Oh my god, 41 entries. Kill me now
Okay, I am Mr. A&R guy with a briefcase of tapes from potential mixers, and I'm going through these like a buzzsaw. As usual not about the technical, more about whether I'm catching a vibe. Also, good mood so this time I'm not going to be like "WTF is this strange filenaming convention? *toss*" ...actually I'm going to be curious how everybody handles the synth digression, so this is going to take forever, plus J says it's all about the outro. Yay, hurt me more...
81328_briefcasemanximp12- wtf is this 81328?
boy, upfront and solid. Are we trying to pretend this is like a real band? Not into leaning on the keyboards this way, they are boring and sit there. This doesn't work as a straight mix, wonder how many others are straight.
Brian_Lloyd_The_Space_Doctor- Major major arrangement tweaks. It's dragging it out even more and making it even more static. Whoa, lyrics are seriously altered by rearranging lines! I can't approve, the song's lyric-driven and not that way by mistake. It's got few enough images already, you can't simply take them away arbitrarily.
craig_imp12- Very very gentle, but it feels like a mistake or monitoring issues, not a decision. Hey, there's the aggression- the whole outro is a huge contrast! I don't think it's executed well but I completely get what's being attempted. I don't think that has much to do with the song but I'm starting to think this song is way harder than it looked...
Greg_Dixon_IMP12- Something about this isn't interesting, as if it's trying hard to build the mix out of the performances, as if they are supposed to be rock performances in a normal rock context. The way the sounds are built, nothing is striking me as worth attention.
IMP_12_mcsnare- ah, the famous mcsnare! I hear STUFF happening, but I'm also catching a vibe that has the sort of spacey lonely thing I heard in the song. It's still acting too much like it's a normal song, but not completely- liking the synth part going into the outro- like the hints of 'offness' here and there. Fair enough, best yet
IMP-012-TomC- immediate weird shit, yay! I'm liking the vocals here. I'm liking the vibe, for whatever reason the song seems important to the people in it this time. Maybe I'm not supposed to understand them but they sure are trying to communicate something. Minimal, but there's a song there. Dunno how to explain this- maybe further mixes will help fill in the understanding of what I'm hearing here. One thing is, the voices aren't being made weird, they're bare, exposed.
IMP12_bennals- UM LOUD? THIS SEEMS REAL LOUD BUT THEN THE VOICE ISN'T... where'd that femme vocal come from? Must have been the harmony. Lead vocal MIA completely. Song doesn't sound complete, at all. But then it's trying to sound like pop or something, so it sounds like a bizarre pop failure- can't do that with these tracks, no worky. CANNOT get rid of the weird stuff and have anything left. Missing the point *klik*
IMP12-BigMetal- huh, are we doing some kind of acoustic guitar simulation? Sounds different somehow. Another person who didn't like the lead vocal. I have a funny feeling that if you hate the lead vocal you're just fucked... it's defining the song so much that you can't remove it and have anything left. It's pretty amazing how that works. I wouldn't have called this a big star quality lead vocal but it still completely dictates the feel of the song. Well to remember when we're tracking lead vocals
after all, though this lead vocal isn't that clear, tuned, or anything, it IS honest and emotive in a subdued spacey way and that is apparently more important. Heh. Big lessons and I'm not even 1/4 of the way through...
IMP12_Billybehdaz- Boy, are they in a room!
Good hard try to present the appearance of a normal rock band. I'm not feeling how that's helpful. Again, something's missing. Everything sounds 'good' and pretty, but it's not bringing any drama. Again with the getting rid of weirdness. That wasn't what this song was about IMNESHO (not even slightly humble opinion! don't worry, I get humbled when everybody HATES my mix
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IMP12_CarefulCollapse- BEATLES! Suddenly we're all Ricks and Hofner bass. WEIRD and edgy. WEIRD drum treatment with roaring distorting kick. Obviously not a bashful mix! Now does it bring anything? Hmmm. We're covering up the lead voice a little. I think that's the only real problem here. It's like all of this could be having mental breakdowns behind the lead voice but instead it's dominating. Beatles tip, the crazy weirdness NEVER kills the lead vocal, EVER. whoah! *LOL* weird ending! Most daring award (so far, possibly most daring period)
IMP12_ CHANCE_WRONG_SAMPLE_RATE- Whoah. It's a troop of monks doing basso harmonies! Where did the rattler come from, I don't remember it? Maybe it's just the different pitch. Can't criticise this because working on the wrong sample rate is horribly distracting- it's interesting and the heavy use of harmonizer is a bold stroke, as is the rattle. I don't feel the song at all, though. Oh well- better luck next time, I made the sample-rate mistake once too and it ruined my entry that IMP
IMP12_ChrisJ- Boy, my drum sounds are disgusting
however, I'm still listening to hear if anyone had the same ideas as I did with those wacky synths. Swoopy one super distant and like a kaboom and rocket liftoff, beepy one super bright and dry like neurons popping. I had fun
IMP12_darkhorseporter- Immediate problem with the lead vocals hiding and being shy. Can't rely on the instruments in this song, doesn't matter if the vocal doesn't seem to be saying anything. It is NOT just another instrument, it is the heart of the song, the place you look for meaning. This was a bitch of a song if you were trying to just get levels- it needed so much more, and the worst of all was to just balance everything cleanly.
