I did this mix on my Editors Keys Studio Series ANX-10 (Noise cancelling, that's probably not the first thing people will grab to mix on!) headphones in garageband with stock plugins.
My other editor keys headphones
(which were very cheap, had a great frequency response - especially considering the price - and lasted me 2,5 years until the cable broke)
were broken for a couple of months already, not trying to advertise here, just explaining a little why I tried to mix solely on headphones.
I left some tracks untouched like the percussion tracks, some of the guitars and the pianos. I liked the warmth of the bass but I tried to up it a notch by using a bass enhancer/exciter as to me it seems that always makes the bass that little bit clearer on small speakers in a way I prefer. (Ok, I also checked on my laptops speakers, the rest was on the headphones.)
I carved out quite some around 395 Hz on the overheads, 400 Hz is usually my aiming point in 'boxiness-like' sounds on whole drum kits.
And I matched the kick drum and bass guitar a little by cutting and boosting around the same frequency ranges.
I added a lot of low-midrange around 200 Hz to the first two guitars to enhance the warmth.
High-pass on the pads, cymbals, etc.
Tried to reduce some boxiness/nasal in the voice although I believe the voice already sounded very nice and I also tried to make it a little more upfront, even with the amount of reverb, by adding around 2600 Hz.
I automated some tracks:
° to add reverb to one solo-like guitar track which I didn't EQ as I liked the tone/timbre and place of the instrument already from the start. I do automated the panning so it kind of creates the illusion that he guitarist is moving on the small stage. (I had in my head.)
° make the vocals and pad 3 move in comparison to each other, which also share the same kind of reverb
° add reverb to piano 2 on a certain moment, so it stands out for a brief moment
Is the delay on the vocals at the end to much, I kind of use it as an effect, it creates both a little depth as a chorus-like effect?
My other editor keys headphones
(which were very cheap, had a great frequency response - especially considering the price - and lasted me 2,5 years until the cable broke)
were broken for a couple of months already, not trying to advertise here, just explaining a little why I tried to mix solely on headphones.
I left some tracks untouched like the percussion tracks, some of the guitars and the pianos. I liked the warmth of the bass but I tried to up it a notch by using a bass enhancer/exciter as to me it seems that always makes the bass that little bit clearer on small speakers in a way I prefer. (Ok, I also checked on my laptops speakers, the rest was on the headphones.)
I carved out quite some around 395 Hz on the overheads, 400 Hz is usually my aiming point in 'boxiness-like' sounds on whole drum kits.
And I matched the kick drum and bass guitar a little by cutting and boosting around the same frequency ranges.
I added a lot of low-midrange around 200 Hz to the first two guitars to enhance the warmth.
High-pass on the pads, cymbals, etc.
Tried to reduce some boxiness/nasal in the voice although I believe the voice already sounded very nice and I also tried to make it a little more upfront, even with the amount of reverb, by adding around 2600 Hz.
I automated some tracks:
° to add reverb to one solo-like guitar track which I didn't EQ as I liked the tone/timbre and place of the instrument already from the start. I do automated the panning so it kind of creates the illusion that he guitarist is moving on the small stage. (I had in my head.)
° make the vocals and pad 3 move in comparison to each other, which also share the same kind of reverb
° add reverb to piano 2 on a certain moment, so it stands out for a brief moment
Is the delay on the vocals at the end to much, I kind of use it as an effect, it creates both a little depth as a chorus-like effect?