Final Mix EQ - Compensating for project Studio design flaws

[Basil]

Cool.

Here something to think about ...don't know if it would relate.
I do color correction by numbers....every computer monitor lies
As a matter of fact I can color correct using a black and white monitor.

In photo correction you have
Highlights
Mid Tone
Shadows
Skin Tone


Does this seem like something you have to deal with?

[Davidinoz]

Interesting thread.
First I don't use Har-Bal (don't have it) or anything like it when I mix. It's just ears.
In the past all my mixes were just EQ followed by L2 limiter. Sometimes I use an FFT filter to get rid of sub-harmonics. I've just started using Ozone as a mastering plug but I don't think I've put anything up with it yet.

I think a lot of the time a mix put up here will sound a little lacking on top end but that's usually an mp3 or wma. There is definately a difference between these files and a wav. Another problem I have is the loss of hearing in the upper mids and low treble frequencies. I may be over - compensating for this when I mix so as not to make the mix too bright or harsh.

As for using commercial cd's as a reference, you have to be really careful what you use. There are a hell of a lot of "proffesionally mastered" cd's out there that are just plain bad.

[NickT]

Thanks  for the comments Dave.

I always think your mixes sound "warm" and even.

I think it would be great to do a mix comparison to state what we like in our mix and what others hear.

Har-bal is really an fft type filter.

Nick

[Sharpola]

Alas I have a confession..
I mix and master with my headphones, I would drive my family nutzos without 'em
Plus I'm just too lazy and I usually click on a preset to finish a mix, I do however spend a great deal of time mixing something.. I wish there was paycheck for doing that

I would love to join in a mix session with my peers here!

Ray

[Sharpola]

Nick, I took a look at Har-bal but found it really user unfriendly, so basically you would reference from a song thats close to your style and take "pictures" and try to match your songs "picture" to the reference? 

I know a few of us use har-bal to check our final mix eq. I have backed off making broad changes because it is way to easy to kill the mix. But it is a great tool so see how your system in lying to you.

This is not a knock on anyones mix technique. But I have noticed a few mixes from the prominent mix guys that seem to differ from what I hear.

This is what I am finding.

CD - Mixes are even and well done. But "I" find them a little high endy or bright.
Davidinoz - Again nice mixes but I hear a low-mid bump.
Cary - Great mixes. Mid highs seem just a little hot.
Curtis - smooth mixes. High end a little hyped.
NickT - Freakin awesome...you rock!    Just kidding. I have been hearing my low end is hot.
Sharpola - very clean. High end is hot.

This is not all the mixers on the site. Allot of you do great jobs! Just the ones I have heard for a couple of years now.

So we all wonder how our mixes translate. I think we are all close enough that they sound pretty good on most systems.

What references do you all use either in har-bal or even just to tune your ears for a session?

Do you have custom references for Har-Bal? I do.

Would love to hear from anyone on this subject.

Thanks,

Nick

[NickT]

Yeah Ray. But you don't try to match it completely. just get in the ballpark and use your ears. Seeing a spike at 3k may be a ride cymbal on the reference and really obnoxious guitar pinch on your own. But being able to see high peaks or spike and tame them or big holes in the eq can get you very close to a balanced mix.

I like Cary's Idea. Why don't we all post something we really think we mixed well and see what our friends hear.

Nick

[Sharpola]

Anna was my first attempt to "really" mix a tune, it was mixed 6 or 7 years ago using just a mix down in Cubase
I had to add it because I somehow made a --really-- crappy recording sound somewhat pro

A typical tune now adays sound much like the one below

[Davidinoz]

I think it would be great to do a mix comparison to state what we like in our mix and what others hear.

