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Diesel13 - 'Colour Me Red' (Keith Scully mix)
#1
Hi Guys,

Here's my attempt at this song. Any constructive criticism is much appreciated. I enjoyed mixing this song.

Thanks in advance to Mike too for the added Patreon-member bonus of direct mix feedback.

Cheers,
Keith...


***** EDIT 27/11/2016 : for the sake of the mixing contest I am submitting V3 of my mix, uploaded on 23/11/2016, for adjudication. *****
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#2
Hi Keith

great mix , sounds punchy on my phones. A bit too much upper mids I think on the lead vocal .Backin vocals + Snare up a bit as they seemed a bit buried .
Great Guitar sound

Memphis
Rock n Roll Man in a Digital Age

Ice-16 Interface/Cubase Artist 8 / Reaper / HP I12 quad/X2442/Fender Telecaster /Gretsch /Double Bass
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#3
Hi Memphis,

Thanks very much for your input and thanks for the positive comments too. I agree the high mids on the lead vocal were pushing a bit too much. I've made some tweaks in this mix Version 2. I've tamed that a little lead vocal problem a little and I think the vocal sits a bit better now in this version. I've also raised the backing vocals a half a db or so as well as lowering the volume by a db on those intro bars so there is slightly more of an impact when the song kicks in at the start.

Keith.


.mp3    Diesel13 - Colour Me Red _ Keith Scully Mix V.2.mp3 --  (Download: 7.54 MB)


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#4
(09-11-2016, 10:23 PM)Kesman2401 Wrote: Hi Guys,
Here's my attempt at this song. Any constructive criticism is much appreciated. I enjoyed mixing this song.
Cheers,
Keith...

Took a listen. Initial thoughts:

I hear what you're trying to do level wise from intro into the first verse, but it might be a little too much. In particular, the guitar comes in and makes the drums sound small - esp. the snare - then the kick (solo) comes in and makes them sound even smaller in comparison.

Given the vocal level is about right, perhaps move other things around in relation to that. EQ also a significant factor. Right now everything's competing to own the low-mids. The bass/kick/snare interaction is one aspect, but also the guitars could speak more in the upper-mids and 7K region, which will clear out some space for other things (bass/drums/fundamental of lead vocal).

A few adjustments to EQ (first), then readjusting levels, should make the mix a lot stronger.

Hope this helps. Cheers, Jeff

All sound is a distortion of silence / soundcloud.com/jeffd42
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#5
Listened to you v2 mix. (In general, it's best not to delete previous mix versions from the thread, though, so that we can all still learn by comments relating to them, and see how your mix has developed in response to them.) This mix presents an extremely cohesive vision -- the sense of blend is excellent, and you've achieved it without sacrificing too much attitude or the generally fairly upfront sound. I love the fact that almost everything sounds like it's 'of a piece' aesthetically, and that you've not spared the compression, but at the same time you've maintained enough internal dynamics to keep things exciting.

In general, I think your overall tonality would have benefitted from more low end on the bass guitar (in common with many of the other mixes in this sub-forum) but otherwise I like the slightly middly guitars tone, because of the bluesy quality it emphasises. That said, the difficulty this creates for you is that it masks the lead vocal strongly in the region, so you've had to rely heavily on the singer's high end for audibility, leaving the vocal tone feeling a touch wispy and lacking solidity. I think I'd try to give the vocal a bit more midrange so that it feels more solid, and then duck the guitars as necessary when he's singing to avoid too much of a midrange build-up. I suspect it might also help to dip a bit of midrange out of the drums, which don't need to be quite as upfront in that range, I reckon.

Overall, though, I like your balancing in general. Perhaps the Mid-section clean guitars could have a little less low midrange, as they make the rest of the mix begin to sound a bit 'terrier in a tin' there -- it's not a huge thing, but worth doing I think. Great idea with the distortion on the Outro 1 vocal! The backing vocals are pretty cool too: just on the verge of being too loud, but maybe it's just the consonants that are over-prominent to me. Maybe just de-ess them a bit more?