IMP12_dconstruction- Why's the fundamental on the voices seem to be coming from the backing vocals? Ooooh, for a second I couldn't tell whether that distortion was drums or guitar in the background. I like the wavering of the guitars to set a mood. The distortion in the background is a little scary though. This is the first mix where I think the guy is DYING rapidly, perhaps caught in some horrible mangle
audio snuff mix! The contrast between the vocals and those ripping distortions is more than a little disturbing
IMP12_DevinK- Whoa, suddenly it's a nice tune. Very cool to lean on the bass that heavily, it quickly sets a pleasant mood. Guitars are pretty, chimey. I hear a hint of snare drum on the bridge. I'm liking this, and the reason is it's convincingly nice, but there are still disturbing elements- WHOA yeah, serious disturbing elements sneakily hidden everywhere. This is COOL. I am SERIOUSLY digging where you went with this. Just.. wow. If I'd known you could do this I'd have worked a lot harder at setting the 'pretty' stage in order to undermine it later...
imp12_grantrichard4- I enjoy the background noise on the bass track! The guitar is stepping on it, though, I liked what the intro bass did so much that I want to hear more of it, want it (and the lead vocal) to be the centerpiece. Instead there's a droning quality I'm not liking, coming from the guitars and organ. I am also liking the drums, though. But too much is compressed at once. I don't hear it as good that EVERYTHING is smashed as a stunt. Good- no GREAT on the bass track but some of that stuff ought to lay back...
IMP12_Jason_Thompson_Heavier- Normalish so far, hmmm. This mix doesn't sound vulnerable. It doesn't sound sick. A weird complaint, I know. It's very pretty with the phasey stuff on the organ and all, maybe it's the most convincing 'straight' rendition I've heard yet. So convincing that it's winning me over, yes it is precious
I'm also approving of the arrangement reshuffling on stuff like the synths, you got away with it, bigtime. Satisfying. It's down to the artist to let you know whether you're supposed to feel satisfied after this song is heard- or unsettled, adrift
Regardless, GOOD work.
IMP12_MCarter-USE- But what if I don't WANT to touch the weenis? Boy is that an extreme vocal effect. Kinda neat how it's blasting away with the guy's breathing and all between verses. Now it needs to stop and change to a regular human, but it pretty much doesn't. I'm surprised Jen doesn't get a look in. No outro ATall, which apparently is a major gaffe with the songwriter, why is that? I'm thinking it's because the vibe set in the outro was a sort of release, important. Without it I can tell you that the song feels constricting, and with the intense vocal treatment it's like hearing from a guy locked in a little box at the bottom of a long steel tube. Yes he needs saving but he's not appealing anymore
Imp12_NickT- Kind of straight. The risk I run trying to crit 41 mixes is that I'll burn right out and not be able to hear anymore (assuming I could in the first place!). I'll need to take some breaks. This mix feels straight enough that I'm not connecting with it very well. I'm hearing the irregularities as mistakes, they're not setting a weird tone for me, because the context seems so normal. I wonder why that's not the case with Devin's. *compare* partly because Devin ran with the rumbley kick drum and isn't also making snare and hat 'big' and poppy. Absence of 'normal' snare and hat is a cue that something's weird.
IMP12_rattleyour- Sort of polished, but I'm getting a sense of vulnerability off this anyway. That holds for a lot of sounds, actually- like the hat is real bright, but still has a character to it. I think some of the stuff sitting in the background is helping. Yeah, I like- it's a trip, definite lysergical quality. Ends too soon. (THAT'S a compliment as well as a crit- you should have kept going, but to do a mix and when it ends the listener was like 'hey, want more'? GOOD)
IMP12_scottoliphant- Um, it's kind of leaning on me. Guitars, keyboards are taking up a lot of space and seem to be poking me in the ear. Largely that organ I think. Straight vocals but they're not taking my attention enough, they're fighting with the organ and guitars. Everything's fighting to be loud a bit. Some bits like the snare are very neat sounds but it's not making me want to be listening to this. *klik*
imp12_singsing- VOCALS. That's some serious spotlighting on the vocals, plus the attitude is pouring off them. if anything it's a bit too much- too emo or something, there's a resigned relaxed quality also in that vocal and here it is obliterated, totally eradicated. That's a risk of pushing the 'tude on the vocal too hard. It's less appealing but more compelling this way. I have an INTENSE sense of a personality behind the vocal, but I don't want to save him
imp12_superloud- interestingly, not super loud! I'm feeling the sparseness and emptiness here, which is good, I think that's part of the vibe. I don't think the female voice should dominate, even though it's prettier- it's a harmony melody, it's not a lead melody. So, major criticism is, why isn't the lead vocal a lot more central? It's not about how pristine the performance is, it's how well you can hang a song on it- it's like you hung the song properly on the vocal but then turned it down some.
