My modest and organic mix of this wonderful singer.
I tried to hold on to all of the native dynamics as I could and I think I did OK with it. I did very simple things in this mix. A simple reverb (nothing in-line on the master sub), minimal EQ besides hi-passing as needed and minimal compression. I did put a limiter on the over-heads to quash the snare some and did my normal Cytomic gluing of the lead and backing vox. All the guitars also had some modest compression to allow them to sit better in the dynamics of the mix.
I may get more creative in future mixes of this to try an match some of the incredible mixes by the crew on here.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy my organic mix of Alone With You.
Nice mix, it sounds really warm and full. I noticed that the backing vocals are quite far up in the mix, basically becoming more like lead vocals. They are actually starting to mask the lead vocal track and rob some of the power in that transition between the softness of the first half of the chorus to the second half where the instrumentation picks up.
In the guitars there's some low mids building up around 350-500 Hz that's contending with the kick and bass. I would dip out some of the low mids in the acoustic guitar and use that as the high end for the guitars and use the electric as the low end so that the guitars aren't taking up so much space in the mix.
Overall this mix sounds really natural, almost like being in the room during the performance, good stuff
Mixing is way more art and soul than science. We don’t really know what we’re doing. We do it because we love music! It’s the love of music first. Eddie Kramer
Gear list: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, Mbox Mini w/Pro Tools Express, Reaper, Various plugins, AKG K240 MKii, Audio Technica ATH M50x, Yorkville YSM 6
18-03-2016, 04:21 PM (This post was last modified: 18-03-2016, 04:29 PM by Mixinthecloud.)
(18-03-2016, 03:20 PM)dcp10200 Wrote: Nice mix, it sounds really warm and full. I noticed that the backing vocals are quite far up in the mix, basically becoming more like lead vocals. They are actually starting to mask the lead vocal track and rob some of the power in that transition between the softness of the first half of the chorus to the second half where the instrumentation picks up.
In the guitars there's some low mids building up around 350-500 Hz that's contending with the kick and bass. I would dip out some of the low mids in the acoustic guitar and use that as the high end for the guitars and use the electric as the low end so that the guitars aren't taking up so much space in the mix.
Overall this mix sounds really natural, almost like being in the room during the performance, good stuff
Thanks for the feedback. I did make the backing voices more dry and more upfront as they are so limited in use throughout the song (just in one short area). I did this for emphasis on the words and emotion and to 'tickle' the ears. I do understand your concern about the thickness of the acoustics. In the past I tended to roll off too much bottom from guitars and as I was going for an 'organic' mix, I decided to leave that low end in. I liked the warmth of the acoustics and did not want to lose that. In this case I would agree they could be rolled off a bit more. Maybe some automation on the high-pass filtering would work? The in-room feel is part of that organic approach was after.
(18-03-2016, 03:20 PM)dcp10200 Wrote: Nice mix, it sounds really warm and full. I noticed that the backing vocals are quite far up in the mix, basically becoming more like lead vocals. They are actually starting to mask the lead vocal track and rob some of the power in that transition between the softness of the first half of the chorus to the second half where the instrumentation picks up.
In the guitars there's some low mids building up around 350-500 Hz that's contending with the kick and bass. I would dip out some of the low mids in the acoustic guitar and use that as the high end for the guitars and use the electric as the low end so that the guitars aren't taking up so much space in the mix.
Overall this mix sounds really natural, almost like being in the room during the performance, good stuff
Thanks for the feedback. I did make the backing voices more dry and more upfront as they are so limited in use throughout the song (just in one short area). I did this for emphasis on the words and emotion. I do understand your concern about the thickness of the acoustics. In the past I tended to roll off too much bottom from guitars and as I was going for an 'organic' mix, I decided to leave that low end in. In this case I would agree they could be rolled off more. The in-room feel is part of that organic approach as well.
I see what you're going for, on the acoustics I'm not so much talking about a roll off as I am a parametric cut or even a multiband compressor on that frequency range just to push it down a touch. Again great mix just the backing vocals are at a touch loud and sound disjointed from the in room sound.
Mixing is way more art and soul than science. We don’t really know what we’re doing. We do it because we love music! It’s the love of music first. Eddie Kramer
Gear list: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, Mbox Mini w/Pro Tools Express, Reaper, Various plugins, AKG K240 MKii, Audio Technica ATH M50x, Yorkville YSM 6
28-03-2016, 05:21 PM (This post was last modified: 28-03-2016, 05:30 PM by mingus.)
MITC, Bass treatment. Spill the beans, please. They sound like big beautiful elephant pharts- the sound I have been trying to get from my own bass for years.
...and I hear you changed your monitoring somewhat. sounds fantastic.
(28-03-2016, 05:21 PM)mingus Wrote: MITC, Bass treatment. Spill the beans, please. They sound like big beautiful elephant pharts- the sound I have been trying to get from my own bass for years.
...and I hear you changed your monitoring somewhat. sounds fantastic.
Charlie,
Thanks for the nice words. Yes, I did recently add some new monitors (HS5s) but have since returned them as I was not realizing any appreciable changes to my mixes. So believe it or not, I am still mixing on Dell Desktop speakers in a 2.1 config. and keeping a sharp eye on low frequency content when I master. I will have a chance in a few weeks to listen to my mixes on MM27s in a studio in Seattle. I am eager to hear how they translate to those awesome monitors.
As for the bass, startling at 386 Hz, with a .32 Q I added 1.65 dB. From that broad peak it is gently rolled of to be 4 dB down at 20 Hz and 4 dB down at 3 kHz (There was very little energy above that). The biggest filter however, was a significant notch of -10 dB at 108 Hz with a narrow Q of 2.81
Beyond EQ is a Cytonic Glue compressor at 4:1 with a fast attack and moderate release.
Quote:I see what you're going for, on the acoustics I'm not so much talking about a roll off as I am a parametric cut or even a multiband compressor on that frequency range just to push it down a touch. Again great mix just the backing vocals are at a touch loud and sound disjointed from the in room sound.
Thanks for that great suggestion. The multi-band should do the trick and I will definitely give that a try. What I have found after many listens of this great singer is I have failed to match the dynamics of the song with the dynamics of the emotion of the singer. In the out, he is almost crying and I need to find a way to enhance that a bit more. Also, when the song swells, the voice gets a bit buried so I am thinking of doubling it to add breadth. I'll see how that works out.
I have listened over and over to my placement of the backing vox, and I going to stick with my choice on that one. I really dig they way they sit in that short section.
Along with the Barefoot MM27s they just commissioned an new API 1608 console along with the existing ProTools HD system. I am the studio designer and have been consulting for Mirror Sound for many years as well the owner being my best friend. It is a great work space and creative environment. Actually I'll be mixing one of the songs from Cambridge so I can compare what it's like between my humble desktop environment and his professional studio environment. Not sure which song yet, but you can be sure I'll post it up.
This mix represents a change in the dynamics and a more sophisticated approach to effects.
The guitars have had level automation added through the song and the vocals have had effects added in various places. There is also significant multi-band compression on the guitar buss to control the low mid saturation.
