Entourage Michael Hiebeler
EntourageForum Replies Created
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Thanks for the warm welcome everyone, happy to be here!
Dana,
I made some adjustments to tame the percussion & used the Ozone Imager 2 to bring the second snare 35% mono. Now I hear more of that space it was originally taking away from the vocal.
The vocals I’ve turned up by about a db & it seems to have brought more excitement & energy to the track while having more room to occupy the space. Please Let me know if I’m in the ballpark with your suggestions in helping to improve the track.
The Realistics have arrived! I have to get a 1/4 L/R to Female 3.5mm headphone jack cord to plug them into my Apollo Twin X, so I can switch between them & my Adam Monitors! I’m interested & trusting that they have a decent sound yet, as they’re vintage. I’ll keep in mind that those speakers will give the vocal/snare sound priority so I shouldn’t be alarmed if they poke out more than on the Main Monitors.
The loudness part has been a big one for me over the last couple of years. I can get the LUFS levels in the ballpark of most released Hip Hop songs, but on Streaming, the volume of my songs has to be turned up 1-2 clicks to match a commercially released song. As for the Console emulation I tend to use Avid HEAT (PRE) on everything but Vocals with the Drive two clicks to the left & the Tone two clicks to the right (Learned that setting from a Jaycen Joshua MWTM Video).
On my Mix Bus I tend to go with the UAD ATR-102 for a console emulation to start off the chain along with Gold Clip/God Particle.
I’m curious if both HEAT & the ATR could be shaving off too many transients killing some of the punch/energy? Does anyone like & utilize HEAT, or have a preferred setting?
I checked out the Links as well, thanks for pointing me in the right direction. As you already know when mixing I can get lost looking at the trees without seeing the whole forest. It’s great to get someone’s first impression/initial thoughts on something I’ve probably worked too long on & lost the overall picture of.
You are greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Mike Heebz =)
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This is an amazing sounding track Alex, so well mixed & balanced with just the right vocal effects. The artist has a killer flow too, much props to all involved. I tend to put a UAD ATR-102 on my mix bus at the beginning of the chain to drive into, would this be similar to what you are recommending in the Vimeo video Dana with the NLS/Desk emulations? Also question about Avid HEAT, how do ya’ll use it as I like to put it on PRE on everything but the vocals & would you put it on as an addition to an NLS or other emulation, or would that tame the transients too much having multiple desk emulations going? Thanks for sharing all, MIX ON! =)
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Isn’t the saying ‘Be Like Mike’ ? I’m over here learning to Mix like Greg!!!
Going to try that chain on the next Mix Bus. You may have cracked Mr. Peanut wide open with that one Dana…
Why Not? Let the games begin, MIX ON! =)
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Man, I Didn’t find the right cord for the Realistics at Guitar Center tonight. Not sure they even make 1/4 L/R balanced to 3.5mm. How do you have yours connected? Would it work going directly from the Apollo Headphone jack? I’ve got them positioned together off to my left, but also realized that no DC 12v Adapter comes with them so I need to Amazon one. Using 8 C batteries probably isn’t the best way to go long term.
Regarding HEAT, that’s wild, so…you JEDI Mix Masters are using similar settings, coincidence I think Not! I think the Jaycen route in PRE is acting like an initial tape before any processing, but he also turns up all audio at the clip gain, so it’s basically hitting the limiter from the start of the mix to get his levels into Orion/God Particle. It seems like the Dave Hill special ‘PHOENIX’ was on all your early mixes then. I’ll have to mess around more with that, thanks for sharing your process with it!
Yes the Loudness one is definitely a head scratcher at times, especially when comparing tracks on the DSP’s! That’s where watching Jaycen getting his levels in the 7.5 LUFS range with it still sounding transient heavy & somehow keeping that perceived loudness is what I’ve been trying to emulate in my tracks…bangs head on desk, gonna get me a Nutcracker soon!
Correct, either way you look at it somewhere someone is listening on a different system, DSP, Normalized/Not normalized so it will be penalized at some stage of the process. I listen to Normalize off so I can hear the level at which they intended the songs to be played at like you.
I think more so then trying to get to a certain LUFS, I’m finding the battle of getting a better perceived loudness, so it doesn’t sound like it loses energy/vibe when played against other tracks on the streaming services. This left brain thinking has got to cool off & go on a vacation for a bit, really diving into this stuff instead of just creating the music! =)
So really to give and take…to find that balancing act, yessir!
The Loudness wars are for sure still in effect as you stated, at least for the Hip Hop/Pop/EDM side of things & may be “forever. Forever, forever ever? Forever ever? Forever never seems that long until you’re grown”…
I’ll look into ADPTR Streamliner, haven’t heard of it. I own Izotope RX but haven’t really utilized it besides for the clean up side of things, thanks for the suggestions & the video link!
I really appreciate you putting this all into perspective. I’m sure as I improve my mix skills & continue to learn each and every day that it will all come together. F’ them LUFS man, love it!!!
I’d listen to the BESTest mix any day too…
Take Care, MIX ON! =)
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Hello & Thank you Jesse.
It’s great to be a part of this community!!!
I appreciate you taking the time to listen & give your honest opinion. It’s great to have you & others who don’t normally work with or listen to a given genre give a totally fresh & new perspective of what you’re hearing.
I’ll definitely look again at my correlation meter to see what you may be noticing on the stereo/mono side of things. On the mix bus I usually use the brainworkz bx digital v3 with a stereo spread anywhere between 112-120% so it shouldn’t be doing anything too crazy. I get what you’re saying when listening in mono, you always seem to definitely lose some stereo image but like you stated the Vocals, Kick & Snare are all still there and present.
Most of my hip hop tracks go anywhere between 7.5-9 LUFS depending on the song, style & production & this has been my biggest battle since I started to engineer. I’m looking to match the industry loudness yet keep it punchy, transient & have energy. I feel like there is something more I could do but, I’m kind of lost trying different things out to get me to that professional sounding final master when played next to similar songs on the streaming platforms. (Also I’m comparing my mixes/masters up against the likes of Major Label Releases by Manny, Serban, Jaycen, MixedByAli, Leslie, Mike Bozzi, Joe Laporta, Chris Gehringer, Dana, Tony…& all their 20+ years of experience.)
Again thanks for your input & taking the time to listen to the track, it is greatly appreciated.
I trust you’re having a fantastic day.
Mike Heebz =)