imp12_tw- huh? Oh, it's the organ. Which does have its vibe. Unfortunately it's annoying this way... The rest of the song feels good, it's just that organ which hurts. Outro feels VERY empty, interesting. Somehow the outro feels more like a song than the song does, maybe because that empty quality was there in the song and is wildly exaggerated by the outro?
imp12_Yanik- reamping-R-us
sounds sort of hair-metal, only without passion. Definite big feel, like it's trying to do a stadium thing, except it's not being backed up by the song, the song's not trying to go there. The thing is, if the mix and the song get into a fight, the mix is always wrong
sorry- if I get into a crit, I'm not going to worry about whether _I_ am wrong, much less whether my own pathetic twiddlings are as good. I'll just level with whatever my gut reaction is, and in this case we're talking empty stadium soundcheck here. The song's somewhere else.
IMP12----El Duderino- bzzt, gratituous dashes and a space in the name when the rules said not to! NO SOUP FOR YOU! Just kidding, you can have soup. Might wish you hadn't... OK, I never like hearing the annoying parts of the organ more. However, the vocal sounded like a person- good! Crazy indie guitar fragging on the left there... produces funny events. I think you could lose the vocal echoes and other than that, this is pretty solid, largely because it preserves the weird bedroom-recording vulnerability in the song while making it huge. This is the biggest mix that I've actually liked... apart from the organ I don't want to turn it off. There's a mood in there. I think it's coming from the imbalances and wrong elements somehow, definitely from some things being too bassy and the guitar being too distorted and grungey. Contrasts with no one element carrying the song.
imp12-agp- hey, this isn't IMP 9? Boxy voices, highlighted organ- what this does have going for it is the vocals are direct and communicative, and the rest of the track is completely whacked! It screams 'indie indie INDIE INDIE' which I think the song expects, I just don't like all the choices of what is highlighted. Whoa big outro, that's really loud. The word for this mix is NAIVETE. Normally I think you'd have to show more skill... big fan of the tail-off crackly-guitar-pickup organ chord, I really liked that idea, better than what I did. (yeah, I know, 'better than ChrisJ' is passive-aggressive insultry
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IMP12-ATOR- Whee, instant arrangement change, just add BEEOOoooooouuuwwwww
This comes off as heavy, but I keep hearing things I like, things I'm not expecting. This might be the _heaviest_ mix I actually like. I can tell right away I like it, and I'm trying to figure out why... again with the direct, communicative vocals, and the experimentalism isn't stepping in front of the lead vocal. BGvox, hell yeah, you're clobbering them sometimes. I'm not hearing weak wastingness in this one, nothing 'so much sick' about it. It's strong with those synths all over it, just weird as anything. I think it could go closer to the mood of the song, but at the same time it really stands on its own.
imp12-maxim- In this mix, we hunt for hooks! Lots of hooks! Paste them all over!
Seriously, the actual mix has the experimentalism knob cranked to 11, which is a pretty good call here- it seems a little fugitive, but the bits that are poking out have a somewhat unsettling air, which I like. What I don't like is, the lead vocal is bye-bye. That's the track with the point of the song, you can't take it away and then try to do its job with the mix. The mix should be reinforcing it, not replacing it. Granted I'm just a silly freak but EVERY track I've liked has had the lead vocal right there feeling like a person- not hiding behind anything. It makes me nuts when the lead vocal hides. What could be more important?
imp12-spoon- THERE IS N... sorry
always wanted to say that. Starting to get less rational, so many mixes. How about 'there is no lead vocal'? What's the background vocal doing replacing him? That's not a lead vocal melody, it's just not. Many spankings for hiding the lead vocal. The rest of the mix ain't bad, but ChrisJ is losing it listening to mixes with hiding lead vocals...
