I don't want to hear everything.

[percussion boy]

Weird realization: I don't want to hear everything in a mix.

Got two CDs today: The current, crystal-clear, obviously compressed album by my favorite Indonesian band, Jugala Orchestra; and BOB MARLEY LIVE, which features an equally tight band but is not crystal clear or compressed at all: the guitar and keys wash together and cover each other, so that you can't hear all of what they're playing, and the percussionist is mostly invisible. The bass, drums, and vocals are right out front.

And you know what? I like the Marley mix better. Apparently some elements in a recording should be dimly sensed, or poke their little heads out when the main instruments/voices pause.

Funny how the old-time analog engineers kept trying to make things clearer -- maybe definition doesn't always serve the music. What's light without shadow?

Or is all this obvious . . . ?

[mjau]

Apparently some elements in a recording should be dimly sensed, or poke their little heads out when the main instruments/voices pause.

Pet Sounds 101, right?

[xonlocust]

also sorta hand in hand: if everything's important, then nothing's important.

[Rob Christensen]

Forgive me if I'm straying a bit from the original poster's point...
I once played played something of mine for a friend who didn't really know anything about recording or music production. I tried show him how the mix was built and different instrumental parts of the recording. On it was a high-capo'd acoustic guitar part that was barely audible in the mix. He wondered why it was even there, what the purpose of it was, if you could hardly hear it. A comparison of the mix with and without that acoustic guitar helped him understand that even a barely audible part contributes to the feel of the recording. Even if you can't make out each individual instrument, they all help make the overall sound of the song what it is.

[percussion boy]

Actually, that kind of was my point.

[Rob Christensen]

Oh good.

[lyman]

it sounds like the mix on the marley recording is ideal for that style of music. in reggae you especially want the bass, drums, and vocals to be up front.

i agree with you, not every instrument/vocal part is as important as the next in the context of a song. if you ignore that approach, you'll get everything fighting to be the focal point of the song. and consequently NOTHING becomes the focal point as xonlocust pointed out earlier. a good arrangement and mix should have contours like a landscape, not just a flat monolithic slab of sound with everything in your face all the time.

yeah it seems obvious, but it's only obvious if you get it (duh) and not everybody "gets it."

[percussion boy]

sweetsci said better what I was trying to say: Sometimes there's stuff that not only isn't the focal point, but isn't even discernable as a discrete sound; yet the music would feel different if that stuff went away.

[Flight Feathers]

here's what i've been realizing lately. a well balanced, well mastered mix makes you want to turn the music up up up. a poorly done overlimited mix makes you want to turn the music down down down.


it's really easy to listen to good mixes at loud volumes. the overlimited ones sound like syringes in my ears the louder it gets. hmm, maybe a good final test for mixdowns.

[curtiswyant]

I believe Phil Spector said something like some instruments should be "felt" not "heard."