Mix with me

Discussion on new albums, developing listening skills, critical listening to others' work, as well as TOMB members' MP3 links, online recording critiques

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vvv
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Post by vvv » Wed Jan 13, 2016 1:42 pm

FWIW, and re the drums, I realized I had posted the following at my blog on 1-5-16, what I had forgotten, mebbe due to martoonies in the meantime, or the nice time:

FWIW, the drums started as Guitar Hero stems for Radiohead?s ?My Iron Lung?. I heavily edited same, first using gates to reduce the bleed as well as the cymbals. Then I moved the bits around; it?s surprising how the tempo sped up at the end, hence the disconcerting initial chorus, what I had some trouble fitting in (see above, where I noted that I hadda extra beat where I was tying to smooth the transition).
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Post by vvv » Sat Jan 16, 2016 10:18 am

So I was inspired by Nick's mix and re-did mine, no editing, just adjusting the EQ and reverb, here.
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Post by JWL » Sun Jan 17, 2016 12:31 am

So here's my really rough mix. As an experiment I set a timer for one hour, and this is what I could do in that time frame (not including rendering, just an hour of mix time).

There's no automation or anything. If I were to spend more time on this mix I'd probably make things a bit less tubby, and spend more time with effects, tweaking spaces & the background vocals. And I usually use a lot of automation, so I'd probably reduce some of the compression once I knew there'd be more volume automation.

Also didn't do any editing, just mixing.

http://www.craftedrecordings.com/wp-con ... WL-mix.mp3

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Post by vvv » Sun Jan 17, 2016 7:05 am

Ver' 8) !

Sounds very cool, heavily compressed inna good way, but that really brings out the playing - there's more cool bass lines than I recalled. :lol:

Yeah, the bass is tubby, but I especially like how you smooved the vox.
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Post by vvv » Sun Jan 17, 2016 7:13 am

I notice looking at JWL's and Nick's mixes that they look a lot more compressed.

Image

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Post by JWL » Sun Jan 17, 2016 9:03 am

Yeah mine is definitely more compressed than I usually like. Often this is the case for me with roughs (like this one is); I will usually back off some on compression as I do more automation to get a more natural sound as I transition from a static to a dynamic mix....

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Post by vvv » Sun Jan 17, 2016 11:42 am

Well, it sounds better'n mine! 8)
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Post by JWL » Sun Jan 17, 2016 2:02 pm

Also, part of my experiment was to use mostly stock plugins (I have been loving Studio One for a few years now). I think I used a Focusrite Red compressor on the master bus.... maybe other stuff but mostly stock.

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Post by Nick Sevilla » Mon Jan 18, 2016 7:07 pm

vvv wrote:I notice looking at JWL's and Nick's mixes that they look a lot more compressed.

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Yeah. Used two plug ins on the master buss, to make it LOUD.
UAD ATR102 tape, and Waves L2.
Mind you, the L2 only had a function of not allowing clips through to the printed mix, but not for making things louder. It was set to -1.0 dB threshold, and -0.2 output.
It got hit maybe to 3-4 dB, but only ever now and then.
Most of the heavy lifting was done by the ATR tape emulation. I used to mix to a real one, so this plug in is almost like coming home.

This song needed that, IMO.

Especially since, there was not going to be any mastering. LOL.
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Post by vvv » Tue Jan 19, 2016 3:30 am

:lol:

Sounds great! 8)
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Post by vvv » Tue Jan 19, 2016 3:37 am

FWIW, my master-buss processing rarely includes compression.

Lately, I typically use a reverb, a high-pass filter and a limiter, in that order.

The reverb is global and mixed into but not usually too heavy; the two-buss gets the pass filter what is gradual at 40hz; the limiter boosts from my working -3dB peak level to -.3, taking off mebbe 3-4dB of spikes (typically some snare hits).

I call the last two steps, "psuedo-masturding". :twisted:
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Post by JWL » Fri Jan 29, 2016 8:30 pm

grrrr double post
Last edited by JWL on Fri Jan 29, 2016 8:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by JWL » Fri Jan 29, 2016 8:30 pm

I definitely load stuff up on my master bus. Often I use a Focusrite red compressor, some saturation, possibly a touch of gentle EQ, and a limiter (most often the stock Studio One limiter which I love). A big part of my mixing strategy is how I hit the master bus chain at various times & frequencies. I'll get a static mix together (like this one) and then add additional dynamics with automation.

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