Took some time on this. Probably 4 hours all told. I think I worked up something pretty nice. The vocals were a little tough to work with, and managing the stereo spread of the kick ambient mic (had to pan it decently to the right to get the image in the center). Finding a good ambiance was a little tough. I didn't want to wash it all out with verb, but I didn't want it bone dry either.
Had to compress the main vocal even more to help balance out those quick peaks from their compressor on the track itself.
I have a fair amount of low end in the bass, but I don't think it's overbearing, really.
07-03-2016, 08:25 AM (This post was last modified: 07-03-2016, 08:25 AM by Shul.)
Hello Draper
You'll probably hate me for this comment but I will post it anyways.
*Too much reverb on several things. It makes overall mix sound foggy.
The back vocals on the beginning. The tambourine. The cymbals
*The Ukulele is lost in the mix because the vox is too up front.( or the rest of the mix is too far back) you should push the voice back or bring the rest of the instruments forward(ukulele, acoustic rythm guitar, shaker, tambourine). Same thing with the Piano, it gets lost and the sparkle it should bring is not present.
*The claps and the fingers are masked by everything else(unless the volume intended was low though I feel this is what makes the song come more alive).
*The only thing I like very much on this mix is the Vocal. It sounds great and that reverb work with the delicate delay gives it that perfect ambiance!
Sorry for destroying the Mix Draper hope you don't find my comment too negative.
Hi, I have to completely agree with Shul.
Guitars are rather sharp sounding.
The kick ambient track is too much. (tbh I just deleted it, sounds bad imo)
I think vocals are fine in choruses but overpowering everywhere else.
Thanks guys. I rather liked the feel of the kick ambient track, wanted to try and get a lightly more "indie" sound, but from both of your comments, i have missed the mark! Shul, I was not inspired by the multitutde of clap and snap tracks, so i turned them down a lot. The other comments are spot on. And to be honest, I had a crash of mixbus when I went to bounce down the first time, and lo and behold, I guess I hadn't saved for a couple of hours. Then I got frustrated and rushed it back to where I thought it was. . . mixture of frustration and losing sight of the tracks. Thanks guys, I'll have another go at it, and will be much more judicious. If you haven't, you should listen to Takka's beautiful version. I might steal some of his idea. . . .
Alright, with a clearer head (and a mixbus file that keeps crashing) I did a complete remix in reaper. I think it's much better now, but I'll leave it up to you to decide!
Thanks for highlighting the weaknesses of my first mix!
(07-03-2016, 09:36 PM)loweche6 Wrote: Alright, with a clearer head (and a mixbus file that keeps crashing) I did a complete remix in reaper. I think it's much better now, but I'll leave it up to you to decide!
Thanks for highlighting the weaknesses of my first mix!
Draper
On my headphones it's a bit 'essy on the vocals but i like how you used the ambient kick and gave some definition to the bvox in the stereo field.
07-03-2016, 10:16 PM (This post was last modified: 07-03-2016, 10:31 PM by loweche6.)
Yep, I agree, so I added another de-esser (being careful not to make it a re-etther) and (then went back and eq'd some more highs out of the vox) I think it made a world of a difference.
Some minor points, that are maybe more questions of personal preferences.
Kick is too dominant to my ears. I kind of overpowers the delicate groove.
When bg-vox comes in here and there, it changes the overall room feeling quite much. For example before 0:20 sound field is quite natural retro sound, but 0:20 comes in bg-vox and for that moment it comes very modern stereo sound, and after that it diminishes back to natural mono feeling.
Otherwise nothing else disturbed me, and those were quite small points
Listening in headphones. I like how the separation works in your mix.
I get you placed the back vocal on the right to compensate for the ukulele being so busy on the left.
However I don't share the same view as oli. I think that's mostly a preference thing.
I would like that acoustic guitar to be a bit more up front, but that's another preference thing.
Draper, I think you have all the elements for a really nice mix here. My suggestions are the following:
- the drums are smacking pretty hard, perhaps reduce the compression and let them breathe a bit more.
- the lead vocal is set back slightly too far in the back of the mix to my ears in some sections. (I think it's the 2nd verse?)
- a broad mix buss EQ reduction of the 2-3khz region might help soften it slightly, as it's quite active in this region.
hope you don't find my comment too negative.
