Mix this!!! 13 tracks

My attempt at mixing

Here is my mix of the song, any comments and advice are welcome!
 

Attachments

  • Waiting for superman.mp3
    8.9 MB · Views: 8
Jeffery Horne said:
Here is my mix of the song, any comments and advice are welcome!
Click to expand...

really liked the idea for the opening but it seems to fade away unnaturally? maybe a little too much reverb in the voices to me also. otherwise it seems pretty good!
 
Last edited:
Xcaliber said:
Few things I noticed listening to your mix (just my opinions, I'm no expert by any means)

1. The vocals are just slightly "buried". See if you can pull them forward a little. I like the way they sound in strangedays mix (as I said in my last post).
2. During the chorus the guitars seem a little too loud with the harmonies.
3. I really like the reverb you added to the tracks. Especially in the parts where the music stops and it trails off just a little. I do think though there might be too much in the chorus. Not sure if it's because there's more vocal tracks or what. Might try bringing the guitars down a little first (if you want to take my advice there) and see how it sounds.

Good job in the mix though. I think with a few tweaks it will sound awesome.
Click to expand...

Folowed your suggestions also put more time on the track i must confess I went pretty fast the first time over, i should redo it completely since i wasn't serious enough the first time around, yet, it sounds cool... i think? hehe :P

View attachment Waiting For Superman - Mix 4.mp3

If some people care enough to review it, it would be cool :)
 
Vigo said:
Folowed your suggestions also put more time on the track i must confess I went pretty fast the first time over, i should redo it completely since i wasn't serious enough the first time around, yet, it sounds cool... i think? hehe :P

View attachment 88188

If some people care enough to review it, it would be cool :)
Click to expand...

Need to eliminate the sibilance on the vocals, and the whole track feels distant. Then when the guitars stop/hold for that split second, it sounds like I can hear tailing reverb. Did you apply reverb to the entire track? :wtf:
 
Last edited:
Pinky said:
Need to eliminate the sibilance on the vocals, and the whole track feels distant. Then when the guitars stop/hold for that split second, it sounds like I can hear tailing reverb. Did you apply reverb to the entire track? :wtf:
Click to expand...

I have only shitty deessers so i'll try to work the sibilance with some automation and for the reverb well :
Xcaliber said:
I really like the reverb you added to the tracks. Especially in the parts where the music stops and it trails off just a little.
Click to expand...
This dude and me kinda liked the tailing reverb lol but i understand it can't be for everyone.

I automated the reverb so it tails at every breakdown but i guess i'll do something else with it.

EDIT : Thanks for your opinion Pinky :)
 
Vigo said:
really liked the idea for the opening but it seems to fade away unnaturally? maybe a little too much reverb in the voices to me also. otherwise it seems pretty good!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. The fade away at the beginning was done deliberately on purpose and I've knocked back the reverb on the vocals slightly and it sounds a bit better. The track was mixed in Reason on the SSL style mixer
 
Pinky said:
Need to eliminate the sibilance on the vocals, and the whole track feels distant. Then when the guitars stop/hold for that split second, it sounds like I can hear tailing reverb. Did you apply reverb to the entire track? :wtf:
Click to expand...

Here is a new version and i must agree getting rid of some reverb wasn't a bad idea!

Im still sticking with the idea of redoing the whole track soon tho since i've learned too much new stuff while mixing this and other different songs

Tell me what you guys think :)

View attachment Waiting For Superman - Mix 6.mp3
 
Vigo said:
Here is a new version and i must agree getting rid of some reverb wasn't a bad idea!

Im still sticking with the idea of redoing the whole track soon tho since i've learned too much new stuff while mixing this and other different songs

Tell me what you guys think :)

View attachment 88210
Click to expand...

Guitars are over compressed. The bass is a bit buried. The guitars are definitely a problem. The remaining mix might pop once the compression on the guitars is backed off.
 
Would you guys mind posting some details about what you did to get your mixes? I've been messing with this song for a week or so off and on and I can't get it to sound anywhere near as good as the ones posted here.

Thanks.
 
Hi @Xcaliber
should I take it from your question that you liked my mix as well? no details otherwise ... just kidding :P
jokes apart your question is very broad and would call for a lot of writing
if you had specific questions maybe it'd be easier, but let's try

Mixed ITB
My approach is that first I get a rough balance and get a feel of what the song is, in terms of structure and tracks.
Then I'd generally work on whatever grabs my attention in terms of standing out in way I don't like, in any order.
This is incremental and when I start to feel about right, I might do some automation and maybe more creative decisions like additional FX.
I found the bass really nice, mostly used an 1176 plugin (blackface-bluestripe).
On drums I compressed the room with an 1176 in british mode, had SSL E channel strip on kick, snare, hats, and room.
Made hats narrower. Toms original.
Acoustic gt thru an 1176LN fast atk, med rel; into a PSP vintage warmer2 with a light drive and a bit of soft knee, API 550A eq, Fairchild-like in lat/vert mode compressing the mid.
Riff: hi-passed, some SSL-like EQ and a couple of "stomp pedals" from Logic (a distortion and a chorus)
Main guitar: that was so hard for me, sounded kinda synthetic to me; put an 1176LN, SSL E ch.strip, a Pultec MEQ-5 and Pultec EQ-1A, and notched out some @98Hz with waves Q1.
Before the bridge I dubbed the main guitar with an aphex-like exciter, ducking a bit on snare.
Synths: hi-pass @80, lo-pass @8K

