Greg_L mix contest #2 - Suffragette City

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Missed the boat by a couple of days, but eh.


First attempt... ever ^^


Forgot to remove the silence at the start :o


Give it a listen, feedback encouraged :)

Hey psilentp, thanks for checking in. First post, huh? I'm honored. ;)

This mix is pretty bad. I suspect this was a headphone mix. It's very thin and midrangey. It sounds like it's coming through a bullhorn. sorry dude. What's your monitoring setup?
 
I don't know if anyone here missed it, but there was another song posted here that you can mix: Promises I guess since it was not posted in the MP3 section it got overlooked.
 
I don't know if anyone here missed it, but there was another song posted here that you can mix: Promises I guess since it was not posted in the MP3 section it got overlooked.

I did that one.


I just didn't turn it in. I just wanted the practice
 
I probably wont make any friends saying this however I didnt like any of the top 5 mixes...they all lack bass...its almost non existent...they are all crispy crunchy and harsh sounding to me.

The mixes are good however they just dont have the bottom end I prefer in songs and mixes I hear off of old records.
 
Wow, #2! I didn't expect that to happen!

The last time I almost made it into the top 5, so I thought I'd do things different now and it seems to have turned out good. I started from scratch and that was a good thing; used very little compression on single channels and drum bus, no compression on the 2-bus. Then some EQ on almost all channels. One reverb bus with different receives from all instruments to place them in the same room and that was that. Oh, a few gates to reduce some bleed and reduce guitar noise and ome cleaning of the tom tracks at the breaks. I recorded the mix to the 2-track Tascam ATR-60/2 with peak LEDs blinking and played it back to the DAW to convert it to mp3.

I submitted two mixes and I'm glad the first one isn't here to download anymore. I'm sure it would not have made the top 5. It was really muddy and missing punch and brightness in the right spots. The thing is, I didn't realize it at first and thought it sounded good; otherwise I wouldn't have submitted it. What made me realize it was an AB comparison to some commercial albums. I found myself repeating the first few bars of "Ghost" by Slash and Ian Astbury and knew I needed to tweak the drums. Then I realized I need to tweak the guitars. Then the bass ;) So there was a lot to learn for me again and the most important thing was: Compare, compare and then compare some more...

Again: thanks Greg for hosting these mix sessions, I really learn a lot from doing these and comparing the mix to other mixes. So thanks to all you "regulars" and irregulars, too! I personally "dug" Fishmeds mix, and I liked the harmonizing in the background of Steenamaroo's mix. Wish I had more time to re-listen to the mixes, but I would have almost had no time to do the mix... Maybe saturday.

Cheers
Tim
 
I probably wont make any friends saying this however I didnt like any of the top 5 mixes...they all lack bass...its almost non existent...they are all crispy crunchy and harsh sounding to me.

The mixes are good however they just dont have the bottom end I prefer in songs and mixes I hear off of old records.

You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but you might need to re-think your monitoring/room situation if you think those mixes lack bass. KingofPain's might be a little light on the bass, but the rest of the top 5 aren't.
 
I liked the harmonizing in the background of Steenamaroo's mix.

Steenamaroo, could you post a bare clip of the hrmonized part that you used? I really liked it too, but I would love to hear it on its own to take personal notes. :cool:
 
thanks for the comments on the harmonies guys!
it's really good to know that they were noticed.


@fishmed, yeh, i can send you it.

i sang the same part twice for panning, then also used a (manual) delay on both, but only on the words 'lean on me man"


i'm embarrassed to say i sang the parts (cos they sound gay as fakook on their own)

also, microphone used was <ahem> unconventional,lol.

my re20 broke, and was giving this really really thin whispy sound.
i used it on purpose cos when i add my own harmonies to things, i almost always eq them like that anyway. wanted to know if the mic was still useful for something.

i reckon it was, but it turns out EV have UK capsule warranty, so it doesn't even matter anymore! :D



**update...i put together a wee loop of the chorus. in order you'll hear

full mix
full mix no harmonies
all vocals only
all vocals no fx
my vocals only
my vocals no fx



hope that's useful.
 
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thanks for the comments on the harmonies guys!
it's really good to know that they were noticed.


@fishmed, yeh, i can send you it.

i sang the same part twice for panning, then also used a (manual) delay on both, but only on the words 'lean on me man"


i'm embarrassed to say i sang the parts (cos they sound gay as fakook on their own)

also, microphone used was <ahem> unconventional,lol.

my re20 broke, and was giving this really really thin whispy sound.
i used it on purpose cos when i add my own harmonies to things, i almost always eq them like that anyway. wanted to know if the mic was still useful for something.

i reckon it was, but it turns out EV have UK capsule warranty, so it doesn't even matter anymore! :D



**update...i put together a wee loop of the chorus. in order you'll hear

full mix
full mix no harmonies
all vocals only
all vocals no fx
my vocals only
my vocals no fx



hope that's useful.

Perfect, that is awesome!
 
Steenamaroo, thanks for the loop! That was quite educating, at least for me.

Nevermind. I just listened to my mix in the car. The kick is overpowering. Fishmed's was good I can't argue that. I wasn't really into the dual vocal panning on the #2 mix. Kinda cool, but not for the while song. I couldn't listen to a whole song like that. The music was awesome though. Bass sounded a little trebly in headphones. But in the car it was perfect. I actually really likes it... So no hard feeling #2 (can't remember the name sorry) just didn't like the vocals personally.

AMcB, you are totally right. The vocal panning is too much. That's one of the problems I have with my mixes, they're too static. I don't do any automation at all. I mean I even have a nice controller, so I could record the controls but I didn't figure it out, yet. Maybe I'm too lazy but I definitely want to improve in that area. There are just so many cool things you can du with a nice panning here and there or an additional effect for the occasion.

@Greg, still need to listen to your mix of this song but I'm definitely going to buy the CD. I liked the few songs I've heard from you and if that weren't enough for me, I'd buy it just because you did these two great "mixing shootouts".

Cheers
Tim
 
@Greg, still need to listen to your mix of this song but I'm definitely going to buy the CD. I liked the few songs I've heard from you and if that weren't enough for me, I'd buy it just because you did these two great "mixing shootouts".

Cheers
Tim

Cool, thanks man. Buy a bunch of them! :D
 
Hey psilentp, thanks for checking in. First post, huh? I'm honored. ;)

This mix is pretty bad. I suspect this was a headphone mix. It's very thin and midrangey. It sounds like it's coming through a bullhorn. sorry dude. What's your monitoring setup?

Haha, that's what i get for not checking it in another room :)

I'm running KRK Rokit 6s from a Presonus Audiobox, But the room i'm in is embarrassingly far from optimal


Cheers for the response!
 
I don't know if anyone here missed it, but there was another song posted here that you can mix: Promises I guess since it was not posted in the MP3 section it got overlooked.
I will check that out.


I'm a day late and dollar short on this contest.... :(
 
Not too bad. I'm not crazy about that super fat and roomy snare sound, and cutting out the rhythm guitars during the lead was kind of distracting. Good balance overall though.

Thanks Greg - yeah, I guess snare sounds are kind of a personal taste thing... I'm tending to react against all the "super-attacky" snare sounds that are in fashion at present. It seems a lot of engineers are overworking their Transient Designer boxes...
...um...& dont ask about the missing rhythm guitars under the solo - I just realized I did something really stupid & embarrassing! :o

... Thanks for giving it a listen! Rockin' tune!
 
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