Queens Light - my mix

[sivert_h]

Discovered this website last year and I think it's a great tool for us who wants to get better at mixing.

Here's my first mix of Queens Light. Please give me all your feedback, I intend to become good at this.

[Luis Diazz]

Nice Mix. I like the presence and relationship of the different instruments. Good Balance.

[bmullen]

Very nice!

[Voelund]

Whau great mix. Especially the bas and rhodes.

To have me not havin a single thing I can suggest is a compliment.

Well one minor detail. The ending, the one echo

Thanks for a sonic walkthrough how to make things sound great.

[sivert_h]

Thanks guys!

Well one minor detail. The ending, the one echo

Haha! Yes, that one slipped by me.

[thedon]

Nice sounding mix,enjoyed listening !

[Voelund]

Listnin on my speakers now - holy somethin thats good !
Would you send me your 24bit file ? This is great stuff bro

A detailed explanation of what you did would be of great value to many. If not for anyone else then for me, if you can find the time.

[Voelund]

Just for the fun of it try listenin to my version of it and compare how you have evrythin upfront all the time, i make a virtue of creatin dynamics. Its 2 very diffrent approaches to the same music. And they both work, must be due to great playin.

[sivert_h]

Listnin on my speakers now - holy somethin thats good !
Would you send me your 24bit file ? This is great stuff bro

A detailed explanation of what you did would be of great value to many. If not for anyone else then for me, if you can find the time.

Thanks! Sure here you go: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5132...024bit.wav (Still uploading when posting this, come back later.)

Kick IN: Used a gate to clean up the spill from the snare, so there is only kick. The mic itself has very little low end, so I used this mic as the click of the kick. Very little EQ, just a hint of more click. Quite agressive compressor, about 10:1 and max 6dB reduction

Kick OUT: 6dB boost from 100Hz and down. Gentle compression.

Snare: Gentle compression. 8dB boost at 180Hz, 6dB cut at 470Hz, and some added snap and high ends.

High Hat: Just a HPF at 720Hz.

Toms: I always cut out the parts where the toms aren't playing, instead of gating. Hard compression, 8:1, 6dB reduction. Boost the lows, cut the low middle, and add some air.

Overheads: Compression 3:1, around 15dB gain reduction (in retrospect maybe a tad too much, but it works ). HPF at 140, a high Q cut at 132Hz - some not so nice ring from kick, dip at 550Hz, boost from 6kHz and up.

Congas: A compressor with attack at 5ms to add more snap and transients so that it cuts through more.

Shaker: HPF at 7kHz. The shaker sounds awful below 7kHz.

Bass: The bass definitely got most treatment. First at a gentle fast compression at 2.5:1 just to even out the differences, especially when the occational slap and pop comes. An EQ cut at 180Hz and down to take out some resonating frequencies. A large 10dB boost at 2.7kHz to get some definition out of the bass. Then a LA-2A set to limiting constantly reducing about 3dB, but I do not know why. I don't remember my reasoning for it, but it evens it out even more. A stable bass is to me very important, that's probably why. Finally a C4 which counters the 10dB boost when the bassist slaps and pops, reducing up to 8dB from 2kHz and up. To my ears a very successful use of the C4, and I will be using that trick again.

Synth 1: Same thing as with the congas, a compressor with a attack at 12ms intended to give the synth more transients, and therefore cutting through more. Also a 8dB boost at 3kHz low Q.

Synth 2: A 5dB boost at 7kHz to give it more presence, and then a LA-2A to even it more out dynamically.

Synth 4: Same as Synth 1; compressor to give it more attack.

Electric guitar: Gentle LA-2A. 5dB boost at 3.9kHz, 7dB boost at 6.8kHz and up. Finally I tried the Renaissance Axx compressor to even out the very hard transients.

Hammond: Very hard compressor to give it alot of attack. HPF at 150Hz, small dip at 270Hz, boost from 4.7kHz and up.

Rhodes 1: Again, compressor to give more attack. 7dB boost at 2kHz, low Q.

Rhodes 2: Through the Sans-Amp to make it more grittier. 6dB boost at 2.5kHz, low Q. Then a LA-2A.

Drum bus: 3dB cut at 350Hz to take out some boxyness.

Kick IN, snare and overheads are also sent to a parallell compression bus which is smashed to hell, and then gently fed under the drum bus.

Short Verb: Small room, 1.1 sec tail, 7ms prdelay. Most channels are sent here in various amounts.

Drum Plate: Plate, 1.56 sec tail, no predaley. For snare only.

Spring Reverb: Short spring reverb. Rhodes, Hammond and guitar are sent here.

4th Ping Pong: A ping pong delay set to 4th notes, for the guitar and solo Rhodes.

That's it. Hope you find it useful.

Just for the fun of it try listenin to my version of it and compare how you have evrythin upfront all the time, i make a virtue of creatin dynamics. Its 2 very diffrent approaches to the same music. And they both work, must be due to great playin.

Yes, I like your use of reverb and space. That is what I'm currently working on, and finding the hardest. As of now reverbs are almost just hit and miss for me. I'll be leaving a comment in your thread.

[Voelund]

Thank you for the detailed info. Cool idea about the bas, the boost and cut when it peaks. The sans amp is a stomp box ? Sounds great. I got some ideas to try out - thx a lot !!