mix and production comments
- Thread starter fenix
- Start date
replying as I listen:
1. Bright! too bright. cymbals could go down just a hair at the intro
2. voice...hmm...very sibilantiated (i made that up, but you're welcome to use it). De-Ess the crud out of that and it'll be great! Vocals during the first verse are pretty good, mix wise. good voice she has too
3. good BGV level.
4. drums sound good, but there's something just a tad too bright about the whole thing at this point (1:30)
5. guitars sit very nicely...!
6. Bass sounds good as well.
7. break at 2:34 - I'd bring out the BGVs a little more - nice effect they have there...
8. great ending.
man, that was a good song. Great mix...only the "too bright" issue stood out, as far as I'm concerned.
cholo
1. Bright! too bright. cymbals could go down just a hair at the intro
2. voice...hmm...very sibilantiated (i made that up, but you're welcome to use it). De-Ess the crud out of that and it'll be great! Vocals during the first verse are pretty good, mix wise. good voice she has too
3. good BGV level.
4. drums sound good, but there's something just a tad too bright about the whole thing at this point (1:30)
5. guitars sit very nicely...!
6. Bass sounds good as well.
7. break at 2:34 - I'd bring out the BGVs a little more - nice effect they have there...
8. great ending.
man, that was a good song. Great mix...only the "too bright" issue stood out, as far as I'm concerned.
cholo
Erockrazor
I mix in (2x) real-time
Sounds very very good to me. Really good tones coming from everything. I didn't notice anything being overly bright Everything very well balanced on my listening. I give it two thumbs up!
snow lizard
Dedicated Slacker
Overall, I thought the song, performances and mix were pretty good.
The drums seem to be a little buried in the mix, which might be okay for the style of the song. The drum sounds and performance seem to be very good, but the bass is "in yer face" for pretty much the whole song, while the kick seems to disappear in the busy spots. It still kind of works though. It seems that the vocal is well aspected as the "main feature", so more drums might screw that up - I don't know. If it were my mix, I might be trying to get a hair more out of the drums, probably at the expense of the bass and guitars.
I'm not sure that it was too bright, but I agree with the sibilance issues on the vocals. I'm not sure what the cause is - could be a mic or positioning issue with the tracking. She's a good singer, for sure and the vocals stand out very well in the mix but also seem to have the worst fidelity. Grainy. It's hard to tell at the RMS level the track was mixed to. Which leads to:
Dynamics!
The song still has good dynamic content to it. I get the impression that it wasn't crushed to death with a limiter, and indeed the valleys are there in certain passages which leads to good punch and impact. Thing is, when I listened to it in Cool Edit and looked at the meter, the over indicators were on constantly. This might actually be the source of the vocal problems. If the mix could be rendered again at 1 or 2 dB lower without actually changing any balances, or until most of those overs go away, that could help to clean things up for you there. I'd probably try that first, and then see if the vocals are still sibilant and look at some de-essing options. I've heard worse sounds coming off of CDs that were hard limited to the rails without actually having any overs, fwiw.
If you absolutely have to jack the RMS up that high, try using a limiter.
But it still sounds pretty good overall.
my two cents...
sl
The drums seem to be a little buried in the mix, which might be okay for the style of the song. The drum sounds and performance seem to be very good, but the bass is "in yer face" for pretty much the whole song, while the kick seems to disappear in the busy spots. It still kind of works though. It seems that the vocal is well aspected as the "main feature", so more drums might screw that up - I don't know. If it were my mix, I might be trying to get a hair more out of the drums, probably at the expense of the bass and guitars.
I'm not sure that it was too bright, but I agree with the sibilance issues on the vocals. I'm not sure what the cause is - could be a mic or positioning issue with the tracking. She's a good singer, for sure and the vocals stand out very well in the mix but also seem to have the worst fidelity. Grainy. It's hard to tell at the RMS level the track was mixed to. Which leads to:
Dynamics!
