Remember Jones: 'Don't Put Me On Hold'

[LukasL]

Hey,

with this one I tried to get a fat, driving mix. This means there is quite a lot of compression going on, while still preserving the drum transients. It's also not actually that loud, should be between -13/14 LUFS. Listening back now, I think the instruments, especially the horns are a bit too quiet. What do you think?
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New Version:
Tried to adress some clarity issues, mix also came out quite a bit louder. Not sure if this is an improvement or not...

Cheers,
Lukas

[mikej]

Hi!

Nice mix I think overall.

Couple of maybe minor things -

(The better the mix, the more picky the things that stick out are going to be I think, right?)

I think the snare is a bit too upfront for me and takes away a bit of space for the vocal I feel, but that is probably just be my taste to be honest more than anything really.

Not sure if my mix of this is particularly bright and clean and I am just used to that - which is a problem when trying to critique other's mixes - I feel there is something that is just a little bit 'wooly' sounding about this. Not sure it is a frequency balance thing as such (bass has some 60Hz and below maybe, but don't think that is it), maybe some saturation or a tape plugin or something. Could be the low end of a reverb return or similar, or possibly some noise that is being gained up by compression. Like a breathy sort of noise sound in the background - I think you can hear it clearly around the 3 minute mark - something around the 700Hz ish or so area? Might be compressed bleed from a BV mic or something perhaps? I notice it more in that last quarter of the mix I think. Don't know why but it bothers me a little, not sure any one would notice it though really.

Anyway - as I mentioned I think it's a good mix overall and just noticed those couple of minor things. Just my thoughts anyway, hope that's ok!

Cheers!

[LukasL]

Thank you for your feedback and the kind words.

The snare seems to be a matter of taste, and I went for an pretty upfront punchy drum sound.

 I did mix without reference, but when comparing with other mixes, I definetly noticed the wooly sound. I tried to improve upon that in the new version.

Cheers,
Lukas

[mikej]

Hi!

Yeah, v3 is much much better for me, much better clarity.

(This is a great track - superb players and vocalists, excellent arrangement and recording. Well, I think so anyway!)

Some further thoughts/ideas that may or may not help with the clarity thing - (I am no expert, you might probably have thought about all this already):

You might be able to get a bit more apparent clarity by reducing the bass a touch maybe? If you have 'lots' of low end, then you will need to crank the highs even more for it to sound brighter relative to the bass - if that makes sense? Everything is relative to everything else. Sometimes boosting anywhere from 300-800 or so as well as 3k ish or whatever can get the bass popping through whilst maintaining clarity. Watch for any boominess below 250 or so.

A couple of things that helped me a lot that I figured out quite recently - first is to listen at a fixed volume level, or at least have a 'set' volume level that you can go back to. Bit difficult to explain - but you can then tell if the material you are listening to is 'louder' or 'quieter' with respect to this level. Basically it gives you a reference for volume. I find this helps a lot for volume balancing a mix and also for frequency balance too. Also helps with being able to tell how squished a mix is. I think this is the aim of the 'K' metering system, but I don't bother with that - I just set a comfortable, slightly on the quiet side, listening level. Quiet so I have to really listen in. The ears are more sensitive to different frequencies so volume can have big effect on how they are percieved and therefore how you react and fix them.

If something sounds dull at your reference level, then you can have confidence in fixing it. How you fix it I guess will depend on your mixing style and philosophy. Eg Some might cut the lows and raise the volume a bit, others might add boost to the top end, etc. With a reference level set I find I don't panic if I need to eg, add 12db of boost or whatever - I just get it sounding right (well right, to me anyway, heh). I also tend to eq into compression - although if you find you can't get enough boost because the compression is eating it all, then of course you can also add another eq after the compressor.

Cheers!