Stan_Halen hopes his Two Bare Hands are clean! :-)

I used the anti-bacterial soap and moisturizing hand lotion and now hopefully these Hands are in good shape! :grin: Please let me know your thoughts on this BTR pre-contest version. Thanks!

EDIT 1: I uploaded a 2nd mix which is actually my mix before putting Master Match on. Please A/B the 1st mix posted (with Master Match - light low end, strong high end) with the 2nd one posted (without MM) and let me know if you think the 2nd one sounds much better, and if so what still needs work. Thanks again!

EDIT 2: 3rd mix is uploaded, hopefully the kick and low end issue is okay now. Please let me know what you think.

EDIT 3: Version 4 is here. Dialed back the heavy kick click and did some more automation.

EDIT 4 - Version 5 now, got some low mids out of the way. I think it sounds better. Please let me know what you think.

EDIT 5 - Added some high shelf on the mix to restore some lost sparkle. So this is Version 6.
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Haha! Canā€™t listen yet, but you should get bonus points for the title. :+1:

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Sounds good. Could maybe use some de essing and some widening. I also think the kick could use some more lows.

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Ha, thanks! I enjoyed coming up with it. :slightly_smiling_face:

Thanks! I tried using IKā€™s Master Match for the first time, after mixing, and it took out some of my 60Hz and put a boost at 9-10k IIRC. That may be the culprit. It made my mix brighter, and may have diminished some thump. I didnā€™t have any significant sibilance before I instantiated MM. I have some widening on some things, but Iā€™ll look at the stereo field some more.

I would agree with the mix being a little too heavy on the high ends.

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Hey Stan,

The midrange sounds good, but the low end is definitely lacking - The bottom octave is kind of MIA. When I turn up my monitors, the midrange and vocals get a little overbearing, and I still canā€™t get and low end punch coming through to speak of.

I can confirm the vocal needs some more de-essing, particularly at the beginning of the song when it is more exposed.

Which material are you matching it to? Older tracks tend to be really light on low end (particularly sub lows), especially if they were originally mastered for vinyl.

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OK, thanks Eric!

I think both the lacking low end and the sibilance may have been caused by the Master Match adjustment. I think Iā€™ll post a version without Master Match and ask you guys what the A/B looks like. I think my mixing style tends toward the darkish side, so I was thinking the MM adjustment might bring me toward a more balanced place. I think it whacked things out though. The reference for Master Match I used was the mix for this Two Bare Hands song posted on the Cambridge site where the download files were. Master Match just offers an EQ and level adjustment based on the comparison (though you can use all or part of 3 songs for reference if you want). I took the mix in some different directions though, so the reference may not have helped at all.

Please see the 2nd mix added in the OP. This is without using Master Match at all. The 2nd mix is what this should have sounded like if I never used Master Match. There is a loudness difference though (still trying to figure that out). I was able to A/B them by bringing down the volume of the 1st one on the IRD player and then switch back and forth.

The second one sounds better as far as sibilance, that master match seemed to bringing that out too much. That kick still isnā€™t doing much for me though, itā€™s just kind of there without much low end. That could just be a taste thing though.

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that is a better high end. I did find that when the chorus kicked in the kick is lacking.

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Yes, itā€™s not translating to small speakers very well. I thought it sounded okay on the studio monitors and headphones, but playing it back on computer speakers it does seem anemic. What are you guys listening on?

Iā€™m listening on my ath-m50 headphones, which is what I use for mixing anyways. (Yeah I know mixing on headphones is ā€œwrongā€ :roll_eyes: ) I can hear the kick, it just doesnā€™t have any low end impact that I can feel on my eardrums. All the lows are coming from the bass in your mix. Iā€™m not saying itā€™s right or wrong, but I like to feel the lows from the kick a little bit.

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Yeah me too. I will give it another look.

I am listening on my monitors

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Yeah , both are bass light IMO. I like the second one better but it still needs a touch of FAT to bass and kick, if you likeā€¦ add it with headphones if you arenā€™t sure how much to give it. And post it again.

edit: Adam A7 & AKG K271 II

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There is definitely nothing wrong with mixing on headphones,you carry on.Do yourself a favor tho and use something like this first on your master bus or after Sonarworks if you use it for your cans https://goodhertz.co/canopener-studio

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Thanks, Iā€™m trying to find time to work with it some more, hopefully later today.

That CanOpener plugin looks interesting. Do you know how long the demo works for and how functional it is? Iā€™d like to try it before considering buying it.

Cool Iā€™ll give that a try. I donā€™t use Sonarworks, although I did demo it once but I decided against it because I didnā€™t want to relearn my headphones.

The FAQ on their site says 15 days.

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Part of my challenge has been working with IKā€™s ARC room correction software for my monitors. I have had it for awhile, and while getting used to hearing everything two different ways (corrected and non-corrected) it has been frustrating to have a sense of what is what. I lost my subwoofer recently too (secondary monitoring system), so I think thatā€™s all having some effect on this low end issue Iā€™m having.

I guess I should just use the ARC all the time and trust that, but itā€™s a weird feeling to hand over your ears to an algorithm. :grimacing:

Thanks! I thought I looked over the page pretty good, but I missed that.

Sonarworks will just make your phones sound how they should and make your judgement more accurate while mixing.Can opener is worth every penny. I done this mix in phones with it.

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