All things considered, I like this version a lot. A no-nonsense, powerful groove with a coherent and convincing identity. Great work! Smile
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#6
(21-11-2016, 08:48 PM)Mike Senior Wrote: Listened to you v2 mix. (In general, it's best not to delete previous mix versions from the thread, though, so that we can all still learn by comments relating to them, and see how your mix has developed in response to them.) This mix presents an extremely cohesive vision -- the sense of blend is excellent, and you've achieved it without sacrificing too much attitude or the generally fairly upfront sound. I love the fact that almost everything sounds like it's 'of a piece' aesthetically, and that you've not spared the compression, but at the same time you've maintained enough internal dynamics to keep things exciting.

In general, I think your overall tonality would have benefitted from more low end on the bass guitar (in common with many of the other mixes in this sub-forum) but otherwise I like the slightly middly guitars tone, because of the bluesy quality it emphasises. That said, the difficulty this creates for you is that it masks the lead vocal strongly in the region, so you've had to rely heavily on the singer's high end for audibility, leaving the vocal tone feeling a touch wispy and lacking solidity. I think I'd try to give the vocal a bit more midrange so that it feels more solid, and then duck the guitars as necessary when he's singing to avoid too much of a midrange build-up. I suspect it might also help to dip a bit of midrange out of the drums, which don't need to be quite as upfront in that range, I reckon.

Overall, though, I like your balancing in general. Perhaps the Mid-section clean guitars could have a little less low midrange, as they make the rest of the mix begin to sound a bit 'terrier in a tin' there -- it's not a huge thing, but worth doing I think. Great idea with the distortion on the Outro 1 vocal! The backing vocals are pretty cool too: just on the verge of being too loud, but maybe it's just the consonants that are over-prominent to me. Maybe just de-ess them a bit more?

All things considered, I like this version a lot. A no-nonsense, powerful groove with a coherent and convincing identity. Great work! Smile


Hi Mike,

Thanks very much for the feedback, I really appreciate it. I've gone back to the session made some minor tweaks to various EQs, particularly over the guitars and including some low end in the bass, along with some tweaks to automation. I also added a bit of midrange to the lead vocal as you have suggested in this v3 of the mix. I did have a de-esser on the backing vocals but having gone back into the project I noticed that it was doing very little, far less than I originally thought it was. Perhaps I changed something by accident prior to finishing v2. I re-adjusted this and tweaked EQ and level and I reckon they sit a little better now. Anyway, having made these changes I think my v3 sounds better overall.

I will remember to keep all mix versions up on the thread in any future postsBlush, but I'm glad that you liked v2 in general.

Thanks again,
Keith.


.mp3    Diesel13 - Colour Me Red _ Keith Scully Mix V.3.mp3 --  (Download: 7.54 MB)


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#7
Hi Keith,

I love the intro on your mix [listening to v.3]. Your dark guitar is very much upfront, but doesn't hinder the vocal, so great job on that. Love the vibe of your mix. Love the treatment of your guitars in general. Keeps me glued throughout the whole song. Everything is very consistent level-wise.

The mandolin on the left seems a bit early [out-of-time with other tracks in those sections]. I have a hard time hearing the acoustic guitars. Drum sound is good, but seems a bit over-compressed [I hear pumping in the cymbals] and it would be nice for the snare to have more punch.

Mind you, I was listening on Apple EarPods, so I already knew that I would have typed high end. But your EQ balance sounded great in these... however, I refrained from making any comments about the low end, because I know I'm not hearing it well in these.

Great job, thank you!
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#8
(25-11-2016, 02:54 PM)RVMusic Wrote: Hi Keith,

I love the intro on your mix [listening to v.3]. Your dark guitar is very much upfront, but doesn't hinder the vocal, so great job on that. Love the vibe of your mix. Love the treatment of your guitars in general. Keeps me glued throughout the whole song. Everything is very consistent level-wise.

The mandolin on the left seems a bit early [out-of-time with other tracks in those sections]. I have a hard time hearing the acoustic guitars. Drum sound is good, but seems a bit over-compressed [I hear pumping in the cymbals] and it would be nice for the snare to have more punch.

Mind you, I was listening on Apple EarPods, so I already knew that I would have typed high end. But your EQ balance sounded great in these... however, I refrained from making any comments about the low end, because I know I'm not hearing it well in these.

Great job, thank you!


Thanks for your comments RVMusic!
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