18-01-2021, 04:27 AM (This post was last modified: 18-01-2021, 04:28 AM by Frej.)
I think this is a really challenging song to mix. The song is recorded with one main mic picking up all instruments and close mics on the acoustic guitar, mandolin and bass. The phase relationships between the mics are questionable and the balance is skewed by the loud banjo in the main mic. It's really tricky because whenever you solve one problem, you create two more. I tried my best to avoid negative side effects in my processing, but in the end the mix is quite a frustrating compromise. Anyway, it would be nice to hear what you think of my mix, and how you dealt with these struggles.
Hi, I think you did a really nice job with this. The vocals sound clear and natural here (while the raw tracks sound frankly terrible!) and the banjo seems very well balanced. I totally agree about the “frustrating compromise” for this session! I ended up using Little Labs’ IPB phase alignment, and summed everything to mono for most of the mix to try and better hear & fix all the problem areas, and I still tore my hair out. You should feel good!
Thanks for the kind words! It's nice to know I wasn't the only one who struggled with this. Considering the low track count, I expected it to be a quick mix, but it turned out to be a real challenge. I don't have any fancy phase shifting plugins, but if I did, I would certainly have tried it on this mix.
