Echooread mix
Thank you for letting us play with your tracks. I really love the song. Hope it shows.
Here is my take on the instruments:
The first thing I do was to take a look at the OH. Not much to do since I liked the way it sounded. I HP up to 180Hz-ish to leave room for the kick/bass and LP to around 6kHz to tame down the sibilance a little. I gave it gentle compression only to catch the peaks and keep it steady. I made a dup of the OH and compressed it hard (parallel) to bring up the dirt under, steady the beat, and squashed the top end even more. I have all I need from the un-compressed one, especially the ride and the cymbals. In the earlier mixes I did, I couldn't hear the ride properly. It took me a couple days just to figured out how to get them back and let it…ride! I can't imagine mixing from 2:17-2:29 w/o it, a rock song is just not the same without the bell/ride driving it forward in some parts, imo. I later ducked the OH out of the way each time the snare (closed mic) hits via side-chain. It seemed to help strengthen the snare somewhat. I'd like it a little thicker, but alas "you can't always get what you want."-(RS)
Next is the kick and the bass (my source of unending sonic misery).
Kicks:
balanced the in and out of the kick and sent them to an aux for processing:
EQ: a boost (1.5dBs) in the 60Hz to get the sub-kick sound, a cut, same amount, at 120Hz, HP to 40Hz to get rid of rumble, LP around 6K (not much useful info up there in a kick to use anyway) to leave room for the hi hat, cymbal, etc, all the while praying at the same time.
Compressor: slow attack and medium release (to get the tail end out of the way and to leave room for the bass), coming down hard at 5:1, 7dBs GR. I paralleled it but hp pass all the way to, sweet Jesus, 1.8kHz. I just wanted the snap. I wanted the kick to sound like the kick from One (Metallica) but a little less bite and attack. This song needs a darker kick. I used the kick in side-chain to control the bass and the tail end of the guitars. It helped show a little muscle behind the beater and clear out the mud-range from the guitars for it, and the bass, to reign supreme down there
. The guitars have no business hanging out chilling down there in the lower mid-range region, not when the kick and the bass are in full swing anyway.
Bass:
EQ: HP to 61Hz (the kick is boosting at 60Hz) to get out of the kick's way. A little cut at 500Hz and an octave below it, a little boost at 120Hz to add some meat to it. I almost never boost the bass, only cuts. This time it's an exception, and not without prayers, mind you. In fact, this time I pray quite loudly with some vulgarity thrown purposely in between just to keep the gods' attention.
Compressor: Just want to keep it steady so I did it gently, fast attack/release to catch the peaks, 3:1 keeping it down with only a couple dBs of GR. But I did paralleled it with another one hard and strapped a distortion to it to add some grits, blended to taste. I wanted it to be almost aggressive as the kick. I listened to it in the mix a few times but always felt that the bottom end of my bass somehow sounded flat and lifeless, no matter what I did. The pros's sounds are so good! Why can't I duplicate that…that juiciness that seems to oozing out from the pros' mixes, endlessly, readily, and abundantly. Sigh…Am I in over my head? What can I do beside dipping the bass in unicorn's tears and drying it using a dragon's breath of fire after wiping it with Athena's hairs to make it growl?
As I dragged the flat, lifeless, half dead bass with a long rope behind me around the seven seas seeking a cure for it and hope to learn a few tricks from "men of old and men of renown" (aka dudes from the internet), I remembered someone, in earlier searches, said something about how Andy Wallace always put a chorus on his bass. I tried it, and holy sweet Mary, mother of god, whose kindness upon vulgarity is infinite (hopefully), I could swear on the tits of all the whores on 5th Avenue that it made the bass that much richer, wider, and fatter, and most of all, livelier! (at least to my ears it is anyway). Either that or my ears are complete waste of effort and materials from my Maker. I automated the volume down a little (couple dBs) from 2:29, the transition part, I wanted it to hear the tom instead. This part is where the money is, in my opinion. It sets up the chaos that is to come right after and brings the song to a climax. Worth the attention and time spent on, imo. I am happy with where it sits in the mix right now. But tomorrow is another day, ain't it?
Snare:
lo-shelf just below (180Hz) its fundamental (guessing at 150Hz) to leave room for the kick and bass and a little boost (2dBs) at 150Hz (for meat) and 3dBs at 4.3kHz (for snap) to help it cut thru the mix all the while reminding myself to be mindful of the lo-mid region where I didn't want it to interfere with the higher region of the kick/bass/guitars. I cut a few dBs (100-200Hz) on the kick+bass+guitars where I boosted the snare to compensate. Soft compression, fast attack and medium-long release just to keep it steady and only 2-3dBs of GR. The bulk of the work is passed on to the parallel where I came down on it hard to bring up the sustain and the meat hiding under it. I used it as a controller (in side-chain) to duck the hats/cymbal from the OH down whenever it hits to steal some top end for it to shine. I used a reverb on it with short decay timed with tempo (approx 500ms). I also used it as a controller to duck the guitars out of the way whenever it hit via side-chain.
Toms:
Strapped an R-bass to it to get the lo-end and using it to clam down the kick+bass (paralleled) from 2:30-2:44 via side-chain
Guitars:
I almost always go for the lead guitar first, for it is my salvation in most times. If I had a good lead guitar I am half way there, and it always worked out well for me, even if the rhythm gtrs are not well recorded. Saying this at the risk of earning myself unwanted attention, but, after only one listen, I immediately called my girlfriend and asked her for the possibility of taking a shower tomorrow instead because there would be no actions to be had, at least not from me and not tonight anyhow. I offered her another night with a worthy-of-winning-an-emmy performance to make it up. Desperately in addition, I told her I'd take the whole jar of Viagra just to please her if it comes to that. But sadly, she declined my sincered, not to mention practical, offer and proceeded to giving me the finger instead. She said no. But anyway, after a couple hours wrestling with it to make it sit (I tried that once with a cat. It didn't turn out well) , I ended HP it all the way to, lord have mercy! 750Hz and LP to 7k to make it work for me. And yeah, still no "appointment" for the next actions session from the girlfriend. The calendar is completely emptied for the whole month. Rough month ahead, I tell you, my friends. Now it's just me and the bong. We used to do threesome... but I digress.
I did some gentle compression on the clean gtrs, fast attack and fast release, especially the parts where there's only steady single string picking. I tried to strap an amp after it but I liked it better clean. And they don't diminish the power of the song in anyway, so I kept it "as is." The only thing I did was to HP them to appropriate levels and panned them according to my ears and some…logic. I'd like it to sound like stuffs from AC/DC. I did use some delay on some of the guitars to add some space/ambiance.
Hi hat:
A healthy boost in the 10+kHz region on the hats to get the sizzling of the top end. HP it all the way to 925Hz. A little compression to keep it steady, fast attack, fast release, 3 dBs GR.
The room: medium compression, fast attack, long release. HP all the way to 500Hz and LP down to 8k.
The vocal: Very little processing. HP to 130Hz and compress 2:1, fairly high threshold, fast attack and medium release, with only 2-3dBs of GR, add delays at various parts of the song to emphasize and draw attention. Parallel the vocal with a flanger and fuzz-wah and a long delay (½ note) panned to the left to counter the guitar part on the right in the transition part just before the end part to add more to the chaos that is inherent within the song. I used the vocal in side-chain to control the guitars.
I mixed this song with AC/DC (guitars) and Metallica (drums) in mind and fully loaded. Hope you like it. Thanks.
MP3:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PWBRh ... vGRPBA490P
Wave:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1kOZ3E ... P5_3lpRaAK
