What Is Thing Called Love mix + master

[kjell159]

Hey,
I both mixed and mastered this song.
Actually I found that the recording itself was already pretty fine.

Firstly,
I didn't pan anything, I tried by ways of E.Q. to give every instrument in the song its place.
I like the dynamics (especialy in Jazz, which was quite new for me tough) although I spend a pretty decent amount of time putting automations (fades) to get away of the clipping in the more heavy drum parts.
E.Q. I used on all the tracks,
I like to use a high shelf to preserve a lot of the bass frequencies for the actual (double) bass.
I almost used no compression (except for example for the bass to make it a little tougher, fatter and more prominent in the mix) because I wanted to keep the dynamics.
And I used a little reverb on some tracks like the overheads and the piano (I think) to get a more roomy feeling.

During mastering I again used a high shelf to get away of the really sub-bass (which in Jazz I think aren't important, this is not heavy dubstep or something).
I tried to get a little bit more 'shimmering' by boosting (about 1dB) in the more high end around 9kHz.
And a low shelf around 16kHz to get away of the unneeded almost not hearable high frequencies.
Also I boosted the low midrange around 130 Hz a bit to make the double bass more prominent on less bassy or 'woofy' speakers.
A thing (That maybe wasn't needed, please tell me if so I love to hear about others because I am still pretty new to recording/mixing/mastering.) I also did was using a tape saturator to make it a little fatter (about around 1,5 dB).
I didn't use a compressor or multi-band compressor during mastering because I wanted to preserve the dynamics in this song.
To make the song even more stereo or 'surround' I used a stereo widener. (not to heavely but still pretty hearable and helpfull)
Finally I used a limiter to prevent the song from clipping. (Which definitely happened after I used the saturator, that is why I am asking some advice about this stuff!)

Please,
I know there are a lot of people out there who are way more experienced than me!

[Mike Senior]

Your tonality is rather bass-heavy for my taste, and probably in general for the style too. But it's not just a question of rolling some bass out of the mix buss, because I think you've probably overcooked your kick drum too. It feels a bit too 'funk', rather than the lighter touch of jazz -- I think this music is more about an equal interplay of the kit instruments than about the primacy of the kick/snare, as in rock say.

The string bass also feels rather bloated, such that his lines being to get a bit muddled even on my main monitors, and will do so more on the more resonant listening systems typical in the real world -- especially in the light of the long resonance in the kick-drum tail. I'd maybe try to bring out a bit more of that instrument's midrange to get a better small-system translation

I also wonder whether your kit processing is emphasising the ride stick noise a bit too much. I find it distracting me from the piano and bass lines a lot of the time.

Thanks for posting, and I hope some of that was helpful!

[I listened to your mastered version.]

[kjell159]

Thanks for listening.
It was helpfull by the way.
It's true that I made the kick drum and bass to bassy and maybe also to muddy.
I was more in my head like: 'Hey, I've got to use a lot of E.Q. to make this pumping and hard without losing the dynamics which would occur with compression.'
I think I maybe made the overheads to 'reverby' because I actually found the cymbals, hats, ect. all over the place distracting myself.
But I have a problem: in my D.A.W. (I use Audacity (free), with free plug-ins, pretty cheap active monitors and a Line6 interface as a sound card (I also record, that is how I got into mixing) ) I cannot undo previous 'effects' or 'processions' except if I didn't close my project after the 'effect' I want to change and if you undo an 'effect' you lose all the 'effects' you added after the undone effect.
If anybody can follow, that means: I always have to think twice because I find it harder (and I think it is) to make a track good that is 'unprocessed' where you have a good overall view of your sound than a heavely processed track that is already 'overwhelmed'.

[Mike Senior]

But I have a problem: in my D.A.W. (I use Audacity (free), with free plug-ins, pretty cheap active monitors and a Line6 interface as a sound card (I also record, that is how I got into mixing) ) I cannot undo previous 'effects' or 'processions' except if I didn't close my project after the 'effect' I want to change and if you undo an 'effect' you lose all the 'effects' you added after the undone effect.

I think you need to switch to Reaper. You can try it out for free, and the non-commercial licence is only $60. I use it now for almost all my mixes.

[kjell159]

Yes,
I was somehow already planning to buy a better D.A.W. (not that it makes the music better or something, but I mean easier to work with).