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You Know Better - ArmedNDaverous mix
#1
Hey Mike and company,

Update: v2 is the most current and the mix I am submitting.

Here's my mix for critique. Looking forward to the competition! Thanks for putting it together.

Dave


.mp3    You Know Better v1 - Dave.mp3 --  (Download: 8.42 MB)


.mp3    You Know Better v2 -Dave.mp3 --  (Download: 8.42 MB)


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#2
The only thing I could possibly say about this other than excellent is you may have been able to sneak a bit more bottom into the kick.
Well done.
PreSonus Studio One DAW
[email protected]
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#3
(13-01-2019, 03:19 PM)Mixinthecloud Wrote: The only thing I could possibly say about this other than excellent is you may have been able to sneak a bit more bottom into the kick.
Well done.

Thanks for the tip, I will definitely look into that as I get ready for my next mix update.
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#4
Hi ArmedNDaverous! As I've come to expect from your work, this mix shows a sure hand. The balance is very solid and sensible, with plenty of kick and snare attack, and a low end that balances the needs of bass guitar and kick confidently. The use of mix effects like delay and reverb is very sensitively done, so the mix coheres nicely and has a sense of envelopment, but without compromising on mix clarity. As such, all further detailed comments should be taken as suggestions, because the core presentation here is already very strong.

I like the overall spectral balance of the mix, although there is a sense of slightly woolly build-up around 250Hz or so from time to time. You can reduce this a bit just by using a band of dynamic EQ to cut 2-3dB in that range, but a more targeted approach would be to address the vocal, bass, guitar, and hammond overlaps that appear to be causing it. The bass could maybe have a touch less 100-150Hz, and some added 1-2kHz (so you get more audibility with less risk of 'bloat') and I think its mix level could be controlled a little more firmly, because I felt it wasn't quite delivering dependably during some moments. It's so important to the song harmonically, melodically, and rhythmically, that I think it's worth going through with a fine-toothed comb if necessary to make sure it's contribution is always audible.

The kick and snare attack, as I said, is a highlight for me, and I suspect that some editing may have been required to maintain it throughout the song by removing some of the flams. However, I did find myself wondering whether the kick and snare might actually be balanced a bit too high in the mix for pop singer-songwriter material like this. It's not that I mind powerful drums, but I felt that maybe the vocal (and indeed the rest of the band) were being slightly overshadowed by those pounding beats. The HF attack transient on the snare exacerbates this too, and I'd be tempted to cut a little from the snare close mic in the 6-8kHz region. Alternatively, some kind of tape simulator on the drums might work well in this respect, by just rounding off the slightly fierce edge to the upper-spectrum transients. (Speaking of the snare transient: the opening hit of the song is, I think, being a touch overemphasised, and I suspect it might be because the master-buss compressor attack is long enough that it takes a little while for it respond to that first hit. You might consider using an extra 'only to the side-chain' signal to 'pre-load' the compressor gain reduction prior to the first hit to mitigate this, or else maybe automate the compressor's attack time just for that first hit, or just adjust the mix balance feeding the compressor at that point. If it bothers you...) The cymbals feel rich and smooth, though, which isn't the easiest thing to achieve on this multitrack.

I wonder whether the timbre of the opening guitar is a little too much 'classic rock' for this style, and it also has the disadvantage that it's dense enough that it distracts a little from the vocal during Chorus 2. Perhaps it could at least be thinned out slightly there. In Chorus 3, the MIDI piano becomes a bit too audible for my taste too, seeing as it's rather mechanical-sounding.

The vocal mixing is pretty solid, although small-speaker translation isn't especially strong. I'd maybe look to add in a couple of decibels of true midrange around 1.5kHz or so on those grounds. In addition, I'd maybe still work a little harder on bringing out the lyrics, by pulling up consonant-vowel and diphthong transitions and rescuing some of the more swallowed syllables. The mob vocals at the end could be louder in the balance, I reckon, because the energy level feels like it falls a little too much once the Outro's opening cymbal hit has faded away.

