[James[_7_]]

About half of a song, what are your opinions of this mix? Not mine,
just curious.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/...238/ITSmix.mp3

[Phil W]

James wrote:
About half of a song, what are your opinions of this mix? Not mine,
just curious.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/...238/ITSmix.mp3

The lead vocals sounds too heavily compressed or gated. Especially, in the
intro part, the beginnings of all words sound too "chopped off" - very
unpleasant sounding to me...
The overall mix sounds a bit "raw" and very "dry". Try some overall reverb
on the whole mix in the mastering stage to make it sound more natural.
Bass might be a bit too loud.

This is just a first impression, without going into details too much. From a
listener´s perspective, I would not hear the whole song, but rather press
stop or move on to the next song, if it sounds like this. Yes, I´m aware
that it´s obviously not mastered, but there are problems in this mix, that
scream for a re-mix.


Phil

[Sebastian Zuendorf]

James wrote:

About half of a song, what are your opinions of this mix? Not mine,
just curious.

Honestly?
To me it sounds a bit annoying, especially the vocals.
Lead vocals lack low-mids and seem heavily compressed - still they are
buried in the rest of the instruments, especially the acoustic guitar.
The backings further hide the lead vocals.

I have to admit that I'm from Germany, so a native speaker might find
it easier to understand the lyrics without digging for every other
word.

If that was my mix, I would definitely try to bring up the vocals a
bit more, use different compression and add a little more low-mids to
them.

Regarding the rest of it: I'm missing a little bit of bassdrum while
OTOH the bassguitar is very present.
A little reverb here and there would help :-)

Sebastian


--
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-- Dietz Proepper in d.a.s.r.

Die Partyband vom Niederrhein: http://www.stimmtso.net

[James[_7_]]

On Nov 9, 12:14*am, "Phil W" wrote:

The lead vocals sounds too heavily compressed or gated. Especially, in the
intro part, the beginnings of all words sound too "chopped off" - very
unpleasant sounding to me...


I'm pretty sure she's playing the guitar while singing the lead,
wouldn't that preclude the gating issue?

The overall mix sounds a bit "raw" and very "dry". Try some overall reverb
on the whole mix in the mastering stage to make it sound more natural.
Bass might be a bit too loud.
This is just a first impression, without going into details too much. From a
listener´s perspective, I would not hear the whole song, but rather press
stop or move on to the next song, if it sounds like this. Yes, I´m aware
that it´s obviously not mastered, but there are problems in this mix, that
scream for a re-mix.


Actually, it has been mastered, this is a track off an album. They
name the studio and the mastering house. It struck me as having some
issues, I was curious what others thought of it, if they came up with
the same issues. Part of of it - which wouldn't be obvious from this
partial track is how this track compares to the others. The overall
balance between tracks seems off to me.

I guess I don't have a problem with the lack of reverb, given what I
know of this performer I'm guessing they were going for an "organic"
sound, but one of the things that struck me on this track was the
presence of the acoustic guitar. I thought a wider stereo would be
neat, but maybe that's just a taste issue. I think she could have
woodshedded her harmony vocals more, and I'm not crazy about the way
they have them panned hard L & R.

[Scott Dorsey]

James wrote:
On Nov 9, 12:14=A0am, "Phil W" wrote:

The lead vocals sounds too heavily compressed or gated. Especially, in th=
e
intro part, the beginnings of all words sound too "chopped off" - very
unpleasant sounding to me...

I'm pretty sure she's playing the guitar while singing the lead,
wouldn't that preclude the gating issue?

No, it's probably the reason for the gating issue... probably someone had
the foolish idea that leakage is always bad and they wanted the guitar out
of the vocal track, so they mutilated it with gating or downward expansion.

Actually, it has been mastered, this is a track off an album. They
name the studio and the mastering house. It struck me as having some
issues, I was curious what others thought of it, if they came up with
the same issues. Part of of it - which wouldn't be obvious from this
partial track is how this track compares to the others. The overall
balance between tracks seems off to me.

My guess would be that most of the damage was done in the tracking and
mixing sessions, but if someone sent me something like this for mastering
I would send it back for a remix.

I guess I don't have a problem with the lack of reverb, given what I
know of this performer I'm guessing they were going for an "organic"
sound, but one of the things that struck me on this track was the
presence of the acoustic guitar. I thought a wider stereo would be
neat, but maybe that's just a taste issue. I think she could have
woodshedded her harmony vocals more, and I'm not crazy about the way
they have them panned hard L & R.

You want an organic sound, you put everyone together in a good room with
a single mike pair.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Randy Yates]

James writes:

About half of a song, what are your opinions of this mix? Not mine,
just curious.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/...238/ITSmix.mp3

Well, if you're asking _me_, I'd say it was OK. I have no idea why
others are speaking about compressed vocals. If anything, they were a
little too dynamic, going "in and out" often as she modulated her voice
volume.

Come to think of it, even the guitar sounds too dynamic - as if they put
it through dynamic range _expansion_.

I also thought the vocals were mixed a bit too far back, and the
harmony(ies) was way too loud.

I am trying to say nothing of the performance (not that it was
particularly bad or good).
--
% Randy Yates % "Though you ride on the wheels of tomorrow,
%% Fuquay-Varina, NC % you still wander the fields of your
%%% 919-577-9882 % sorrow."
%%%% % '21st Century Man', *Time*, ELO
http://www.digitalsignallabs.com