Mix Contest #9

[true-eurt]

Trying to get my ducks in order....

Vanbus2~

Axe mix sounds more balanced/panned left/right on the phones, than my monitors...but still sound good to my ears.

Intro volume is good. The intro scream doesn't have any volume or emphasis though and I like that intro growl-scream.

Vocal volume and is good elsewhere and stands on its own admist the instruments.

Bass is nice and full where it needs to be and panned down the middle without being muddy or burying anything else.

The cymbals are not as crystal sounding(ring) as I would like to hear but still good.

The drums are set down the middle too and it sounds great ! The snare has that awesome pop and the toms excellent volume. Kick is good too. The kick and bass are so interweaved, they seem as one instrument. Kudos to the Players on that one.

I may be wrong, but it sounds like you center panned the vox, bass and drums...if so, I don't know how you got it done so as not to muddle the vox with the bass or walk all over the vox or bass with the drums. They each have there own space within the same space.

You have kept the energy and drive on this tune...kudos !!

This is of course my own opinion.


Freudian Slip~

Your intro is great...Strong and I love how you gave the growl a place...Volume is good too.

Bass has a dark driven energy that never lets up. I like how you kept the 'string pop' on the pick-up(?)... up front.

You did an outstanding job with the vocals. I like the delay/echo and the panning used. It rocks !!

Snare stands out with a nice reverby pop.

I would have liked to hear the cymbals a bit more bell-like. More cowbell!!!

The drums are a bit back in the mix, other than the snare.

Man, I love that bass string pop. Gives it some texture.

The panning sounds like the vox, drums and bass are center with this mix too, but the axe sounds more center panned too than not. In fact it all sounds center panned except for the vox delay. It amazes me even more how it isn't muddled with all center...or sounds more centered than not....sounds excellent...other than my desire to hear the toms and kick with more distinction.

I am hooked on that bass pop.

Kudos to you Freud.

Once again...only my opinion here.


Rawdepth~

I like the cymbal intro....lost the power of the growl though.

I like the vox waver thing, and your creativeness with it...I would like to hear what it sounds like with a tad less...But the more I listen, the more it grows on me.

The bass is good...not quite as poppin as I would like to hear, but an enveloping bottom end....at 4:05 I am wondering if it is the bass you panned right and kept raw or is it one of the axes? It has a sound like that of an electric stand up bass. I honestly can't tell, although it sounds more bassy to my ear.

I like that you have some bell on the cymbals.

Axes sound really really good..lot of dark creepy tones emphasized on and very distinct. You have kept the drive on them.

I like your panning on the headphones with the axes better than on the monitors...they seem to be more left panned on monitors and split in headphones... Sounds like vox center and the bass envelopes everything....like how the tom rolls pan through my bwain from one side to the other.

I also like your dry pop on the snare.

Excellent on that part at 4:05.

Kudos to you !!

My opinion only...

 

[true-eurt]

NL5~

Nice strong intro. The overall volume of the song is rather loud and that is a good thing.

The vox is excellent. I love the effects. They fit the eerie feeling set in the tune by the bass and axes. What did you do to get the effects?

The axes are just a bit overbearing and eating a lot of the drums up in my humble opinion.

The bass gets buried quite a bit too, until around 3:31.

It isn't that I think it is a bad mix. I just feel like I am listening to the tune through the guitars, rather than having them adorning the sides and/or slicing the middle of the tune. I found myself straining to hear the drums, cymbals.

Maybe my ears just need a good Q-tipping...or I need a good arse kicking.

Kudos NL !!!


Timboz~

The intro good.

The vox is very strong and upfront.

I love how you gave place to the tom rolls throughout...they are excellent. The drums are strong in the mix. They cymbals have a nice tapping ring to em.

The snare has a good pop. It could be just a tad louder I think.

The bass is interweaves with the tune...I hear it, but have to take a sec to make sure I am hearing it...strange, but cool.

At 3:21 the bass takes it's place with the axes.

The axes are strong and raw.

I like that you let the drums shine through along with the axes.

I like your mix timboz it is raw and I like raw...but beginning at 1:28 the volume jumps up suddenly and from then on the mix seems to be fluctuating in the overall volume, that I did not hear in your first mix that I had listened to, and liked so much.

Is anyone else hearing the volume fuctuation?

Kudos Timboz


BentRabbit~

Rabbit, I really like your mix.

Here is what my ears hear....and I could be going deaf.

Instrumental intro is good and strong with loud overall volume.

Vox are too low in the mix....except at 5:30. I LOVE the effects on the vocals...great growls and the reverb/echo/delay is just right !!! Has a trippy feel to it.