Nick

This is not my favorite style of music to listen to but is one of my favorite mixes. It has great performances by the individual players which is a great starting point. What I was aiming for with this was to make it sound like a band rather than a bunch of seperate tracks mixed together. i truly hate what the loudness wars have done to recorded music today and this track reflects that. It comes nowhere near to being as "loud" as a lot of commercial mixes but I don't care I tried to use just enough compression to make everything gell together without sqashing the life out of it. There was very little eq treatment on this, I tried to balance it all in the mix, so it didn't really need any mastering eq.
of course in 12 months time I'll probably say that was a crap mix, listen to this instead

[Davidinoz]

Anna was my first attempt to "really" mix a tune, it was mixed 6 or 7 years ago using just a mix down in Cubase
I had to add it because I somehow made a --really-- crappy recording sound somewhat pro

A typical tune now adays sound much like the one below

I listened to both mixes fairly quietly (1am here). Both where well balanced and sounded good to my tired old ears. My only minor nitpick was the vocal on the old mix got a little lost in a couple of places, but that was 6 or 7 years ago. The only mixing I was doing then was live stuff.

[CosmicDolphin]

This is not my favorite style of music to listen to but is one of my favorite mixes. It has great performances by the individual players which is a great starting point. What I was aiming for with this was to make it sound like a band rather than a bunch of seperate tracks mixed together.

Well I had a listen through just on headphones and I have to say it sounded superb on them.  I can hear why you picked it out.  You definitely made it sound like a band , can you give a little more detail on what you did ?   Did you mix it in the box or on a desk ?

CD

[CosmicDolphin]

Anna was my first attempt to "really" mix a tune, it was mixed 6 or 7 years ago using just a mix down in Cubase
I had to add it because I somehow made a --really-- crappy recording sound somewhat pro

A typical tune now adays sound much like the one below

Anna sounded pretty good if you were just starting out...it's hard to nitpick now so many years down the line.  It does sound quite bass heavy on my headphones which are usually a little bass light, and the vocal sounds like it could use a de-esser as they seem to poke out of the mix.

The balance of Will You Follow sounds better to me...the bass sounds tighter / more controlled and similar to what I hear on Cd's I may buy or download...again I thought the vocal had a a slight edge to it in a few spots where the hard constanants stuck out. 

CD

[NickT]

Here are a couple I did in '06. This was with my old system.

Sweep: I just like the overall sound of this mix.

Back in The Alley: (warning: explicit language even with the radio edit) I spent alot of time on this mix. I like the power and sonic feel of this mix.

I wil post something newer to see what you  might think about the way I am mixing these days.

Thanks,

nick

[CosmicDolphin]

I had a hard time thinking what to post up......

I decided to put ' It's my Time ' ....I'm not sure ti's my  'best' but I think it's the one I got the best results from the raw tracks.  It was a tough gig , the vocal sep went from sounding okay to sounding rough as Ali sung the louder parts.  Also I really wanted to try and keep the dynamics intact, it went from fairly quiet to pretty powerful....that was a hard thing to keep, so I had lots of automation going on which was tricky to keep tabs on as the mix progressed.  I think I really earned my ( no ) money on that one....and I felt a little under pressure due to the ( sad ) nature of the song and really wanted to do it justice.  

I made an edit to the start later on but I never made an MP3 of it so it has a little 'Sonar' follow through just at the start.

The 2nd one is one of my own ' Beautiful Game ' ..this was my first collab and came out better than I ever thought before I joined here.... later I added a little more Bass to it , but I'm not sure if I prefer this version.  Again it quite complex with over 50 tracks.

CD

[groverk]

Back in the Alley

One of my all time favs. Mix wise, I don't think it gets any better.

I have this on cd and listen to it quite often on the way to gigs and it plays great in my car as well as my Event TR 8's at home.

Now Take my view as a consumer point of view. I don't really know about filters or Har-Bal but I know this song kicks ass both with mix and content.

Ken

[CosmicDolphin]

Here are a couple I did in '06. This was with my old system.

Sweep: I just like the overall sound of this mix.

Back in The Alley: (warning: explicit language even with the radio edit) I spent alot of time on this mix. I like the power and sonic feel of this mix.

I wil post something newer to see what you  might think about the way I am mixing these days.

Thanks,

nick

Sweep sounds really good to me ...right balance of bass and treble and not too compressed

Back in  the Alley sounds very good also....

Nick I think you had it nailed better on your old system compared to now....mostly in the bass end...these mixes have the right balance for me, whereas the newer ones whilst still good don't sound as great as these to me.


CD