The long-term mix dynamics are reasonable, but I think there could still be scope for improvement there, especially in terms of adjusting your effects to adjust the 'zoom' of different scenes in the music. Adding a little more ambience to the snare in the Chorus, Reintro, and Outro, for instance, could work well. You've done some sensible arrangement tweaks, but they're all quite restrained, so it feels like you've got to work a little harder with the mixing as a result. Some of the musical details could be hyped a little more too (I noticed the snare fills particularly) to demand attention, and I did feel slightly disappointed that there wasn't at least one mix or arrangement 'moment' that really made me sit up and take notice -- it was a little too easy to let the mix become background music to other tasks, which makes it feel less 'mainstream pop' than it might.

And, finally, the raggedness of the ending, including that strange edited note tail, would be worth smoothing out. It just taints the listener's final impression of the track, which is a shame given the quality of everything else you've done here.

Hope some of that's useful, and thanks for putting in such a strong competitor!
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#5
(17-01-2019, 03:49 PM)Mike Senior Wrote: Hi ArmedNDaverous! As I've come to expect from your work, this mix shows a sure hand. The balance is very solid and sensible, with plenty of kick and snare attack, and a low end that balances the needs of bass guitar and kick confidently. The use of mix effects like delay and reverb is very sensitively done, so the mix coheres nicely and has a sense of envelopment, but without compromising on mix clarity. As such, all further detailed comments should be taken as suggestions, because the core presentation here is already very strong.....


Thank you Mike! All very helpful and useful tips. I will be going over my mix again for sure.
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#6
Here's some technical info about this mix for anyone that might be interested.

Drums

Kick in - 15db dip at 655Hz (Q 1.4) to remove what I felt was too much boxy/muddiness.

Kick Out - 3db dip at 625Hz. High shelf cut -7db at 7Khz to tame the cymbals. Also did some dynamic eq cuts at 4Khz to cut back on cymbal crashes throughout.

Both kicks had 2-3db of limiting for loudest hits only to even things out. Both had a HP filter at 40Hz and a sonnet envolution plugin to cut back on ringing sustain. I bussed both kicks to an aux which I gated and added a tape sim for some warmth and low end boost.

Snare - Phase inverse on snare up. HP filter on both snares but no other EQ. I supplemented the snares with a sample. 2-3db of compression on snare bus aux track.

Timbale / Congo: HP filter 80Hz. I used some narrow dynamic eq on some resonant frequencies for the timbale. Might of been overkill but the peaks were bugging me. (426Hz, 778Hz, 1071Hz) I figured by cutting those peaks I could turn it up louder overall. Then I limited some more peaks and compressed after that.

OH - HP filter 60Hz. High shelf dynamic eq at 2500Hz, -2 db or so to tame HH. Used a compressor in stereo mode with internal side chain HP filter at 2kHz so the compressor would only trigger during cymbal hits on corresponding channels. Followed by some regular compression.

Drum buss had some 2-3db of compression for the "glue" and a pultec smiley face eq of a couple db and both ends.


BASS - Multiband compression below 150hz. Nearly -10db at times. Then I limited the peaks and compressed some more. I also duplicated the track and added a SVT3 bass amp sim. Studer A800 sim on the bass buss with more compression.

Guitars - I did a lot to the guitars. I used an LA3A to compress the peaks, dbx 160 to compress and bring up some details and some SSL eq to brighten and help guitar poke through around 2-3kHz. Reverbs were mostly EMT 140 sim and delays were EP-34 sim.

Keys - HP filtered all of the tracks up to about 200hz and on the piano I cut out -10db at 535Hz to remove some boxiness and mud. Both Hammond tracks had a fair amount of distortion added as well as a MicroShift plugin for stereo wideness.

Vocals - These required a lot of work for me. HP filtered up to 80Hz and an additional 4db cut at 100 to tame some lows. After that I used a multi-band compressor with a crossover at 200hz to cut out the low boominess that would sometimes pop up from proximity effect and what not. Then I used a series of compressors. 1 to tame the peaks, 1 for overall level control, and lastly a LA-2A to even it out even further. I try to get them as level as possible to cut back on automation, even though I still did a fair amount of that. EQ: a few db boost at 10kHz and a shelf boost at 20kHz to brighten.

BGV: Kept it simple on this, just a HP filter at 200kHz and a single stage of compression on the individual tracks and then a LA-2A on a BGV aux bus to bring them together.

Master bus: around 3-4db of compression, slowt attack, fast release. 10kHz boost to brighten everything up, as well as a bit of Inflator for some meat and a tape sim for some added low end.

These were some of the basic things I did. If anyone wants more detail about anything in particular feel free to message me.





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