Chris's Last Mad Scramble- Electric guitars are nice
big crunching drums. Sometimes the attack of that is too harsh to be natural. The acoustic guitars are getting lumpy in the low mids, which I'm not pleased with. Also, when the pitch was changed, the automation DID NOT FOLLOW ARGH! as it was TIME based and not sample based. OY! Well, something to remember for the next time. The entire outro is mis-timed automation and was supposed to be happening over the last chorus
glad people enjoyed it...
ATOR- Bit of autotune artifacts. I like the synth kick feel. Arrangement is trimmed to tighten it- I can see doing that. I'm liking the swing and bounce of this one. All the sounds sound kinda small though- this feels like one of the 'hey, no EQ needed! entries. I differ
also, I'd swear that some of those things like pizzicato and banjo are like Quicktime Musical Instruments or something, and I can't see putting that much weight on them unprocessed. Those sounds are very dead and dull. Lots of re-arranging. Reminds me of the mastering problem- do you change the mix? In this case it is, do you totally ignore what came out of the tracking? You did. I'm not convinced you were right, but it's a pretty persuasive attempt. It needed to be better, not simply different. It's maybe a _bit_ better but should have been way better to justify the big song structure changes. It's not worse, that's for sure.
Calvin- I'm going to cool off the superhot ones until they don't hurt
wow, that's a really resonant bass. I'm hearing the screaming BGVs this time. Much less of a groove because the kik is clicking too much and the snare is too hot and the hat isn't obvious. In fact the overheads and the sustaining cymbals are missing. Banjo sounds more convincing this time. Aren't the guitars intended to be stereo? Fade to avoid the funny ending. This one feels like it's trying to be really pro, but is a bit stiff.
cerberus- Almost seems like a hint of telephone effect on the lead vocal, which seems a bit small. I'm hearing a lot more Hammond this time and I'm getting a good sense of that grinding shimmering quality. There are the pizzicatos (which I sorta hated) and they feel sort of plausible, which is a nice trick. I almost hear a steel drum? This is a Jeff mix, so not even God knows what's happening in there, you just have to register the feelings without trying to understand. The electric guitars feel like they're gating on and off. The banjo is _quite_ good, feels convincing. I'd find the song more impressive if the lead vocal felt like it was the most important bit- it wants more presence and star-quality and whatever it has isn't adding presence or making it seize your attention.
Chris Carter- Ow. (turns down) (yes, it's still playing louder than the others) Dude, when everything kicks in you can't hear anything. I'd better analyze that because it's masking problems- it's not just the limiting. If mine was slammed like that, everything would still poke out. Here's what's happening- a bunch of drum reverb, verb on the pizzicato, verb on a lot of things and it's not super-great verb either. The basses are very resonant and they eat up their frequencies completely. The guitar hooks are blowing through the limiting and they're not that important. The balance is probably best in the electric rhythm guitar section before the mandolins return. The electric drums are not good- dull and weird- pizzicato, also dull and getting in the way- some of these things are contributing to the big logjam of the extreme limiting. I don't mean to be a dick more than necessary but someone should say more than 'oh limiting, sounds terrible'. There are reasons why this smash level isn't working and if you didn't have the limiter, the balance problems would be a lot more obvious. I would really recommend working without a limiter and making things balance with level and EQ, it just doesn't feel as if that is together.
Dikledoux- Hey, nice organic feel. I'm liking the kick and snare, nice and beefy. I hear some autotune artifacts on the vox, I think. The echo thing is a neat thing to do with the pizzicatos, and you're getting use out of the piano. It feels very rootsy. Actually it feels very happy and bouncy. The guitar parts are real heavy though. Electric guitars are a little boxy. This is a likeable version. Sort of guy-next-door version.
DMXR100- Feels clean. I like the swing of the kick drum. When it gets bigger it sort of squelches outward into reverby accordion over on the side, and that seems awful weird. Switching back out of it is cool though. The cymbals are sort of glittery and not part of the song, and there's a real tendency to have stuff carrying this weird mid-low blur, like the guitars. Everything goes 'whummmm' sometimes, with cymbal tinsel on top. The sparser bits worked better.
iCombs- This really feels like an 'everything' mix. I'm liking the drum sounds, though something is lacking as far as cohesiveness- the mix has plenty of separation but I'm looking for the merging of it all and it's hard to find- there's always something sticking out saying 'Hi! I have lots of separation!' like the kick or the banjo. Feels like tracking.
