What a great recording. It was so easy to bring the energy out of this session.
I feel like artists expect a lot from mixing and mastering engineers, but we can't bring out something that isn't there. But this session is packed full of energy, lots to work with.
I went for a clean, energetic and dynamic mix. I also wanted to bring the vocals right out front.
Oh WOW! This is super aggressive! I absolutely adore the effecting you did for the section from 20-30 seconds! Me and meka are TOTALLY stealing that idea for a song haha.
I like the vocals and how well focused they are! The overall balances are really really good.
I just have a couple of suggestions that might help out with the overall quality of the mix:
1) The cymbals are actually pretty harsh. They're nice and bright but there's also some kind of aggression from 3k-4k that makes them fatiguing on the ears.
2) On that note, are the guitars 100% left and right? They feel a little centered.
3) Feel free to use some kind of air shelf to get some high end up there! Like, 10k and above.
4) There feel like there's not much energy at like, 120hz. Like there was a big ole notch or something there. Filling this out would help a lot with the overall feeling of fullness and evenness in the mix!
That's not that bad, to be honest. Those are just a COUPLE little things that together would make a big difference. I like the aggression of the guitar tones you chose and the lead tone could probably come down in the 4k department and be given a little more 1.5k to 2k just to feel more intimate. Other than that, which is totally personal choice, I really enjoyed hearing your take on our track. And I really appreciate the vision you had for the track. It hearkens back to classic anime openings, which is ABSOLUTELY what we were going for.
Oh, and awesome delay / reverb tail at the end on the vocal. GREAT choice.
Thank you so much!
Hey, thanks so much! It really seems like you appreciate the effort that went into this mix. After all, it's your song!
So just for sake of continuing the conversation, I'll offer some comments on the points you made. All really good observations by the way.
1- I agree about the cymbals. I always struggle with sampled cymbals because with mic'ed drums the phasing and natural bleed aliviates this harshness. Maybe its habit that I get the room sounding as bright as possible to pump that energy? Something to look into.
2- Yep! 100% left and right rhythm guitars, and then centred lead guitars with a mild mod for a bit of width. I really controlled the two opposing guitars so that they weren't unbalanced. Especially because they are the foundational backbone of the song's soundstage.
3- I actually high-cut the guitars! Because I was going for more upfront vocals, I didn't want the guitars to compete with them up there. The guitars also sound smoother for it, and I can get them loud without them killing the vocals. I'll upload a version later with the high-cut turned off and you'll notice the vocals disappear a lot (though, I agree the guitars do sound much more energetic).
4- Funny, the 100-120hz area came up here too. When our senior engineer heard me mixing this after hours, he made the suggestion to lower the area (I originally left it in). As soon as I lowered it a bit, it instantly cleaned up my mix and made it easier to listen to. His suggestion was - lower 100hz by 3db, and boost 50hz and 200hz by 2db (And make sure you use a bloody linear EQ!) I remember him shouting at me. He's a genius. It totally worked.
What I might do for sake of the experiment, I'll make the changes you suggested and add a version in there. Because at the end of the day, it's not what I want but what your vision for the song is.
I appreciate the response! Just for the sake of clarity, I wasnt actually referring to the guitars with the 10k comment, i was referring to the overall mix. The idea being that the air will really open up and the whole mix will have some great clarity at that point, which will make it feel more modern anime opening. You certainly wouldnt have to overdo it or anything, but a little bit would sound great!
Im not entirely sure whats up with the 120hz thing. It could be that there was a conflict there between slme instruments that ended up getting cleaned up by the linear phase EQ and as a result it sounded a lot cleaner. I will say that you could then probably just lean more into the 200hz bump so that the snare smacks more and I notice the notch less. Of course, those are just options or suggestions. Its cool regardless!