The axes are great. I love how you have them panned and emphasized without them eating up the other stuff.

The first few times I listened, I was thinking that the bass needed to come up in certain areas...but as I listened more, it occurred to me, whether intentional or not, you allowed the kick bass to be the *frontman* bottom end in the beginning from 1:30 to 2:25...then back to kick bass until 3:30 where again the bass jumps up front and the kick backs off...pretty creative and good stuff Rabbit. I do realize this may be the bass I am hearing the whole time being eq'd in those parts...but it sounds good whatever.

The snare could come up in volume. The cymbals too. I want to hear that ring ding.

Kudos Rabbit

 

[NL5]

NL5~

Nice strong intro. The overall volume of the song is rather loud and that is a good thing.

The vox is excellent. I love the effects. They fit the eerie feeling set in the tune by the bass and axes. What did you do to get the effects?

The axes are just a bit overbearing and eating a lot of the drums up in my humble opinion.

The bass gets buried quite a bit too, until around 3:31.

It isn't that I think it is a bad mix. I just feel like I am listening to the tune through the guitars, rather than having them adorning the sides and/or slicing the middle of the tune. I found myself straining to hear the drums, cymbals.

Maybe my ears just need a good Q-tipping...or I need a good arse kicking.

Kudos NL !!!

Hey -

Thanks for taking a listen and giving me your thoughts. I mixed this a bit different that the band intended, I probably should have done the bass like the band had it, but oh well.

As far as the vox, I tried to match the feel to the song, I'm glad you interpreted it that way!

I'm surprised nobody said anything about the glaring technical flaw in my mix (hint: it happens the first time in the first 30 seconds), or the way I treated the guitars in the breakdown (I thought it was pretty cool the way it came out).

Thanks again True.

And Turtlishous too!

 

[true-eurt]

BRIEFCASEMANX~

Intro is good.

The first few listens, I thought the intro vox were too low, but the more I listened, the more I liked their passiveness to dominance journey in the mix, fitting right in with the feel of the tune. They come off as the emotion being a bit introverted...a bit unsure of the energy direction to take....then as the tune moves along, they gain confidence and finally take the front spot with the guitars. What started as a thought, became a voice heard. I know a lot of it, is the performance of the group, but you seemed to keep with the feel of what the musicians were going for.

The echo on vox is great.

The guitars sound good in placement and volume.

Bass is sitting well in the mix and at 2:13, the bass starts to take it's predominate place in the mix, signaling and precedent of an energy change.

The drums may well be a bit too low in the mix, but not by more than a hair.

It sounds you have allowed the tune to breath it's life as played and accented the performances with your mix.

Damn I feel poetic today!!

I think you did an excellent job.

Kudos Brief !!!


Tenkas~

Intro is strong. Nice vocal growl.

I like the 'fret noise'(new term Freud taught me ) you kept on the bass. It gets starts making a statement around 3:20. Bass sounds full and dark. At 3:45 the build up is good.

The guitars have a nice fat sound. They have an eerie feel to them accentuated by whatever effect you layed on them. The feel of the axes kick butt at 3:50 during the solo. I like the panning on the guitars. You kept their volume levels up, but out of the everyone else's space.

The drums sound pretty good, including the cymbals. Personally, I would like to hear a bit more emphasis on the snare, but that is a matter of taste. The snare did pick up in volume at 3:45 at the build up.

The vocals didn't get stepped on in my opinion and at 4:40 the bass fret noise really kicked in, yet it didn't kill the vox. The echo on the vocals at 5:22 is good too.

Like the driving outro.

Your mix has a lot of energy and drive throughout, even in the 'quieter' parts.

Kudos Tenkas.

 

[true-eurt]

Hey -

Thanks for taking a listen and giving me your thoughts. I mixed this a bit different that the band intended, I probably should have done the bass like the band had it, but oh well.

As far as the vox, I tried to match the feel to the song, I'm glad you interpreted it that way!

I'm surprised nobody said anything about the glaring technical flaw in my mix (hint: it happens the first time in the first 30 seconds), or the way I treated the guitars in the breakdown (I thought it was pretty cool the way it came out).

Thanks again True.

And Turtlishous too!

You are welkom NL ...I will check that all out. I listened again NL...5 times and I still do not hear the glaring technical flaw.

As far as the guitars go...I love the sound, I just think they are a bit too loud compared to the mix. They aren't in anythings space, just a bit loud.

