KlangBild-mix of 'Loud And Clear'

[klangbild]

hi all,
here is my mix of 'Loud And Clear'!
Feel free to comment this!

Many thanks and best regards,
Martin


www.justmixing.de

[Olli H]

Very good one! You have good chances to win this "competition"

Only thing that bothers me, is the hi-end in choruses. I wonder if it's now too "cautious" to be the most energetic part of this song. Personally in this song I prefer a drummer who really hits cymbals and that way participates in the flow of bands energy. Now it sounds as if there's an older studio gentleman in drums, who doesn't want to cause pain to oversensitive ears. This is probably just a question of personal taste, or it could be a question of my monitors.

[The_Metallurgist]

hi there,
i'll only focus on a couple of things if i may?

- the acoustic guitar tracking needs care in the EQ department because of the top end. i think your monitoring is missing the sharpness that exists and you're not taming it enough in your quest to have them "cut through the mix". the only trouble is, they are now cutting my ears and i think this is important to flag up - many mixes in the forum are showing the same issues. it's difficult but not impossible, by considering where the guitars are positioned in the mix regarding depth, and you can then warm them up a bit. listen to around 1:50'ish for example, where these acoustics are especially out in the open and in all their naked glory - not pleasant for a seasoned music consumer with good ears

your side channel could benefit from some selective EQ to reduce the mud/low end, and also concerning the side, you have a serious abundance of audio up in the 10KHz region which is no doubt contributed by those darn acoustic guitars? this is probably both a mixing and mastering issue....if you were looking for some air in the master, this would have added to the woes in the mix for example.

i think you will find the violin will behave better in the mix if you ride the fader and then maybe use a gentle optical compressor to fine-control the level afterwards? i'm also not sure if you've missed the emotional driver in where the violin is supposed to be supporting the lyric? i personally think the song works better when the violin is brought out more in terms of it's presence. subjective analysis of objective? take your pick

the delays on the first hit were a bit of a shocker and made my head spin from the surprise. i understand your intentions behind the emotional driver to support the "loud and clear" lyric, but for me it was too much too soon. perhaps reining in the levels on the delays might help make it less in-my-face and ease up the distraction from the actual vocal here. an alternative thought might be to put the emphasis somewhere else during the vocal's intro?

you're heading in the right direction; it's a busy, challenging project with a lot going on, eh?

auditioned with HD560 Ovations.
hope this helps towards perfection
laters
Dave

[klangbild]

Hi Dave,
Thank you for your constructive comments! You're right with everything and so I mixed a new version. What do you think it's better this way?

Cheers,
Martin

[klangbild]

here is the version 2...

[The_Metallurgist]

here is the version 2...

this is suggesting to me that you have a "monitoring" issue as you've not implemented satisfactory corrective measures in the treble range. when i say monitoring, i use the word to convey the whole system, from your DAC, the quality of your monitors and their positioning, your room's frequency response, your monitoring levels (equal loudness stuff), to your ears. if your ears aren't hearing what's happening in the mix, you will be unable to make objective and informative decisions regarding your EQ application. i'm assuming here that your ears aren't damaged from loud music sessions, gigs etc etc, because to some people this can be a real probability - long term hearing damage is a big problem these days due to changes in people's listening habits!! you may find this post and indeed, the thread in general, interesting and informative in that regard: http://discussion.cambridge-mt.com/showt...5#pid20905

if i can help in anyway, let me know
catch you laters..

[Mike Senior]

Latest version has a nice openness to it, and the general balance sounds good, but the vocals still feel rather 'stuck on', rather than blending with the band somehow. Maybe they're just a bit too loud? Maybe they just need more short-tail effects? Not sure.