OK, First some global thoughts and comments.
I hope you will have another listen to my mix with these comments in mind. (A/B yours with my mix)
In discussion with Chris, The Vocals were to be the primary focus of the tracks. With everything else taking a back seat supporting role.
I think in terms of marrying the vocal to the supporting tracks... This mindset helps to focus on the song and the mix rather than the just the mix if you follow. Rather than thinking of the mix as several separate components, try to think of it as two: the instruments and the vocal. Either should kick your ass when soloed, and when together should become greater than the sum of the parts.
Chris and I had talked quite a bit about the way we wanted things to sound.... we wanted to go for an organic drum sound. Not quite 70's but more of a 90's sound with a hint of 70's. We wanted to keep them dry-ish , punchy, but natural, typical of this genre.
For the bass: we kind of wanted the bass to be a low extension of the guitars, rather than out on its own. Hence aggressive distortion for the bass. I tend to stay off the low end on the bass on most of my work, trying to leave more space for the kik... Lots of bottom sounds great in the studio , but on 3" car speakers, computer speakers, ear-buds etc... it just masks the thump of the kik. Face it most of the time your mix will be listened to on these types of systems.............. . I made Rob go out and get a new set of strings on just before hitting the record button... Same with the guitars... New strings give you the harmonics you need for a rich sounding mix.
Guitars: we had talked about a Josh Homme sound, but only in the fact that we wanted them to sound a little muffled, not really a copy of Josh's tone., but hinting towards that... We tried several guitars and screwed around for a couple of days trying shit out.
Overall,
For inspiration I listened to Kyuss, QUOTSA, Core, Fu Manchu, and Orange Goblin .... (Orange Goblin is one of my favorite bands in the "desert rock" genre ... check out their tune "Blue Snow" if you want a rush)
Although, I should mention, this song (Losing Fight") is not too much in the desert rock genre, but the other four songs on this EP were. Losing fight reminded me of QOTSA doing the Beatles...
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J mentioned that he liked the subtle effects changes on the vocal as my mix progresses... Thanks for noticing, the intention is to keep the vocal up front emotionally and to "re-set" the listeners attention at the transitions. I always to to create a different space for each section of the song... A different ambience... This helps keep things from getting boring. This song really needs the mix moving to sell it. I try to make the listener forget the previous section by distracting them... Each section is "new" if you follow. (Which I know J does by listening to his mix)
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To the comments:
I am listening to tracks in my studio on KRK V6's with sub.... but I am going to switch up and down to my Radio Shack Minimus Sevens as well... I want to see how these translate to real world 3" speakers....
NOTE: I am strongly thinking that the downsampling from 24/48 to 16/44 (for the upload to imp) then to mp3 has caused the guitars to get weird (irritating) in the distortion... I really hate digital when it comes to distortion. Not just amp sims but recording distorted signals like gtrs onto digital too... I throw this out for discussion....
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Chris J
Pretty good mix. the bass and kik seem to be competing for space... Vocal sibilance issues.... made good use of the shit mic, which I may have shied away from in my mix. Sounds good but it may be introducing too much snare bottom that’s taking a lot of space in the mix.
Henchy
Sounds good! I could have used less snare bottom. Is that the shit mic? ... 1db more on the backwards gtr. I love the effect on that... Is that the kick or a sample? Sweet! Yer talking to me ... I dig it
iCombs
Sounds pretty good Ian. Bottom end be a bit overdone. Could have used a little less verb on the end vocals, but I'm nit picking. Gotta watch those sibililants. Vocal nice and "dry and in your face" ... nice mix.
SIDE NOTE: I would use two de-essers: one at the beginning of the chain, and one on the end on this vocal track..... Or spot de-ess them.
adammiller
Another good mix... this is a tough IMP. I like the vocal treatment. nice job. Perhaps the bass is a little detached sounding... Need to get some variation in there
Grant Richard
Samples? This is one freakin good drummer... Samples?!!! .... Bass sounds good... Vocal effect has a high end whine that’s killin me. Two bus is pumping... You tie the mastering engineer’s hands when you do this, But it seems to be a trend, so I will spare everyone the rant. Pretty good other than that vocal thing.
