Original Tune "Howl" - Mixing and Production Critique

[HumanPlanet]

OK, fingers crossed this might be my last version of the mix.

It's a long way on from mix 1.

At this point I might take Mark's advice and step away from it for a while and then get back to it and decide.

 

[HumanPlanet]

When you listen to it now, is it ready?

 

[cmharwood89]

Not quite. Vocals need some EQ because they sound a little thin to me. Toms are too boomy. I think I detect a little bit of pumping from the master buss compresser/limiter.

 

[HumanPlanet]

Not quite. Vocals need some EQ because they sound a little thin to me. Toms are too boomy. I think I detect a little bit of pumping from the master buss compresser/limiter.

Final mix done?

 

[cmharwood89]

Final mix done?

I think it is. I took some time away from the mix and came back to it with fresh ears and some nice room emulation plugins to help find some trouble frequencies (those boomy toms, for example).

Changes:
Cut mid-highs and boosted mid lows in vox to warm them up.
Cut toms aggressively around 75 Hz to get rid of the resonance (really showed up in the car or bass-heavy headphones).
Added a drum compressor to help tame some of the harder fills and transients.
Dramatically increased the attack and release times on my master compressor to eliminate the trace of pumping I heard.
A few slight tweaks to the instrument tracks.
Vocals still are not perfect, but I think they're as good as I'm going to be able to realistically get them with the time I have to spend on this.

So I propose this as my "final" mix. Unless people hate it, in which case I'll release a "Final_Rev2"

Thanks for all of the patience and guidance, @HumanPlanet and @mark skinner in particular!

 

[HumanPlanet]

The changes you've made are all a step in the right direction but maybe a "Final_Rev1" to lift the fog off it before you get to "Final_Rev2".

 

[cmharwood89]

The changes you've made are all a step in the right direction but maybe a "Final_Rev1" to lift the fog off it before you get to "Final_Rev2".

Can clarify what you mean by "lift the fog"?

Do you mean EQ for some more top end / air?

 

[HumanPlanet]

Can clarify what you mean by "lift the fog"?

It lacks clarity

Do you mean EQ for some more top end / air?

You could definitely try that

 

[cmharwood89]

OK - I dove deep on this and revamped several sections. I also had a sit-down with a talented audio engineer friend who gave me some pointers in how to improve both the mix clarity and some of the production choices - she pointed me toward some plugins, virtual instruments, and vocal layering tricks that I've tried.

Major changes:

• Layered a sub-kick sample into the drum kit to beef up the low-end of the SSD kick.
• Add a lot more variation to drum hit velocities to accentuate dynamics
• Added more (or more complete) pauses
• Added some harmony lines or quiet doubled vocals in the harder-hitting passages (sort of cheated here, using melodyne to create harmony lines out of by B-stock of vocal takes).
• Stripped back some of the layered instruments that were muddying up a few passages. In particular, pulled back on the clean guitar going into verse 2.
• Better saturation plugin on bass to get some nice harmonics
• Switched to an opto compressor for vocals (UAD LA2A)
• Threw a FET compressor on the drum bus
• EQ fixes to some problem frequencies that remained.
• Slate digital fresh air plugin used on acoustic, vox, cymbals, and snare to add some more top end.

 

[K-dub]

Mix 7 is world's better than the other versions. You've overcompressed it ever-so-slightly. It's not terrible. Pull the limiting back on the drums and it won't be as noticeable. That's where it can be clearly heard.

Other than that, you've got movement, good flow and balance to the mix well dialed in.

 

[Papanate]

OK - I dove deep on this and revamped several sections. I also had a sit-down with a talented audio engineer friend who gave me some pointers in how to improve both the mix clarity and some of the production choices - she pointed me toward some plugins, virtual instruments, and vocal layering tricks that I've tried.

Major changes:

• Layered a sub-kick sample into the drum kit to beef up the low-end of the SSD kick.
• Add a lot more variation to drum hit velocities to accentuate dynamics
• Added more (or more complete) pauses
• Added some harmony lines or quiet doubled vocals in the harder-hitting passages (sort of cheated here, using melodyne to create harmony lines out of by B-stock of vocal takes).
• Stripped back some of the layered instruments that were muddying up a few passages. In particular, pulled back on the clean guitar going into verse 2.
• Better saturation plugin on bass to get some nice harmonics
• Switched to an opto compressor for vocals (UAD LA2A)
• Threw a FET compressor on the drum bus
• EQ fixes to some problem frequencies that remained.
• Slate digital fresh air plugin used on acoustic, vox, cymbals, and snare to add some more top end.

Much Better Mix - the drum click count in distracts - verse Vocals are pretty dry.