"Mixing To Standard"-New Mix Up

[jeffabbey]

Hello Hazineju,As I stated above, I was wondering if your question was answered, and from my opinion, it has not. Now perhaps my dyslexia caused me to miss someone’s mention of it. As I was looping your song over and over and trying to find this intonation problem, that I did not find, is what caused me to question those who critique. In other words, was this person just in a bad mood that day? If so I would have to say to that person, “(that’s an ouch, baby )”Critique:Music – 8Engineering – 8Marketability – 7 Perhaps it is not in accordance with what was originally asked for, but it is definitely marketable in other genres.Lead Vocal – 7 Give me a break! The voice is beautiful.Now perhaps within the TAXI owner’s manual in the glove compartment, there are definitions that define the difference between “Production” and “Engineering” and Steve will probably point that out for us. However, there is a difference between the two. Now in my definition book “Engineering” would have to do with the mixing as well as the special effects. While “Production” would have to with the ability EQ everything right on the money giving it that big movie sound, where as with “TV” there is a difference, though sometimes slight. However, a real producer is standing over the shoulder of the one who is mixing the entire time, so to speak, and he/she has the artful skill of bringing it to its final stages. EXAMPLE: The difference between the actor and the director and the difference between the director and the producer. Each is an expert in their field.It has been mentioned within one of the post above that we are required to wear all hats. So to expound, a musician must have enough money to hire each person that is an expert in his or her field and risk the chance of being rejected after doing so.There for, the second part of your question, “… or does it mean I need to rework my eqs, etc?” does not get answered within any of the posts, and again I must assume that it has not. I state this because when I compare your song to that of other mp3’s on my computer, it tends to be a bit muddy in comparison. However, this may not be as daunting a task as you may think. I was hoping that you would send me the final mix in its waveform to try an EQ master analyze and see if I could fix the problem. I would do this not as a collaboration and expect any money because I am no master at mastering. I just wanted to give it a shot.Prior to my understanding that this song was intended for movie and or TV brings me back to my original question, “The critiquers of TAXI should be judging the song and musicianship only and should know that on all professional recordings that it is not the musician who does the mixing, but that this is hired out to a professional in this field.” (Hey Steve, did you notice that I just corrected all my spelling from my original quote with the exception of the word “critiquers”. That’s a word I purposely made up. However, though there is a word “jes” you should check your grammar, “… is jes gonna end up cost you extra money…). Relax Steve. I like you. I’m just jesting. So you will find me shooting little digs just for kicks that will go something like… Steve, I sincerely apologize for having sincerely apologizing to you.Jeff

[cameron]

Hazeinju, I don't hear any pitch problems. I thought "maybe" in the last few seconds of the song I heard something, but the reviewer is splitting hairs if that's what they're referring to.

[hazineju]

Hi Jeff that is sooo nice of you to offer and i will totally take you up on it! give me about a week to do a few more touch ups and i will PM you when i get it together. if you ever need some female vox i'd be happy to contribute in exchange for doing this for me. although you might have to look out for some pitch problems.

[jeffabbey]

May 28, 2008, 6:13am, hazineju wrote:If you ever need some female vox i'd be happy to contribute in exchange for doing this for me.Hazeinju,It sounds like I’m getting the better end of this deal. That’s so nice of you to make the counter offer.I’ve been writing a song that would need a female vox because my voice has its limits in range, and as a result limits where I can take the song. You demonstrate both range and power in combination with tone quality.Jeff

[mojobone]

I hear a couple of sour notes in a keyboard part, might be intentional. (counterpoint to a jarring lyric) but it happens more than once, at 1:54 and 2:402:04 there's an effected BG vocal that sounds a little flat, could just be the filter effect.Other than that, I hear zero pitch issues, maybe my ears are broke.I can't for the life of me figure out what was meant by mixing to standard, unless the reviewer means the unfortunate practice of inflating the bejebus out of all things electronica so as to ensure it has no dynamics; which points up an issue so far unmentioned: this track might do better for a New Age listing. (or maybe I don't understand genres so well) I think it's well-mixed, well produced, and extremely well-sung.

[billg]

Hey, I'm coming in late but . . . I don't hear any serious pitch problems but that doesn't mean somebody else wouldn't. I think telling you to "auto tune" each track is possibly the worst advice I've ever heard from a screener. I'm hoping that the "mix to standard" comment doesn't mean compress it until there is no dynamic range at all but I have a sad feeling that is what is ecpected these days. It seems like every song on the radio nowadays has audible pitch correction & zero dynamics. Can this possibly be a good thing? I guess that's a topic for another thread.

[daniel481]

Hey Bill, it's not a good thing, but unfortunately it's what's expected 99% of the time in commercial music these days...

[billg]

Jun 17, 2008, 1:34pm, daniel481 wrote:Hey Bill, it's not a good thing, but unfortunately it's what's expected 99% of the time in commercial music these days... Your right. I had a job producing a track for a country band. I thought it turned out pretty good but when I delivered the final they just didn't think it sounded quite "right". Deep down inside I knew what they wanted. Finally I just compressed the you-know-what out of it, peak limited the thing right a zero db. The waveform looked like one solid glob. They loved it . . . "wow, this is the best sound we've ever gotten!" They paid me & hired me to do some more work with them. So long story short, I'm part of the problem. I'm pretty sure the "mixing to standard" comment must have something to do with overall volume but I've never heard the term before. What I usually here is "we want this to be loud as $*&^%>!" And I say "ok."

[hazineju]

Hey Everyone and thanks sooo much for your comments and feedback. Fellow new forum member, Jeff Abbey, was kind enough to offer to take a stab at reworking the EQ a bit and we've been passing the song back and forth for awhile now trying to get it "mixed to standard!" Thanks again Jeff!!i'm posting a new link here: http://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_ ... 0&stream=1 and would be grateful if you listened to the new version and let us know what you think. i touched up a few spots vocally by re-singing, not auto-tuning, but you probably won't notice those changes, they were mostly in the BGs. Jeff might want to add what he did specifically, but the goal was to get the vocals more clear and more present, but still keep the bass in there to give it a hint of that club feel in the speakers. And of course to make it that mastered, louder sound that billg just mentioned (for better or for worse) so what do you think?

[jeffabbey]

To add further to hazineju’s post, the thing that we want to accomplish is getting the volume up while maintaining clarity to the vocal. As billg mentions above that he likes to 0db, I like to keep it at –0.1. Both work and makes sure that no clip distortion occurs.I’ve listen to it on a number of different system types and the low end still has a good punch while still allowing the rest of the song breath. With my first attempts I had things pumped up while still maintaining it at –0.1 but when I tested it on my mp3 player I began to notice compression points.What we need to know is what the mix sounds like on your systems and as well as listen to any pointers that you may have. So have at it.Jeff