11-03-2021, 02:17 AM
(This post was last modified: 25-03-2021, 10:38 PM by Mixinthecloud.)
This fun little reggae shuffle was more challenging than it appeared.
First, I opted for the comp'd lead vocals, considering this was mostly a stem mix with embedded effects on guitars and some drum parts.
This song comes with a very laid back feel. Makes you want to don your favorite floppy hat, suck on a big spliff and sit back and let the world spin. But some of the sounds recorded here are counter -intuitive to that laid back groove. Mostly it was the kick and the rim that threw the biggest wrench into the works for me not to mention the first guitar's splink lines throughout the piece. The kick had significant rim bleed in it and required filtered gating which worked perfectly. The kick also required mounds of compression and EQ and at the end, a limiter to knock off the peaks. This processing only went to make the rim bleed worse so the gate really helped tame that giving much more control of those two discreet elements. The sparkle parts of the drum tracks fit nicely into the mix once I found a good vocal space and environment for the the drums and keys. Recorded drum embellishments had plenty of built in space and I think they worked well with the additions to the environment I included.
The next hurdle was the bass line. This really drives the song melodically and rhythmically. It needed some definition to it to get it to lay in the right spot for me so some SSL EQ and a bit of saturation which I automated through the song helped a lot and gave it a bit more character. The biggest trick after the bass was getting the organ to play well with it. I accomplished that through a bit of reverb on the organ and careful balancing, tonally and volume wise to lock the two parts together. I feel that is the most vital element to the song.
The song is made of multiple repeating rhythmic patterns juxtaposed in wonderfully funky ways. Getting all of those patterns to work as one yet carry their own discreet tonality and pulse was a challenge. Put any one of those elements in the wrong place and the whole song shifts. This was true with the bass, the kick and rim, the first guitar, the organ and the vocals. The vocals offered their own challenges as the background vocal had some tuning issues and either needed to be buried, smeared or both. I opted for the latter by adding pitch shifting up and down and chorusing and laying it deeper into the reverb field. Not sure I am as happy with those as I am with everything else. The lead vocal also had challenges of level so it was automated in places to find the right position in each phrase. As for the first guitar I put a fast compressor on the top of it to just slightly reign in the transient tops. It's part is vital to the pulse and bounce of the song but it could also distract if not tamped down a touch.
All of the other guitar parts were a breeze to layer into the environment especially since they kind of defined it in a larger sense. Putting the snare embellishments and cymbal hits to that was made easier from the careful ensemble pulse construction.
Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it until someone comes along and calls bullsh*t and sends me scrambling for another spliff and another go at this*.
Have a good listen and Happy Mixing,
mITc
* No actual spliffs were consumed during the making of this mix.
Arise - Run Run Run - Mix 2
Added some sparkle and brightness to this updated mix.
First, I opted for the comp'd lead vocals, considering this was mostly a stem mix with embedded effects on guitars and some drum parts.
This song comes with a very laid back feel. Makes you want to don your favorite floppy hat, suck on a big spliff and sit back and let the world spin. But some of the sounds recorded here are counter -intuitive to that laid back groove. Mostly it was the kick and the rim that threw the biggest wrench into the works for me not to mention the first guitar's splink lines throughout the piece. The kick had significant rim bleed in it and required filtered gating which worked perfectly. The kick also required mounds of compression and EQ and at the end, a limiter to knock off the peaks. This processing only went to make the rim bleed worse so the gate really helped tame that giving much more control of those two discreet elements. The sparkle parts of the drum tracks fit nicely into the mix once I found a good vocal space and environment for the the drums and keys. Recorded drum embellishments had plenty of built in space and I think they worked well with the additions to the environment I included.
The next hurdle was the bass line. This really drives the song melodically and rhythmically. It needed some definition to it to get it to lay in the right spot for me so some SSL EQ and a bit of saturation which I automated through the song helped a lot and gave it a bit more character. The biggest trick after the bass was getting the organ to play well with it. I accomplished that through a bit of reverb on the organ and careful balancing, tonally and volume wise to lock the two parts together. I feel that is the most vital element to the song.
The song is made of multiple repeating rhythmic patterns juxtaposed in wonderfully funky ways. Getting all of those patterns to work as one yet carry their own discreet tonality and pulse was a challenge. Put any one of those elements in the wrong place and the whole song shifts. This was true with the bass, the kick and rim, the first guitar, the organ and the vocals. The vocals offered their own challenges as the background vocal had some tuning issues and either needed to be buried, smeared or both. I opted for the latter by adding pitch shifting up and down and chorusing and laying it deeper into the reverb field. Not sure I am as happy with those as I am with everything else. The lead vocal also had challenges of level so it was automated in places to find the right position in each phrase. As for the first guitar I put a fast compressor on the top of it to just slightly reign in the transient tops. It's part is vital to the pulse and bounce of the song but it could also distract if not tamped down a touch.
All of the other guitar parts were a breeze to layer into the environment especially since they kind of defined it in a larger sense. Putting the snare embellishments and cymbal hits to that was made easier from the careful ensemble pulse construction.
Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it until someone comes along and calls bullsh*t and sends me scrambling for another spliff and another go at this*.
Have a good listen and Happy Mixing,
mITc
* No actual spliffs were consumed during the making of this mix.
Arise - Run Run Run - Mix 2
Added some sparkle and brightness to this updated mix.
PreSonus Studio One DAW
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