We'll Talk About It All Tonight - HB Mix

[HbGuitar]

hey pauli. Thx for your feedback and as ever, your thoughtful comments.

I'm glad you like the updated version. I was never happy with vocals in mix 1 - fixed by rectifying a silly mistake that i thought i'd already fixed. The drum buss was me having too much fun with some new gear - and in hindsight, it was swamping the whole mix.

re kick/bass - what you're hearing now is a 2db duck on the bass sidechain triggered by the kick. re compression on drum buss, i only have a 20/80 wet/dry mix of parallel compression to bolster the attack. On individual components I have 2-3db on the kick & snare (2:1 ratio) to smooth levels. i use pretty aggressive HP cuts on my drum verb sends.

Your tips re EQing vocals/backing track will be put to good use

[pauli]

The compression on the kick isn't really bothering me from a leveling perspective, but for some reason it feels like it's sustaining overmuch to me, creating a sort of inward sucking sound... I wonder if the compressor is releasing in the middle of the waveform? There's potential for that sort of effect when the release is shorter than 50 ms. It's only really troubling me on the headphones, though, so I still think a high pass filter could help.

[HbGuitar]

The compression on the kick isn't really bothering me from a leveling perspective, but for some reason it feels like it's sustaining overmuch to me, creating a sort of inward sucking sound... I wonder if the compressor is releasing in the middle of the waveform? There's potential for that sort of effect when the release is shorter than 50 ms. It's only really troubling me on the headphones, though, so I still think a high pass filter could help.

I always use HP filter on kick ... and I always set my attack/release times to fit timing of the beat. I've been thru all sort of extreme settings trying to replicate the effect you speak of, and i cant hear it at all....doesn't mean its not there...but maybe my ears/monitors aren't sensitive enough to detect it.

Any chance the sucking sound on your headphones are your headphone drivers themselves trying to keep up with the beat of the kick? As you said previously, in some parts its a very busy kick beat.

[pauli]

Any chance the sucking sound on your headphones are your headphone drivers themselves trying to keep up with the beat of the kick? As you said previously, in some parts its a very busy kick beat.

That is very likely a big part of the issue, but my (admittedly small) consumer grade subwoofer is also having the issue. That says to me that you should try a few more monitoring devices to refine your EQ and compression settings to make sure it's translating. My mix for this one translates like hell... still trying to work that out myself. The friggin' drums on this song are a pig to mix

[Voelund]

As I still work on this one I wont comment on any mix yet, just add a few words about what problems Im havin with the raw tracks.
The biggest problem is the drums. Seem they rush a bit and I guess I will take the time to work a lot on that when I have the time next week. I guess the song were tracked to the drum machine rhythm which actually can be copy pasted and make a much more stable basis ( and more boring) than the drums. My instinctive solution were usin the drum machine track in verses and drums in chorus and B section. Also will be less editing ....
Bass doesnt agree with drums lots o places and theres a tuning problem either piano or guitar(s) especially when they play the 6 chord (2nd chord in main phrase, first is a major 7)

The vocal is the star here - great voice !
Bg vocals suffer from not agreein on start and endings and would sound much better dubbed. Also they are one section copied around so theres no easy multing option other than singin along and make a double for each part which I may do.

Really like the song, it just deserves better tracking.
I wonder if I find the arrangement too full, had the orchestra parts muted when I worked on it today and didnt miss them.

Sorry for hijackin the thread, just wanted to share these thoughts.