-
The Rush, is my low end too much, just right. or?
Hi MP friends, Dana gave me some really helpful feedback on my last mix of this song. After pulling all the faders to zero and using the ‘chaos to clarity’ protocol, it is feeling way better.
Would love to hear any mix suggestions or thoughts before I put this to bed and get another song rolling along. Thank you!
Mp3 is attached and here is a video i’m working on also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWK8uYcPYew
Thank you!!
Joe Robinson -
19 Replies
-
Sounds beautiful to me, Joe! LOVE the video too:)
Jesse
-
Joe! This is such a big improvement, man, great work! Fantastic video too – love seeing the behind the scenes!
I first listened to the audio file and then watched the video. Sounds like the same mix(?) but the video is much louder, which I enjoyed. I felt like the mp3 audio-only file was nicely balanced but definitely on the quiet side, mastering-wise. Whatever loud-sauce you added to the youtube audio was nice!
I love what you’ve done here with the mix. And no, I don’t think there’s too much low end. It is prominent, but in a great way … deep, not overbearing, and evenly distributed on the elec bass (i.e. I don’t hear certain notes popping out with more low end than other notes 👌).
All the instruments feel balanced nicely, the mix is lively and exciting, really well done!
The only mild curiosities I had were:
- Stereo Width: the intro felt wide and exciting, but once the first A-section began the mix felt quite mono-ish throughout the song except for a few occasional splashes of sound into the Left or Right speaker. I would experiment with stereo placement of some of the synthy or supplemental guitar textures to paint a wider soundscape.
- The tom fills, on the other hand, were very stereo! haha. And possibly a touch too loud. Given that the mix overall isn’t super wide, I’d keep the toms panned a bit closer to center so they feel attached to the drums and the band.
- The compression on the snare works in general, as it keeps those brushes motoring steadily and evenly throughout the song. However, I really hear the compressor clamp down any time there’s a snare fill, and as a listener I want those fills to breathe and get louder. I would try raising your snare compressor’s threshold (so the compressor activates on fewer hits) and/or decreasing the ratio (which would effectively reduce the intensity of that “compressed sound”). For natural-sounding snare compression you might try 3:1 or 4:1. Ooh, another option if your compressor has a “blend” or “mix” knob, is to keep your compression setting as it is, and just adjust the compressor’s mix knob to like 50%.
I can’t remember if I shared this with you already, but feel free to check out the recent “Compression Settings By Ear” Zoom in the Live Event Replays forum 🤘
Again, great work on the mix! And amazing song and chops, man!!
-
Thank you so much Dana!! I had a blast mixing this with the Chaos to Clarity protocol you laid out. That is a really great workflow.
For the video I used the Fab Filter Pro L-2 to bring up the level. During the mix I was trying to keep the peaks under that 6db buffer and it did feel pretty quiet.
RE Stereo Width – I have Keyscape Wurli and Rhodes parts, played by yours truly (not a real keyboard player 😅) that I panned hard left and right during the intro because it felt more interesting. I will experiment with panning them for the whole song – excited to try that!
RE Tom Fills – I was thinking they were a little loud too – will try panning them a little closer to center, I think they are panned 70% here.
RE Compression – I actually don’t have any compression or eq on any of the individual tracks, just HPF’s, a Studer A800 plug on the guitar and a tiny bit of bus compression. I think the snare was squashed a little during tracking – will investigate further as I do have a bunch of drum mics that I disabled.
I did watch your Compression settings zoom which was great!
I’m going to re-work this mix a little and send it off to Richard Dodd for mastering.
——
A few quick questions:
- Is there a lufs number you shoot for when mixing?
- RE small speakers – is this like a set of desktop computer speakers, or something like NS10’s?
- With your D-command, how much volume automation do you tend to write on a live-band type recording? I tend to ride each instrument like i’m ‘playing the song’ – would love to know how you approach this.
Thanks so much for taking the time to listen,
Joe-
Hey Joe! Sorry for the slow response .. been absolutely swallowed up by an intense project, working nonstop. I’m so glad the tips were helpful!! And heck yeah, that Pro-L2 on the youtube sounds great!
