Only my second post/upload here so would be very pleased to receive any feedback.
I have tried to be quite "neutral" with most of the musical elements, especially the synth pads (quite like them as they were though I know they were one of the criticisms of the original tracks) but to give some substance to the bass and drums, also highlighting certain short passages from guitar and piano and making the vocal a little "fuller".
Nice mix! Very clear and well balanced! I liked very much your vocal reverb. The only minor thing is your snare. I mean that stereo image is cool but I feel like there are 2 snares, one on the left and one on the right which is cool and interesting but not realistic and a little wired. By the way nice job!
Andreas, thank you very much for your comments. The vocal reverb is one of the presets (slightly edited) in iZotope Ozone 5 Advanced Reverb module, the signal also having been passed through iZotope Alloy before then going to the reverb. (Yes, I do like iZotope software!)
Good point about the snare! I actually used an ADT VST on the track; perhaps the "delay" was a little too long. (Yes, I think "weird" is the right description; I think I was striving for some sense of width in the sound of the snare. I wanted to make it a "prominent feature"; perhaps I overdid it!)
(02-10-2014, 11:11 AM)emmrecs Wrote: Following Andreas' very perceptive comments I've removed the "weird" (ADT) effect from the snare, but added a little more reverb to that track.
Not because you would need to like it, but to give a hint in exploring a different option: I found that manually realigning the drum tracks (visually and then by ear), makes them more cohesive. At that point, after realignment you may apply more controlled reverb.
Just a hint...
(02-10-2014, 05:40 PM)Lammy Wrote: Despite the fact that a quick check on you latest attempt finds me positive on the snare result, you may want to check my comment to my own mix. http://discussion.cambridge-mt.com/showt...p?tid=5972
Not because you would need to like it, but to give a hint in exploring a different option: I found that manually realigning the drum tracks (visually and then by ear), makes them more cohesive. At that point, after realignment you may apply more controlled reverb.
Just a hint...
cheers
Hi Lammy. Thanks for your comments. I had previously read the post you refer to. I assume your screenshot was taken in PT? I'm using Reaper and I don't see that "misalignment", even when zooming in to the point where the whole screen shows less than 7/100ths of a second! But I will explore further!
(02-10-2014, 06:07 PM)emmrecs Wrote: Hi Lammy. Thanks for your comments. I had previously read the post you refer to. I assume your screenshot was taken in PT? I'm using Reaper and I don't see that "misalignment", even when zooming in to the point where the whole screen shows less than 7/100ths of a second! But I will explore further!
I understand what you mean, I have my little troubles in getting a consistent waveform display in reaper, on which I'm just an occasional user. Anyway, I made it (see screenshot) importing the waveforms and zooming in.
What troubled my ears is the 7ms roughly in the snare spill on the OH (that would imply a distance of the OH microphones of 2.4 meters from the snare). Not a tight overhead, nearly a room take. Or something in between. And the double-ness was emphasised the moment I added reverbs obtaining a moving transient through the sound field.
I preferred to "align" the snare, and control the reverbs through the plugins.
As mentioned I like your latest.
I have maybe a comment that may be relevant.
The sustaining bass notes, a little loud, are prominent may be overwhelming the spaceness and breadth. Maybe I'm just obsessive compulsive...
cheers
Thanks for telling me your reverb secret on the vocals!! Now as far as the snare is concerned I can totally hear your point of view. It's not my favorite style of snare but that's my taste so ok no problem! But check the mono section. try to copy the snare and put the 2on snare on mid at a low level just for your phase. When I checked your song on mono I had no snare!!
(04-10-2014, 01:09 AM)Andreas Tyranopoulos Wrote: Thanks for telling me your reverb secret on the vocals!! Now as far as the snare is concerned I can totally hear your point of view. It's not my favorite style of snare but that's my taste so ok no problem! But check the mono section. try to copy the snare and put the 2on snare on mid at a low level just for your phase. When I checked your song on mono I had no snare!!
Andreas, thanks again and thanks for being so tactful about pointing out the very elementary mistake of not checking that mix in mono! I was "experimenting" with an MS plug-in; stupid, I know, on an original mono track! Am in the process of correcting that oh-so-fundamental error, new version either later today or next week!
Hey emmrecs, this is a very competently executed mix, I really enjoyed listening.
A couple things you might want to give another look... during the solos, I feel like the nylon guitar is blending in a bit too much, though the level you've set is quite nice for the rest of the song. I'd personally automate the level up a tick or two, and perhaps carve out a bit of room for it in the high mids. Both the piano solo and the nylon guitar I feel are lacking a bit of intensity in that section... I'm not sure if that's a result of your compression settings or the way you built the mix around the instruments, but either way we're talking simple fixes. In this mix I the performance elements and the tracking quality ('cept for the snare) are great, so in this case I'd be inclined to think that something else might be stealing some of the thunder from the solos.
One more thing... the cymbals rolls are a bit over egged and perhaps a bit too long. For my part, I'd just turn them down and cut more of the lows, but if you like them at their current level, fading them out a bit sooner seems like a good idea.
On the whole, though, very nice. I love the reverbs... sounds like you've got some really nice processors to work with
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!
Now as far as the snare is concerned I can totally hear your point of view. It's not my favorite style of snare but that's my taste so ok no problem! But check the mono section. try to copy the snare and put the 2on snare on mid at a low level just for your phase. When I checked your song on mono I had no snare!!