Lead vocal: 1176 rev A (blue), SSL E ch.strip, decapitator
main harmony: HP@150, 1176 rev A, API-550B
backing vox: CLA vocals

All vocals bussed into a multiband comp
Drums+bass bussed into an API 2500 and pultec EQ-1A
On the mix bus a SSL bus comp
 
Sorry, I guess I should have been more clear about what I was looking for. Most of the info in your post pmilani is lost on me. I'm new to recording and mixing so I'm not familiar with the gear you posted. It was a dumb question really, I guess I didn't think about the fact that I don't understand enough for you guys to explain it to me without writing a lot in the replies.
 
Hi @Xcaliber no worries
When I said 'writing a lot' I wasn't referring to any skill levels, it's just that a lot of details can go into the description
For what I know, after you resolve your basic learning phase you might be a better mixer than anyone else here.

I guess the particular piece of gear/plugin doesn't matter a lot to you right now.
I used compressors to control dynamics, example I want the acoustic guitar to be audible so I lift its level, but then the higher peaks are too prominent so I compress them and try to make it musical and work with the rhythm.
EQ helps make space for other stuff: if level is about right you might want to cut out some frequencies from a track to make breathing space and room for other tracks.

How you choose levels and frequencies to cut/boost, well that's really up to your taste, that you might build by listening to lots of other music.
There might be other forum sections better suited to learning on those topics, you might check them out.

I suggest also checking out some ear training stuff, Dave Pensado has 2 excellent short videos in pensadosplace (youtube)
 
Thanks so much for your answers. I really appreciate it. It's very overwhelming at this point for me trying to read and watch videos (which I've done a lot), but the more frustrating thing for me right now is that I'm trying to mix this track and I'm not getting the results I want using compression and EQ pretty much exclusively. I was hoping for some general guidance on what people did to get the sounds in their mixes (as you shared in your last post) because then I can listen to the specific mix and try to relate the techniques/tools to the sound.

Thanks again. I do like your mix by the way (I didn't mention that before).
 
Xcaliber said:
Thanks so much for your answers. I really appreciate it. It's very overwhelming at this point for me trying to read and watch videos (which I've done a lot), but the more frustrating thing for me right now is that I'm trying to mix this track and I'm not getting the results I want using compression and EQ pretty much exclusively. I was hoping for some general guidance on what people did to get the sounds in their mixes (as you shared in your last post) because then I can listen to the specific mix and try to relate the techniques/tools to the sound.

Thanks again. I do like your mix by the way (I didn't mention that before).
Click to expand...

Music and mixing is trial and a lot of error. I listen to songs I produced 12 years and cringe. Even stuff from 5 years ago is poor compared to now. It's a learning curve and you're going to have to tinker with settings tons of times until you have some "ah ha!" moments of your own.

Can you post your current mix and maybe have us provide feedback on it? Sometimes I can tell just from hearing the mix what needs to be done, sometimes not. Can't hurt though!

I'll end with - we've all been right where you are. Everyone is just at various stages in their personal development.
 
Xcaliber said:
Thanks so much for your answers. I really appreciate it. It's very overwhelming at this point for me trying to read and watch videos (which I've done a lot), but the more frustrating thing for me right now is that I'm trying to mix this track and I'm not getting the results I want using compression and EQ pretty much exclusively. I was hoping for some general guidance on what people did to get the sounds in their mixes (as you shared in your last post) because then I can listen to the specific mix and try to relate the techniques/tools to the sound.

Thanks again. I do like your mix by the way (I didn't mention that before).
Click to expand...

Really hard to describe where to start - I learned the majority of what I know from a hip hop beat making site when I was 12, 5 years ago. Lots and lots of advice from people much better than me, progressing bit by bit each day. A while ago I switched to rock so had to learn about guitar tracking/sounds and a rock drum sound but the principals are pretty much the same.

Just keep practising man, find a program you think you'll be comfortable using, find some plugins which from the get-go seem intuitive and sound good to you and learn thoroughly the effect they have on sound. Maybe look into some mastering plugins or techniques as mastering is a pretty sure fire way to make something sound lots better which is great when you're starting out and feel like you're losing hope. I personally like izotope ozone 5. I like waves q10 eq, c1 compressor, l1 limiter, and trueverb for general mixing with guitar rig, ampeg svx and kramer tape for the more specific rock stuff.

Truth is though if you can get super comfortable and familiar with something like reapers stock stuff or really good freeware then you're at no disadvantage at all. Use it well and no one can tell.
 
Hey I'm brand new to the forum but I saw this song and thought I would take a crack at it. This is what I came up with. Comments encouraged!

https://soundcloud.com/a501dude/waiting-for-superman/s-LA1Ey

I try not to change too much about the song. I just try to balance and make things sound clear so I hope I accomplished that.
I did however take a small liberty in the breakdown just before the final chorus.
I hope you enjoy it.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top