JHall- "Nice mix with too much compression!"
Seriously, what's coming out for me isn't so much the compression, it's the struggle making the lead vocal be the most important thing. The drums really step on it for the sparser bits, not so much in choruses. It's not that they are much louder, they're just bigger and more compelling. When all those BGVs come in, it fixes it because they are very demanding of attention. I still don't think that guitar hook is worth the attention paid it, and I'm surprised the pizzicato riff stayed- some people really liked it, me not so much because it has nothing to do with the flow of the song unlike the guitar hook. The general feeling I had from the mix was drums, band, gang chorus vocals, lead vocals, wacky overdubs in that order. All good except that lead vox has got to seem more important than that. I probably should have cranked it harder myself.
Mario I.- Damn is this cranking. I like the feel of the drums. Actually I'm liking this quite a bit though I think the drums are simply too hot relative to the lead vocal. One thing about it is I'm not getting badgered about with overdubs- it's like 'banging rock background, lead vocalist who's not really turned up enough'. Don't think the distorted guitars came out all that great, it's the sparser bits that are working for me, and I want the lead vocal to have as much presence as the rest of the band.
Maxim- Relaxed. Everything is really, really subdued, with a total jukebox bass throbbing away, but the great thing is for this one, the lead voice is the most important thing. It stands out very clearly against everything else, and it feels like you're supposed to be paying attention to it. That's good because if you were supposed to be digging on the glockenspiel and hi-hat mic this would suck
if _everything_ got a little more interesting it would help this, but don't lose the priority list here. And I like the jukebox bass, it's fun to me
Nizzle- Another lead voice that means it- loses a bit of focus on the chorus. Some arrangement changes. Some jarring details like a kickdrum that goes POK
(stop where you are, or we'll turn on the kickdrum that goes POK!) The feel is of stuff punching out in a gutsy way, thank God that includes the vocals or it would be pretty silly. I'm liking the banjo treatment, it does give things a rootsy feel. Bizarre end.
Rankus- Spacious, but with solidness to it. I'm hearing the voices on top of everything, but maybe a little subdued. Better in the sparse bits. There's a quality here where the wacky overdubs aren't too irritating, and things are built out of stuff like drums and banjos which feels right for the song. The distorted stuff also feels right but it feels completely muffled- shouldn't everything be blowing past the vocals at that point so they're shouting to be heard? It's a contrast change after all. Much too similar to the banjo sections in character.
Rattleyour- Natural-feeling. Wow, this version really likes the vocals, even to the point where I wonder how the backing instruments are doing. I really really don't feel that guitar hook rates that much attention
wow, that was loud. This feels like it has its priorities straight but steps on the unimportant stuff too hard. And come on, glockenspiels more important than the stereo guitars? But the vocals are really big- I would just want the lead vox to be bigger than those backing vox, because I don't like them as much.
Shakes The Clown- We're trying to clean up the pitch I see. Here's another big trashy room-snare, that's what I did too. The swing of the track seems sort of tentative, it's not always real clear. That said, I like the way things balance amongst each other, good stuff with the acoustic guitars and with the entry of the hammond being highlighted. Stuff is all at the proper size, it would appear- this is good, I _really_ like having the dirt guitars big and the glockenspiels/mandolins clear but little.
soliphant- Another one that's trying to punch the beat up a lot. Very hard banging feel with the kick and the snare, sort of punky. Not a lot of other stuff going on to add lushness to it. I'm liking the way the Hammond swells and does volume surges, and this is sure propulsive, it's just lacking any relaxedness. The double espresso mix? As expected, it rocks for the dirt-guitar section.
spoon- Drum treatments, huh? Against a good strong lead vocal which feels like the focal point. More drum treatments. Then woohoo, more drum treatments! It feels sort of experimental- if the voice wasn't consistent and upfront this wouldn't really work. It always sounds like the only thing we care about is the vocals and the snare.
starscream2010- Well, this is polite. Nice and clear and very produced, in particular I'm hearing the bass working with the drums in a peculiar way that must have been hell to create. Rather than jukebox bass it's like big bouncing balloons bass
the whole thing is bouncy as hell, in fact, the bounciness is more obvious than the words of the song. Everything sounds very nice. Definitive 'nice', all the details are sculpted artfully. It's the way they combine that gives that super-bouncy feel.
