TomImmon wrote: ↑Thu Jul 25, 2019 08:21 CEST
.... today mixing in mono is still a good way to test the balance in the mix ....
The issue is not that I would not fully agree. Just saying, different tactics exist.
Only in this special case, with limited capacity, it is my deliberate strategy to move any issues away from the musical corner into a technical.
Then, the audience out there might say "Sound quality is mediocre but I love the singer, what a strange but nice song! Lets hit the replay button." (or watch the live show)
For those, to whom the product is "accessible" via their device, but that's a wide field with very diverse age brackets and listening habits.
Personally, I never listen to music on a gadget. Only with big headphones with a good sound card.
The YMMV thing.
The band may or may not like my approach, as it is not possible to communicate in detail beforehand. But one or the other comrades here might find it interesting, many thanks if so.
On another note, in some mixes, I see some "static" reverb applied, that created a steady, calm, room experience. While I used reverb that creates more of this "ocean wave" impression. For the storytelling around the song, we might ask, how can we have the music describe that post-addiction feeling, to create the closer approach? Would I sit and comtemplate, or - in avoidance of the substance - would I fight and jump and stumble, and run away from my own self?
(Anecdotally, I know about a guy who was an "Idol" singer, and later became very unhappy, and jumped from a cruise ship, not far away from where the Titanic sank, and is considered dead in the waves.)
So that's my point. With a limited recording, issues will come out in the classic triangle: fast, cheap, and with greatest quality. Not.
Capacity (budget), musical quality, technical quality. There will be a trade-off.
From my position, I can gladly afford to put every effort into the side of music.
But it has to have a bold style. As Warren Huart says: "There must be something wrong. We need it so and it creates energy and impact. The know-how is how to do this to make it good not bad."
It is clear to me why the scoring system provided by Mr.Wilson is more on the technical side, and my achieved ranking is totally fair.
He wants to explore what can be done with this recording in terms of audio technology.
It would be utterly exciting to have comrades here who own the full Zynaptiq and IZotope suites and what not, so we can get serious, huge case studies!
For the total other side of our example, we might take into account, that an industry guy could say "Normally, we do not deal with imperfect recordings, as we ARE the ones that create perfect recordings in our 5 studio rooms 24/7. And in this case we are going to call in two session musicians, and tomorrow we have perfect recordings of this song, which costs us 600 extra. Take it or leave it."
Which of course is not the purpose of Chris and his friends, and there is a lot of business out there for local studios, to support this type of local artists.
----
So, i examined a bit further.
To get better mono compatibility, I can use detailed M/S EQ, to get the much better separation that is then required.
But then also, the mentioned cymbal that has lower frequencies than usual, will start to conflict with the guitars.
Still not sure what to do without making the sound too sterile. Would perhaps become a job to some algo plugin to specifically select this cymbal and give it a special space that somehow brackets the guitar sounds. Which is a bit dynamic.
Next issue, in mono, the timing difference among the guitars becomes crucial. So perhaps, the HF or air band or strumming sounds of one guitar should push away this area from the other guitar, that we found to be less precise. Which though would hurt the stereo image. Trade-off again.
Or, we can master some elastic algo and smoothly align ALL the guitar timing. I have a limited elastic tool and I am not good at this, but it would be exciting to hear a good example by one of the other contestants.
It becomes even more of a challenge, when drums were not played on grid but have an exotic groove that must not get destroyed.
If I reduce the "industrial" reverb, I also need to correct the timing and volume of many more snare hits. Which will make the performance less organic.
Some snare hits sound muffled and get drowned, therefor everyone uses samples. But here with the rules, we need automated EQ, or some algo plugin that creates the regulated snare sound, practically turning every snare hit into its own sample that is re-engineered.
(Personally, I love organic drums without any samples.)
Just another 2 cents humbly, while waiting for completion of the #56 challenge.
Cheers!
