Kat Wright - By My Side

[Marty]

Soulful and sultry 

[Rob Cummings (Hot Milk Studio)]

Hi Marty,
The mix is too honky and clogged in the midrange, it does not pop out of the speakers. The balance is almost there but the vocals are a tad overwhelmed by the music in some parts. Also the horns get lost in some of the sections, especially the Middle 8 where the song should 'pop' more IMO. I know that this tune was not easy to mix with all of the bleed and some of the mics they used (esp. the vocal mic) were not great choices. But get down and dirty with the EQ and notch out some of those midranges and maybe considering brightening the vocals and the horns.
That's my two cents, have fun mixing!

[Marty]

Hi Marty,
The mix is too honky and clogged in the midrange, it does not pop out of the speakers. The balance is almost there but the vocals are a tad overwhelmed by the music in some parts. Also the horns get lost in some of the sections, especially the Middle 8 where the song should 'pop' more IMO. I know that this tune was not easy to mix with all of the bleed and some of the mics they used (esp. the vocal mic) were not great choices. But get down and dirty with the EQ and notch out some of those midranges and maybe considering brightening the vocals and the horns.
That's my two cents, have fun mixing!

Ha! That was almost a year ago when I was mixing in an untreated room with horrible acoustics and before I started doing this full time. It sucks for sure.
Challenge accepted! I'll remix this in the next day or so and repost an update. You link to your mix and we can compare notes about the song and its challenges and strengths.

[Marty]

Here we go...

[Rob Cummings (Hot Milk Studio)]

Hey Marty,
Sounds great! Nice work on adding clarity and 3D depth to the mix. I really like the vibe.
I know from having worked on this mix as well, that the vocal mic has some nasty upper mids when you boost them, in addition to all of the bleed.
Hey I heard a cool little backing vocal lick that I did not have in my mix, did you add that or was it in the session?
I can hear it on a few phrases here, maybe a bit of dynamic EQ?

[Marty]

Hey Marty,
Sounds great! Nice work on adding clarity and 3D depth to the mix. I really like the vibe.
I know from having worked on this mix as well, that the vocal mic has some nasty upper mids when you boost them, in addition to all of the bleed.
Hey I heard a cool little backing vocal lick that I did not have in my mix, did you add that or was it in the session?
I can hear it on a few phrases here, maybe a bit of dynamic EQ?

Thanks Rob. I found some harshness also in the 3k-7k range. I used Soothe2 at 100% mix first, but it created too many unpleasant artifacts. I ended up using Soothe2 at 40% and then processing individual phrases with RX De-crackle and some notch EQ. The phrases were typically when she was singing a certain note (I think it was the VI).
The background vocal lick was part of the second background vocal. You may have accidentally edited it out. I know I almost did. The lick was low in gain and had a lot of bleed on it.
The biggest challenge, for me, was the drum bleed in the lead vocal. I started by using RX to isolate the vocal. This left a clean, but phasey and artifacty vocal that rarely sounds good in a mix. The secret is to blend it with the unaltered vocal until the volume is right and the bleed is minimal. A trick I learned from years of mixing live concert recordings.