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Blues Bastards - Lights Out
#1
Hello everyone!
Here is my attempt at mixing this great song!
I was satisfied with my mix but listened to some of yours on the forum before posting, and it feels like my guitars are not present and powerful enough. I am definitely going to correct this.
It was not easy to deal with the vocal, I cut a lot of midrange, I hope it's not too much.
I am kind of happy with my drums.
Next round I will probably add some more FX during the breaks, as some of you did extremely well.
I f you have any remarks please let me know!
Cheers!


.mp3    Lights_out_full_mix1.mp3 --  (Download: 9.02 MB)


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#2
Hi!

Good attempt!

Yes I think you may be able to bring up the guitars a little in a few spots.

I am not really the person to talk about powerful guitars. If it helps any for this kind of thing, I try to think in terms of balance (to give the impression of power), touch of extra width, slight 200Hz ish boost, 4-8k ish boost, maybe just a touch of plate style reverb. Oh you can also sometimes sneak in a little extra saturation there too.

Best of luck with your next round!

Cheers!
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#3
Thanks for the feedback !
Here is the reworked version. I brought the guitars up (thanks mikej for the EQ tips!), changed the vocal compression and tweaked the drums a bit. I listened to Mike Senior's mix preview a lot to help me with the tonal balance, and I much prefer this new version.
I also improved the song arrangement with a phaser during the break, and tried to reproduce the volume drop before the last chorus. It was fun!
What do you think ?


.mp3    Lights_out_mix_2.mp3 --  (Download: 8.28 MB)


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#4
Hi!

Really nice update! The phaser sounds pretty good there too.

Not sure if the preview mix is one of Mike's, I think it is the bands mix (drummer?) from reading the bandcamp page, but I don't know for sure. They do post on here occasionally. I do really like the preview mix a lot, I think it's a great mix.

Back to your reworked version. Yeah the tones are much better. I do feel the vocals are getting a little lost at times maybe though, especially around the 1:32 mark? I would maybe think about raising the level of the vocals up overall in the mix to balance out with the drums. Not sure if the drums would then need to come back a hair, but I do really like the punch.

One thing I realise I forgot to mention with the guitars is that you can also try a little eq bump somewhere around 1-3k, depending on taste and the sound you are going for. If you eq around there with the whole mix going, I find that sometimes you can find a spot around there that just lifts and brings the guitars forward in the mix a little and gives a bit of energy in the midrange. I think that some people cut guitars at 1k or 2k or whatever, but for me I find often a little boost helps, I don't profess to be any sort of expert though, just something I think might be worth trying maybe.

Anyway, just my thoughts - not sure if they help or not... A good effort so far.

Cheers!
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#5
Thanks Mike for the advice !
New revision, I pushed the vocal a little bit and re-worked the guitars with a touch of extra saturation, I think that it brings more power to it.
Overall I find this new version to be more defined and powerful, what do you think?


.mp3    Lights_out_full_mix5.mp3 --  (Download: 8.44 MB)


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#6
Yeah! You got it. That sounds great to me. Enjoyed the listen. Nice work!

Cheers!
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#7
it's a great mix. good job!
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