Opinions on a Mix

ogy

Hey lads, would appreciate feedback on this mix im working on for a friend.

Just listening as i upload and i think i've pulled the lead vocals down too much (they were sticking out a bit), not that thats the only thing wrong with it!:)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DFK2VU3W

SonasRec

Nice job OGY. Vibey track.

If I were mixing it, I wouldn't pan banjo, bodhran, cello and BVs all out so far, but that's just my taste.

From a production end, on the chorus, the bass player goes up the neck and plays a melody line.... it loses some drive he would get from playing root notes lower down IMHO. Not your brief though if you're mixing.

I like vox level. Cut's thru nicely.

G'luck with it.

ogy

cheers sonas, i totally agree about the bass line and i'm gonna suggest it to my mate when i get a few more mixes done.
i spread out all the elements to try and fit them all in clearly, theres acoustic guitar, bazouki, fiddle, cello, banjo and bodhran along with the kit, bass and vocals, but i'll revisit the pan positions to see if im definitely happy with them.

i'm mixing in my bedroom with has no treatment at the moment, when i have mixes done as well as i can on all the tracks im gonna bring the sessions out to a mates studio with the artist and take a day or two to fix them up, thats the plan!

SonasRec

Nice one. A treated room will make all the difference.

Good job, considering the environment you're working in.

I listened to your mix on headphones... hence the panning comments. If i'm mixing in a dodgy room, I rely heavily on my cans. They'll show up a lot of stuff your monitors probably won't reveal.

ogy

cheers man, yeh i used headphones a lot for eqing but for panning i try to use monitors for the whole 60 degrees as opposed to 90 degrees thing. i guess people are listening to music more on headphones than ever though, thanks for taking the time to listen:cool:

henessjon

nice peice-a-work very dry

all i could hear was bango lead and back vox and drums
at very low volume

ogy

thanks henessjon, by dry to you mean there should be more reverb? on any elements in particular?

i'm happy enough with the balance of the other instruments, they only really kick in the chorus to fill things out.

do you mean the overall volume is low? i don't want to crush it too much, hopefully itll be getting mastered anyway at some point

henessjon

ogy wrote: »

thanks henessjon, by dry to you mean there should be more reverb? on any elements in particular?

i'm happy enough with the balance of the other instruments, they only really kick in the chorus to fill things out.

do you mean the overall volume is low? i don't want to crush it too much, hopefully itll be getting mastered anyway at some point

yes vocal was dry and as was pointed already too high in the mix- maybe!!
depends what you prefer I think i read that you had others instruments in there? as per usual panning is preferential ,, but hey this is a personal opinion

Ill pm you a link to one of my songs you can see what a mess I can make and I ll freely admit Im still learning...

ogy

ok cool cheers man, will check out your stuff when i get back to my monitors

madtheory

That's a pretty cool performance. I like the direction of the mix. I agree about the vocal and the bass. Also IMO the snare is over compressed, maybe the whole kit is- kick drum is a bit lost. Possibly vocal could do with less compression, a little more around 250Hz or so, and a bit less top end boosting- it's clashing with the high hat. Same with the guitar chords- there's a lack of support for the vocal.

ogy

thanks mad, lots to think about

im having a hard time getting the harshness out of the vocal/hats/guitars combination, ive swept through slowly and used some fairly deep notchs to get rid of nasty frequencies but theres definitely still something there that grates on my ears especially at higher volumes

the only hi-end boosting is a 3db baxandall curve on the hi-end, may just be a characteristic of the mic used to record everything except drums.

will revisit the compression on drums and vocals, theres loads of headroom with the kick. early mixes i did had too much kick so i may have overdone pulling it down.

i think the toms stick out a bit too, anyone have ideas on that one? i've added a good bit of short hall reverb to try and get them to sit back in the mix more. within half a db on the fader they seem to go from unaudible to sticking out too much.

madtheory

ogy wrote: »

im having a hard time getting the harshness out of the vocal/hats/guitars combination

I think it might be the hats. Maybe drop the close mic and rely on the overhead instead? Or roll of loads of top and bottom end on the hats.

Try not soloing those three, work on them together.

I think the vocal could do with a low mid boost, where the "body" is. Guitar also. The only reason the vocal needs a HF boost right now is because of the hi hat. That's a loosing battle. Just drop the hats. Was it a Rode mic? Or a chinese made budget condenser?

It's also useful to put a spectrum analyser on the main outs, especially if you're not working in a treated room.

ogy

thanks mad, your tips really helped. a little 250 on guitar and vocals really warmed things up, lo and behold when i double checked there were hi-end boosts on the guitar and overheads that i forgot about so i got rid of them and i think this solved the harshness issue.

backing the compression off the drums also stopped the problem of the toms sticking out so much.

because of the harshness on the hats im not actually using the close mic at all, only overheads. they were akg 451s, i bought them as goto overhead mics but starting to rethink this. theyre great on hats and even nice on some acoustic guitars but always a bit bright for my taste as overheads. maybe just recording in ****e rooms though:)

heres where im at now: http://www.mediafire.com/?guo3zgdomem

madtheory

Ya, that's much clearer.

I think the acoustic and vocal are clashing slightly, see if you can tune in to exactly where the body is, it's not necessarily 250Hz. You may have created a clash by boosting both of them in the same area. I still think the snare is over compressed and too toppy. It's not popping out enough, needs more dynamics, I think.

The acoustic is a bit edgy in the top end, and so is the hi hat. Hard to fix that sort of thing in a mix, it's more of a mic positioning issue and using a different plectrum... sorry!

I didn't notice the cello til the end, and the high register bass is not working, but those are arrangement issues. Song structure seems odd, possibly a lack of development? A middle eight with a solo would fix that I think. Ending sounds like an open cadence because the basic progression is a loop, and we've been lead to expect a repeat. Key change emphasizes that. So it doesn't sound like a resolution, even though it does end in the I chord. So maybe try some dramatic edit to make an ending?

ogy

ok cool, great stuff. ill work on rounding off the hats and guitar and the balance between guitar and vocal.

i will talk to the artist about the bassline issue but songwriting/arrangement isn't really my brief on this one.