Wayfaring Stranger

[pauli]

Since the quality of the recordings is good, there's not a whole lot of balance processing on my version. I think I spent more time trying not to ruin it than trying to actually mix it?

The vocal's a bit hot as recorded, so I spent a couple hours drawing automation to bring the missing dynamics back. Some don't seem to like the distortion on the raw vocal... dunno, I think it's sexy.

Otherwise, most effort went into getting the vocal to blend... giving her some width and trying to "put her in the live room" by matching a verb to the Toms track as closely as I could... then running the whole thing through a convolution reverb to put the entire ensemble onstage at a big, urban club, circa 1920.

Think "film noir" and "art deco," those are the visual cues that inspired me. If it sounds a bit smokey and expansive, that was the goal.

It's not perfect... the sax could be feeding into the reverb a little less during the solo, and I could probably back off on the saturation on the master buss for a better LRA... although I'm torn, because I really like the smoldering warmth for this song.

Comments would be appreciated. Working with spill aside from the usual multitracked drum kit is a real sore spot on my work.

[pauli]

Hmmm, second listen is telling me the vocal isn't present enough, needs a bit more weight.

[thedon]

I agree with the vocals needing a little more presence and weight, smooth sounding mix You have achieved that smokey sound ,personal thing i like to hear some more dynamics .

[pauli]

Hey man. You're on point about dynamics... I lost objectivity toward the end of the mix There's a tiny bit of tape saturation running over the mix that after analysis is blunting 2 dB(!!!) off the average loudness.

What's frustrating about that is how much time I spend automating dynamics back into the vocal that were smoothed out a little on the way in. The dense reverb and parallel compression aren't helping matters... I'll have to revisit this, because apart from a parallel compression buss there's not much compression at all.

Re: vocal warmth and presence. What do you think will help? I'm having a bit of a translation issue wherein my headphones are reporting a thin midrange, but it sounds pretty boxy through my speakers.

[Mike Senior]

What's frustrating about that is how much time I spend automating dynamics back into the vocal that were smoothed out a little on the way in.

Mea culpa on that! I did hit the vocal compressor too hard on the way in. Also makes the sibilance more problematic than it should be. Ho-hum... you live, you learn!

[pauli]

The compressor brought a lot of tonal character to the fore, so I'm not fussing What's frustrating is my unintentional dynamics processing mostly negated my efforts. You live, you learn!

[Olli H]

I think it sounds excellent the way it is.

[pauli]

Thanks Olli... I think I should tone down the reverb and parallel compression, though. I'm working a 12 hour shift tonight and back at 8 in the morning -_- so pending a little more feedback, it may be a couple days before I can attempt to resolve some of my complaints.

Maybe if I slept a little more? Lol.

[Mike Senior]

Hi pauli,

Nice version -- particularly like the upright bass's LF reach and the upfront but well-controlled lead vocal balance. Essentially the balance is very well-judged on the whole, so good work! Being the picky so-and-so I am, I do have a small list of queries, but I just wanted to frame them as what they are -- very minor niggles, many of them well within the bounds of personal taste.

Probably the biggest concern for me is that the vocal seems somehow a little 'hollowed out', for want of a better description. It feels almost as if there's some kind of slight comb-filtering effect undermining its solidity in the mix. I wonder whether it might be a side-effect of the widening process you used -- if there are short delays involved, that would be a potential cause of what I'm hearing. It's a subtle thing, and not easy to put my finger on, but basically I'd maybe just revisit each of the lead vocal processes with this in mind. It could also simply be comb-filtering from the early reflections of a reverb if minimal predelay was used.

It's interesting the contrast you deliver between the lead vocal and the sax/piano intro, which really makes the listener sit up and take notice at the first vocal entry. The downside is that it puts a lot of distance between the vocal and those instruments, which affects the sense of cohesion in general. In fact, the overall depth picture doesn't quite convince me for that reason too, given that the ride is quite forward too.

The piano is probably the next thing on the list, as it feels maybe a bit underplayed in the mix, and could maybe do with a little help from some kind of sustain enhancement in my view. (That's what I did, at least!) Particularly when the choruses hit I felt texture didn't quite support the lead vocal's more soaring lines with the piano that far back. The counterpoint with the sax during the section before the solo feels a bit one-sided too as a result, and then the solo section also feels a little less like a dialogue. These are all questions of musical vision, of course, rather than anything purely technical.

Although I like the low end of the bass, it is also one area which may cause you translation problems, because it's not nearly as prominent in the mix once you listen on smaller playback systems. Both the kick and the bass probably have a bit too much low end on them (is that possible?!) in thei raw recorded form -- it wasn't easy to judge the low end in our Heath Robinson control room on location, and I usually prefer to err on the side of too much rather than too little under those kinds of circumstances. (It's good for vibing up the band on playback too, but that's a separate issue!) I'd maybe rein in the low bass a touch in favour of a dose more mass-market-friendly midrange, perhaps around the 1kHz area.

Perfectly valid panning choice with the piano, putting it more to the left, given that its spill emanates more from that side in the overheads if (as you've done) you retain the drummer's-perspective overheads orientation in the provided stereo overheads track. I didn't offset the piano mics myself, though, on more aesthetic grounds, because the piano plays more consistently than the sax, and I didn't want the overall mix's image to feel lop-sided, which always bugs me slightly somehow. I preferred to let the piano keep its width here, and then let the sax sit more centrally alongside the vocal. Panning's very much a taste thing, in my view, so if you were navigating by considering only the spill match-up, then this might be another avenue to at least consider -- even if you end up sticking with the choice you've already made!

With the sax, I wondered whether it could maybe have a little less low midrange to it, because I yearned for a touch more breathiness and intimacy in the tone during the solo in particular, even though the instrument is already plenty loud enough at that point.

As far as global ambience/effects go, I like what I'm hearing, although I went for a little more sustain and width from them myself. I get the impression, though, that my vision for this mix is generally a little wetter than a lot of people's, so maybe that's not an issue.

One other final small thing: there's something amiss in the fade-out -- shame to spoil the cool atmosphere overall with an odd click like that right at the finishing line.

Thanks for posting -- a really pleasant mix to listen to.

[pauli]

Thanks for the detailed and thoughtful tips, Mike, this is a big help.

I had a "smack my head" moment when you mentioned potential comb filtering on the vocal... you're exactly right about that and I didn't even consider it. That explains why the problem is prominent on some devices and completely disappears on others.

I'll load up the DAW this evening and see what I can tweak... thanks again!