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Sitch Up Tonton Mix
#1
So my first attempt at (almost) a proper mix of a song.
After watching all of Mike Senior's videos on this site I tried to apply what I learned and started the mix by tidying up the tracks and removing things I didn't want there. I also fixed some parts that I felt were out of time between such as fills or the odd kick and snare - trying to keep a consistent groove without going overboard.
The next thing I did was take the advice of Musician on a Mission and set all my stems to a level that hit a VU meter at about 0 as I was planning to use plugins that emulate analog gear and this would get them to give me the best sound (allegedly).
Next I ran all the tracks through my neve 5024 just because I could (and to me it just gave everything a nice colour that is easier to mix) - doing this also seemed to tame a lot of the transients so I wouldn't have to go crazy with compression later.
Next on to mixing. I did a rough balance of everything and then went buss by buss.
I felt it was best to tackle the mix from drums first as it's an indie rock song with a lot of groove and that needed to be the solid base for the track. Slate Digital's plugins come with some nice tutorials so I used that advice as a starting point using a top down method to getting a good drum sound. Starting with the overheads and mixing everything else in. I made a point to check the phase polarity as I went (as per Mike's advice) and this made a massive difference. I created an extra over-compressed distorted dirty parallel version of the snare top to help it cut through the mix. The kicks have a little touch  of eq and some parallel compression to help them cut through. I added gates to all the drums and automated panning on the toms to give them a sense of space and movement.
Next the bass - quite a lot of eq on this to help it drive through. I'm actually quite happy how this sound turned out.
Guitars were a bit trickier. The lead guitar had a sharpness to it that was not easy to tame and overall it was tricky to cut the mid to low end in such a way that they weren't muddying the kick and bass but still retaining they're character. But I watched a video with CLA and he really cranked the EQ to make the guitars distinct. I also added some transient shapers to give them a bit more definition  (the jangly stabby guitars really benefitted from that I think)
Vocals weren't too hard to mix. I added a band passed distortion channel to feed some of the panned vocals through as the harmonies reminded me a lot of the Foo Fighters and I wanted to get that Dave Grohl megaphone sound.
Overall I don't think I did terrible for a first real proper attempt at a mix. I didn't really have time to do any automation so that will be my next project once I can start mixing a bit faster.

Would really love some harsh, no punches pulled critiques of my mix. Gonna go listen to everyone elses mix now and probably realize mine is actually awful. So feedback please!!

Things I know I did done wrong: Not enough use of automation / fader surfing. Not using reference tracks enough. Spending an evening getting a really bad guitar sound because I was too tired and shouldn't have been mixing. Getting a bit lazy when it came to mixing the vocals.


.mp3    stitchup 8.1 mix 1.mp3 --  (Download: 3.37 MB)


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#2
first of all dont listen to musician on a mission setting everything at clip level hitting 0 VU is a waste of time. imo there is too much Snare bottom mic (or maybe too bright because of parallel dist?). Try not to use any busses for any groups of tracks. Also the whole parallel thing isnt really my style but if it works it works. Try to stop making decisions based on videos or tutorials you've watched. When i was green at mixing i did the same thing and it didnt yield any good results. Your mix isnt awful its just that i can hear that there has been alot of overthinking done while mixing this. Try to just go with your instincts when mixing because that way you dont get caught up in the technical side of things. Hear something thats too dark? then boost +15db on a high shelf if necessary. There is so much things that kills new mixers work.
I hope this helps you get a better mind set.

If you want to watch videos on mixing id suggest going to these channels because they give accurate and good information.

1MintueMixingMadness

The House of Kush (late night with ubk)

Produce like a pro

And try watching someone thats already an experienced mixer work and learn from their process. Cheers!
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#3
Hi!

Really not bad at all for a first go!

Keep on at it, and you'll find yourself improving over time as you practice, learn and gain more confidence. I think it's normal to be caught up in the technical side of things whilst learning and figuring everything out (Am I doing this wrong, etc). After some time you'll find yourself being more instinctive almost without realising it.

My tip for today:

Take a break of a day or so, if you've been working hard at it, ears do get tired. Load up the library mix on one stereo channel in the DAW, and set the level so it peaks around -6db. Do the same with your mix on another fader. Use the solo buttons to switch between them and note down anything you think might need improving in your mix, to try and beat the example mix.

Really listen to each instrument and try to hear what it is adding to the mix both balance and frequency wise.

Listen to the relative volume differences between each element and how they relate to each other. Also try and listen to the overall mix balance as well.

See how you get on. Some of the battle is learning the gear, some of it is training your ears.

It's also worth spending quite some time on the raw balance of the mix, before reaching for plugins. I find this is the point when I really get ideas of how I want to start processing each element, and how I want the final mix to sound (if only I was good enough!).

Not sure if this will help any, but might give you a few useful things to think about maybe?

Keep practicing and keep on posting up mixes. You'll soon figure out what works for you and what doesn't.

Cheers!
Just uploaded a mix/master?  Waiting for comments? Why not give back and critique a mix/master, or two!
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