What's the difference in recording/mixing/mastering between these two different music? Wide and crisp versus smooth and small

J

jerberson12

mucis procedure
Please compare the difference between the two mixes below.
Would probably better if you can listen with your headphones.

Music A:
Music B:

Disregard the difference in volume. Just focus on the tone and stereo spectrum.

Music A - Very wide, emphasized high end, crisp. Its a little harsh and high ends sounds a little punchy to the ears. Each instrument occupy a wide part of the stereo spectrum. Each instrument and vocals sounds like more upfront.

Music B - Soft and smooth. Not harsh and high frequency seems to be forced to tame down regardless of what part of the song. High end does not bleed out from the over all mix. Each instrument occupy a small portion of the stereo spectrum. Sounds like the whole mixed was pushed back further from you. This is probably why you can hear each instruments because each of them are small within the spectrum and does not occupy a lot of space compared to music B.

My music tend to come out similar with music A where everything is wide and crisp. I like to achieve music B where each instrument is small and overall tone is smooth.

Anyone knows the differences in recording/mixing/mastering techniques between the two?

Assuming I have a project with recorded tracks but not mixed yet and everything is raw, from this point, can I achieve both mix type through mixing process or does it have to do with the recording technique or mastering? Or is it the sound source and/or equipment? How do you not bleed out the high end from the mix? I tried de-esser and it does not seems to work.

Thank you!
 
You cant compare the two in any meaningful way. They're both just different. The same person could have done both? Its just a recipe. Take the ingredients, make decisions. I doubt you could have taken the voice and instruments in the first song, and used the eq, processing and balance of the second. Different parts, different styles and different audience.

Maybe you just write wide and crispy music? Seriously, im not sure i really understand what you are asking. How do you not bleed out the high end? I just dont recognise what you think somebody is doing? If you want something to be a clicky, thin and top end heavy strummed guitar, then you make sure the guitar is recorded with that in mind. So you might stay away from the hole, angle the mic carefully and pick a placement distance and location in the space that helps you. It would not work if you recorded it mellow and dark and tried to fix it afterwards. sometimes people post up a pile of stems and ask for people to mix them. The results are never chalk and cheese, always similar.
 
jerberson12 said:
Please compare the difference between the two mixes below.
Anyone knows the differences in recording/mixing/mastering techniques between the two?
Click to expand...
Yes - the Taylor Swift mix is a real singer/guitar player making the music - The Marshmeelow mix is a contructed track that's put together with comps - cut and pasted to match - and a bit cheap to my ears.

jerberson12 said:
Assuming I have a project with recorded tracks but not mixed yet and everything is raw, from this point, can I achieve both mix type through mixing process or does it have to do with the recording technique or mastering? Or is it the sound source and/or equipment? How do you not bleed out the high end from the mix? I tried de-esser and it does not seems to work.
Click to expand...
The first thing is when it gets time to master the Engineer makes decisions based on suggestions from the Recording engineer and maybe the artist (in Swifts Case not in the Marshmellow case) - then they do the best they can with the tracks as they are - Can you do this? Absolutely - how do you get there? - it’s highly dependent on what your style of music is - and what you have to work with.
 
It's a combination of mixing and mastering.

Song A is tilted toward 12k brightness and has a sub-low bump to compensate. But it's balanced because it sounds good on many speakers, because the midrange is smooth.

Song B is pretty balanced across the entire frequency spectrum to me. It will sound good on 99% of everything. The midrange is tilted toward the low mids though. My preference is for a little more brightness.

This isn't a good or bad situation. Just different. The key is a detailed midrange. Live drums can also be harsh so this perhaps makes sense of why the T-wisft song is a bit darker since 14 years ago, soothe didn't exist. I think it's awesome for what it is
 
A waste of time comparing the two songs. Listen to lots of music and find your own voice. Also, the music itself that you're recording will often want to come out a certain way. What does "not bleed out the high-end" mean exactly?
 
Um..I don't know anything....blind luck . all of it. Make the lights dance in the green and stop at yellow?

5 year now working on reaper...learned nothing..super proud of myself though.
 
Top is hard clipped with pyramix or dangerous music adc and clip recovery makes it bright
bottom vid is soft clipped with an apogee which remains neutral.
 
They are different. It's just what it is.

Mix and master for what your personal intentions are. I'm not actually not understanding what the question is I suppose.

What do your ears tell you to lean toward? Go there. (y)
 
I feel a hundred years old watching that teen pop big selling stuff...lol wow....
the top one was really a lot louder and the 2nd one was sooo quiet until the chorus. Definitely noticeable mixing/Mastering approaches.
My assumption is all that is done during mix and slamming the Mastering more, but its a guess. The arrangements of sounds and tricks can get really complex, right?

To be a pro producer/engineer I would think a person learns to do all those "tricks" to go to different modes and different styles. Acoustic ballads to Billboard Pop chart tones and tricks. Quiet verse, Loud Chorus formulas have always been catchy.
I recall a songwriting class and it said get a notebook and dissect the song every piece, every pan, note the tricks....fun homework project.
 
This, though isnt mastering, it’s two mixes. Mastering is guilding the lilly, the little tweaks and adjustments to make it match the listening world. Big changes are not mastering. Imagine you are mixing and really like the smooth and lush mix you did and the mastering engineer turned it into sharp and spikey? You’d hate it. If however, they sorted out the bit in the middle where the guitar sounded like it had rubber strings, and made that violin not sound quite like a student first violin, that’s something you’d be pleased with. The basic stuff should be done before it leaves your studio.
 
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