Hello!
First of all, thanks for the opportunity to mix this song, it was both fun and challenging.
I mixed it last weekend and didn't have time to really work on it, just revised and did some changes before posting here. I'm not too happy with the vocals on this one, but at least I tried.
I started my mix by setting the levels with no effects, then slowly testing some panning and reverb where needed. Then I usually clean frequencies that are clashing between tracks or that need in general and start adding effects individually. I used Fabfilter pro-q and pro-c for more clean sounds and Slate VMR for when I want some more character.
Drums:
Gave the kick a little top and compressed a little using the distressor. For the snare I used some saturation, cut the bottom resonance at about 180hz and compressed in parallel. Ran it through a room reverb and a hall reverb as well
The second drum loop I also saturated it a bit and compressed it fairly well with a LA-2A. Also used trackspacer to carve out some space for kick and vocals.
In the HH/Snare track I used some mid-side eq to cut some side information from the bottom end and to spread out the high frequencies (as well as pan the hh o the right a little). Some mild compression applied as well.
The rest of the tracks I used some minor eq and compression and ran some of them through the same reverbs as the snare.
On the bus I used some eq boosts on highs and low midd and a LA-2A to get more punch.
Bass:
Some cuts on between 300 and 650hz, a little bit of RBass and just a little bit of compression to get the main bass more round.. The second bass I added some small cuts on the low end and a boost on 1.2k as well as some saturation. On the bass buss I added trackspacer to open up some space for the kick in the low end.
Synths:
Cut most of the very bottom frequencies of all tracks and where I see frequency clashing happening (specially with the vocals). Used trackspacer to open up some more space in the low end for the kick and the same for the vocals on the mid frequencies.
I also used the J37 tape plugin for some slight saturation and wow on the pad to give it more a vintage vibe.
Piano:
Sent them to a hall reverb (the end piano a little more).
On the bus I high passed at 40hz, cut on around 250hz, boosted the mids and cuts on the hights to make it a little more mellow. Then a slow compressor to get a little more attack.
Guitar:
Some mid-high cuts on the accoustic and some high boosts, nothing too drastic, just wanted to add more clarity. A slow compressor on the electric guitar and room reverb on both.
FX: sent them to a general room reverb.
For the strings sample (pizzicato) I removed a click on the very end of the audio using RX, then used a high shelf filter on the sides, a boost on the mid highs (on mid mode) and a cut at around 250hz
Vocals:
Used the dry vocal takes and ran through Izotope RX to clean some hiss and a little bit of sibilance.
Used MetaTune with a little more “natural” pitch correction on the main vocals and a more aggressive correction on the BGV. All vocals went through (with different amounts of send) a common room and hall reverb) then a dedicated reverb at the bus. I also added some taoe saturation in the bus.
I did some dynamic cuts on pro-q to remove some sibilance in the bottom end and highs, then some eq for coloration and 2 compressors: one to tame the attacks and the other to level everything. The BVG I compressed more the attack than the main ones.
Master bus:
Low cut (stereo and side) at around 20hz and Slate VMB with very little compression (around 2db) to glue it all together and give it a more colorful/vintage sound as well as a little bit of gulfoss to add some spark and a tape feel (I know it’s not a tape plugin, but I got what I was looking for in it).
I also used a limiter with very little gain (around .5db) and a TP setting just to be safe that my mix wasn’t clipping above -1TP and with the correct loudness.
Here's my mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QVdGs1 ... sp=sharing
Thanks for the song provider and good luck to everyone! Cheers
