Tim D Mix

[Tim D]

This is the first mix i did using Sonar x1 since i moved back from logic/mac to windows... I just loved this track and choosed it to make a test mix on my new daw , in the end i really liked the render result.
i hope u guys like it too.

Edit- Updated mix
I tryed to get more "flavour/textures" going on. Blending in a little more the guitars with some efx, giving em some stereo imaging and sharping a little the transients attack but at the same time with a midrange EQ to not mask too much the vocal.
Moved the vocals/flute and strings to the front (with more early reflections in the short verb together with a bit of mid/high range eqs) so that the drums and bass stay more as a bed.
Also tryed to simulate to some degree a live stage with a shared big verb for "everyone" and a very short verb for the strings, vocal and flute with much more early reflections to give air and sense of space and that in your face effect.
On the vocal and flute this efx is quite obvious and they are totally in your face, that was intentional.

Automated the vocals a bit but still letting it be dynamic...... used some de-essing ..cleaned some clicks and pops on vocals and kick drums

for the flute i used aphex exciter to give it that sparkling airy quality , EQ to bring back some lower mid freqs masked by the exciter also used a bit of sonars channel tube warm saturation, i used some tube sat type 1 for the strings too.

effects (delays chorus phaser and etc) been sent to reverbs maybe ~30% of the dry signal is been sent for the efx groups, filtered bottom end on those groups and shelfed the high freqs up/down depending on the fxgroup i was filtering..witch then are returned to the taste for the verbs... btw i used only 2 altverbs in this mix.

the bass is not steady, but instead of nuke the heck out of it with compressor to make it steady.. i think the dynamic of it gives the mix a nice swing..my call was to compress just to give a better release and a little less variation.
i used the bottom end from Amp and Mid/Harmonics from DI, Rbass on Amp and Maxx bass on DI to make room for each other and relationship between both. ...

monitored with Samson Resolv 80a, krk rockit sub 10"
and sennheiser hd 650 HP, i didnt listened on other systems for sound check yet.

crank the volume up a bit and tell me what you think

[Tim D]

just updated the mix and the first post.

cheers

[ThePhonk]

Erm... ok, I see, I'm too late, kinda :-) My initial reaction to your first mix was mainly my happiness to hear yet another perspective on this song. Then I found the voice and flute rather dry, but interesting enough to hear them a couple times more, and I found the bass drum (and maybe some other stuff... the bass perhaps...?) a bit overcompressed. I was just starting to think about stereo balance when I saw your update... I'll see what you changed and come back to this in a couple of days.

Enjoy :-)

[Tim D]

Erm... ok, I see, I'm too late, kinda :-) My initial reaction to your first mix was mainly my happiness to hear yet another perspective on this song. Then I found the voice and flute rather dry, but interesting enough to hear them a couple times more, and I found the bass drum (and maybe some other stuff... the bass perhaps...?) a bit overcompressed. I was just starting to think about stereo balance when I saw your update... I'll see what you changed and come back to this in a couple of days.

Enjoy :-)

i just checked the amped bass compressor and i forgot to change the settings after using R Bass and you are right it was a little bit squashed but not exactly sounding bad just breathing too much.
i just fixed it.. but i will let other ppl shime in with some ideas to render a new version.

thx for the inputs tho ... about the dry vocal/flute
they have two reverbs but just to feel the room..not totally hear it, i tend to dislike over emphasis on verbs.. for reggae and other kinds of music i think is welcome tho...maybe the flute can have a bit more of the big verb,but the vocal with more verb i think will blend in the beat.

[ThePhonk]

Tim,

I understand your reasoning regarding reverb and depth, and it totally worked for me. In principle. Only a bit too good. I mean, I perceived the vocal as being closer to me than the band, but too close in relation to the band to sound believable. I'd try pushing both back a bit, depth-wise.

But again, that's what I took away from the first version. I'll give it another go later this week.

