Cleaning up the mix ideas... please.

[333maxwell]

I am going to re-cut the vocals as I had only about a half hour quiet time to drop these and I think I could nail it a bit better with one more try.But I really want to polish the music part of the mix.. I'm getting closer.. but with only one ear I know there is someone in the fray here who will inevitably hear something I am missing or have over done.Once the vocals are re-done I know this will be a nice enough piece so I really want to nail the music mix.. Shooting for a quasi 'live' kind of vibe.Any thoughts.. please.. Floating Fish http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_so ... ID=7373208

[mcanty]

wow............very cool. i'm no mixing expert so you may want to ignore my response. but the live vibe you were going for really shines through to my novice ears. to me it sounds like a vinyl recording

[rld]

Hey...it's me again. I'd push the drums to the back a bit...They seem too upfront for this laid back jazzy niteclub thing.That would also bring the vocal up front more, which they need.Also maybe pan the horns and other things a bit more to separate them as there are times when things seems to be on top of each other.

[southpaw]

You no doubt pulled off the 'live' jazzy vibe. Nice. It was a very loungy, chilled, and satisfying mood/peace of mind i got while listening. I listened 7 times!I agree with the points RLD made. With the drums, It does kind of depend on which perspective you want to mix from though. (Drummers persp./audience/persp. etc.) I personally think they have a nice ambience that enhances the overall sound, but placement is preferential.Id suggest adding a simple Ride part, maybe 16th note/12th note or something liketing-ta-ta-ting-ta-ta-ting for example. Bring that upfront instead of the HH might open up some more space, IMHO it would just sound more fitting in this case.. It seems to me that it would really tie the groove together better, and add that distinct sound.As mentioned, i also think the panning should be addressed. Your instrumentation too often overlaps in not only frequency but in the stereo field. Solo the instruments and listen, you'll hear it better. Decide which is going to be the main accompaniment and which is going to be 'texture' or accentual. (what have you) My ears just kept telling me that there was too much going on here instrumentation wise, that it actually took a little from the song. As an example, what i might do is remix the vocals/drums/bass, then i would slot the piano in there until it all worked together. From there i would bring the volume down on all the other instruments and pan the horns %75-100 one way, and hard pan the sax the other way. and balance your panning between the other inst. you want in there, but be sensitive to thier timbre and fundamentals so you keep things clean and clear.Im a guitarist.. but in this case, id suggest dropping the guitar part out. It just seemed to get in the way. Especially since the piano covers such a broad spectrum of the EQ band to sound realistic and full. The bass and the bottom harmonics of the piano tones are overlapping and should be seperated for more individual definition. The Vox are a little muddy and get boomy at times, a moderate cut at 200-250 might help a bit.. Im not tryin to tear your work apart here. In most cases, what you have hear would work just fine i would imagine. These 'mix sensitive' things may or may not interfere with most listeners experience.. I think from a production standpoint, being able to add that individual distinction of instruments and wide sounding st field, would really do much for representing the performances better, as well as take your mix to the next level.hth, Jamie

[333maxwell]

Thanks for the important feedback everyone.. It is very hard for me to fine tune mixes being totaly deaf in the right ear.. I have no confidence in pannings so I tend to keep things fairly centred.. I've flirted with the idea of just going low tech and doing my recordings in Mono.. it might seem awkward by stereo standards but I would at least have full control of the mix.. So I'll work a bit of seperation on the horns and see if I can't temper and perhaps embelish the drums...But it was mentioned maybe I should get rid of the guitar.. I gotta tell ya that guitar is very subtle but working dooubletime in the background.. I tend to see it as what is really holding everything together..I'd really really really like to hear some other thoughts on removing the guitar.. if it is interfering than maybe I need to, but from my vantae point it is doing a heck of a lot more than may first be realized.. Any other thoughts on removing the guitar from anyone?If I can get a second or third opinion before tomorrow I will re-mix the horns and drums and decide if the guitar should be pulled.. THANKS SO MUCH>> THIS IS HELPING A LOT!

[southpaw]

333maxwell.. ey by no means am i saying you need to remove anything... This is just my opinion after listening through several times, and telling you what i (personally) would try, but its of course your decision bro, so dont let my suggs stray you if you really feel the part in there. (And it sounds like you got your mind just about made up anyway! ) My point here is that you basically have to many things going on that are overlapping at times, and makes it hard to appreciate each part and performance. Some spacing may be just what the doc ordered and help all the parts work together instead of in competition with each other..My hat goes off to you man, for mixing with 'mono hearing' (so to speak) , you pull this mix off impressively! I would however suggest having a friend or engineer pan the instrumentation in stereo and the results could be a more balanced mix and easier to work with from there. I cant see it taking more than :30-:60, if that. Might cost you 20-50 bux at most, but i think you will have a much easier time mixing levels and freqs, knowing that everything is spread out evenly. If you dont wanna do that, just seperate each instrument by its fundamental frequencys and write out which a list of which are most important. You can apply the resulting pan automation and balance the instruments which share frequencies by splitting them in the stereo field, and whatever you decide about the main instrument parts, pan the appropriate amount depending on how important and centered they need to be .

[iceman]

I pretty much agree with the above observations. I find that the vocals are sometimes trumped by the other instruments. I would say focus on telling the story first with just the piano, bass and drums. Add other instruments more sparingly. Sounds like good little story but am unable to decipher some of the lyrics. A straight jazz guitar comp on the down beats would add a little flavor without getting in the way of anything. Overall it's a very cool song. With a tune like this, sometimes less is more.Randy

[partyofone]

hey 333,yeah nice vibe on here! I'll 2nd the drum comments and also the mixing master class you just received above from Jamie lol (damn.. Jamie dropping the insane mixing knowledge ha ha!)and what you've done here so far is very nice with the mix.

[333maxwell]

Thanks so much everyone.. this has been great thoughts and you have helped me to isolate things I wasn't hearing and help me get around some bias of the work.. I'll toss the remix into this thread the next few days and hopefuly those who chimed in on the original will be able to do a quick compare o the mixes to see if I am getting closer.. VERY MUCH appreciated!