17-11-2017, 12:10 PM
I had a blast with this one, and I'm pretty happy with how this mix turned out.
The most important thing for me was deciding what the song was about - a big, brash soul production, with the big horn section, chicks in short black skirts doing backing vocals, the organ going nuts in the background. These were a bit quiet in the preview mix, sometimes inaudible, and I thought that it was really a missed opportunity, since they're such defining characteristics of the style - it's not a song, it's an event! :-)
Once I'd decided on that, the song sorta mixed itself. I've been trying out one of Mike's recommendations - Tokyo Dawn's Nova dynamic EQ - and I've been amazed at how easy it is to fix problems that would've previously taken me ages to deal with using multi-band compression and automation. In this case, the singer was moving around a bit in front of the mic, but a slight dip of dynamic EQ at around 2.6kHz gave him a more consistent sound. I also added some to the Leslie at 1800Hz to even out its tone, as well.
I also started playing around with a transient shaper in this mix, boosting them a touch on the vocal and bass, and it really makes a difference in helping them cut through and stand out in the mix a bit more.
And lots and lots and lots of automation, to make each element stand out when it was their time. It's loud and brash and in your face, and completely unapologetic about it :-)
The most important thing for me was deciding what the song was about - a big, brash soul production, with the big horn section, chicks in short black skirts doing backing vocals, the organ going nuts in the background. These were a bit quiet in the preview mix, sometimes inaudible, and I thought that it was really a missed opportunity, since they're such defining characteristics of the style - it's not a song, it's an event! :-)
Once I'd decided on that, the song sorta mixed itself. I've been trying out one of Mike's recommendations - Tokyo Dawn's Nova dynamic EQ - and I've been amazed at how easy it is to fix problems that would've previously taken me ages to deal with using multi-band compression and automation. In this case, the singer was moving around a bit in front of the mic, but a slight dip of dynamic EQ at around 2.6kHz gave him a more consistent sound. I also added some to the Leslie at 1800Hz to even out its tone, as well.
I also started playing around with a transient shaper in this mix, boosting them a touch on the vocal and bass, and it really makes a difference in helping them cut through and stand out in the mix a bit more.
And lots and lots and lots of automation, to make each element stand out when it was their time. It's loud and brash and in your face, and completely unapologetic about it :-)