Member Dana Nielsen
MemberForum Replies Created
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James!
So fun to hear this again – such an awesome composition, performance, and soundscape. Bravo!!
I just love that you and your daughter work on these together – she sounds great! Her voice and stacked harmony style reminds me of a group @cmn and @kwas and I have been listening to lots lately, The Roches. 💜
OK, so here are the very few ideas that came to mind while rocking out to “Give It A Name”:
- 1:05 – gimme lots more sidestick backbeat!!
- Try turning up the Kick throughout so that it’s at least as big and loud as those rocking toms
- love those little electronic percussion elements!!
All easy stuff man! And only if you’re feelin it, too! Awesome work as always, “J-Cube”.
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It was so great seeing you on the Zoom yesterday and hearing a preview (in mono – thanks, Zoom 🥴)
Looking fwd to giving this a fresh listen (in stereo!) soon, man!
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Love, love, LOVE!!! This is so good for so many reasons, Paul!! The song and performance are great, the sounds are clean and clear and punchy and have a great sense of space and vibe, and the dad-son combo is the icing on the beautiful “stuff that really matters in life” cake! 🍰
“Gentle Weezer” 😂 – great observation, @shimmerisland! I love Weezer and Rivers’ solo “demos” albums are an absolute treat if you haven’t heard them. Working w them on their Red Album was one of my fav experiences as an engineer. They’re all so smart and fun and hilarious.
@-PT you know I was hearing all kinds of fun little bonus earcandy add-ons to lift diff sections lolol, but I absolutely appreciate this as it is – capturing a performance of great song played live by a great band! (That bass riff towards the end?! I was all, “woah!”)
My only mix curiosity that I would be keen to try if I were playing around with it would be to try muting the general room reverb to see what it’s like if the vocal and “regular rhythm instruments” are bone dry, vocal right upfront, no sauce; and the only saucy surprise would be those killing slide guitar parts that have the strong echo/verb on them. Basically, just upping the ante on the contrast btwn dry AF and surprisingly-verbed-out solo guitar riffs.
And there’s a good chance I’d try that and then be like, “nah, it was cool as it was”. But I would at least try it and see. 🥰
PS – looks like the tags on this thread disappeared! I was excited to see some clever/irreverant comedy gold, @JLew!
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Also, FYI, be sure to subscribe to the Events calendar to automatically add upcoming Mix Protégé events directly into your preferred calendar app! ⚡️🤘
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Hey Drew!
What a great question: To be or not to be – be – be – be… 🎤🎶
@-PT raised some great follow-up questions that might shed light on why delay isn’t working for you as expected (thanks, Paul!), and here are some of my own thoughts and suggestions:
1. The “Pro” Advice Conundrum
There are a million “pros” on YouTube these days, and their advice can be all over the place—some great, some… not. I love that you’re watching, learning, and spotting trends, but more importantly, that you’re testing things out for yourself and letting your ear and intuition guide you. That’s what matters.
Keep in mind, these so-called “pros” aren’t mixing your song. They might not even work in your genre. What works in Top 40 pop or R&B doesn’t necessarily translate to an acoustic, folk, or bluegrass mix. Dig?
2. My Approach to Delay & Reverb
Personally, I always have delay and reverb options ready in every mix session—across every genre. That doesn’t mean I’ll use them, but they’re available if I need them.
For a deeper dive, check out my 5-step approach to FX while mixing:
🔗 Dialing in Delay & Reverb—During vs. After Mixing
When mixing vocals, I usually settle into one of four categories:
1️⃣ With reverb
2️⃣ With delay
3️⃣ With both reverb & delay
4️⃣ Bone friggin’ dry!
And guess what? In acoustic genres, #4 is often my favorite.
3. Why I Love a Bone-Dry Vocal
A completely dry vocal can be a powerful choice, especially in acoustic, folk, or bluegrass styles. Here’s why:
🎙 Intimacy – A dry vocal makes you feel like you’re in the same room as the singer, like they’re singing just for you.
💬 Honesty & Vulnerability – Even if the vocal has been comped and tuned (naturally, of course! 😉 See: Natural Vocal Production), leaving it dry makes it feel raw, exposed, and authentic. No fancy reverbs = nothing to hide.
🎭 Contrast – One of the most underrated tools in mixing is contrast. Dry vs. wet, loud vs. soft, clean vs. distorted. A bone-dry vocal at the start makes any reverb or delay you introduce later way more noticeable and exciting. Think of it like an EDM riser before the bass drops—it builds anticipation and impact.
4. The Right Way to Use Delay Without Losing Clarity
If you do want to use delay without muddying your vocal, here are a few key things to try:
✅ Use an Aux Send & Return – Instead of inserting delay directly on the vocal track (which forces you to blend wet/dry signals), route it through an aux send. That way, your dry vocal stays intact while you control the delay separately. Always set the delay plugin to 100% wet when using this method.
