GENIE grovels- please golden ears- check this mix

[Magic Genie]

I'm mixing another CD. Still struggling with the multiband compressor to tame lo-mids on some stuff. And maybe mixing too hot.

Would you have a listen and tell me what you think?

I need to mix 9 more songs on the G4 before I hook up the G5 because the G5 doesn't suport my 2408. Anybody want to sell an 828mk2?

CLICK TO APPLY YOUR GOLDEN EARS:
TRAX:
http://www.geniesongs.com/products/c...yaTrax+Msg.mp3

FULL MIX
http://www.geniesongs.com/products/c...tyFull+Msg.mp3

[thethrillfactor]

Listened to your song(or mix).

First of all nice production(Enya/Sarah Mclachlan vibe).

To make it better I would suggest 3 things:

1) The lead while nice and clear lacks a little body. Also the "air" in the vocal is a little digital sounding.

2) The effect on the vocal that goes back and forth at times can be a little distracting. I always feel with panning effects, less is more, or save them for imporatnt spots. Because they happpen so often, your ears get accustomed to it and it makes the synths sound darker when they come in during the chorus. The reason being that the space has already been occupied by the panning vocal effect(brighter sounding than pads). If you make the vocal effects a little more center focused, it would make those synth pads appear more dramtic and heavenly(i guess what you are after).

3) Lastly, the mix is a little 2D, which in certain cases can be ok(its a sound of a lot of CD mixes today), but I wanted to be enveloped(or sucked in by the song) and it being a little 2 dimensional made me feel a little seperated from it. I know this is a nit pick, but its jsut an opinion.

Overall its a fine job.

[Magic Genie]

Wow - awesome suggestions. Helpful but still kind enough not to crush my little heart.

I guess I need a better analog to digital convertor to get rid of the digital air. It's a Lawson L47 into a mArtech Pre, into a Waves L2 convertor.

Any suggestions on making the mix more 3d?

[thethrillfactor]

Originally posted by Magic Genie
Wow - awesome suggestions. Helpful but still kind enough not to crush my little heart.

I guess I need a better analog to digital convertor to get rid of the digital air. It's a Lawson L47 into a mArtech Pre, into a Waves L2 convertor.

Any suggestions on making the mix more 3d?

Hi Genie,

I think on the lead its just the EQ(if you've used any). I think most of the vocal is fine, its just two places:

1) When you are slightly off axis the timbre changes a little(as well as the level a touch).

2) The "air" or high shelf is just a little too high.

Both of these things could be fixed with the right comp on your vocal during the mix(the comp would push the midrange a little which would pull the listeners ear of the highs). It will also give the vocal a little more "meat".

I knew you would ask about the 3D thing.

I gotta ponder it some. Dimension is normally a factor of effects,panning and frequency.

Which one needs help is the question.

[Robotnik]

The low-rumble piano pedal noise bothers me.
Add some filtering to some of the BGVox...or copy to another track, filter and pan hard left/right.
Other then these, it's just production preferences that I'd change.

The song gave me peace.

[Magic Genie]

Thank you Robotnik, you and thrillfactor are really hearing well.

I guess by filtering you mean the bg vocal pads are so thick and dense they are muddying things maybe, right?

[Magic Genie]

Would you believe that lead vocal is straight into the Martech Mss-10 pre- no eq at all.
That thing really is present.

[Kris]

Nice voice... who is the artist?

[Magic Genie]

Originally posted by Kris
Nice voice... who is the artist?

'Lil 'ol peaceful me:



Please click to go to the Love Songs CD I just finished and apply your golden ears more! I need your advice!

[smoothmoniker]

Originally posted by Magic Genie
Would you believe that lead vocal is straight into the Martech Mss-10 pre- no eq at all.

yes.

love this song, BTW. tracked something similar about a year ago.

-sm

[thethrillfactor]

Originally posted by Magic Genie


Any suggestions on making the mix more 3d?

Hi Genie.

Had a little more time to ponder the 3d issue with your songs.

