Mixing Cliches (You know, that overdone crap)

I

Irony

New member
Alright guys, what are some that, for whatever reason, make you cringe when you listen to a few newbies recordings.

When a mixing technique has made it's way onto a top 40 album, it is no longer cutting-edge.
 
The stepped-vocal effect (that originally wasn't an autotune but is now easily re-created with an autotune) immediately comes to mind... and it's STILL being overused as we speak!

Bruce
 
I have another...

..."ultra-dry" recordings... the ones where there's NO reverb or sense of ambience or depth to the tracks - they are all "in-your-face"

This is done intentionally by the pros, and inadvertently by amateurs and novices....

But I think tracks need "some" life around them!
 
Overdone FX

I hate the Antares Auto Tuner now. I hear it done on every song now and it's always sucky. FX like that should be like compression...it's a tool that should not be heard. You shouldn't know it's there doing it's job.

Death to Cher! lol
 
Re: I have another...

Blue Bear Sound said:
..."ultra-dry" recordings... the ones where there's NO reverb or sense of ambience or depth to the tracks - they are all "in-your-face"

This is done intentionally by the pros, and inadvertently by amateurs and novices....

But I think tracks need "some" life around them!
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The ultra dry sound is coming to an end after dominating for the last decade. The use of reverb in a tasteful way is where its at now. Not swathed all over the guitars, vocals and drums (like current aerosmith or posion 15 years ago) just some vocals and drums here or there. I think the coolest stuff now gives the sense of space and openess without losing the intimacy.
 
Re: I have another...

Blue Bear Sound said:
..."ultra-dry" recordings... the ones where there's NO reverb or sense of ambience or depth to the tracks - they are all "in-your-face"

This is done intentionally by the pros, and inadvertently by amateurs and novices....

But I think tracks need "some" life around them!
Click to expand...

Heh. No doubt. I used to love my "in your face" mixes because that's what I wanted to achieve. However, I didn't know how I did it and I didn't know how not to make an "in your face" mix. :rolleyes:

That reminds me. I've got to go commit Ed's reverb post to memory.
 
I remember back in 1989-90 when ever damn song on the radio had those Tr808 Drums....

Madonna- Vogue, Express yourself
Pet shop Boys-So Hard
Black Box- Whole album

Fuck, even Depeche Mode used them for there biggest song of all time "Enjoy the Silence"...

So, I don't miss those drums...

As for recording... I think the whole nineties was a washout..... When grunge and alternative broke, it seemed that everyone wanted to do a live one of the floor, without regard to performance.... The just wanted to sound "garage-ey"....

I mean there were good recordings, but this trend im talking about was definately in domination....


It appears that big productions are coming back.....Im glad.
 
As for recording... I think the whole nineties was a washout..... When grunge and alternative broke, it seemed that everyone wanted to do a live one of the floor
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I don't think that's entirely true. Pearl Jam's Ten, Alice in Chains' Dirt, and Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger all had good recordings, IMO. Of the three, I think Badmotorfinger sounds the best - props to Terry Date. Tool's Ænima is another well recorded album from the mid-90's, better than Badmotorfinger IMO.
 
Not a mixing thing, but...

This isn't really related to the mixing aspect, but I'm really, really tired of hearing the Hiphop/R+B/Rap thing where the chick sings a line, and then the guy follows with some sort of rapping, grunting, bellowing thing. It was cool when J Lo and Ja Rule did it ONCE, but it got old right after that.

Sorry! Go back to your mixing cliches now. :)
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
The stepped-vocal effect (that originally wasn't an autotune but is now easily re-created with an autotune) immediately comes to mind... and it's STILL being overused as we speak!

Bruce
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Bear, what's this stepped-vocal effect? I've probably heard it, but I don't quite know what it is... If it's the same as "Robotic sounding voice due to massive autotuning", then I know, but if not.....
 
Oh, I just thought of one.....
Man, I'm glad this died for the most part with the 80's.....
That awful fucking gated reverb..... Guy starts singing, massive reverb kicks in, guy stops singing, reverb trails for about half a second and then just STOPS........ ARRRRRRGHHHHHHHH!!!! I'm convinced "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey is the worst offender of this...
 
VotaIdiota said:


Bear, what's this stepped-vocal effect? I've probably heard it, but I don't quite know what it is... If it's the same as "Robotic sounding voice due to massive autotuning", then I know, but if not.....
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The Cher tune "I Beleive" is an example.... although that wasn't done with the autotune at that time ( the autotune hadn't come out yet!)

But has been WAY overdone ever since the autotune made it SO easy to mimic!

And I think any producer who still uses it should be forced to listen with NS-10s for a year!

Bruce
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
The Cher tune "I Beleive" is an example.... although that wasn't done with the autotune at that time ( the autotune hadn't come out yet!)

damm..i always thought that was a Flanger efx ,like VAnHalen´s guitar on "fAIR wARNING"...isn´t it?
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Blue Bear Sound said:

And I think any producer who still uses it should be forced to listen with NS-10s for a year!

Bruce
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I love mine, and hopefully will be listeing to them for lots of years....:D
 
A typical mistake for advanced beginners is trying to throw in every trick they have in every song. They try to use 10 different keyboard patches, every effect they have and as many overdubs as they can fit into their tracks.

Keep it simple.
 
elevate said:

I don't think that's entirely true. Pearl Jam's Ten, Alice in Chains' Dirt, and Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger all had good recordings, IMO. Of the three, I think Badmotorfinger sounds the best - props to Terry Date. Tool's Ænima is another well recorded album from the mid-90's, better than Badmotorfinger IMO.
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As I said, there are exeptions, but it definately was a trend that didn't agree with my likings...
 
OrangeGangster said:
Blue Bear Sound said:
The Cher tune "I Beleive" is an example.... although that wasn't done with the autotune at that time ( the autotune hadn't come out yet!)

damm..i always thought that was a Flanger efx ,like VAnHalen´s guitar on "fAIR wARNING"...isn´t it?
Click to expand...
I had posted the SOS article of the interview with the guys who came up with the sound, and more recently Joe re-posted it again... if I recall correctly it is primarily a vocoder-based effect....

BUT... as I said, is now much more easily done with the Autotune -- so easy that EVERYONE is still doing it and I cringe whenever I hear it!

Bruce
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