✅ Dial it in on Headphones – Mixing in headphones lets you hear the delay in more detail. It also helps you realize you probably don’t need as much as you think! A good sign you’ve nailed it? When someone listens and says, “You should try a quarter-note delay throw on that high vocal line!” And you just smile because it’s already there—subtly working its magic.
✅ Try a Long Pre-Delay on Reverb – If your vocal gets lost in reverb, try adding a long pre-delay (e.g., 250ms). This creates a gap before the reverb tail kicks in, keeping the dry vocal upfront while still giving you that spacious effect. No pre-delay setting? Just insert a simple delay before the reverb.
5. The Verdict? No Delay = No Problem
So, back to your original question—are you a heretic for dropping vocal delay?
Heck no! There’s no “one-size-fits-all” rule in mixing. If your track sounds better without delay, trust your ears. It’s not about what’s “common” or “expected”—it’s about what works.
Hope this helps, Drew! And hope you don’t mind the long (and delayed 😬) response—mixing is an art, and art deserves some deep dives.
mixprotege.com
Dialing in Delay/Reverb in Mix (During vs After)
Do you feel like it's better to add delay and reverb as you go, or getting a good mix without it and then sprinkling in…
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Jesse!! Here are my real-time unedited notes while listening:
- How beautiful! I instantly love this.
- Turn up the geese!!! More ambience.
- Guitar sounds kinda thin.
- 1:00 – woah the track just opened way up with more production, what a fun surprise!
- 1:26 L/R strum guitars sound real thin.
- 1:46 I’d try making your vocal louder, and more verb-y! by 2:11 the level sound right, but would be cool w more verb
- 2:30 – deeeeyumn! Chills! Love this progression and the soft low end kick booty is wonderful. Love all the claps and snaps and textures.
- 3:11 ending vocals, again more dreamy verb. Vocals in general also sound a bit thin. Try some Waves R-Bass (maybe set to 100-200hz) on the vocal and the ac guitars to fill them out with more body.
SOOOO beautiful, brother!!!! Seriously, what a treat to listen to. Thank you so much for sharing your magic with us all!
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What an excellent singer and songwriter she is!
Damn that minor-iv-chord pre-chorus setup is amazing. Great bridge and melodies and lyrics all around. 👏
Love learning more about your processing voodoo! Whatever you’ve done sounds excellent, man.
- 0:30-0:32 there are a couple guitar chords here that aren’t as full as the rest and I bet you could fly them from earlier in the verse if you wanted to. You know … since you have the guitar separated from the vocal, you Rip-X madman!
- Only other thing from me is wanting to hear more of that audience at the end. Turn that applause up loud and proud cause a) she deserves it – and so do you!, and b) it’ll really make listeners go “wait .. woah, that was live?! It sounded like a studio recording!” If the audience sound isn’t as robust there in your 2-track as needed, perhaps you could fly in some audience bits from her stage entrance or exit to supplement, with your 20ms widening perhaps!
Awesome stuff as always, @-PT! Thanks for sharing both your audio AND your process!!
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Hey Paul – which RX Advanced module was able to do that? Inquiring minds want to know … 🤯
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Ah, gotcha! Hope your eyes checked out ok with the doc 👀. And yeah, small and conversational indeed – very nice 😊
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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
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Jesseeeeee!! This is so freaking gorgeous, musically and visually – it came out amazing!!!
It sounds great, looks beautiful, love the creative vid editing, love all the cool things and hard work you put in on this audiovisual masterpiece! That solo section with once the groove is in with those sweet chord changes gives me a smile and goosebumps every time. 💜
Proud of u, brother! Keep em comin!!
PS – @-PT I’m just seeing your “freckles” tag hahaha. I gotta say, that quote of yours above about freckles and falling in love was genius and hit me right in the heart. I am on the same end as you of the freckles-love spectrum.
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🛸👽🦤😂
Very cool, @-PT ! All that is missing is some VO by David Attenborough (or better still given the UFO splash mystery, Werner Herzog!)
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Awe, we missed you, Paul! Sorry I didn’t email ahead of time about this one – was actually surprised/delighted anyone showed up! 😂 I scheduled it on the Mix Protege calendar for my own testing purposes and lo and behold Joe and James must have previously subscribed to the calendar and they were there right on time, which was a lot of fun!
That said, I’m thrilled the “subscribe to calendar” feature works, which means less emailing for me, yay! Gonna try to get into a regularly scheduled Zoom flow via that calendar so hit that subscribe button to sync it with your calendar app and I’ll see your handsome face on the next one!
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Love this, Paul! And love your description of Geese migration using stereo pan language, lolol. Amazing.
I should note, too, for anyone reading and/or commenting in the Member Spotlight forum, I always leave my notes before reading anyone else’s. Just in case you’re like, “Dana, I already mentioned the geese and the verb!” 😂
Great minds…