IMP12-UnderTow- Yay, weird introness! Synths cut and pasted everywhere! This is certainly establishing the 'so much sick' concept, though funnily enough the singer doesn't seem vulnerable at all. It sounds like he's SMILING, then he's on a telephone. A lot in the mix is supporting a disorienting lead vocal, but the lead vocal itself has been made stronger somehow. I don't remember it being sung strongly and solidly, there's a vulnerability that has gone away. WHOA- you have to tell how you produced a sort of flanged conga track out of what you were given, because I'd swear it was new tracking and if it was, BZZT
imp12-v1-leester- ARGH more hiding lead vocal! Do you guys REALLY think this song, THIS song, has to be fronted by a slick sexay studio babe? Never mind that the melody isn't a lead melody. It's distracting me so bad it's hard to focus on the rest of the track. Which seems nice, not too glossy, sort of warm, the right kinds of unsettling elements in there- but yikes! Prettiness in voice is a COLOR, it's not the whole point. Mute Dylan why dontcha
IMP12._-_iCombsMix- Wha! Yikes! Ahahaha! What the hell are you doing? *ROFL* That is the weirdest intro yet! Kinda GOOFY. Eeek, techno delay-sting! This is making me laugh and smile- just WHOA. I'd like more lead vocal because the guy's being smothered by all this crazy stuff. Of course, that kinda-sorta works... I LOVE the spacey, vague feel. Well played sir
imp12Anonymous- Hmmm- interesting choice with supporting the beginning on organ only. Everybody knows I don't like the harmony vocal taking center stage so I'll shut up until the next time... this feels very tentative, very tentative. I think it would work if the lead voice was plastered way up front and the rest of it stayed tentative. I don't think it helps having Jen be the focus. Heh, interesting outro trick! That's a pretty big arrangement change, though. And it makes him FOLLOW her, again, she's not the lead vocal.
Imp12Fantomas- Getting back to the more 'straight' this time with harmonies added. AGAIN LEAD VOX HIDES ARGH ok I'm better now. I'm not into having the vocals be with the lush reverb and the guitars be dryer- it feels like the vocals are more 'produced' which doesn't work for me here. nifty transition to outro! Liked the jump in loudness. Where are you guys getting the loud background hiss ending the song? ...and why??
IMP12Fibes- yay added elements. Backwards, repurposed harmony vocals etc. The thing is, I'm not feeling that 'aaa-aaaahhh' is BETTER for hearing it every few seconds
it starts to be like, oh no, her again. What I AM really liking is the funny filtered drum echo. That feels cool as hell. I could listen to the whole track with ONLY the drum echo trick for extra elements added. AAAH! aaa-aaah! aaaaaaaaaah! I'm going to wake up in the middle of the damn night and go 'aaa-aaaahhh' and scream! My cats will start doing it! Oh no no nooooo... I'm sorry, brain starting to show strain of too many mixes by now...
IMP12garret- Hey, I just noticed I'm hearing lots of organ and not hating it this time! Why is that? The chorusing maybe? I'm LIKING the vocals here. I like their balance and I like being able to focus easily on them, and after the Fibes track (sorry...) I like that they have a natural sense of unedited flow. It seems like not so much was done with this one, but it worked.
imp12JHall- Yup, I knew the vox would be solid. Things seem really solid and upfront. Including the vocals, ironically- not my favorite vocal treatments, simply because they sound too strong. Loses vulnerability and openness by putting on a bit of a gloss, bit of an edge- same thing as with SingSing but not anywhere near as much. In general, solid solid solid, obviously an understanding and sense of the song, it's just that on this song I want the singer to not feel as strong- while still being totally central to the mix. If that makes any sense?
IMP12Liam- Mellowness. This has a placid feel, with nothing much violating it, even the drums are big warm and DISTANT. So mellow. Now it would be interesting if, instead of the muttering echoes, there were hints of the synths or that distort-one-guitar trick. I felt this track loved having unsettling elements subtly sneaking in, this mix is so lacking in unsettling stuff that it's distressing me a little. Too easy to tune out.
IMP12Mix_by_Andrew_Brierley- Cold. I don't know why. That's not a criticism, it's a vibe. I don't like how bright the hat is, but on the other hand, I got real vibe off the vocalist singing 'so much sick'. I'm liking the vocals, a lot. They're a little thin, a little shiny, but they're getting LOTS of that vulnerable, exposed quality I was looking for in this song. Compare to J's, which has more of a 'rock vocal' presence and authority, where Andrew's has more of a 'sonic event' presence, barely enough warmth/depth to carry it, but feels way more vulnerable- and it's the same track.
Kimwatsonimp12- Nice vocal blend! Guitars sound excellent- liking the kick and snare in the context of the song- harmony vocals hotter than they need to be, but in general WOW, this has LOTS of vibe. It's maybe somewhat polite. Aggressiveness isn't really there though it's not lacking in size or power- the thing is, that works for this song, because there's a very limited range of ways the mix can be aggressive without screwing it up anyway. This one felt gooood.
OMGWTFBBQ that was the last one! I finished!!!
God help me, I'm gonna get clobbered this time. Oh well, I deserve it for being such a bastard. Blame the workload of having way too many songs to crit- and too many WITHOUT LEAD VOCALS argh! aaa--aaaaahhhh! o/` aaaaaah there's that hook again, it followed me! aaaah!
Wonder if it'll all fit in one post?