09-03-2014, 03:23 AM
Skelpolu,
Thanks for taking the time to listen! I actually did not listen to any mixes before I started mixing this. I tend to see what direction the actual composition pushes me to mix towards. Is it say more energetic or perhaps more laid back? Then I like to listen to the rough or actual mix to see just how far off or how close I was.
I understand the "colder" part. But really it was the direction that the actual composition told me to go. The main reason for the way I went was that icey sonar sound. It really set the tone for most of the track. The lead synth I'm assuming is the one during the second chorus right? Because the sound actually has a lot of processing on it. First up was EQ; HPF, LPF, and a high shelf. That feeds into a compressor, Molot (love this comp), where the intention of the compression was more "thickening" and giving it a slightly more aggressive edge. From there I ran it into some good ol' digital distortion to make it more audible to the ear as I felt it did not need to be in the very front of the mix. So, the distortion made it more audible while keeping it out of the way of the other synths and mainly the piano actually. After that I ran it into a delay to make it a little bit more stereo-y. Final thing was to add some reverb. All in all it turned out to work quite well in matching everything else I had done up to that point.
I totally agree about the loudness war and I really felt bad actually coming up with a pretty good sounding initial mix and then slapping a limiter across the master. It just pained to push the volume of the track up and up. I just do not like doing it and it really is a sad state of affairs when that is what must be done.
Thanks for taking the time to listen! I actually did not listen to any mixes before I started mixing this. I tend to see what direction the actual composition pushes me to mix towards. Is it say more energetic or perhaps more laid back? Then I like to listen to the rough or actual mix to see just how far off or how close I was.
I understand the "colder" part. But really it was the direction that the actual composition told me to go. The main reason for the way I went was that icey sonar sound. It really set the tone for most of the track. The lead synth I'm assuming is the one during the second chorus right? Because the sound actually has a lot of processing on it. First up was EQ; HPF, LPF, and a high shelf. That feeds into a compressor, Molot (love this comp), where the intention of the compression was more "thickening" and giving it a slightly more aggressive edge. From there I ran it into some good ol' digital distortion to make it more audible to the ear as I felt it did not need to be in the very front of the mix. So, the distortion made it more audible while keeping it out of the way of the other synths and mainly the piano actually. After that I ran it into a delay to make it a little bit more stereo-y. Final thing was to add some reverb. All in all it turned out to work quite well in matching everything else I had done up to that point.
I totally agree about the loudness war and I really felt bad actually coming up with a pretty good sounding initial mix and then slapping a limiter across the master. It just pained to push the volume of the track up and up. I just do not like doing it and it really is a sad state of affairs when that is what must be done.