A New Look at Jackie Green

[Mixinthecloud]

Hello Cambridge Community (CC)
I was bored so I went back to this interesting recording. I tried not to use any effects accept for the room mics to establish a sense of the place this was performed in and I kind of like what I got out of it this time.
I hope yyou find something to comment on.

Jackie Green - Don't Let the Devil Take Your Mind - New Mix 2

Enjoy,
mITc

[Frej]

Nice mix! It's interesting that you chose to feature the organ. I focused more on the guitars as I felt they drove the groove of the song, but your approach works as well.

Over all, I think your mix works well musically and sonically. There is one musical moment that stand out tp me. At 2:50 there is a break where the two guitarist play over each other and it doesn't sound good to me. I suggest muting the distorted guitar there, and bringing up the other one.

Some sonic suggestions: I feel like the transients of the close mics on the drums make them too upfront in the mix. Maybe you could try adding some parallel compression, saturation or a low pass to make the drums sit comfortably behind the vocals. I also think the mix sounds quite narrow. Panning out the guitars is a good option.

I hope this was helpful. I just finished mixing this song and it would be interesting to hear what you think of my mix.

[Mixinthecloud]

Nice mix! It's interesting that you chose to feature the organ. I focused more on the guitars as I felt they drove the groove of the song, but your approach works as well.

Over all, I think your mix works well musically and sonically. There is one musical moment that stand out tp me. At 2:50 there is a break where the two guitarist play over each other and it doesn't sound good to me. I suggest muting the distorted guitar there, and bringing up the other one.

Some sonic suggestions: I feel like the transients of the close mics on the drums make them too upfront in the mix. Maybe you could try adding some parallel compression, saturation or a low pass to make the drums sit comfortably behind the vocals. I also think the mix sounds quite narrow. Panning out the guitars is a good option.

I hope this was helpful. I just finished mixing this song and it would be interesting to hear what you think of my mix.

Frej,
Thanks for your comments. As a live sound engineer with years of experience under my belt, this was a fun exercise for me. It is by no means a definitive version, just another take using the room mics to define to character of the mix more than a pure studio-like approach. It is, after all, a recording of a live event and the room features prominently in it.

I'm not sure I would agree with your belief that I was featuring the organ. I treat the organ as part of the ensemble, and in this genre of music, the organ is a vital textural part of it. And that it is a live recording, you need to do the most with what you have, warts and all. If you go an fix everything that is not quite perfect, then you lose the character of the performance.

As for the width of the mix, you are correct in that this mix is more mono-oriented as would befit a recording of a live performance. I've mixed this song maybe five or six times and posted those in another thread (https://discussion.cambridge-mt.com/show...?tid=21024). Those mixes have all the panning you are looking for. This is a different approach. Also, I would caution that 'width' is not really a matter of panning, it is more about how the environment expands beyond the left and right speakers.