Mix Critique on my latest Pro Tools session.

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Shout It Out

Shout It Out

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I would really appreciate some ears since mine are biased. This is a session with a few guitars (acoustic, mustang and jazz master through a twin mixed with SM57), pbass (through SVT with a d112 for low end and SM57 for the treble), the drums are Live layered with Addictive drum samples, and a few vocal tracks recorded with a bluebird. The preamps are scattered through a a digi003 console and mbox2. I'm limited to the plugins available on my stock Pro Tools 8 LE.

I have a hard time mixing complete songs to get things clear without sounding like I EQ'd it too much and I also feel like I struggle with mud in general. If you hear these issues, any ideas for me? I love reverbs and choruses and this song fits the bill stylistically, so I don't want to go away from the overall sound of the production.

https://soundcloud.com/oceancitysoundtrack/oppositeroughmix

Thank you!
 
Sounds pretty good. A couple things that struck me....bass tone sounds good but almost sounds like there is too much boom to it. Maybe cut back the sub frequencies a touch. Is the track mid-scooped at all? Sounds like it could be brightening up in the mids a little. also during the verses the backing vocals in "ah!-oh-oh", the "ah!" sounds awkward....like your singing them off key or at least one of the takes is. Not sure how else to explain that. Good job though.
 
I appreciate the feedback. There is a little bit of mid scooping happening and I definitely battled with the bass for a bit. I think cutting back on some of the subs a tad is great advice. Maybe the backing vocal key thing is with my inflection because I go up high to get into the lower note. I might go back and redo that vocal if I receive some more of the same thought.

Thank you!
 
Shout It Out said:
I appreciate the feedback. There is a little bit of mid scooping happening and I definitely battled with the bass for a bit. I think cutting back on some of the subs a tad is great advice. Maybe the backing vocal key thing is with my inflection because I go up high to get into the lower note. I might go back and redo that vocal if I receive some more of the same thought.

Thank you!
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For full disclosure I listened to it on a system with a strong sub, but I can usually tell when there is just "too much" of the sub frequencies. It's a matter of taste really, but if it were my track I will use a high pass on the bass with a medium Q around 60-80hz.
 
Really cool song, vocals are great. I'd probably add some reverb or something to the background shouts at the end of verses, they sound just a little dry to me. Really like the vocal layers, they work great.
 
I enjoyed the track. For me it had a strong essence of The Cars, with a little dash of The Fixx. I can't really comment on the mix; I'm listening late at night through headphones which are a bit deceptive. Production values are great. I had no problem with 'ah oh oh'. I like the little musical surprises here and there (e.g. the hand claps).

The song appealed to me very strongly. I think you've done good.
 
Great song and great job overall on everything. I agree with the comments about the bass being a tad boomy. I had a little bit of a hard time understanding some of the lyrics too, but I'm not sure that can be fixed with mixing choices (maybe it can?). Anyway, nice job! Thanks for sharing.
 
this is great, nice work! i am not hearing the mid-scooping. i haven't heard Addictive Drums before, but I like the snare sound here. Toms sound a little far (distant)? there are a few spots toward the end that seem to lose the flow of the track, in my opinion. You did a great job of coming up with fillers and micro-changes in the long outro to vary the tune a bit, but just a few of those run a little bare to me. 2:44, for example, doesn't have the "big" feel it could have in that section. Maybe use some automation to bring the vocals up a bit there? Or even a vocal track that differs from the original via some effect or EQ change (slight distortion, different verb or eq). just ideas. good tune and mix. i like this a lot.
 
easlern said:
Really cool song, vocals are great. I'd probably add some reverb or something to the background shouts at the end of verses, they sound just a little dry to me. Really like the vocal layers, they work great.
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Very cool to hear. I actually took a bit of verb off in fear that I had too much. I agree that they are abit dry now. I think I'll probably tweak that a bit. Thank you!
 
Thanks for the input. I am going to try add a little more sparkle to the vocal track by moving up the high frequencies a little bit.
 
The bass didn't seem too bad to my ears. But enough trustworthy ears are saying it is, so I'd trust them.

I thought the mix was good.

The jangly guitars sound a little chorusy. Personal taste thing, but I would prefer them a little cleaner.

I think the mix would sound better if it were dryer.

And the reverb on some of the vocals sounded kind of cheap.

All these are kind of minor complaints. It sounded good.
 
TripleM said:
The bass didn't seem too bad to my ears. But enough trustworthy ears are saying it is, so I'd trust them.

I thought the mix was good.

The jangly guitars sound a little chorusy. Personal taste thing, but I would prefer them a little cleaner.

I think the mix would sound better if it were dryer.

And the reverb on some of the vocals sounded kind of cheap.

All these are kind of minor complaints. It sounded good.
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It's all down to personal taste, isn't it?

I've had another listen.

I like the guitars as they are. And I'm happy with the reverb on the mix as a whole.

The reverb on the vocals didn't necessarily sound cheap, but I thought the reverb on the backing vocals sounded too boxy, like very small room.
 
I agree with the comment to adjust the bass sub frequency a bit. If you do that it may make the vocals pop a bit more which is fine by me. There is a bit of a mid scoop feel to it - maybe a tiny bit of highs on the vocal to give them a little sparkle.
Great song and performances - the mix stuff is just minor.
 
Good "80"s vibe. Could use a bit more bottom snare, if available.
 
Thanks for the continued input. Overall I just have the drums bussed into a few reverbs and the the reverbs on the vocals may be coming from the EQing effect I have on them to make them sound boxier. I may adjust this a bit and push their highs a bit more. I will probably dial back on all of the reverbs before mastering.

I don't know how to address the mid scooping on this song because there is nothing in the recording itself to really boost in the that region.

I'll take everything into account when I do another mix this weekend. You all have been awesome. I
 
Crazy Luke said:
Good "80"s vibe. Could use a bit more bottom snare, if available.
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Are you wanting to hear more sizzle from the snares or more low end. I was also debating adding some more snare sound in. I might be able to just push up the room mic some.
 
Very cool in an early Cure meets a few others 80s vibe.
The ah oh bvox are a bit hard panned for my liking.
The hard panned tom is pretty boomy - adjust or bring in?
The bass is just right but I'm a bassist so am biased.
Nice job on all levels.
 
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