Mix contest

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This one time I farted into a condenser mic and looped it over and over and it sounded like wetteke's "music".
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
Hmmm.... I'm not trying to pat myself on the back, but being as objective as I can, I still hear a world of difference between my mix and others, mostly in terms of air/space & overall sonic balance.
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that's a hard one to agree with.
 
The Seifer said:
This one time I farted into a condenser mic and looped it over and over and it sounded like wetteke's "music".
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Don't give the guy any ideas.
 
And now for something completely different....

I have a question for Blue Bear.

Do you have any principles when it comes to layering reverbs, like one for the early reflections, then a longer and finally a very long reverb, or do you spread two similar sounding reverbs from different units left/right? Or do you just play around until it fits?

David
 
Re: And now for something completely different....

nessbass said:
I have a question for Blue Bear.

Do you have any principles when it comes to layering reverbs, like one for the early reflections, then a longer and finally a very long reverb, or do you spread two similar sounding reverbs from different units left/right? Or do you just play around until it fits?

David
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good question, reverb is a slightly tabu debatable area in mixing from what i read across the web...

the numbers please, i never get it right by ear usualy, as many do i expect, thanks...
 
Re: And now for something completely different....

nessbass said:
I have a question for Blue Bear.

Do you have any principles when it comes to layering reverbs, like one for the early reflections, then a longer and finally a very long reverb, or do you spread two similar sounding reverbs from different units left/right? Or do you just play around until it fits?

David
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The way I approach a mix is to get all the track gelling together WITHOUT ANY effects. Then once they're ballparked, I listen them as a whole and try to picture the ambience that I think would be most appropriate.

Then I select from a variety of reverbs to give me what I want.

The only "technical" specs I worry about are making sure pre-delays/delays/choruses are timed to the tempo, and I generally cut most low-end that is sent to reverbs because the 'verb'd lows tend to muddy things up....

It's kind of like spices in food -- you use them to enhance the tracks -- go too far and you blow it.
 
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Thanks for your reply Bruce, although I'm not shure you answered my question...

I wasn't asking about your approach to mixing in general, but rather how you go about choosing the reverbs (plural) you want to use. See, I approach it in quite a similar fashion, but as of now, I've never successfully combined several different reverbs, it always sounds kind of odd to me. So my question should have been more like:

When adding two or more reverbs together, how do you avoid that they sound like several unfitting reverbs and achieve something that sounds like one single, but improved reverb.

David
 
nessbass said:
Thanks for your reply Bruce, although I'm not shure you answered my question...

I wasn't asking about your approach to mixing in general, but rather how you go about choosing the reverbs (plural) you want to use. See, I approach it in quite a similar fashion, but as of now, I've never successfully combined several different reverbs, it always sounds kind of odd to me. So my question should have been more like:

When adding two or more reverbs together, how do you avoid that they sound like several unfitting reverbs and achieve something that sounds like one single, but improved reverb.

David
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I think one of the best ways of doing that is getting the timing of reverbs in sync with the tempo of the song. I know on several of my units, they have a tempo tap button. Just tap the button with the temo of the song and the effect will blend better with the music.
 
Another question for Blue Bear

Blue Bear, you mentioned that you did a lot of EQ'ing to the mix. Do you use the EQ on your Mackie 8 bus, or do you use an outboard EQ?

Also, I'm not sure if you mentioned this before or not, but what types of compressors/gating did you use on the different tracks?

Thanks, I'm learning a lot here.:D
 
nessbass said:
When adding two or more reverbs together, how do you avoid that they sound like several unfitting reverbs and achieve something that sounds like one single, but improved reverb.
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AH - I see... the trick is that you don't put reverbs that don't fit together!

I may combine an almost-dry ambient program with light delay, along with a bit of plate or hall reverb for more depth....

There really is no formula, just knowing the ambience I have in my head and translating that to my ears!
 
Re: Another question for Blue Bear

Dethska said:
Blue Bear, you mentioned that you did a lot of EQ'ing to the mix. Do you use the EQ on your Mackie 8 bus, or do you use an outboard EQ?
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I did a lot of EQ cuts, not much boosting -- and yes, was mostly on the Mackie. The Mackie EQ is not as unusable as some might have you beleive - especially for cuts. The only major EQ'ing was on the lead gtr at the end and that was using Cubase...


Dethska said:
Also, I'm not sure if you mentioned this before or not, but what types of compressors/gating did you use on the different tracks?
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For the snare I used the VST plug in Cubase, I used an RNC on the lead vocals and a dbx166xl (same comp as the 1066) on the kick. Again, the lead gtr at the end was spruced-up with a tube plug-in in Cubase, along with a healthy dose of limiiting... then in the mix it was smashed again to even it out with a dbx 166xl.... that's pretty much it.... very little comp was used.
 
Blue Bear - Thanks for your answer. And if I haven't told you lately, your website rocks. I love going to your webpage, under equipment, and clicking "huh?" I checked out the Mackie 8 buss and the DBX166xl. So I could understand exactly what equipment you were talking about. It looks like that 166xl unit is fairly cheap and it must be useful because you own a few.:D

ps- the Mackie link is dead.
 
Thanks - I'll look at the bad links... the 166xl is about $500 Cdn - the compressor section is the same one as the dbx 1066.... I like 'em - they handle bass, guitar, and rock vocals quite well.....!
 
Just noticed this thread and skimmed through, listening to a few mixes.

What was really interesting to me is that I didn't care for the song at all, during my first couple listens (I don't even remember whose mixes I was listening to).

But when I put on Bruce's mix, suddenly my foot was tapping and I was thinking "hey, this is a damn good song."

'Nuff said, I guess, eh?:)

Chris
 
Get off Blue Bear's nutsack for once. His mix wasn't the holy grail of mixes, and isn't any better/worse than the rest of them. They are all "good". It's a good song to begin with, so YEAH.
 
The Seifer said:
His mix wasn't the holy grail of mixes, and isn't any better/worse than the rest of them. They are all "good"....
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If you really think that, your ears have a long ways to go my friend.

No real point in arguing this one though. Either you can tell the difference or you can't.

Chris
 
I caught this thread late

like LATE last night about 10PM.

I don't have any fancy outboard gear, just a bunch of cubase plugins. I've been at this for about 3 hours, it's now 4am and I've had to do the whole lot under the cans because I'm in a bedroom studio. Here it is....

Lemontree's midnight mix from scotland

This is the first ever I've had a chance to mix someone else's project. It's been a lot of fun

Alec
 
Anybody have a chance to hear mine yet (link on previous page)? Any comments?
 
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