Re your questions:
- LUFS schmufs. 😂. At least while mixing, I’m never looking at LUFS (tho w/ my TC Electronic Clarity meter I am always aware of what the LUFS are, at a glance). I do look at LUFS when adding my final limiter to create a loud reference mix to send to the artist, or to upload directly to distrokid/youtube/etc. if self-releasing and self-mastering. At that point, I don’t have a target I’m shooting for, I just want it to be loud and exciting and to jump out of the speakers without limiting artifacts. It’s hard to answer and to teach, since for me the overall loudness of a track should reflect the music. For example, it would be simple to make a ukulele and whispery indie vocal track WAAAY louder than a heavy nu-metal band track because the ukulele/voc track is soft and gentle with not much low end and very few if any transients to contend with like snare and kick hits. But for me, the question is: just because you CAN make it louder, SHOULD you?
- My “small speakers” are more like desktop computer speakers, pushed together in mono and off to the side of the room, not in the sweet spot. They’re Radio Shack Realistic speakers from the early 90s haha.
- Re automation … yes! I love the way you described that … “playing the band!” That’s exactly what I do too man!
-
Thanks so much for the reply Dana!!! I’m going to dig out some little desktop speakers!!
Cheers and thanks for all the help!
Joe
-
Loving this thread of notes and curious to learn more about the chaos to clarity protocol!
More importantly, Joe! Phew, smoking performance and song.
Really nice stuff. Felt like I was back in Texas in some middle of nowhere saloon about to test my grit on a few too many shots of bourbon.
The only thing that caught my ears lines right up with Dana’s notes about the width. Of course his notes are always on the money.
Looking forward to hearing the next mix or master!
Cheers,
Jeremy
-
Jeremy! Here’s a link to Chaos to Clarity. I haven’t shared it far and wide just yet, cause it’s kinda a rough draft and I know I can make it better, clearer, more images, etc. Also I wanna have a link in the pdf to @Nate‘s initial Mixing forum post and wonderful question which inspired me to make this pdf — which is entirely based on my responses to Nate in that forum.
But … until I have a chance to improve it … here it is! Enjoy!
mixprotege.com
Declutter any mix in 4 simple steps!
Bring definition and focus to any mix with my 4-step
-
Love this @dana – going to be a point of reference for me moving forward (as your responses to that initial post already are).
Also – how cool to see @JoeRobinson here in the Mix Protege community. Been a fan of yours for many years!
-
Awe MAN! I LOVE that you guys are in each other’s orbit. I hope to hear a @Nate x @JoeRobinson collab sometime soon! You guys are both cuh-razy talented!
-
😱 @dana out here tryna make my dreams come true
-
Great to connect with you, Nathaniel!!!
-
Great to connect with you to @joerobinson ! If you’re ever looking for some cinematic orchestral additions to your work, I’d love to chat! Linked some of the (mostly) orchestral stuff I’ve been doing this past year or so.
Also @dana if I’m making a faux pas by sharing stuff in this format, lemme know! Want to respect the boundaries of the community 🙂
https://s.disco.ac/fqtgaedycvyk
-
Heck no, man! So glad you shared!
And gorgeous looking (and sounding) DISCO page. ⚡️ Beautiful arranging and composing on there, homey!
I was poking around and enjoying all the tracks and stumbled on “Happy” and was like, OMG I forgot about this one! So freaking cool, top to bottom.
@joerobinson, “Happy” is one of @nate‘s excellent shares here on MP Member Spotlight a while back – u can check it out here:https://mixprotege.com/forums/discussion/mix-feedback-on-original-piece/
-
thanks @dana !! DISCO’s “artist page” playlist share for the win on the aesthetic! Appreciate your kind words 🙂 Going to be releasing “Happy” in the new year with a bigger collection of original stuff.
-
thanks for taking a listen @joerobinson ! Excited to hear your 5/4 piece. And yes, let’s definitely stay in touch! Would be a blast to work with you 🙂
-
-
-
-
-
-
Adding to this thread! Look what came across my release radar today! Happy release of the “The Rush” to @joerobinson
Congrats man! sounds SO GOOOOOD!
Give it a spin Fam!
https://open.spotify.com/track/1joCGU12JrtcVjcm52EnsQ?si=15aaaf3120444a5d
-
Thanks so much, Jesse!!
-
Wooo!! Love seeing MP fam releases in the wild!
Added “The Rush” to the Mix Protégé Member Spotlight Spotify Playlist!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2Hur30TN833YNBj6auawtf?si=46d26c4558014b6d
-
Log in to reply.