Hi All,

I know this is a very subjective question but could anyone give
examples of what they think are good commerical mixes and why.

I am sure there are subtleties which us novices don't spot which would
be nice to learn how to take notice of when mixing our own stuff.

I was wondering this after listening to Tool's Lateralus album on some
good headphones and was thinking what an awesome mix it was. I was
curious to see how my version of a what a good track sounds like might
differ from someone elses and what the reasons might be.

I agree that album is one of the best mixes I've heard.

Other stuff I think is great production:

"Pacifier"
"Songs For The Deaf" Queens Of The StoneAge
"Tenacious D"
"13th Step" Perfect Circle
"In Utero" Nirvana
"Rage Against The Machine" 1st Album

The reason that links these mixes apart from being awesome songs is
probably a balance of "realism" in that the recording actually sounds
like these respective bands when you see them live, yet each mix has
such a powerfull, almost superhuman drum sound and bottom end and
present vocals... it defies me still how they get everything so big
yet it sounds so effortless. I keep hearing that mixing is about
making everything fit each other, compliment each other, but these
mixes I have mentioned sound like they didn't have to sacrifice the
tone of ANYTHING that was recorded in order to "make the mix work" -
bass, drums guitars and vocals all sound as good as they can be, on a
variety of playback systems and venues.

There are heaps of other songs I could mention but these just came off
my head in 5 seconds.

Adam B
SNJ Studio
http://snjstudio.cjb.net

mike rogers at wrote on 7/16/04 2:36 AM:
I know this is a very subjective question but could anyone give
examples of what they think are good commerical mixes and why.

first... search the google (or whatever it is this week) newsgroups archives
in this forum for this very thing... it comes up every year like clockwork
and the answers are very elucidating. We've all had our go at it and the
lists are long and varied. It's a VERY good thing to take a look at.

I am sure there are subtleties which us novices don't spot which would
be nice to learn how to take notice of when mixing our own stuff.

I was wondering this after listening to Tool's Lateralus album on some
good headphones and was thinking what an awesome mix it was. I was
curious to see how my version of a what a good track sounds like might
differ from someone elses and what the reasons might be.

First and foremost of this exercise is:
chacun a son gout.

Once we're all happily and eagerly past that we can actually have a valuable
discussion.

Headphones is ok, but a good set of speakers in a room with you in the sweet
spot should be done on each piece as well... VERY different effects and
results. Get the whole picture if you;re going to study it! Very rewarding.

I admit off the bat that I rarely find anything current worth using as
examples since the last 5 years of ALLLOUDALLTHETIMEISAWESOME school of
'mixing' has become the norm.

This coupled with many classic great songs being reissued mastered into
unrecognisable squashed nonsense makes it a little tougher.
The other is that you have to relax your devotion (if you have one) to a
personal addictive genre of music and stretch a bit.

Almost any James Taylor record is a benchmark for multitrack song
production. period. All Hail Ron Titleman

TOTO's PAST TO PRESENT collection is a master class in Doing It Right.
Notably NOT the other 'toto best of collections', they've all been processed
aggresively in remastering, though spending the money to compare the sonics
would be usefull.

COMPARE THE FOLLOWING SETS:

Nora Jones was touted as magnificent and some sort of 'breakthrough' but it
doesn;t hold a candle to a perfect companion debut record, Rickie Lee Jones'
first record. Once again Taylor's producer Ron Titleman was in the pilot
seat.

Bonnie Raitt's albums produced with Don Was (LUCK OF THE DRAW and the one
following that?) vs her more recent forays into BiggerLouderSquasheder will
show that hypercompression is NOT neccessary for capturing real punch and
energy. Likewise Geore Massenberg's LITTLE FEAT recordings.
Raitt's SILVER LINING is GREAT as music and (as far as I can tell) in mixing
but it's just a BITCH to listen to due to fatiguing processing.

in the recent
THEY COULD BE GREAT MIXES BUT HOW COULD YOU TELL?
category we list

George Harrison's BRAINWASHED
Tom Petty's THE LAST DJ
and the Soft Brown Stinky Award for
MOST LIKELY TO MAKE YOU CRY AS YOU RUN FROM THE ROOM:
The Gipsy Kings SOMOS GITANOS album...
who would EVER have thought that such a thing as
energetic flamenco guitar could be
compressed into painful ugly crap?

go fig.

and of course there's Lessons 1-thru-536 of
How To Do Amazing Rock Music Production:
Every Single Minute of Hendrix's ELECTRIC LADYLAND album.


--
John I-22
(that's 'I' for Initial...)
Recognising what's NOT worth your time, THAT'S the key.
--

mike rogers at wrote on 7/16/04 2:36 AM:

I am sure there are subtleties which us novices don't spot which would
be nice to learn how to take notice of when mixing our own stuff.


and then there's STING.
Just about everything after BLUE TURTLES

--
John I-22
(that's 'I' for Initial...)
Recognising what's NOT worth your time, THAT'S the key.
--

JoVee wrote:


I am sure there are subtleties which us novices don't spot which would
be nice to learn how to take notice of when mixing our own stuff.


and then there's STING.
Just about everything after BLUE TURTLES

What is wrong with Blue Turtles?

mike rogers wrote:

I know this is a very subjective question but could anyone give
examples of what they think are good commerical mixes and why.

Bob Katz has a nice list on his site http://digido.com/portal/pmodule_id=11/pmdmode=fullscreen/pageadder_page_id=93/

JoVee wrote:

mike rogers wrote:

I know this is a very subjective question but could anyone give
examples of what they think are good commerical mixes and why.

first... search the google (or whatever it is this week) newsgroups archives
in this forum for this very thing...

http://www.google.com/advanced_group_search?hl=en

--
ha

On 15 Jul 2004 23:36:07 -0700, (mike rogers)
wrote:

Hi All,

I know this is a very subjective question but could anyone give
examples of what they think are good commerical mixes and why.

There's a learning aid of mostly commercial mixes done by folks on
this newsgroup, and almost every recording is very well documented.
Just go he
http://www.recaudiopro.net/
and push the "buy now" button. You can get the descriptions of how
each track was recorded at that same site, click on RAP CD's then "set
five" then a disc number.
Also, the "set four" is likely still available too, and though it's
only a one-disc set with nine songs, it shows what can still be done
with "previous-generation disc" technology.

I am sure there are subtleties which us novices don't spot which would
be nice to learn how to take notice of when mixing our own stuff.

I was wondering this after listening to Tool's Lateralus album on some
good headphones and was thinking what an awesome mix it was. I was
curious to see how my version of a what a good track sounds like might
differ from someone elses and what the reasons might be.

Pete Dimsman at wrote on 7/16/04 7:42 PM:



JoVee wrote:


I am sure there are subtleties which us novices don't spot which would
be nice to learn how to take notice of when mixing our own stuff.


and then there's STING.
Just about everything after BLUE TURTLES

What is wrong with Blue Turtles?

Probably not much considering his track record, I just was not taken with
the record and never bought or listened to it and so don;t KNOW it...
damn, there go my own personal aesthetics getting in the way of my
superlative neutrality and objectivity.




--
John I-22
(that's 'I' for Initial...)
Recognising what's NOT worth your time, THAT'S the key.
--