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

[jerberson12]

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!

 

[Slouching Raymond]

Soil my ears with Taylor Swift? Are you mad?

 

[rob aylestone]

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.

 

[Papanate]

Please compare the difference between the two mixes below.
Anyone knows the differences in recording/mixing/mastering techniques between the two?

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.

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.

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.