Thierry- Loud enough to turn down (still louder than the others, mind you). Feels sort of banging and smashing. I'm not getting that much sense of the vocals- more like I'm getting a sense of 'yay, what a cool drum reverb!'. I shouldn't exaggerate, the vocals do have a degree of emphasis, but they are definitely not coming off as a focal point, they're 'just one of the guys' and other 'guys' like the snare-verb are quite a bit more attention-getting. Portrait of a mix detail that is gorgeous, compelling and wrong
also, the bass seems to be grunging out at times.
TomC- Why is the vocalist in a shower stall?
This one isn't really making it, why? Partly the vocal, but partly because things aren't really holding together rhythmically. Isn't this the one where tracks were getting delayed in undesirable ways? Looks like that's a problem that needs to be fixed. Apart from that, the tone-shaping could be more colorful and some things like gates on the guitars kind of stick out. I'm sorry I couldn't find more things to like but the timing stuff really hurts, can't get past it.
UnderTow- Sparkly! Stuff has loads of glitter all over it. The vocal reverb is more important than the vocalist is- whoa, questionable. I hear a banjo sticking out but it's sticking out in the low-mids- huh? Things that are supposed to be sparkly sound lovely, though, like the hihat and acoustic guitars. Also, there's a nice punch to the kick/bass which I truly like- has a nice articulation. Where'd ya get the 'zwwwwweeeep!' track? I assume not an overdub. Lotsa reverb tricks. In fact, "stupid verb tricks"
fun sounding but they have nothing to do with the song. And I'd swear that zwwweeeep was an overdub except it could be automated. ...HA! Funniest ending!
Urick- Boy, that's a weird vocal quality. It is produced as hell, though- it does make you hear the vocal on top of everything else. Vocalist's mix, everything else is just killed, except the inevitable snare. Sounds autotuned, but not enough to be sweet. Also, we have some excess sparkly here too. And re-arranging which isn't significantly better than the tracking arrangement. Strong in banjo but it sounds sort of outer-spacey techno-ey, perhaps because of the sparkle.
VKorehov- This feels more earnest because of the way the voice sounds and the way the backing tracks are put together. Something about the boxy sound, whumphing drums and hissing cymbals doesn't totally sell me, though. I do like the way the voice sits on top of everything and sounds like a human being with feelings, though- I _really_ like that part and it forgives many things for me. The balance of the banjo is good too- seems like it's good to have that part clear. The dirt guitar section doesn't work very well, possibly because of the bass. Where the HELL did that bass come from? I have a feeling it might be an overdub because of how totally unfamiliar it is. If so, bzzzt outta the pool!
volthause- A heavy music guy! I seriously love the feel of these drums. Only thing I'm missing is a bit more crack on the snare, except it's already there, just DEEP. Vocals have some obvious tuning-ness and sit on top of things cleanly. Playing games with reverbs I see, but in this case it's in the background, it's not obnoxious at all. Really deep powerful guitars for the dirt guitars, but I want a lot more snarl out of them for that part. This is almost a dub mix in that everything comes off a solid bass without coming out and distracting from it, but it's important for some things to distract from it, it's not a dub song really.
I'm sorry for the gripey quality of my crits this time- J's got me thinking rather ruthlessly about what helps the song and many of the nice things I can always say about mixes have to do with sonic details that the mix author attempted. If you have to ask 'but did it sell the song' very often the answer is no. I had a snare echo I was in love with, I've already been asked about it, and what you heard was sort of buried because my wife pointed out that it didn't help the song at all... it's more easily heard in the last rev because the automation went awry and exposed that echo sound in a place where it should have been muted again.
This should be an interesting learning experience and, I hope, far from the last.