Not really the same problem, but a new one. I generally subscribe to the idea that if something is crucial to the song (lead lines, core rhythm instruments, etc) it should be audible in both channels.Does [the hard-panned bass] jump out and contribute to this same problem, or as a separate thing?
So, I just felt that in places the vocals seemed a bit loud, and I'm a fan of on-top/out-front vocals! Since you asked about vocals, I wondered if you were pushing the level of those a bit to insure they could be heard, since they're obviously what makes the song. I use (possibly overuse) "ducking" to keep instruments (usually not bass or drums, at least not in that "group") in line by grouping them together (one way, anyway) on a single bus, then putting a clean compresser on that bus that is side-chained to the vocals (presumably already bussed). Fast attack and release, light compression can let the initial vocal attack and stresses through, increasing the comprehension (IMO) while maybe letting you pull a bit of gain back, so they feel a bit more in the mix. If you do it, and you have a compressor that lets you mix compressed/dry, i.e., does parallel compression, you might find that is another knob to fool around with.Keith, thanks for taking time to check it out. At the risk of illustrating the .sig someone has to the effect of, "what do you mean by 'mix'?!," I'm not sure what ducking the guitars/keys against [vocals] means--bringing them down with respect to the vocals, to avoid going up, up, on everything? Thanks for the conceptual comment!...
keith.rogers;4478534 ..."ducking" to keep instruments (usually not bass or drums said:THis makes sense to me and is a "next level" for my pro-tools development; so far I have used groups of tracks just for arranging how it looks on screen, doing more of a "micro manager" thing with track volume levels individually. Probably still need to do some of that, get the relative sound right for the defined group, then think of that as a unit, integrating overall sound/power level as you go to avoid pushing everything up. Regarding the pre-delay I will think about that more and see if there is a facility for that in the PT9 version that I have.
Very helpful comments, thank you.