https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/fe0r4vfs ... jlziy&dl=0
Hello,
What a fun song to mix and listen to, thank you for providing us with some fun energetic music to play with
I'll try to explain some of what I did, and the reasoning behind it, as requested above, the best I can.
I started the mix getting a basic balance and then going through the guitar tracks trying to figure out how I wanted them panned and blended. That was the main thing I wanted to get worked out right away.
Once I had a nice blend going, I engaged some hardware. On the mixbus, everything is going through an Alan Smart C1LA compressor, and into a pair of Audioscape Pultecs (EQP-A's). The Pultecs had no eq to start, I like to play with that a little later in the mix. But the compressor was on from the start. I like a slow attack, fast release and 4:1 ratio on it. This allows a lot of hefty punch to come through and helps add energy.
Individual drum tracks stayed ITB, but were bussed to a stereo Drum Mix that had a hardware Lindell 77x compressor (think 2x 1176 style compressors) and then going into a pair of CAPI BT50 eq's (same as API 550A's). The Lindell is set to 40% wet (so mostly dry) and is used as a parallel compressor. This thing makes drums sound huge and exciting. The CAPIs are boosting a little 50hz, and a a lot of 5khz shelf. The filters are engaged on this unit to tighten the sound.
I didn't want a lot of rumbling sub in this track, so I tried to go for more of a punchy kick sound, with just a little sub...otherwise it seemed too boomy and messy. I wanted it to sound raw, but like a record. On individual drum tracks, I stuck mostly with an SSL channel strip plugin, silencer (gate), Crave EQ, and then 1073 style plugins for saturation (snare)...as well as on kick to add just a little bottom.
For the snare I used the fast attack on the SSL strip, as well as a 1073 plugin, lofi, and Slate VTM all to try and control that snappy poppy snare thing going on. I wanted it to sound more raw and grungy...but cutting.
Bass went through my Audioscape V-Comp and into a Heritage Audio 1081 style Pre/EQ. I filtered out the subs a bit, and boosted some body to sit with the kick. I also played with driving it a little and boosting some upper mids to make it bite/growl a in the track. Overall, I just wanted it sitting nice with the kick and providing a bed for guitars to sit on but not be too subby...I thought it should drive the track more rather than be too bottom heavy.
Guitars got the most work I'd say...I ran them all out through a pair of Heritage Audio 1073 style Pre/EQ units, and into a pair of GAP 3A style compressors. I bussed all the guitars to a guitar aux, and inserted the hardware there. I used this to get a basic sound across all the guitars, then as I was printing each track back in, I'd adjust the EQ, Preamp drive, and compression to suite each track...committing and building the guitar sound as I went. Overall and in general, I filtered out the low end to make room for the bass, and found areas in the low mids and upper mids/highs to boost and or cut in order to get certain tracks to blend or pop. I love Neve style eq on electric guitar b/c it's easy to filter out lows using the HPF, just sounds great, and then the EQ points can really help guitars to push forward and bite. Plus the saturation just plays great with electric guitar I feel.
I didn't touch the synth track really...just ran it through a pair of CAPI LC25 eq's...but no eq...only used it for the opamps. So really no change there.
Lead Vocal...I usually use my Audioscape 1176 bluestripe hardware, but since the vocals were in stereo...I went through a pair of Neve 542 tape emulators, and AML 52f50 compressors. The reason was to try and warm it up without dulling it. The 542's help smooth it out and give it some thickness and harmonics...and the AML compressor is a little dark/round...and just sounded really nice. The rest was done ITB with plugins. I still felt like I needed to control some of the spikes and harshness...so I did some de-clicking with RX, and also used LoFi and a tape machine plugin to give it more smoothness/vibe. Aside from that, a little eq (SSL channel and Crave) and a little more compression from an 1176 plugin was used to help it to really sit in the track better. I used RDesser as well, and a multiband limiter to help control it at the end of the chain...barely hitting.
All instruments (except drums/bass) are sent in parallel to a "wide" bus that has a little parallel eq and widening. This helps things sound big and wrap around the vocal.
I didn't use many effects, a little room on some drums/solo guitar, and a delay on vocals. I think a little short chamber on background vocals as well so that the decay would last just a little longer on them.
There are a few other things going on in my template, but it's a lot to get into. So I'll stop for now. Somewhere in the middle of the mix, I ended up boosting 5khz on my Audioscape Pultecs just a little to help the energy and cohesiveness of the whole track out just a tad. I did mix into some clipping as well, for the sound. This is not for loudness...it helps control transients in a really nice way for me, and barely hitting. Without it, things sound more pokey which I didn't want on this song.
All in all, I hope I was able to help bring out some energy in the track and keep it feeling raw, but also hopefully sounding like a record.
On a side note:
I'd like to encourage people while listening to all of these mixes, not to just run them back to back, one right after the other. This will not give your ears time to adjust and reset. I feel it's important to be comparing these mixes to commercial releases in-between each mix submission. Listen to a contestant mix, then refresh by listening to one of the reference tracks (like AC/DC)...then move on.
I notice often that a lot of the mixes that get selected for the next round are very thick...with a lot of bottom and may sound nice and full compared to other mix submissions...however...when you compare these mixes to commercial releases...they often sound way too boomy/muddy and more like a rough mix than like a record...at least to my ears. But maybe I'm crazy...
Could totally just be my taste.
Just a thought, have fun everyone! Thanks again for the cool song!
! I like that the vocal delay is apparent during the softer vocal sections. I considered a vocal throw on that part, but thought it might have been too much.
If I was working with a band I would have definitely asked for feedback at a much earlier point in the process and realise now I actually find that one of the biggest challenges of the mix challenge. Its a lesson in itself!
