Hey all, this is my first mix of a set of stems. I've been doing a lot of reading and taking courses on Lynda and Coursera to learn music production - this is the first practical use of what I've been able to learn over the past few months.
I thought the vocals were quite harsh on this one, so I did a lot to cut a bunch of the original frequencies and did a bit of clip gain to even them out as much as possible. Same with the backups... I also faded in the opening, since the initial tracks cut into the opening transients...
I couldn't get the toms to have as much separation as I would have liked, so that's something else I would work on.
As I'm new to this, I'd appreciate whatever feedback you can provide. I'm gong to listen to some of the other mixes now to see what the others have done...
Hi, I would have liked to produce this result as my first mix ever.
Daring some INITIAL suggestions based on a couple of runs on headphones:
- it looks to me that the kick is a tad louder than bass. I would suggest to review this balance (vol down or compression on kick - or vol up on double bass - I would do adjust a little of both). Kick vol down brings dow the drumset that is also a little loud.
- I'm not sure I can hear correctly but there's some resonance on one of the toms that may be notched (120Hz?)
- I would bring up a tad the string fills that get lost in some essential moments (for example 2:03-2:06)
- while the drumset is pretty dynamic, the lead vox sounds a bit overcompressed
- acoustic guit and lead vox have some extra harshness I would try to smoothen. The vox has some body that can be cranked up that may help making it less teenager-ish.
- a lot is happening in the center and ±30 degrees, I would try to distribute the instruments around the scene
I'm not measuring now but I have the impression the mix should be pushed up a little in loudness. Not sure about the gain structure you were targeting. You may want to get the mix to peak at -3/-4dB at master fader (pre mastering), but not much lower.
Here's what I did:
1. I tried to take some of the pick noise out of the acoustic guitars
2. I automated the strings a bit more to bring them out
3. I compressed the kick and snare better (i think)
4. I tried to get the bass to sit better
5. I tried to level out the vocals better and not compress them as much...
I couldn't hear what you were referring to on the tom, but I will check again...
Dave
(22-07-2015, 08:40 PM)DaveNJ Wrote: Lammy, thanks for the suggestions! I'll take a crack at those this evening and upload a new mix.
Hi,
I've just run again through headphones and iphone buds.
In my opinion this is a dramatic improvement. Lot more balance between parts.
Before I give up with suggestions (that eventually would just reflect my taste):
- you may want to review when the piano needs the same stand-out treatment in some 3:53, 4:03 on 4:41-4:43 and on. Maybe the strings are to be reduced a bit in vol to make the piano phrasing a little forward in these moments.
- You may want to experiment with some extra reverb (global, or on busses):
on vox,
on acoustic guit to open it up,
on snare, toms and overheads - that's going to be more tricky
To have the reverb stand out and add substance instead of bringing the part backwards (beyond the selection of which reverb and which tail length) I sometimes eq the reverb buss and compress it with a 1176 emulator plugin.
(23-07-2015, 05:09 AM)DaveNJ Wrote: I couldn't hear what you were referring to on the tom, but I will check again...
- there was something with the tom but it's now less audible or was not so relevant. I remember I notched something in my mix that I could hear in yours but, just forget about it.
25-07-2015, 03:19 PM (This post was last modified: 25-07-2015, 03:19 PM by DaveNJ.)
Ok, last update for a week - damn work keeps getting in the way of mixing... :-)
I tried to get some more body into the lead vocals and balanced it a bit more. Tried a bit on getting the piano up a touch, but I think I have more work to do with that.
Tried to warm the track up a touch, as well...
Lammy, I really do appreciate the attention you're putting to this - it's teaching me how to be more granular with listening...
Dave
(23-07-2015, 10:48 AM)Lammy Wrote: Hi,
I've just run again through headphones and iphone buds.
In my opinion this is a dramatic improvement. Lot more balance between parts.
Before I give up with suggestions (that eventually would just reflect my taste):
- you may want to review when the piano needs the same stand-out treatment in some 3:53, 4:03 on 4:41-4:43 and on. Maybe the strings are to be reduced a bit in vol to make the piano phrasing a little forward in these moments.
- You may want to experiment with some extra reverb (global, or on busses):
on vox,
on acoustic guit to open it up,
on snare, toms and overheads - that's going to be more tricky
To have the reverb stand out and add substance instead of bringing the part backwards (beyond the selection of which reverb and which tail length) I sometimes eq the reverb buss and compress it with a 1176 emulator plugin.
(23-07-2015, 05:09 AM)DaveNJ Wrote: I couldn't hear what you were referring to on the tom, but I will check again...
- there was something with the tom but it's now less audible or was not so relevant. I remember I notched something in my mix that I could hear in yours but, just forget about it.
(25-07-2015, 03:19 PM)DaveNJ Wrote: Lammy, I really do appreciate the attention you're putting to this - it's teaching me how to be more granular with listening...
Dave
You're welcome, no problem. we are all here to learn something!
Of course I would take any mix including my old ones and modify them somehow more and more - endlessly.
I think there some good rimshot and snare sounds here in the last mix (3).
There's a lot of strings in the second part, piano is maybe still behind.
I'm refraining from further commenting, not to impose any of my personal stye. Each of us sound engineers would find their own way.
You may want to:
- take some rest (2-4 days that have passed already if not more) without listening any more to this
- listen in car at decent volume (burn CD or plug and play if you can). Or some bluetooth cheapo headset. Revealing and often shocking experience.
- take action on mix! :-)
cheers
I agree with Lammy. Really nice swing, especially for your first mix. I could stand having the low tom compressed a little more, but if that one of my biggest complaints, it ain't bad at all. Keeping the piano low and the strings high really gives the song a different vibe. It sounds a little more lamenting. Interesting choices. It's clean. Maybe some of your low mids could be cleaned up just a tad, not much at all.
Great effort for a first mix well done.!!
May I suggest also other sources of info Graham and the Recording Revolution, The Pro Audio Files, Pensados Place into the lair segments, Bobbi Owsinski Books, Russ at Pro Tools Expert if you have Pro Tools. All these have really helped my mixes in the past 18 months. Because I was hopeless before then !!! Also get a hold of a frequency analyser like the free Blue Cat Audio one to look at your frequency spectrum.
