mix advice

[51m0n]

[quote name='Rimskidog' timestamp='1335983523' post='1639163']
Go on then Mr Wolf. Do your worst: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-LHIXeWhNY&feature=relmfu[/media]

[/quote]

Oh nice one.

This I'm going to save for the decent speakers mate, I know its going to be good, but I wont have time for a couple of days (family stuff to attend to) I will give it a proper listen though, promise - been wanting to hear some of yours for a while!

[51m0n]

[quote name='Rimskidog' timestamp='1335983523' post='1639163']
Go on then Mr Wolf. Do your worst: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-LHIXeWhNY&feature=relmfu[/media]

[/quote]

Right then, didnt get any time over the weekend to get this listened to properly (serious family stuff to sort out) so here goes now.

Short response, this is going to be a great long list of why you should mix like this Rimskidog is damn fine at his job.


Drums are really great, very punchy, phase issues? Not a chance! Is that real room ambience on the drums? And possibly the sound of the snare pushing tape hard, I couldnt say for sure, but it sounds 'real', and very very precise at the same time. Love those drums, the claps are great too, nice and 'loose' in feel but at the same time spot on, you drove the preamp hard for them? They have a sweet 'crunch' to them!

See how the bass and the kick become one instrument for most of the song. Thats fitting the jigsaw together that is right there, the attack of the kick preempts the bass, the bass extends the thump of the kick and adds pitch info to it. And the bass absolutely drives the song at the same time.

The kick, snare, bass and lead vocal are right up the middle, pretty much everything else is out to the sides. The slide guitar is balanced really cleverly its very 'wide' but its impossible to say which side its actually on. Nice stuff.

Note the harmonised backing vocal supporting the main lead, right from the start, panned hard and multitracked and just there. Nice balance. Theres just nothing 'wrong with it', no nasty frequencies, nothing, perfection. That is just sublime mixing of bv's IMO.

Now the tricks, each section plays with that bv to lead balance really cleverly, bringing in more bv for the chorus, adding different ooooh bvs during following versus, the big switcheroo is how loud the lady vox get, they almost take over from the lead in the biggest hook 'My baby's cool, she's electric', except they stay wide and the lead stays in the center, just really quiet comparatively - thats damned brave I think. I want to hear that again straight away!

There is an absolute mass of vocal on this track, tons of it, all mixed beautifully, lots of double and more tracking going on. Yet if you werent listening for it you probably wouldnt really notiuce how hard the vocal is being worked.

There is also vocal eq'ed for effect (classic telephone voice on the 'Shes Electric' exposed female line) that is just really pushing the 'hook' into your head, super smooth blend of the female multitracks on the 'oh, oh oh oh, oh oh oh' parts too.

Also listen to the end of each section leading into the next, there is almost always a little something to help lead you in, a bit of modulation effect on the guitar going, or a synthy shroinngggg sound that happens literally a beat or two before the next section. Then there is that weird little run up a keyboard (maybe) briiingggg, like a xylophone beater run up the metal plates. That keeps coming back, its a totally thow away daft little sound, but its such a clever hook as well.

And in order to keep that nice acoustic building through the song there is definite panning trickery in places, just the top end of it switching hard left to hard right, just giving more and more movement throughout sections too. Love that sort of thing.

Listening again there is a very clever steady build in intensity through the song, more and more parts seem to come in. Yet it actually doesnt even sound really overproduced to me, if you were 'casually' listening you'd just think "what a great song".

Not kidding this is a briliant mix. There are tonnes of nice touches, but its made by the arrangement too (great song, with superb hooks and performances as well of course).

Spend a couple of weeks over this one chaps, its an absolute masterclass in mixing. Not just pop either, this is how to arrange and mix anything you want to stick in peoples heads.

Quality.

Edited May 8, 2012 by 51m0n

[Wil]

Just listened - fantastic mix. Interesting to read 51m0ns take on what's happening.

What boggles my mind is the thought that goes into the little details (like that xylophone effect that keeps popping up - inspired little hook) that keep the arrangement moving forward, at the same time as producing such a polished and sweet sounding mix. Top notch.

But slightly demoralising, as I know I'll never be able to produce anything that sounds that good

Edited May 8, 2012 by Wil

[51m0n]

Oh one other vocal track to listen for that I just realised I hadnt mentioned, the second lead line.

He's repeated the vocal, but almost spoken, its quiet like a mouse next to the main sung vocal, this trick is superb, its like he's quietly talking you through the lyrics really up close and in your ear at the same time as singing it out loud. Its a fantastic trick, I got Kit to do something similar on her EP, it really really works to just enlarge that lead vocal, and can be so subtle that no one even hears it without it pointed out to them.

[Lozz196]

That is a really fresh sounding mix. Most production nowadays seems to concentrate on deep "thud" whereas that seems to have gone for a lighter "thwack" type, and it is nice and airy sounding, with it being easy to hear all that`s going on - especially with 51m0ns narrative above to follow.

For me, on production the thing I always listen to is the drums - as the track above, are they nice and fresh sounding, as this always makes a track, to me, sound much better.

I was in the studio all weekend with my band, on the mixing for our cd - it is a very complex situation - there is so much to do/that can be done/that shouldn`t be done. Far beyond me, I know what I like/don`t like, but how to achieve it - pay someone to do it properly is my solution