After I finish listening to the rest of the mixes again, I am going to give them all a one last listen and do it all within a 24 hour period. Moreso for my listening skills to get excersized. I am curious as to what I will find I missed before.

 

[NL5]

You are welkom NL ...I will check that all out. I listened again NL...5 times and I still do not hear the glaring technical flaw.

The worst spot is 5:07-5:10....

 

[BRIEFCASEMANX]

BRIEFCASEMANX~

Intro is good.

The first few listens, I thought the intro vox were too low, but the more I listened, the more I liked their passiveness to dominance journey in the mix, fitting right in with the feel of the tune. They come off as the emotion being a bit introverted...a bit unsure of the energy direction to take....then as the tune moves along, they gain confidence and finally take the front spot with the guitars. What started as a thought, became a voice heard. I know a lot of it, is the performance of the group, but you seemed to keep with the feel of what the musicians were going for.

The echo on vox is great.

The guitars sound good in placement and volume.

Bass is sitting well in the mix and at 2:13, the bass starts to take it's predominate place in the mix, signaling and precedent of an energy change.

The drums may well be a bit too low in the mix, but not by more than a hair.

It sounds you have allowed the tune to breath it's life as played and accented the performances with your mix.

Damn I feel poetic today!!

I think you did an excellent job.

Kudos Brief !!!

Thank you, my dude. I did a slight remix where I changed some vox and bass stuff, but then it threw some other balances off and I didn't want to work on it forever so I decided to just leave it and see what people had to say. Yeah, I'm hearing the timidness in the vocals, which is partly performance, but I could have mixed it better in that respect too. I think your evalutation is spot on.

I didn't add as much reverb and effects as some of the entries, and maybe that's because I mixed it on headphones, so you hear that stuff a lot more and tend to lay back a little. I'll have to check this out thoroughly on my monitors when I get the chance to see what I would have done differently.

Can't wait to hear from the band.

 

[zed32]

proud to say i used NO REVERB at all on mine!

for some reason i hate using it...maybe because i've been around and/or heard too many bad reverbs and it just left me with an inner loathing of the 'verb.

maybe if i hear some of the pretty Powercore reverbs i've heard good stuff about, i'll change my mind about it. maybe.

i love using delay though!

 

[BRIEFCASEMANX]

proud to say i used NO REVERB at all on mine!

for some reason i hate using it...maybe because i've been around and/or heard too many bad reverbs and it just left me with an inner loathing of the 'verb.

maybe if i hear some of the pretty Powercore reverbs i've heard good stuff about, i'll change my mind about it. maybe.

i love using delay though!

What kind of stuff do you do to use delay instead of reverb?

 

[zed32]

well i use different delays, and they are almost always matched to the tempo. i'm probably doing everything wrong haha, but that's just my way of doing it... i tend to sometimes use multiple delays on a track. like i'll have a "normal" delay as a send effect, and use that on whatever tracks in the mix it works on as my bread-and-butter effect, then individual tracks might get their own extra set of delay, with different feedback or frequency or whatever. i can get some reverb-like effects doing that, without having some of the artifacts of reverb plugs, such as high frequency noise or just wierd frequency hypes or something. to me using delays just sounds cleaner than reverbs.

in the part of the song where the instruments are quiet and the guy is just singing, like right before the ending, i used NO reverb to get that effect, its just 2 different delays blended together to create kind of a 'distance' effect.

actually i did a whole lot of other processing to that part besides the delay, but yeah...

like i said before, i never had any real training so probably not good to take advice from me and my back-asswards ways hehe



OH and i also sometimes will use a chorus effect to widen things up instead of a reverb too. basically i've experimented with every way i can think of to not use an actual reverb plugin.

and another thing, i use a delay that sorta "bounces" from side to side to make it sound wider too, i love it.

 

[RawDepth]

Hey True-eurT,

Thank you for the feedback on the mix. I wish I could get more peoples' opinions on it. I think maybe yours was the only one so far. I'm not sure.

I didn't do much to the bass. I ditched the DI and only used the mic track `cause I liked the way it sounded. I fattened it by beefing up the low end. Then I did some old-school ducking on the compressor (using the kick drum) which tightened it right up. At the part of the song where it was just drums and bass, all I did was turn it up a bit. Maybe that slight pumping gave it a unique sound. It was panned center the whole song.

I did a lot to the drum tracks. That's a whole `nother story in itself. I pushed up the high-end on a lot of tracks to give the song more air. I experimented with the panning on the guitars a lot too. I thought it was odd that one guitar had two tracks and the other only had one. I forget, I think I had one guitar panned L-70% and L-10%, and the other single track was R-60%, or something strange like that. Oh well, I ended up with some weird panning but in the end, it sounded good to me. Isn't that what it's all about?

