06-02-2021, 06:03 PM (This post was last modified: 21-02-2021, 10:51 PM by Pete Hughes.)
Had lots of fun with this one.
A major help was downloading the preview track into my DAW and using it as a reference. I was surprised by how great I thought my mix sounded, until I went back to the reference and compared. Quite deflating at first, so I took a few days and then came back, and use the reference heavily to rebalance the mix - defo an improvement!
On this track I took extra time on the automation, in particular bringing up background parts in the vocal gaps.
I've been experimenting with grouping all the tracks, except vocal, bass, kick and snare, and high-passing the entire group at 320hz. It removes body from the guitars, but there's jump in clarity in the overall mix.. Also when the drums and bass kick in on the first chorus, their low-end really packs a punch. It also seems to help the vocal sit over the top of the mix. I've uploaded a version without the high-pass filter so that you can hear the difference.
Quick listen. Not a fan of the filtered instruments at the top. They feel like an effect as opposed to helping the transition. I t feels a bit midrangy overall. The vocals and bass work and fell good. Maybe the bass is a bit much. I suspect to compensate its the overall upper mids of everything else. It might be a bit crowded? Guitar 6 might be too loud (if I'm remembering right) in the last chorus but I kinda like it.
Overall it feels a little safe and timid. It's hard to explain at the moment. The vocal is out front and that's good. Instrumentally it could just be a bit bigger.
I think the drums don't have enough energy, the groove disappears. Especially important is the moment after the first chorus where the mix is most discharged. In mono, the kick and the snare have little signal. Need a little distortion, parallel compression and equalization of the carrier frequencies of the drums. In the Sugar v1 (no high pass) the snare sounded more voluminous. In the last chorus, the guitars are too torn to the fore.
Hi Pete ,
your mix sounds pretty balanced ,sounds like a phase issue with the drums, I think one reason for the drums lacking the punch is the stereo overheads and room track causing too much snare information the side channels.
What i did with this song was to make a mono track of the Drum room so the kick and snare are in the centre.
sometimes also make a mono track of the the overheads or pick one channel and align the phase with the other drum tracks.
On the stereo overheads rolled off all of the low frequencies just to let the cymbals come through the sterio side channels.
remembering to keep checking the phase as some eq and plugins can alter the phase.
Not sure if i am diong this right and any tips and advice from our mixing friends would be helpful and appreciated !
Cheers
(15-02-2021, 02:56 PM)Pete Hughes Wrote: Thanks all, I've worked your feedback into this new version:
Abandoned the 320hz high pass filter.
More mono and punchier drums.
Balance is closer to the preview track.
Panning automation of FX tracks in outro.
I found the voice equalization great. At first I think it could sound 1db lower. The acoustic guitars I would make higher.
It would add tighter compression on the battery.
Hey Pete ,
Just listening to version 3 and 4 .
version 4 , I like the Kick sample but has a lot of deep loose bottom end and maybe the bass was boosted to fit with the kick.
version 3 the bottom end of the kick and bass sounds tighter and translates a lot better on my monitors .
Nice work with Tha Vocal effects.
The drums sound a touch dry and in the centre in context of the stereo mix , Thinking maybe Just a litle stereo reverb on the drums to add more ambience and accentuate the snare tail may fit in better ?
Thanks TheDon.
I high-passed the kick to tighten it up somewhat. Hopefully that's had a positive effect on the bass also.
Other changes:
Increased overheads volume by 1.5DB to bring out the excellent hihats work, particularly in the section after the first chorus, but I've countered this with some side-chain compression from the lead vocal, as I thought they were starting to compete a little. It also adds some engaging counter-play between the two parts.
Used Mike's TTT08 technique to add a touch more ambience to the snare.