The song still has good dynamic content to it. I get the impression that it wasn't crushed to death with a limiter, and indeed the valleys are there in certain passages which leads to good punch and impact. Thing is, when I listened to it in Cool Edit and looked at the meter, the over indicators were on constantly. This might actually be the source of the vocal problems. If the mix could be rendered again at 1 or 2 dB lower without actually changing any balances, or until most of those overs go away, that could help to clean things up for you there. I'd probably try that first, and then see if the vocals are still sibilant and look at some de-essing options. I've heard worse sounds coming off of CDs that were hard limited to the rails without actually having any overs, fwiw.
If you absolutely have to jack the RMS up that high, try using a limiter.
But it still sounds pretty good overall.
my two cents...
sl
I'm not sure how you are getting overs constantly. If you are getting overs in cool edit, the meter is calibrated wrong and you probably get overs with tracks you pull off any commercial CD.
There are no overs with this track in Wavelab or Protools. I haven't tried any other program.
Thanks for the comments. I will deess the vocal a little and maybe bring down the overheads in some spots. Also maybe automate the kick drum or guitars in some spots.
snow lizard
Dedicated Slacker
I don't know what to say. I just loaded Race For the Prize by The Flaming Lips and Young Modern Station by Silverchair. Both tunes have similar RMS and I had only one over at the end of the Silverchair tune - no big deal, just a stray transient.
I don't know how many samples it takes to trip any of these different setups. Maybe the wave file is different but here's a screenshot of the mp3:
I don't know how many samples it takes to trip any of these different setups. Maybe the wave file is different but here's a screenshot of the mp3:
Attachments
TexRoadkill
Audio Bum
Sounds pretty good. I don't know why people are saying the vocals sound muddy. To me they sound a bit thin with too much high end, lol.
My only real criticism is that the low end is all kick and not enough bass guitar. Overall a very nice production.
My only real criticism is that the low end is all kick and not enough bass guitar. Overall a very nice production.
RocknRollOver
Dr. G_L Drum Method User
There is something with the s' sound that my ears started to focus on right away, sounds odd ?.
The rest seemed to sound like a radio ready song.
The rest seemed to sound like a radio ready song.
theblackBay
Mean average best idiot..
i did a basic analyisis of it
and can see the bright issue everyone is talking about but it's sounds like a lot of modern productions and is mixed pretty good so it's not such a big issue anyhow.
probably one of those things that came down to taste in the end.
it's pushed to far in my opinion as it's 10db RMS i'd be interested to listen to this on my other system for any issues as i'd like to see this combination of frequencies at this level.
If it survives then you have a really good mix and I will analyses this effect further but I don’t think it will.
Again having said that so many don’t these days does it matter?
i'll get back to you.
and can see the bright issue everyone is talking about but it's sounds like a lot of modern productions and is mixed pretty good so it's not such a big issue anyhow.
probably one of those things that came down to taste in the end.
it's pushed to far in my opinion as it's 10db RMS i'd be interested to listen to this on my other system for any issues as i'd like to see this combination of frequencies at this level.
If it survives then you have a really good mix and I will analyses this effect further but I don’t think it will.
Again having said that so many don’t these days does it matter?
i'll get back to you.
It's really only hitting the L3 limiter maybe 2 or 3 db max. there's some other compression going on though.
newer mix is up, same link.
-fixed brightess in cymbals
-lowered high end a little on snare
-de-essed the vocal and lowered the 12k boost i had on there a little
-lowered the bass guitar
-lowered the rhythm guitars 1db
-increased kick @ 5k 1db
-less master buss compression
I think it sounds a whole lot better. Drums are as drowned out
-fixed brightess in cymbals
-lowered high end a little on snare
-de-essed the vocal and lowered the 12k boost i had on there a little
-lowered the bass guitar
-lowered the rhythm guitars 1db
-increased kick @ 5k 1db
-less master buss compression
I think it sounds a whole lot better. Drums are as drowned out