Regards

Marc

[drbob1970]

Hi Tim

nice mix overall. The only thing that disturbs me somewhat is the ambience/reverb on the guitar (the one opening the song). It sounds to me rather as an empty, smallish room, and a bit cold, compared to the rest of the instrumentation. Vocal are nicely in your face without being aggressive, liked that.
Cheers
Eric

[Tim D]

Tim,

I understand your reasoning regarding reverb and depth, and it totally worked for me. In principle. Only a bit too good. I mean, I perceived the vocal as being closer to me than the band, but too close in relation to the band to sound believable. I'd try pushing both back a bit, depth-wise.

But again, that's what I took away from the first version. I'll give it another go later this week.

Regards

Marc

yep i hear ya.. the actual version has blended the vocals in a little bit and more room for the flute...i guess u were right again ..now it seems much more balanced overall.
thx

[Tim D]

Hi Tim

nice mix overall. The only thing that disturbs me somewhat is the ambience/reverb on the guitar (the one opening the song). It sounds to me rather as an empty, smallish room, and a bit cold, compared to the rest of the instrumentation. Vocal are nicely in your face without being aggressive, liked that.
Cheers
Eric

Thanks for the constructive critic Eric!
all the best

[Mike Senior]

A lovely cosy natural ambience you've got on the guitar/ukelele parts, almost like they're noodling away on their own in an adjoining room -- a slightly off-the-wall effect, but a winner in my opinion! (Clearly some other posters will have to agree to differ on that! ) The drums seem to blend well too, and are nicely understated so that they're not stealing the vocal or flute limelight. Very tasteful.

Good vocal sound you've got too, very smooth and intimate, with that nasality in the tone nicely tamed. It matches the flute tone very well as a result, which is great because it really helps that part make more sense for me, like it's related to the vocal.

The bass is rather uneven still, though, which I'd probably attend to. The 'D' in particular seems to boom out -- it's fundamental is much stronger than the other notes. A simple EQ notch might fix this, but alternatively it might need some kind of frequency-selective dynamics processing.

Thanks for posting that -- and example to us all!

[Tim D]

A lovely cosy natural ambience you've got on the guitar/ukelele parts, almost like they're noodling away on their own in an adjoining room -- a slightly off-the-wall effect, but a winner in my opinion! (Clearly some other posters will have to agree to differ on that! ) The drums seem to blend well too, and are nicely understated so that they're not stealing the vocal or flute limelight. Very tasteful.

Good vocal sound you've got too, very smooth and intimate, with that nasality in the tone nicely tamed. It matches the flute tone very well as a result, which is great because it really helps that part make more sense for me, like it's related to the vocal.

The bass is rather uneven still, though, which I'd probably attend to. The 'D' in particular seems to boom out -- it's fundamental is much stronger than the other notes. A simple EQ notch might fix this, but alternatively it might need some kind of frequency-selective dynamics processing.

Thanks for posting that -- and example to us all!

thx for all the inputs Mike! honored to read such nice words, im trying to get better at mixing bands.. new stuff for me tho, but i am around audio & music for some time.

i see u have very sensitive ears! the vocal/flute relation was the most difficult task i came around this mix besides the bass (no joke! hahaha), to make the tone of the flute fit the vocal and have the perceived loudness flute parts match the vocals "loud" parts.
For me in this mix the Flute has as much importance as the vocal..since each one make nearly half of the song, the flute must sound like its totally matched with the vocals, or it just dont sound right to me.

i will breakdown the guitar/ukelele old school technique i used.
i panned each one ~75% for each side leaving a little bleed beetwen the speakers .... after sending both for two reverbs to taste (1short & 1big) i returned the signal of the Big verbs more to the opposite sides. the R Big verb return is going a little more for the L side... and L big Verb return more for R side .. the short verb isnt panned at all to glue em together again in the same room.. also i used a stereo widener on the strings group (dr. ms), to bring a bigger sound field.
this really brought the "adjoining room" feel u mentioned
very cool and im glad that u perceived it


Also very nice tip about a notch filter for this kind of uneven Bass situation... in fact tyvm!!! i didnt knew what more to try make it sound right...i had give up of trying stuff that didnt worked at all and left it alone hahaha
i will submit the final mix in some days.. only the bass will be corrected.

cheers!