Today's Mix - new studio

[sodium glow]

I tracked this in a place I've never worked in before. What do you guys think? Just mixed this one today.

[dacart]

I think the balance is very good but there's a "veil" over the mix, particularly on the acoustic guitar that's somewhere in the mid to lo mid range. Have you listened on other speakers? It's awfully close except for the lack of "air" to put it another way. I hope this is helpful because the mix otherwise sounds very good!

Dan

[Kikkomen]

i would push the vocals higher. and there is something wrong in the buttom midrange. but overall, very nice song and nice sound.

[sodium glow]

Originally Posted by dacart

I think the balance is very good but there's a "veil" over the mix, particularly on the acoustic guitar that's somewhere in the mid to lo mid range. Have you listened on other speakers? It's awfully close except for the lack of "air" to put it another way. I hope this is helpful because the mix otherwise sounds very good!

Dan

Yeah Dan...good call. The producer wanted a "darker" mix but I can hear where some more top would be cool. In fact...I replaced the file up above with a more "airy" version. I like it more...we'll see if he does.

Thanks

[sodium glow]

Originally Posted by Kikkomen

i would push the vocals higher. and there is something wrong in the buttom midrange. but overall, very nice song and nice sound.

Check the latest mix I uploaded and see if the mids still bug you.

[Kikkomen]

when did u upload this? it sounds better, man.

[sodium glow]

Originally Posted by Kikkomen

when did u upload this? it sounds better, man.

About 5 min ago.

Thanks!

[Pat]

I would push the vocals too. Nice song, snare a bit bassy. The congas playing sounds boring.

[Kikkomen]

i would love to hear that in .wav. for me, the vocal is too compressed, but its a personal thing. but overall, VERY nice mix and sound now.

[sodium glow]

Originally Posted by Pat

I would push the vocals too. Nice song, snare a bit bassy. The congas playing sounds boring.

Yeah I usually give a vocal up version for the mastering engineer. But I tend to prefer vocals tucked a bit in general.

As for the congas...I agree but its not my call..the producer wants them in there throughout

Thanks.

[sodium glow]

Originally Posted by Kikkomen

i would love to hear that in .wav. for me, the vocal is too compressed, but its a personal thing. but overall, VERY nice mix and sound now.

I've got an 88.2 / 32 bit version I could send you. Let me know.

[Kikkomen]

got some time now, PM me a link

[sodium glow]

Originally Posted by Kikkomen

got some time now, PM me a link

Uploading to my ftp now....I'll post a link in about 15 min...as soon as its uploaded.

[sodium glow]

Originally Posted by Kikkomen

got some time now, PM me a link

88.2 - 32 bit version

LINK

[john caldwell]

Tones overall are excellent.

Listening on good cans as I'm doing now, which sometimes cause me to misjudge the relationship between center and side channels, I'll echo the sentiment regarding the lead vocal. May I add that I'm usually guilty of, if anything, wanting to bury the lead vocal (by contemporary standards at least).

Another item, the intro passages of the tune, when the track is predominantly vocal and acoustic: The vocal is high-passed quite a bit, while the acoustic has more of the low-mid body. This isn't wrong by any stretch, but I wonder about trading out the low-mids differently in that section, meaning allowing the vocal to have more LF weight, and high-passing the acoustic a little stronger instead. I think this issue contributes to the sense of possible imbalance between the lead vocal and the backing tracks. that has been brought up.

These are fine points, easily contestable of course, as the work is quite good as is.

Best of luck with this,

John-

[binarymilton]

Well, I'm listening to your new 'airy' version of the mix, and I think you've nailed it.

The congas are mildly irritating, yes, but you forget they're there when all the other instruments are playing. I would sneakily take them down a dB or two at the start.

I think your lead vocal is about right volume-wise, but I think you may as well bring it up for the song-title lines. I mean, the song doesn't really have a chorus as such, so you may as well highlight the bigger of the "I will worship you" lines.

Nice, clean, clear mix: the kind I am utterly incapable of achieving!

[sodium glow]

Originally Posted by john caldwell

Tones overall are excellent.

