Musicians Collaboration Studio

Final Mix EQ - Compensating for project Studio design flaws

NickT · 58 · 30589
 

Offline NickT

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Thanks Ken!

CD- Sweep was a joy to mix. It got very busy in the bridge but you can hear everything. I really think that the Events ASP6's are just too bright. I could listen to the Alesis M1's all day long and not get fatigue. I also had that killer sub with a footswitch . I would turn it on and off all through the mixing. i was using a Delta 66  omni studio interface. Now I use the EMU- 1212M.

I don't feel I ever got my room tuned with the new stuff.

I will listen to everyones stuff tonight and comment.

Thanks,

Nick
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Offline NickT

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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 like both of these.

Anna - Heavy like I would mix. guitar has a low thump and that is hard to pull off without getting muddy.
Will you Follow - Some of the solo guitar was a bit harsh in the cans. Overall mix is smooth. High end is splashing the verb on the vocal. Lot's of "air".

Nice.
NickT

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Offline NickT

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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 ;D 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 ;D ;D

Dave - This is a real smooth mix. can't really pick on anything. Players are great.

nice job!
NickT

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Offline NickT

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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

It's my Time - I liked what you did on this CD when you first mixed it. I like a little more lead vox....but that's me, it really sounds nice.

BG - Cool sound. Kinda retro. I like more drums and kick. But that is just taste. Clean mix I hear everything and a nice balance.

Sounds good CD. But these should, we picked our favorites. :)

Nick
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Offline NickT

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Offline Sharpola

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Offline NickT

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I really need to upgrade my monitors if I want to be more serious with my music :( \
Ray
What monitors are you using Ray?
NickT

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Offline Sharpola

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Behringers ms40's

I have a pair of ns10's but I blew the woofer in one of them and finding it impossible to replace

Ray


Offline NickT

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http://www.speakerrepair.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=01-066&Category_Code=add_y_yamaha

Not sure if that is a good price or not.

Your mixes sound good. I think you need a reference song to play as you mix, going between them to keep your ears tuned with a commercial sound. You come very close on your own!

Nick
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Offline CosmicDolphin

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It's my Time - I liked what you did on this CD when you first mixed it. I like a little more lead vox....but that's me, it really sounds nice.


 ;D I should post you the Sonar bundle for that , man it was a PITA  ;D

CD
We never finish a mix... we simply abandon them.
You can't polish a turd, but you can always spray paint it GOLD
Great songs are not written, they are re-witten


Offline CosmicDolphin

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Ok here's one for you guys to help solve....

This song of Appeluza's ..the Lead Vocal sounds very ' hard ' to me when the vocalist sings louder...I've done a ton of automation to pull the peaks down on certain words but it's still sounding harsh to me...

Eq-ing the offending frequencies leaves the rest of the vocal sounding wrong...tried splitting it up into sections to just eq the loud parts , but it sounds odd when the quiet vocals come back in and I can't match 'em without one or the other being compromised.

So... 1. Does it also sound harsh on the loud vocals to you guys too ?..
       
        2. Any suggestions ?

        3. I was thinking about using the sidechain in Sonar...but I've not used it before..

        4. Any comments about the mix generally...apart from the drums not lining up  >:D

CD
We never finish a mix... we simply abandon them.
You can't polish a turd, but you can always spray paint it GOLD
Great songs are not written, they are re-witten


Offline Sharpola

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Thanks Nick, I'll check them out more

Ray

http://www.speakerrepair.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=01-066&Category_Code=add_y_yamaha

Not sure if that is a good price or not.

Your mixes sound good. I think you need a reference song to play as you mix, going between them to keep your ears tuned with a commercial sound. You come very close on your own!

Nick


Offline Cary

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You guys have posted some nice stuff and I owe comments on each.  They all sound nice, but as Nick pointed out, they should. 

Ray - 'Anna' was awesome bud.  IF fact, I feel it's so much better than the other mix you put up - 'Will you follow'.  I thought Anna had so much more depth - like the type of thing you'd expect from recording with better gear.  The only gripe I have with it is that it has way too much bottom end.  I think a cut at 100hz would have cleaned it up  You say you mixed Anna on Cubase.  I'd like to know some of the other details of the recordings - if you could.

David- Oklahoma sounds real nice.  It's nice to mix this stuff - as a change from the norm.  I did feel the mix lacked a little air, not just a lack of highs, but more like a dip around 300 or 400 hz maybe.  Its something I think could be corrected in the master - that's what I would be looking to do on my first listen.

Nick-  (couldn't get myself to listen to Back in the Alley...lol)
Sweep - I always thought the sound of this was current and pro, however I always have issues with the current loudness of the stuff being released in the past 5 years.  You're stuff is certainly competitive.  As with most of your masters, I'd like them less compressed.  Just remember... this comment comes from your friend who is starting to get on in years.  Lol   Oh, I listened to the latest mix after you made adjustments to the monitors.  I think that mix had issues in the upper midrange - too much to my ears.

CD- both those sound nice.  I like the dynamics.  Trying to find the problems, I'd say there was a little harshness on Its my time.  I can't figure out where though.. I think the cymbal crashes.
Cary


Offline Cary

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Ok here's one for you guys to help solve....

This song of Appeluza's ..the Lead Vocal sounds very ' hard ' to me when the vocalist sings louder...I've done a ton of automation to pull the peaks down on certain words but it's still sounding harsh to me...

Eq-ing the offending frequencies leaves the rest of the vocal sounding wrong...tried splitting it up into sections to just eq the loud parts , but it sounds odd when the quiet vocals come back in and I can't match 'em without one or the other being compromised.

So... 1. Does it also sound harsh on the loud vocals to you guys too ?..
       
        2. Any suggestions ?

        3. I was thinking about using the sidechain in Sonar...but I've not used it before..

        4. Any comments about the mix generally...apart from the drums not lining up  >:D

CD

These are tough.  Perhaps you could try to change some of the reverb treatment on the instruments.  I think it's a case of the vocal not sitting in the mix.  I believe the mix of the instruments is where the problem is.  YMMV.
Cary


Offline Cary

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OK, here are two, perhaps not my best but ones that I feel were noteworthy for me.

The first, Openfire was done on such minimal gear.  A Tascam 788, an SM57, and an Audiobuddy.  I think the lead vocal was done with a Studio Projects C1.  This is about 4 years old

The second song is one that was done a few months ago.
« Last Edit: August 08, 2010, 01:58:02 PM by Cary »
Cary


 

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