Crownoise - A sailor once more

[SonicTramp]

I like you mix, man. I especially like the vocal/strumming guitar, very nice.

[Bob's Audio]

...just had a quick listen on headphones, and while is is a good sounding mix - I can hear some "Echo" on the Vocals. ( beginning of the last section ... after the 2 minute mark)
Is still a great mix ...if I can get it on a '45  I buy it!

[crownoise]

So first off its a good mix and I agree with mike that it has a great feel! I downloaded the mp3 so I could figure out more about it. you're first dip off is about 100hz and below, so maybe HP filtering out anything on any track possible that's not doing anything important., like the pianos is a big one, its quiet muddy, and getting the bass and kick up a few DB. The second dip is at 1.8k to 2k with something like a 1.8 octave curve. Everything sounds good to me there, just overall tonally it's dipped there 4db or so. The last dip is in the high's above 12kish and rolls off.

I think the most important thing to help make your vocals sit, is to start with a clean palate. If you can get away with it, take your cleanest compressor and even those vocals out. That should always be step one, is even levels. Then, take big broad boost's of the area's(In this case the track needed alot of high end) that need boosting, and same with cuts. Make it sound even tonal wise(If that makes sense) After that, if you look on a Frequency analayzer, you will notice certain letters and sounds peak through at different frequencies. For example, this song "... with 'F'ire in his heart" or "his Sea legs Soon"
The F is in the mid range and needs to be de essed. and same with the S its somewhere around 8k and even the T's sound around 12k. You need to set a de esser so it individually evens out those transients, then like magic you will notice your vocal track will have a very 3D like quality, it will start cutting through the mix when this is done right. That's my approach to vocals and it seems to work pretty well. Anyways, good mix 

Hey man! Good call on the 4k, i think it has to do with these headphones im learning now, they seem to be a bit overrepresented in this area. Absolutely right on the essing , think you mean more like a automated mixing method right?

[crownoise]

Well, I thought I'd take a slightly deeper look at the overall frequencly balance out of curiousity there, as you mentioned the 'mastering' for my mix.  I am far from expert though!  Interesting regarding the difference in sound cards.

Overall mix balance/frequency curve wise, the low end is sitting about right for me I feel.  I can hear it there underpinning the mix.  Maybe just the odd note pokes out a bit more than others a little perhaps, but it's not at all that bothersome and you have to really listen for it.
 
You might be able to boost some of the upper frequencies of the bass guitar a bit to get it the bass guitar to cut through a little more, but it's tricky.  I found it quite difficult to get the bass to cut at all, as there is a lot of things fighting for that low mid sort of area - vocal, guitars, whistle, etc.  I tried to give the bass a little bit more poke in my 1.0 revision as I felt it was getting a little lost in my first attempt.  I recall the bass in letifer85's mix cut through quite well, so might be worth checking that mix for the bass.

I used a combination of de-esser and volume automation on the vocal esses.  You can just zoom in and knock them down a bit.  I usually kind of forget to de-ess as it doesn't usually bother me that much, unless it's really quite prominent.

I remember that I used a ping pong delay on the vocals of the Dorothea Wessel track, which is really challenging for the esses.  RoyM pointed out that it was making all the esses bounce round everywhere, and perhaps wasn't the best choice of processing to use, so I have done exactly the same thing.  EDIT: It was actually the Silona track.

I do have the old faderport for automation, but I seem to rarely use it and just draw it in mostly.  It is quite good fun doing passes and levelling things out with it though on the odd occasion.  I would really like to try what I think is SSL style automation where the automation moves add or remove from the existing automation moves rather than completely replace, so you can do multiple passes to really hone in and build what you want, but my DAW doesn't offer that.

Cheers!

Yes, i noticed this aswell. The first reaction is to go for some boost in the highs to make the bass cut, but as you mention it sort of doesn't happen that much to many basses since they have weak upper range, it just gets nasty and ringy at certain and very few notes, and it gets obnoxious so yea, i have a really hard time figuring that out. Haven't really found a solution. I remember one time i had a bass without any highend, what i did was i played with some ringmodulator from meldaproductions, it actually worked that time but haven't made it work later, it gets phasey and chorusy which sounds a bit cheap. I'd like to try faderports of some sort. What if you had a plugin that just made everything sound good no matter what, i must invent that plugin lol.
Thanks Mike nice chat, catch you late!  

[crownoise]

I think the the thing some people get confused on here is mixing and a mastered mix .A proper pro master can do wonders you would never imagine .There's mastering  engineers and mastering engineers

I'd like to meet this gods haha  jk , i truly believe this too, they do it daily and have been doing so for a long time with the right gear.

[crownoise]

I like you mix, man. I especially like the vocal/strumming guitar, very nice.

Thanks alot Sonic! I am very glad that you liked this mix in perticular, i got some things agains drums being on one channel, it stresses me out haha .... But on the otherhand its quite comfy to know the "limits" of a sound, makes you stay away from that destroy button. I had quite alot of distortion for the guitars, glad that they still are shining after that move, thanks again .

[crownoise]

...just had a quick listen on headphones, and while is is a good sounding mix - I can hear some "Echo" on the Vocals. ( beginning of the last section ... after the 2 minute mark)
Is still a great mix ...if I can get it on a '45  I buy it!

Hey Bob ! Nice to hear that you still think its a good mix, yes both you and mike noticed this and i did too. There is something obnoxious with repeated esses, can't believe i missed that .... 
What do you mean with if i can get it on a 45 i buy it ?? We Swedes don't understad these advance anecdotes .

[Bob's Audio]

...just had a quick listen on headphones, and while is is a good sounding mix - I can hear some "Echo" on the Vocals. ( beginning of the last section ... after the 2 minute mark)
Is still a great mix ...if I can get it on a '45  I buy it!

Hey Bob ! Nice to hear that you still think its a good mix, yes both you and mike noticed this and i did too. There is something obnoxious with repeated esses, can't believe i missed that .... 
What do you mean with if i can get it on a 45 i buy it ?? We Swedes don't understad these advance anecdotes .

Ingen ko på isen - 45 refers to 45 rpm or revolution of those black vinyl discs music came on in the analog days. So a single with  an A and B side. (Maybe I should wait and hear the Bside before I commit to buy???)

[crownoise]

Hahah ingen ko på isen! Jag kan ingen fara på taket men den va ny. Jag minns min gamla lärare som en gång citerade en hockeyspelare som i en intervju sagt "no danger on the roof". You should check the B side , does a b side have same rpm's? I must buy a vinyl-player... Thanks for the kind words .

[takka360]

you need some monitors badly and some treatment