Listening on good cans as I'm doing now, which sometimes cause me to misjudge the relationship between center and side channels, I'll echo the sentiment regarding the lead vocal. May I add that I'm usually guilty of, if anything, wanting to bury the lead vocal (by contemporary standards at least).

Another item, the intro passages of the tune, when the track is predominantly vocal and acoustic: The vocal is high-passed quite a bit, while the acoustic has more of the low-mid body. This isn't wrong by any stretch, but I wonder about trading out the low-mids differently in that section, meaning allowing the vocal to have more LF weight, and high-passing the acoustic a little stronger instead. I think this issue contributes to the sense of possible imbalance between the lead vocal and the backing tracks. that has been brought up.

These are fine points, easily contestable of course, as the work is quite good as is.

Best of luck with this,

John-

Thanks for the input / feedback. I appreciate you taking the time.

[sodium glow]

Originally Posted by binarymilton

Well, I'm listening to your new 'airy' version of the mix, and I think you've nailed it.

The congas are mildly irritating, yes, but you forget they're there when all the other instruments are playing. I would sneakily take them down a dB or two at the start.

I think your lead vocal is about right volume-wise, but I think you may as well bring it up for the song-title lines. I mean, the song doesn't really have a chorus as such, so you may as well highlight the bigger of the "I will worship you" lines.

Nice, clean, clear mix: the kind I am utterly incapable of achieving!

Thanks so much!

[sodium glow]

I dumped the perc all together in the beginning and it turns out that the producer likes it that way! New file at the top..also bumped the lead vox up a hair once the band comes in.

[john caldwell]

This is excellent. A very clear and defined approach, and much more contemporary vocal levels than the prior mix, yet in no way insulting.

Lovely production and mixing here. Nice track as well.

John-

[sodium glow]

Thanks John! The producer and artist love this mix as well.

[protonxl]

Brotha this sounds awesome.. I grabbed my guitar and I was jamming along with ya God bless!

I got an idea for you to try it out, it sounded pretty good when I messing around.. hopefully it isn't all in my head

at the prechorus

------ D -------- E ---------- A
And in the things that bring me down
------ D -------- E ---------- B (major)
When comforts lost and can't be found

just a thought.. seems to have a nicer build for the chorus


but the mix is pretty awesome something to look up to, since i plan on doing similar songs to this style

[sodium glow]

Thanks protonxl!

I didn't write or produce the song. The artist is in Louisiana and the producer is in Florida and I'm in Nashville. I appreciate the input on the song changes but I don't have any say in the writing/arrangement/production on this. Just the engineering and mix.

Thanks again and God bless you too!

[digibiu]

Where in Louisiana?

[sodium glow]

I'm pretty sure he lives in Lafayette, Louisiana. We recorded in Nashville, TN.

[digibiu]

Im in Lafayette, whats his name?

[lucifer0688]

Sounds great just have once critique about the snare and that it sounds like its got a blanked over it. snare has got to be the hardest thing to get to sound good and still sit in the mix as far as with the other mics vs cymbals... u turn up ur overheads and room mics and it makes ur snare sound more open but than u get too much cymbal in the mix... I'd try just mixing in enough of a snare sample to really open it up. if u dont have sound replacer or drumagog or one of those programs use the tab to tansients* function on the snare track in pro tools and paste it to ur snare sample track. theres a little trick to doing it tho that involves creating a group first. let me know if ur interested and ill show u. great job tho!

[sodium glow]

Originally Posted by lucifer0688

Sounds great just have once critique about the snare and that it sounds like its got a blanked over it. snare has got to be the hardest thing to get to sound good and still sit in the mix as far as with the other mics vs cymbals... u turn up ur overheads and room mics and it makes ur snare sound more open but than u get too much cymbal in the mix... I'd try just mixing in enough of a snare sample to really open it up. if u dont have sound replacer or drumagog or one of those programs use the tab to tansients* function on the snare track in pro tools and paste it to ur snare sample track. theres a little trick to doing it tho that involves creating a group first. let me know if ur interested and ill show u. great job tho!

Thanks for the offer. I do have Drumagog and didn't use any samples on this track. The fat/muted sound to the snare was intentional. And actually this record has been out for several months now...so there is no changing it at this point. I originally posted this back in July of last year.

Thanks again.