Greg Dixon
Drums could use some work.. This mix would work better if the drums were a tad louder maybe. Nice job on the sibilance.
jdier
I see where your going with this ... vocals need to be brighter ... breakdown sounds good .... way too much verb on the snare, it distracts too much. Verb rule: turn it up till you like it, then back it down till you can barely hear it... then maybe even turn it down some more.
Liam /rattle
Bass is a tad tubby for my tastes... I respect the fact that this is not a smashed mix. A good mastering engineer could make this shine.... (but would accent those sibilants.)
NickT
Your floor tom mic is too loud and is throwing off the overhead balance? My micing technique is to use the floor tom mic as a ride catcher or as a "low over head" ... when she's too high in the mix it drags the snare/HH to the right etc. (I snip and boost for the hits) This mix has a nice balance (aside from being lopsided). The instruments support the vocal well without getting in the way ... Lots of room for the mastering engineer.
redtape
Need to punch up the drums. Arpeggio gtr a tad too loud in first verse.
will f
I see where you were going with this.. If the vocals were drier it would work better. Nice job on the bass, it sounds like mine!
I Iike the vocal effects after the lead break to the end.... perhaps start drier and work your way up.
Anonymous
I like the sparse intro / first verse that sets up the for the first chorus. I really like the cross panned echo on the backwards gtr leads. Could have used more BG vocals.... This is a good place to mention that in mixing it's not critical that you wring every ounce of "phat" out of each section of the song folks... sometimes you need to clear out sections simply to set it up so the next section comes in big, and vice versa. Also don't be afraid to let shit "stick out" many of the mixes here are playing it safe and kind of flatten the song. Rock n Roll is not supposed to be safe. Overall a good mix.
Ator
That intro treatment is interesting, but perhaps over done... Stereo widening pluggin (?) overdone. (The guitars disappear when mono button is hit).... Some L/R phase issues going on there I think. I do give you extra credits for taking chances though....
Fantomas
I like this mix. It has good balance. If I had to find something I would want the vocal/snare a bit brighter. Need to take some chances ... a change of ambience here and there. Good stuff though.
Jhall
Good stuff. I would want a little less verb on the vocal in the chorus. Your approach to drums is a lot different than mine but I can dig em. I think the vocal effect gets weird when it is pumping with the mix. I really dig this mix. I think if it weren't for those pumping vocal effects it would be great. Less vocal effect would cure that though... Translates real well down to the 3" Minimuses. Could have used a tad more snare, but I'm digging to find something to come up with that. I'm gonna have to listen to that drum stem you posted....
Nizzle
Yes! Right from the first amp hum this one grabbed me. (take note folks, amp hums etc. can give things a more "real" "raw" "rock" feel) (Or: "if you can't lose it use it")... This mix takes some chances in the right way. Definitely picked up on the Beatles influence guitars
Nice treatment there.... Not super fond of the kik but I can live with it. (Sample?) (maybe just a tad too much 10k ?)... This mix really "sells" the song... well done.
SingSing
Kick drum is a bit woofy.. tends to be a bit distracting. Weirdness with the arpeggio guitars... hmm... Vocal feels detached.... Decent mix if these items were fixed up.
Spoon
Again kick is distracting.... A bit too much sub I think... Overall a decent mix. Need a bit more compression on the vox, and work on your drum EQing a tad... but this is a listenable mix... just needs a few little tweaks ... see J's drum tutorial that he's doing.
3foot6
Too effected. Too compressed. I'm seeing peaks at about -3 or -4 db rms!... this making the mix way to brash to listen to. Keep at it.... hang out here for future IMP's
Mcarter
For some reason the mp3 I have here is only four seconds long... just a few beats and a bit of intro gtrs. I wonder if my download fucked up... I'm at the studio, with no internet connection, so I can't check the server .... sorry. But for what it’s worth the intro sounds promising... UPDATE: Listened to the recall you posted….. Love it… one of my favorites
Maxim
Love the humor! Chris sings: "cut me off" and so you did! LOL ... I respect the fact that your mix is delivered without compression and plenty of headroom for the mastering engineer. I compensated by cranking the shit out of the monitors.... Not bad. some weird stuff with the gtrs.... if it weren’t for a couple of spots it would work. Drums need a little more oomph .. J's handling that so I won't go into it here.
TomC
Vocal sounds "tubular",....
Thanks everyone this has been a lot of fun... and a lot of work!
Cheers, Rick
