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Still Flying FINAL MIX (2)
#1

I hope I manage to deliver a Tight clean powerfull mix.
Special thanks to Blitz for the pro tip on the limiters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1RKaRgVFKk
Here is one reference track I used so you get a better grasp of what I tried to do. Soft kind of sound but with power in it.


.mp3    StillFlyingg.mp3 --  (Download: 10.59 MB)


.mp3    STILL FLYING FINAL.mp3 --  (Download: 10.53 MB)


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#2
You can do better. The guitars are very muddy and the tapping solo at the start sounds distorted - in a wrong way. Like it was run through a broken radio or so. the vocals sound like they are in a tiny room, and the drums sound like they are in a different room.

try this: mix this song with just drums, bass (hint: kill the fizzy highs on the bass), the two rhythm guitars and vocals and completely ignore the rest. Don't choose a shitty room reverb for the vocals - this is not the genre for small stuff. Go for a bright plate or try a medium hall. Make the rhythm guitars loud but leave room for the bass. you can help the bass a lot if you push 10 or more db at 750 hz. use your ears and ignore the numbers - add enough 750 hz until the bass really sits underneath the guitars. you have to hear the bass in the mix at that spot and there should be a hole in that region when you mute the bass. imagine a V-shape with the bass at the bottom and the guitars to the left and right upper corner. try to place the vocals in the middle of that V - slightly above the guitars. But don't make them harsh because they are allready very thin and noisy.

If you have the bass and the guitars in the right place, mute everything, solo the kick and check your meters on the stereo bus. unmute the bass und move the faders of the bass AND rhythm guitars (they are still muted but that's okay) until kick and bass together are 3 db louder on the meter then the kick alone. 99% of the time that's the perfect balance. here is a video explaining this - it works for almost every genre:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECRx4WF3pcc

now add a bus compressor on the stereo bus (an SSL bus comp is great for this), mute the bass again and set the release to fast and the attack to medium/fast with a ratio of 4:1 and dial in 1db of compression with only the kick playing. don't use double kick patterns for this - look for a groove with single kick hits. Pro tip: use automation to bring down the kick volume in double kick passages because double kick stuff normally causes too much buildup in the lows. you can also use MB compression on the lows to control this but I prefer doing it with automation because you have full control over it.

back to the stereo buss compressor: if you have the kick hitting the bus comp with 1db go mute the kick and unmute the snare. bring up the fader of the snare until you have 3db of compression with every snare hit and make sure you have still 1db compression with every kick hit. now unmute kick, snare, bass and guitars and they all should be in a very good spot and well balanced with each other. if the guitars are too loud or too quiet just balance them against the bass but don't touch the bass, kick or snare fader. only adjust the volume of the guitars. bring up the room and overhead faders until they feel right and now try to completely focus on the groove of the song and bring it to life before you start to add the other stuff. use compression to enhance the groove, not kill it. use a top down method for eq and start with the master bus first, then eq the busses for drums, guitars, bass, vocals and THEN eq single tracks. use a lot of volume automation if stuff is too loud or too quiet in some parts.

pro tip: use a limiter on bass, guitars and vocals. guitars need to be a wall of sound so let them hit the limiter moderately. don't squash them 'til they distort in an unpleasant way - thats too much. same goes for bass (you can be more aggressive here) and vocals too. the reason behind this is that this song doesn't need a lot of dynamics for those elements. you want to get the maximum amount of power and you will only get a "larger then life" sound with limiting the guitars and bass. don't limit the drums though - use a clipper instead to make them loud. you don't want to kill all the transients.

Btw here is an instrumental version of this song - check the levels between kick, snare, bass and rhythm guitars: http://discussion.cambridge-mt.com/showt...?tid=17076

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#3
(11-11-2016, 02:03 AM)Blitzzz Wrote: You can do better.

Thanks for the Detailed walk through on a way to mix this song man. And thanks for believing I can actually do better it means a lot.
After reading everything you said i can clearly see where i went wrong in this song. I now have to go back and start not from scratch, but I have to re structure everything.

I'll be sure to stop by your post and listen to it later and give you my two cents on the instrumental. Thanks for taking the time of writing this I really appreciate it.
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#4
Update above.
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#5
Hello Smile

Pretty good,

Things that stands out to me :
-Your mix lacks a bit of low end.
-I like your Kick and snare.
-Your leads needs more gain :p and maybe a bit of mid.
-Rythm guitar is good overall.
-Vocals are pretty cool, maybe a bit too much upfront sometimes. At 2.50 they are really thin.

As you said this mix is pretty hard and overall you did good !

Mixing with a dt770 for now..
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#6
(15-11-2016, 05:48 PM)Jimdolorian Wrote: Hello Smile

Pretty good,

Things that stands out to me :
-Your mix lacks a bit of low end.
-I like your Kick and snare.
-Your leads needs more gain :p and maybe a bit of mid.
-Rythm guitar is good overall.
-Vocals are pretty cool, maybe a bit too much upfront sometimes. At 2.50 they are really thin.

As you said this mix is pretty hard and overall you did good !

Thanks for the feedback. I agree I shall go back and turn the leads a bit more along with some mids.. Especially mids to the intro are now bad sounding to my ears.

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#7
Final Mix Posted above. Leave your thoughts Thanks.
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#8
Definitely a better mix !

Sometimes vox is a bit too much for me and leads could be a bit more saturated but overall this is good Smile
OHs are too loud or bright.

Take care !
Mixing with a dt770 for now..
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#9
(16-11-2016, 06:00 AM)Jimdolorian Wrote: Definitely a better mix !

Sometimes vox is a bit too much for me and leads could be a bit more saturated but overall this is good Smile
OHs are too loud or bright.

Take care !

Yeah the mix is pretty flat... In mastering though I did enhanced the brightness from 8khz and up with a shelf eq... but made sure to compress it so when you turn up the volume it doesn't distort or hurts your ears. I'm guilty of maybe overdoing it a lil Lol... nothing a small tweak can't fix.
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#10
Hello Shul,
I like your op lots of interesting thoughts I also struggled with this one and ran into the same things but learned a lot which is good tho.

As for your mix I do like the 2nd one better. I think the overall levels are ok but, a couple things I'm hearing. The snare seems to be getting lost I don't think it's the sound or volume thing but maybe a bass guitar problem .I like the sound of the bass but, it is a little loud and also might be masking the snare some in that 200 range( if you listen at1.15 the snare has more body than at say.04

Cool vocal Fx at .09 The last 2 things is the lead guitar sound could be beefed up some more and the cymbals seem to be coming just out the rt speaker..
Hard song too mix, nice job!
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