After hearing the mix in the studio today(last night was on a nice Dell system), the things I would suggest are 3 fold:

Since dimension(3D) deals with effects,panning and frequency, I will try to touch a little of each.

1) Panning first- What I've noticed today(correct me if I am wrong) is that a lot of things are panned hard left and right(vocal effects,backgrounds,bck effects,piano) and your little ol voice(as you call it) is by itself in the center.

If this is correct, you have managed to create a 2D image(or plane)(the out sides and center). What I would suggest is(again this is just a suggestion) make a mental note on what the important elements are, and commit yourself to the fact that when they play, they will be the focus.

It seems to me that the order of importance would be:

1) Vocal 2)Piano 3) Ambience

If this is the case than whatever elements belong to the top 2, make those clear and present. The way you do that in panning is by focusing more of the elements toward the center(Vocal and its effects and piano and its effects if any). That would leave your outsides for more dramatic instances(swooshing pads and backgounds). If you decide to place the choruses on the outsides than you have to find a way to force its ambiences further out(either done with phasing or spatializing). Is the piano in stereo? Than maybe just use one side and pan it slightly off center(with its ambience effects on its same side a little further out).

2) Effects- since I consider myself the king of effects , I can only say that the right vocal effects should lift the voice and fill it out(especially in this genre). The effects choices are great, just a little thin sounding(and when you add up a track with a bunch of thin sounding effects, you get a thin sounding track).

What could you use? Don't know what you have, so i can't make solid sugggestions.

3) EQ-I've stated some things previously. I think as a whole, the one thing the tracks lacks is a little midrange. But I think by giving the important elements some body, it will begin to fill it out.

Again Genie, thes are just suggestions and please take them with a grain of salt(like a shot of Tequila i guess).

Good luck and happy mixing.

[faeflora]

Good song!

I think that there could be a greater difference between the track volumes.

The chorus/pad sound overwhelms the lead vocal when it comes in. It also seems like your mic placement on the LV is the same throughout the song. Perhaps a different mic placement for that "chorus" would help the LV stand out more. I'd also lower the volume of the chorus and eq it around the LV. Right now they're clashing a little. I think that's partially because they both of a lot of high end. I think the chorus pad thing would work even if it had the high end rolled off. When the chorus oohs solo I'd let the high end be full. The low end on the chorus is good. I think the song wouid be more relaxing with quieter oohs and chorus sounds.

The piano is a little to bright too. I might put a tiny bit of fx of some sort on it. Thrill said there's a little high end harshness on the vocal, but I hear it as build up from all the tracks. The bells work too.

Did you compress the vocal or automate or just sing consistently? Did you use the L2 to limit more than 1-2db? Bringing up the LV over the chorus pad might also work if you don't want to lower the level of the chorus. I don't think the high end on the vocal is caused by your converter. I think it's just your bright pre. I agree with Thrill that a compressor could tame the high end on the LV. Anything high-end with a soft knee would work. You could also try high shelf boosting above your esses going into the compressor to hit the threshold harder and squish down on the air. I reccomend compression over eq because it's easier and it seems to work well with airy ultra high harmonics. FX might also help, but unless you're really good with them and/or have have very good FX units/plugs you might end up trashing the vocal.

To summarize my suggestions, I think what would benifit the song most is more dynamics. It's a pretty song and while Christina Aguilara "pretty" is IN YOUR FACE I'm not hearing a Christina Aguilara "pretty" song or a "commercial pop" vibe in the song.

Overall, I think it's fine engineering. Just so you know, I'm quite picky, opinionated, and very critical. I made these suggestions with the objective of amplifying the essence of the song. General listeners would have no problems with the mix though. Good job!

[faeflora]

One other thing. Do you have these songs copyrighted? Especially since you're posting the songs without vocals, I strongly reccomend copyrighting. If you need help with that I can show you a place that helps you do it for free.

[Magic Genie]

Wow- those are really good suggestions-
thank you both so much!

I'll work on those.

I'm mixing the rest of the CD now.