New mix: clarity vs. fullness

  • Thread starter Thread starter corban
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corban

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Ok, so I've got a new mix, and I'm fairly happy with it. However, an engineer I'm training under elsewhere told me the instruments need to be more distinct, they blend together too much in a mess.

The problem is I was already aware of that issue and had tried to resolve it by thinning things out, for example by not stereo panning the guitar. When things were thinner though I just didn't like the overall sound - it seemed to lack power, and I really liked the way things just built into a bit of a mush. So I left it mushy, maybe walters has had an effect on me? Any comments on this dilemma, or other suggestions on how to give it some more clarity without losing power? It's obviously not a "heavy" song, but it's still rock and needs to have a strong fullness.

Any other comments on the mix are more than welcome. It was recorded when my better gear was being borrowed, so the crappy mics, preamps, and guitar are obvious, but I still want to sounding as good as possible, so please comment. Follow the link to the crappy page, and click the link to listen: never talk to strangers

Thanks in advance
 
That is fuckin' awesome man. It was tight from the beginning, I thought it was gonna become a Floydian type song, I LOVED all of the delays goin' on, it created a really nice atmosphere. I really like the piano and drum sounds, are they real?

What did you mic the vox with, did you use any effects - I hear some delay, but any others? It seems kinda hard to understand sometimes...and I think maybe it could be a little more upfront? I think it could just use a little clarity...

I REALLY like the transition from the atmospheric, almost Doves-like, part to the piano-pop/rock part.

The big vocal delay build up and END at end of the song is awesome.

Really, sweet job.
 
Hey Corban. I like the tune. I think two things are contributing to the lack of clarity... too much reverb overall, and a lack transients in the sound of each instrument - which might be a tracking issue or a compression issue, dunno. Maybe they're hidden by the reverb...

Tim
 
Thanks much for the comments, guys. Bean, you made my day. I hate to admit that the piano sound is not real, it's just a great keyboard I use that isn't mine, but the drums are definitely real. The funny thing about them was that everything was quite rushed while tracking cause my drummer was busy with getting married, and we just used a borrowed, crappy kit, didn't tune it at all, and just carefully placed one overhead mic and a snare/kick mic under the snare.

I used an old falling-apart Shure Unidyne mic for vox, simply because it was fun to sing into. Then doubled the track and time/pitch shifted it and added the delay and funky eq. I hear you about the indistinctness, which is partially in the tracking, cause on the quiet parts I sang way too close to the mic, and there's a lot of breath in there. I'll clear out some reverb/delay though.

Tim, good points there, I had already pulled the reverb down some on the guitar and drums, I'll do that more, as well as some other tracks. I'll get on that, and try to relieve some compression as well, although it's somewhat necessary on the guitar due to the contrast between quiet, muted notes and loud attack strokes. Thanks a lot guys, I'll repost another mix with your advice taken. Any other comments?
 
I was in a rush when I made my prev post, so let me add that the performance is quite excellent. In tune, in the pocket, good sound. Maybe slow the compression down generally to let transients through before it clamps down on peaks, and set threshhods extra carefully so lower levels are left alone. If fullness is what you're after, you might try some expansion of quieter parts instead, or along with comp.

Tim
 
Very well done! I like this a lot. Are you a David Bowie fan?
 
this is a cool song with an original feel to it.

i don't know how to adress the "fullness" issue. My first thought on that is the drums. There's certainly not a rich full sound to them.

Call it a buddhist saying, but you can't bring the fullness out of something that has a general dullness to it. I wouldn't know what to suggest other than better recording equipment. I think, given the tracks you had to work with, it is mixed quite well.

It's unfortunate, because I'd like to hear a professional sounding mix of this song.
 
You could try panning again but eq out the bottom end of one of the tracks.
 
did you try adding some more pre-delay to the reverb so you could still have that thick reverb sound but with more distinctness?

this song sounds sweet.
 
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