Move like a ghost - contest mix

Bash This Recording
#1

Sorry folks. Here is my take. I know i am missing some obvious stuff because i always do. Thanks for the feedback.

2nd try

3rd try

1 Like
#2

Alright! Here’s what I heard:

  • I like the vibe you’re after with the drums… snare is nice and snappy, hats are well controlled, kick is way boomy but we’ll cover that below.
  • vox sound good, could maybe come up a bit or eq so they cut through a bit more?
  • I like the guitar tone, but as it’s panned left I’d like to hear something that balances it out a bit on the right side. I think that’s subjective though… I tend to like symmetry in mixes for the most part.
  • I think on the organ/synth track there’s too much of the amp track… I feel like it’s adding ambience that isn’t really there on the other instruments so it sounds out of place.

2 major issues I hear in the listens I’ve done. First there’s a massive buildup in the sub frequencies. There’s so much bad bleed in these tracks and so much low frequency information, that when they’re all running at the same time it starts to take over. Between the bass, the synth track and the kick… even without bleed there’s soooo much low end information. It’s hitting your master so hard that I think its distorting… although it’s hard to tell because pretty much everything in this tune is distorted as it is. I don’t have the session open, but if I recall correctly pay close attention to the bass amp track, the organ/synth amp track and frankly anything that’s picking up that low end stuff (even the vocal mics are bad offenders)… those all need to be controlled.

This dovetails into the second issue which is the compression/bus compression. I think the low frequency info is hitting the comp (or individual compressors throughout the track) and triggering it, causing uneven compression and just accentuating the issue. You can hear the drums getting really small in areas where the bass-heavy instruments are all hitting, but then in the more sparse sections they come back loud n proud.

For me, the name of the game with this track was getting things under control. High-passing is key, and I’ll usually set the sidechain on my bus comp to like 80hz, so if there’s some errant blast of low end it won’t drag everything else down. I threw out the bass amp track and made my own, the amp tone they provided was horrendous to me and much harder to control. Basically I just tried to identify what I thought should be delivering in that frequency range and neutered everything else.

Hope that helps! Look forward to hearing updates!
B.

2 Likes
#3

Wow thanks that is a very good bash. I will jump on that the next few days and see what i can do. Thanks so much for the feedback.

#4

I just been watching the mix video of this and there is definitely stuff in there thats not included the multi tracks they supplied. And there not in the one he was mixing

#5

Ok i posted a new version hopefully @blairhall1974 i have been able to at least make some strides to cleaning this up without loosing the vibe.

#6

Hi there,

Here is my feedback on your mix. Keep in mind that I just mixed the same song as well so my judgment might be biased since I am not listening to your mix with fresh ears. I only listened to the 2nd version.

I liked:
The trashy vibe you’re after, which fits this song quite well
The snap of the snare
The general feeling of loudness and dynamics

I didn’t like:
The fact that you left most of the junk noise in the mix, and there is a lot of that given the recording conditions
The keys too loud and too roomy
The bass drum, boomy and lacking some “click”
Excessive compression in general, and especially on the overheads (cymbals get a little insane during the busy parts)

I watched it as well and I haven’t heard anything that wasn’t provided in the multitracks. What are you referring to exactly?

#7

Thanks for the feedback. I guess i still have not cut enough of the room. I cut a lot out of most of the tracks but I am missing something. I will have a fresh listen tomorrow and see if i can find that.

#8

I went for the opposite but I guess choosing to retain a lot of the original roomy ambiance is a viable option. However there is a lot of undesirable junk that needs to be cut out, I think. There is bleed and spill in every single mic so that’s a lot of work, either slicing the audio or spending time to get those gates settings to work right.

1 Like
#9

Gonna give this a listen shortly… waiting by the door for a new guitar to arrive :smiley:
I’ll update this comment when I listen!

#10

woohooo

#11

Ok V2 is definitely a huge improvement over V1. I think I would just echo what @Lophophora said!

1 Like
#12

Ok i think i have taken the way that people say it should go. I don’t know if i like it but i need to give it some time. take 3 in OP.

#13

Whenever i get these tracks up in my DAW there is just something not right with these recordings somewhere,always sounds like there is some mad phase problems going on somewhere

1 Like
#14

Nice Eric. Listening to mix 3 on my Air. I like this the best of all three mixes, except that at least on my laptop it sounds too thin. Maybe overcompensated with your HPFs? Might be cuz it’s just my laptop. V2 sounded fuller. I’m missing some of the low end. Some subharmonics (RBass? MaxxBass?) would help.

Love your drums. Very snappy kick and snare. Full, balanced.

So, just a thought, but bring a little low end back.

1 Like
#15

I am glad that is what you are hearing because that is what i was hearing as well. but I left it to see if i was just biased by my past mixes. Thanks for the feedback.

1 Like
#16

Just checking: you have installed and used the polarizer plugin on the overheads, right? Because until you do, the overheads do sound weird indeed.

#17

Yes i did do

#18

redworks,
Thank you for the review! Now your mixes: mix #1: some people like lots of compression and loudness, though I think parts of the song have too much compression, and a bit boomy, though my new headphones (Sony MDR-7506: my third pair I’ve owned, and they are always more bass-y when new). A pretty cool song. Mix #2: I like this better, it seems to have better (less) compression, and not so boomy. Mix #3: I think I like Mix #2 slightly better, but it is pretty close for me. Overall I like the EQ a bit better in #2. I like the tremolo effect on the guitar at the end. Are you from a particular state or country? Just curious.

#19

Thanks for the feedback. That is the way i am feeling as well.

Well. I am a Canadian citizen currently living in Northern Ontario. I was born in Papua New Guinea though and have lived and worked in Singapore, Canada, Turkey, and Papua New Guinea.