Colour Me Red. . . I haven't posted in a while!!

[loweche6]

Hi!

How is everyone? Well I hope! So, I finally got a break from the job to take some time to mix (while not exhausted that is). I only listened to the initial track, and that was a while ago. Wanted "fresh ears" so to speak.

Mixed in 32C.

What do you guys like, and what do you not? Hope you enjoy!

Draper

***UPDATE***

So, in V3, I added some kick, tried to lower my overall compression and tried to make it a bit more modern sounding.

V4 BASS!!!!!! And edited out a breath in the intro

***FYI***
I spent about 3 hours on the initial mix, and probably another 2 through versions 2-4 in total. And with the first revisions, if a part is louder, I added the parts into Reaper and basically added the parts to the mastered initial mix to keep things that I liked the same. I think the process worked out fairly well.

***Edit***
V5. . .
I ended up going back into my original multitracks, and played around with the verbs and eq'd the vox a touch. Brought it back in to the same mastering/conversion/biggerizing session and I think I like it.

V6. . . good engine. And FINAL

I felt like I lost something in v5. Some dirt I think. I touched the kick and bass a bit, then I did something. . . weird. I sent my mix into an EQ, hi cut and low cut to about 500 and 2k, boosted a bit around 900, into a stereo reverb. . . . into a leslie simulator, played with some of the settings, sent that into a slapback delay. . . .and send that into an Eventide Ultrachannel to Micropitch it. . . . I think it adds some of the something I lost in V5. So. . . . too much?

[loweche6]

Touchup!

I realized that the gang vocals were too quiet, and I changed up my mastering chain. I didn't feel like opening my mix back up from mixbus, so I just pasted the gang vocals over the Mixbus bounced .wav in reaper for MP3 conversion, and to do a slight mastering process (sometimes not so slight).

I think it sounds much more pleasing.

Yea?

Draper

[loweche6]

V3 Touchup.

More Kick. Yeah.

[loweche6]

What would Version 3 be without a version 4?!? I brought up the bass, and I think I like how the whole thing sits now. . . . . for the next 15 minutes, I'm sure.

Draper

[Mike Senior]

Masses of attitude here, with an unapologetically processed and compressed sound. Certainly caught my attention! On the one hand, its such a strident and confident vision that it's tricky to evaluate from a technical level, but on the other hand I think there are some things I might still tweak even trying to put myself into your shoes, so to speak.

The first question is that drum reverb, which is nothing if not a statement! There's something I like about the way it rumbles away under the riff sections, and it does provide a kind of subjective compensation for the bass-guitar's low-end lightness, somehow. It also does no harm in terms of pulling the drums back (allowing the more interesting parts to stay forward), and the kick doesn't play anything fast enough to get lost in it either. Yet somehow I can't warm to it, and I'm not quite sure why -- in fact, it may honestly say more about me and my personal preferences than about the mix! Perhaps it's to do with the mismatch between the upfront snare and the very diffuse kick? I can imagine that EQing the kick for a bit more bite to compete with the snare might make it sit better for me, so maybe that might be worth experimenting with that. Or else, just ignore me... Along similar lines, I'd maybe suggest bringing the toms more upfront than they currently are, again to be more in keeping with the snare.

I like the lead vocal, although I might have added a scrap more 800Hz and dipped a bit of 200Hz to harden the tone a touch. It feels a bit recessed compared with the snare and electric guitars. The reverb is maybe a bit hissy too on the sibilants as well. I've no problem with an obvious reverb like this, but a bit of de-essing in the reverb send would perhaps help reduce this artefact. I like the backing vocals a lot: where other mixes are quite well-defined, these grumble along less distinctly as more of a textural device, but are no less effective for that, I reckon.

Finally, is that momentary chord change at 1:57 intentional? If so, then I'm not quite sure where I stand on it. Yes, it does drag my attention back to the track at that late stage (the fourth verse repetition) which is a good thing, but it also seems to interrupt the groove too, which I'm less keen on. On balance I'd probably ditch that myself.

Thanks for another horizon-expanding version -- I think I probably learn more from these critiques than anyone else does, in fact!

[Shul]

Hello Draper!
Comment is for mix 4 since you liked it more.

Overall I like the warm feel of the mix however
*I feel the energy in the middle gives too much of a mono impression. It feels like the guitars can't really breath.
*There is a resonating freq. there @1:19 . I'm not sure if it's one of the toms or the bass or a reverb which didn't have a LPF or the sum of room drum mic with overheads. It just sounds in the back there like it belongs to a tom. I could be wrong and my ears might be deceiving me.
*Vocal is good and the fx on it work very good though I still feel some of the stereo reverb you used is very obvious on the L and R because for the most part the instruments are almost centered.
*The back vocals could come up a bit more but make your low pass them to get better clarity from them since they are all singing in a low register sometimes if feels like a "hum" and you don't quite understand much.

Overall this is good but I think your mix would benefit better if you would spread things out.
Saludos!

[loweche6]

Thanks for the comments! Based on your observations I've made a V5. I think I ended up making more sweeping changes than I intended to, but I think I really like the end product. It's up top!

Draper

[Shul]

Hey man

Sounds like a completely different take on the mix to which I'm gonna point to some details and maybe you will hate me for it haha. Since there is separation now I can better give you details on some things.

*Kick thump is a bit too much. It's almost like is mostly low energy. a Cut on the 500hz would be beneficial
*Mix is heavier on the Left side due to the Distort guitar being louder than the acoustic guitar. It's not necessarily louder but it's the distortion texture of it VS the acoustic clean texture of the acoustic guitar that is tiring. To even that out i suggest more volume on the acoustic.
*Toms are very dark and one is mostly low energy. I believe there were sample toms I'd suggest you try those and see how you like them. Or just clean them up with some eq. A cut around the 300-600 will work.

I used both headphones and Monitors.. and these were the things that I noticed the most. Everything else is pretty much taste.
Keep it up.

[Dangerous]

Hey Draper, You have dirtied this one up quite a bit. I'm always keen to hear what you bring to the table.

I'm hearing some build up freq around the 120-150hz mark which is making it sound a bit woolly. I found a -3dB cut in this area was quite beneficial whist listening, although you are probably better off working the prob freqs in their individual tracks. Bass and Kick I'm guessing. I'm also just wondering if the attack time for the drums is a bit short. Mainly the snare and possibly the kick is little spiky and could do with some extra body. This is something I'm usually guilty of myself.

Anyway, critiques aside, I like the angle you have taken with this.

Dave

[thedon]

Hey Draper ,cool version I like your ideas ,thinking the kick could cut through with some more low frequencies and beater to translate on small speakers.
Cheers