Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Brennon Causey Mixing - 'Lookout Mountainv2'
#1
I really like this song, and I've been to Lookout Mountain many times Smile

v2 - Just a few improvements, mostly just cleaning up Smile


.mp3    Lookout Mountain.mp3 --  (Download: 12.11 MB)


.mp3    Lookout Mountainv2.mp3 --  (Download: 12.16 MB)


Reply
#2
Hi!

Well, it's no secret that I had another go at this one after hearing this mix the other day. It's a good mix. I do like the interplay you can hear in your mix between the two guitars, and I really like the delay on the lead part too.

Some thoughts:

I'm not sure that the recorded vocal double works all the way through with this. For me it does make for some really nice moments at some points - so a vote to keep it. At other points though, it seems to somehow take away too much from the lead vocal and makes things a little hollow/phasey - so a vote to ditch it. Not sure if it might be able to be made to work with the lead vocal with a lot of level automation on both... or not.

Not sure how you found it, for me this mix seemed to be full of lots decisions to be made like this that didn't seem to me to be as clear cut as one might usually expect. Somehow this one is much tougher to mix than I feel it should be.

There is perhaps a bit of a frequency clash between the top end of the vocal with the brightness of the reverb behind it and the top end of the guitars (and also the cymbals at points).

I found a wide cut at around 2k on the two guitars left a nice spot for the vocals to sit, so it wasn't necessary to add too much top on the vocal to get them to cut through above them. This cut still left the top end of the guitars to come through.

The brightness of the reverb behind the vocal maybe gets a little distracting at times? Rolling off some of the top end of the reverb might help to tuck it in behind the vocal and will also help to keep a sort of warmer overall frequency balance for the mix and also keep it out of the way of the cymbals.

Cheers!
Just uploaded a mix/master?  Waiting for comments? Why not give back and critique a mix/master, or two!
Reply
#3
(27-11-2022, 08:30 PM)mikej Wrote: Hi!

Well, it's no secret that I had another go at this one after hearing this mix the other day.  It's a good mix.  I do like the interplay you can hear in your mix between the two guitars, and I really like the delay on the lead part too. 

Some thoughts: 

I'm not sure that the recorded vocal double works all the way through with this.  For me it does make for some really nice moments at some points - so a vote to keep it.  At other points though, it seems to somehow take away too much from the lead vocal and makes things a little hollow/phasey - so a vote to ditch it.  Not sure if it might be able to be made to work with the lead vocal with a lot of level automation on both... or not. 

Not sure how you found it, for me this mix seemed to be full of lots decisions to be made like this that didn't seem to me to be as clear cut as one might usually expect.  Somehow this one is much tougher to mix than I feel it should be.

There is perhaps a bit of a frequency clash between the top end of the vocal with the brightness of the reverb behind it and the top end of the guitars (and also the cymbals at points).

I found a wide cut at around 2k on the two guitars left a nice spot for the vocals to sit, so it wasn't necessary to add too much top on the vocal to get them to cut through above them.  This cut still left the top end of the guitars to come through. 

The brightness of the reverb behind the vocal maybe gets a little distracting at times?  Rolling off some of the top end of the reverb might help to tuck it in behind the vocal and will also help to keep a sort of warmer overall frequency balance for the mix and also keep it out of the way of the cymbals.

Cheers!
Thank you for the very detailed reply! Listening back on it, I hear how I over did the energy on the vocals. I basically had fun with this mix.

I made a bus track for the acoustics, electric guitars, drums, bass, vocals, and backgrounds. I did some fun panning with the tracks till I liked the balance, then I began with getting the drums and bass solid. A compressor on the drum buss, sometimes a limiter, to me makes the drums sound more professional right off. Then dialing in a eq for the kick snare and overheads is easy. Usually just simple cuts do the trick. Also more compression if needed. Every bus except the backgrounds has a Tape plugin first on it. It worked for this song well I thought. then a ssl eq and comp on everything, and some various airwindow plugins because I love them!

I put Tube on the Vocals before everything and it makes the vocals sound really nice. The Vocal reverb is Reaverb and an impulse I have called Crystal Plate. It has a good sense of being lifted but present, and works well with a predelay. Its probably a little overdone because I have it before everything else besides Tube(airwindows) in the chain on the Vocal buss, so it goes into the eq and comp. Something about the sound of it into the compressor I liked because it pulled the tail out nicely. I also sent the drum buss to Verbity by airwindows, it gave the drums a lovely undertone to everything. I also sent the acoustics to a reverb impulse called Sunset Chamber. Its almost overly warm sounding Smile

I made a v2 and kinda just cleaned up everything a bit, little more body to the acoustics, and more clean in the highs. The double Vocal problem gave me a cool idea to Sidechain a compressor from the first take to duck the Second Take, but only triggered from the 2kish range. Kinda fixes the issue neatly. Also added Tube to the drums Smile
Reply
#4
Hi!

Interesting! I just panned the vocal double hard right and used it just for the chorus in the end (2nd guitar panned hard left).

Funnily enough I did happen to put tube style distortion (but not airwindows) on the vocal, and I also used Reaverb and a plate IR. No comp on the drum bus though this time. I turned the drums down quite a lot before I printed my mix, as I had them quite a lot louder for a while.

Looking forward to checking out your v2 mix later when I can give it a proper listen.

Cheers!
Just uploaded a mix/master?  Waiting for comments? Why not give back and critique a mix/master, or two!
Reply