in the mix.
I also wanted to give the song a bit of a Pop song feel, so at one point I played around with the idea of a "Portishead meets Taylor Swift" sound and added the occasional filtered\telephone effect, as well as some filtered delays on the vocals and at some point the backing vocals.
3. Comparing the mix the the contemporary market is always hard for me, because of the well known "loudness war", which always messes up the song's acoustic dynamics. I've always loved and preferred acoustic dynamics over the crazy mainstream "compressed loud" post 2000's sound. It's no secret that Mastering is called "the art of compromise", but I tried to make the overall mix louder without sacrificing too much of the acoustic excitement.
So that's pretty much it! Sorry if it was too long of a comment, just wanted to share my view. It was fun mixing and working on this lovely song, and I hope we'll get more recordings from this band
Btw Thomas, I think the wash cymbals were so present because I just recently got a drum kit and started playing, after many years of only playing guitar, so I guess I was excited to hear cymbals and let them shine
Marroq and Nos, I wanted to comment about the low frequencies, lost vocals and snare sounds: They were all results of my mixing work method, which is based on three major points:
1. What I feel the song dictates, sound and performance-wise
2. What the band wants to sound like, based on available researched info & band's influences.
3. Comparing the mix to the contemporary market and audience, unless it's a tribute to something specific (like classical music, or a cover song that needs to sound just like the original).
So based on these points, here's what I followed:
1. Performance-wise, I felt the vocals were very pure, honest and clean, and wanted to keep them that way. Guitars felt very atmospheric to me so I wanted to keep them present and dynamic (hence the pan and reverb automations), but not over-the-top-edgy. Bass guitar had a more melodic and less rhythmic feel, and the drums really felt like they should get a post-80's sound treatment, with rich but not that-over-the-top reverb (Hence the distant snare drum sound, the most distinctive part of the kit in the 80's
). Since the bass guitar was more melodic, giving it that powerful low-end treatment you usually give a "married bass guitar and bass drum" performance felt pretty violent and kinda threw me out of the overall atmosphere, so I was careful with it. Pretty much all synths were high-pitched, so there wasn't much low-end to glorify there either...2. From what I read about the band, I found out that they are defined as "shoegaze" - meaning that the fx-drenched atmosphere is pretty much above all and dictates the location of everything, including vocals. That's why I wasn't too worried about vocals getting a bit lost in the mix, compared to a regular piano\acoustic guitar&vocals arrangement, or a contemporary pop song where vocals are usually in-your-face and everything else is 600 db lower and squashed...
Guessing the influences, I felt that the mix needs to be something near Portishead\Hooverphonic, but a bit more on the melodic\acoustic side than on the heavy-electronic, so the synths were just a hint of spice in the mix.
I also wanted to give the song a bit of a Pop song feel, so at one point I played around with the idea of a "Portishead meets Taylor Swift" sound and added the occasional filtered\telephone effect, as well as some filtered delays on the vocals and at some point the backing vocals.
3. Comparing the mix the the contemporary market is always hard for me, because of the well known "loudness war", which always messes up the song's acoustic dynamics. I've always loved and preferred acoustic dynamics over the crazy mainstream "compressed loud" post 2000's sound. It's no secret that Mastering is called "the art of compromise", but I tried to make the overall mix louder without sacrificing too much of the acoustic excitement.
So that's pretty much it! Sorry if it was too long of a comment, just wanted to share my view. It was fun mixing and working on this lovely song, and I hope we'll get more recordings from this band
Btw Thomas, I think the wash cymbals were so present because I just recently got a drum kit and started playing, after many years of only playing guitar, so I guess I was excited to hear cymbals and let them shine