Critique before mastering

[jordanstoner]

In the following link are roughly 1 minute clips from an album I've been working on (recording / mixing / producing).

VIEW FROM SPACE

I am intending to send this to Euphonic Masters for Brad Blackwood to master. Just wanting to get some (final) second opinions here, since I value and respect the views of those on this board.

Feel free to listen and critique on all aspects - music / mixing / production, etc.

Note that these are pre-mastering, and have been converted from 88.2 / 24-bit to 44.1 / 16-bit (with dither). I've tried to capture sections from verse, chorus, and solo for all songs (some clips have been shortened / extended when I thought necessary).

The band is called View From Space.

Can't wait to hear your opinions!

[AUDIOBOMBER]

hi
just listened trough my macbook and sony mdr-7509 headphone couse i`m not in my studio right now.
the alloversound is quite cool - a good starter for mastering i guess...
i personaly would maybe reduce the cymbals a bit .
more de-essing at least on the track ``cought in a room``wouldnt be a mistake ( does the vocal there have to be slightly on the right side..? )

good work - well done

80 % of the mixes i get are much worse so i guess Brad Blackwood should be quite happy...

if not - call me ( just kidding )

[24-96 Mastering]

Just had a quick listen to the first song only (here i am). Sounds good, great vibe, but 3 things come to mind:

1. something's fishy with the overheads and/or drum room. They cancel out extremely when summed mono. How come? Are they recorded that wide or is a processor on them? Or simply a polarity switch in a stereo pair? Have a listen in mono, it's worth an investigation.
(I have the feeling that the phase on some guitars is quite wide too. But it's primarily the cymbals/overheads/drum room on which I'd think of it as problematic.)

2. It's potentially a bit smushed. I'm sure Brad will be able to open it up a bit but if you have anything on the mix buss smushing it (tape, glue-comp, etc.) maybe ease off a bit. If in doubt, provide alternate mixes with less processing.

3. Attention Nitpicking: For my taste for a rock mastering source (and that is just my taste), kick and snare could be a tiny tad louder. Half a dB only. Maybe on the kick only a dB of presence more even. Would give me more options in mastering with reg. to dynamics. If in doubt, make a kick+snare up version of the mixes


My 2 cents. The mix is good so don't put too much weight into my critique (except the cancellation issue, you should look into that). The music sounds cool, BB is gonna have a good time mastering the album. I'm jealous

[jordanstoner]

A humble thanks for the nice and constructive feedback, Robin and Alexander.

The OH's are phased because of a parallel compressor in M/S mode (a Fairchild 670 emulation), which is giving the exaggerated width and level to the sides of the drum buss. Certainly a trade-off, but one that was ultimately settled on, as we ended up feeling that what it lost in mono it more than made up for in stereo. Hard to duplicate the effect while maintaining mono compatibility, but you're right - worth re-investigating.

The same type of parallel comp was used on the master buss to spread everything open a bit more and add some "beef" (reduce dynamics while retaining peak integrity). Again, perhaps used too liberally on some tracks - I'll probably send a mix w/o to Brad and include these for reference. Hopefully we can find a good balance with some nicer analog comp's.

Guitars were not treated the same - I mostly employed short delays to achieve width. There are some instances where they fall apart in mono - same story as above. Worth re-investigation.

Thanks again for the replies!

[nickynicknick]

Originally Posted by jordanstoner

A humble thanks for the nice and constructive feedback, Robin and Alexander.

The OH's are phased because of a parallel compressor in M/S mode (a Fairchild 670 emulation), which is giving the exaggerated width and level to the sides of the drum buss. Certainly a trade-off, but one that was ultimately settled on, as we ended up feeling that what it lost in mono it more than made up for in stereo. Hard to duplicate the effect while maintaining mono compatibility, but you're right - worth re-investigating.

The same type of parallel comp was used on the master buss to spread everything open a bit more and add some "beef" (reduce dynamics while retaining peak integrity). Again, perhaps used too liberally on some tracks - I'll probably send a mix w/o to Brad and include these for reference. Hopefully we can find a good balance with some nicer analog comp's.

Guitars were not treated the same - I mostly employed short delays to achieve width. There are some instances where they fall apart in mono - same story as above. Worth re-investigation.

Thanks again for the replies!

M/S is not something I think you should be using liberally while mixing/recording...is it really that necessary? no...for an effect sure...as part of your regular process...asking for trouble.

Nick

[ed littman]

Originally Posted by 24-96 Mastering

Just had a quick listen to the first song only (here i am). Sounds good, great vibe, but 3 things come to mind:

1. something's fishy with the overheads and/or drum room. They cancel out extremely when summed mono. How come? Are they recorded that wide or is a processor on them? Or simply a polarity switch in a stereo pair? Have a listen in mono, it's worth an investigation.
(I have the feeling that the phase on some guitars is quite wide too. But it's primarily the cymbals/overheads/drum room on which I'd think of it as problematic.)

2. It's potentially a bit smushed. I'm sure Brad will be able to open it up a bit but if you have anything on the mix buss smushing it (tape, glue-comp, etc.) maybe ease off a bit. If in doubt, provide alternate mixes with less processing.

3. Attention Nitpicking: For my taste for a rock mastering source (and that is just my taste), kick and snare could be a tiny tad louder. Half a dB only. Maybe on the kick only a dB of presence more even. Would give me more options in mastering with reg. to dynamics. If in doubt, make a kick+snare up version of the mixes


My 2 cents. The mix is good so don't put too much weight into my critique (except the cancellation issue, you should look into that). The music sounds cool, BB is gonna have a good time mastering the album. I'm jealous

excellent review. I second more snare!
best of luck,
Ed