The contest results have been taking a while but, It has been a busy month for everyone. I'm sure Perdicament and the guys have been sidetracked by Christmas and maybe even rehearsal for a New Years gig or something. I wouldn't expect much untill at least next week when they sober up.

Later dudes,
RawDepth

 

[true-eurt]

Yah Raw...they may well need a couple of those weeks.

You are very welkom...expert I am not, in any sense. Just a set of ears, that loves to listen to creativeness and hopefully to be helpful if possible. I hope, when I get the guts to post one of mine, you will all do the same for me.

I really like the way you went through some of the tweaking process's, to accomplish your mix 'sound'. Thank you for that. I love to read what tweaking is done, to get the vibe in question. It can develop into a signature technique for some.

Of course with so many mixes in the clinic, it isn't always easy to keep them straight,without some refreshing listens. I find myself at times posting to Freud, when in fact it is rayc or RAMI..it is a good thing I do a double check before hitting the submit button....etc.

In these contest, I must consistantly go back and listen for things in particular, like the drums or the axes or vox or panning in general and such...sometimes that is very hard to do, because the vox or guitars or lyrics in the song sidetracks my bwain and I keep drifting off into the feel of the tune, rather than the production of it.

It has been milled over several times also, that what one hears and likes, or perceives, to be what is *right* sounding to their ears, is for the most part a personal taste or 'listening' gear issue as we all have different preference to sound and have different gear. That alone creates one large span in suggestions.

All of these mixes have their pros and cons to my ears. I like them all. Some reach out and grab me a bit more. At the same time...those mixes may not grab another listener with the same passion.....and I am learning, the same as anyone else. I listen much better than I record...much better.

True

 

[turtlishous]

how long has this thread gone on without word from predickt? i think we may have lost him in the eternal waste land of the net

 

[Freudian Slip]

how long has this thread gone on without word from predickt? i think we may have lost him in the eternal waste land of the net

Ya wasn't this over like at the begining of the month?
I like his mix, Maybe we were just the ego boost he needed to get buried in finishing an album and mixing it him self LOL


F.S.

 

[true-eurt]

Ya wasn't this over like at the begining of the month?
I like his mix, Maybe we were just the ego boost he needed to get buried in finishing an album and mixing it him self LOL


F.S.

If that is the case, he owes me an ear job....

 

[Perdicament]

I haven't gone anywhere, and suppose owe ya an apology for not being 'on top of things'.... Sorry 'bout that..

I/we(the band) as I'd imagine all of you have had a busy bit with the holidays...and one of tha band members had gone on vacation, plus we had a big gig to get ready for over the x-mas weekend....

We' will be back at it next week and the final judging will be in with in the next 2...

Hope yer all cool with that...


and again my personal apologies.....and a warm thanks to all involved...and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 

[Perdicament]

If that is the case, he owes me an ear job....

Hmmm...... just tell me where and when sweetie!!!

 

[true-eurt]

Hmmm...... just tell me where and when sweetie!!!

Now that would be a memorable start for the New Year....

 

[PhilR]

Hey all. I threw a mix together at home, mainly because I've been bored as hell over the last couple of days. Anyway it was mixed through my home stereo so it might sound like ass but what the hell.

Wasn't hard to mix, I only spent a couple of hours on it. Killer drummer & drum sound. Kinda reminded me of Undertow - era Tool. I did some sample-augmentation on the kick & snare to give the bass a bit more punch and the snare a bit more consistant power behind it. I'm not particularly thrilled with the sounds but I don't have any better samples at my disposal at the moment (Just ordered the new Steven Slate Drums CD, hope it arrives soon...). The cymbals and toms sound fantastic to my ears though. Really great tom sound.

I didn't use much of the 3rd guitar track because I really didn't like the tone of it much. What's there is mostly centre panned and buried. For the bass I cut some lows and enhanced the mids and highs for an in-you-face Paul D'amour style sound.

 

[BRIEFCASEMANX]

I haven't gone anywhere, and suppose owe ya an apology for not being 'on top of things'.... Sorry 'bout that..

I/we(the band) as I'd imagine all of you have had a busy bit with the holidays...and one of tha band members had gone on vacation, plus we had a big gig to get ready for over the x-mas weekend....

We' will be back at it next week and the final judging will be in with in the next 2...

Hope yer all cool with that...


and again my personal apologies.....and a warm thanks to all involved...and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

sweet dude thanks.