#511546 - 03/31/04 10:01 AM
At 1st, I thought it was phase....
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Keyplayer
Senior Member
Registered: 11/19/01
Posts: 410
Loc: Maryland, USA
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Recently, I put up a post about a difficult mix issue I had with an "Old School" funk song I was working on. At that point it was just getting a B-3 patch and the bass track to "get along."
Well, all of those issues have been resolved. But I still don't like the mix. Has this ever happened to you?
You mix a song that passes every known audio test for pop consumption:
* The drums are slammin'.
* The bass is deep, tight and clear right up the
middle.
* There's good separation between all the
instruments via panning and "EQ carving."
* You can hear all the parts in mono at really
low volume on little computer speakers.
* IT'S A GREAT SONG WITH A SERIOUS GROOVE!
Yet even with all this being true, you just don't like the sound. It's not that it sound's bad. It just doesn't sound as good as other recordings. The best way to describe it is, WITH ALL ELSE BEING EQUAL, THIS MIX LACKS A CLARITY THAT IS PRESENT IN THE COMPETITION.
At first, I thought it was a phase issue. But I've checked and re-checked and re-checked again. It's not phase. The Vocals sound good alone. The drums sound good alone. The bass, guitar and keys sound good alone. Any combination of 2 of the 3 sections sound good paired. But all 3 sections just sound.... okay. 
I talked to a friend of mine. He said that he'd had this happen to him on a single session with the same band, using the same instruments, in the same room recording 4 songs. Two of them are slammin' and 2 sound flat and lifeless. But he didn't change a single thing once they started recording. He said it was just one of those intangibles.
This is the first time I've had this particular experience. So when I get some (Ha!) extra money, I think I'll take the files to a megabuck facility and try it again from scratch. It's really a good song and everybody tells me I should just go on and release it. But I just feel like I'd be "sending it to school with the flu." Ya know?
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#511547 - 03/31/04 10:34 AM
Re: At 1st, I thought it was phase....
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Bobro
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Registered: 01/06/01
Posts: 1467
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It could be the arrangement- wrong key for the singer, crossed voicings that don't fly, too many first position chords, too much parallel movement.
Or maybe everything's excellent but it just doesn't speak to you personally, which sounds most likely from your description.
-Bobro
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#511548 - 03/31/04 01:52 PM
Re: At 1st, I thought it was phase....
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Keyplayer
Senior Member
Registered: 11/19/01
Posts: 410
Loc: Maryland, USA
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Originally posted by Bobro:
It could be the arrangement- wrong key for the singer, crossed voicings that don't fly, too many first position chords, too much parallel movement.
Or maybe everything's excellent but it just doesn't speak to you personally, which sounds most likely from your description.
-Bobro
It is dense musically (Think Stevie Wonder's "Superstition") but it's not cluttered. That's why I'm considering re-mixing it on a large format console (once I can scrape together the resources for that).
I just wondered if this had ever happened to any of you guys and how you handled it.
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#511549 - 04/01/04 01:11 AM
Re: At 1st, I thought it was phase....
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joeq
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Registered: 09/24/02
Posts: 141
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Tough one. I think I would strip it all down to the raw tracks and mix it all over again. start from zero maybe something different would happen the next time out
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#511550 - 04/01/04 01:26 AM
Re: At 1st, I thought it was phase....
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Tedly Nightshade
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 01/03/02
Posts: 4649
Loc: applegate,OR,UNITED STATES
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Originally posted by joeq:
Tough one. I think I would strip it all down to the raw tracks and mix it all over again. start from zero maybe something different would happen the next time out
Then put them both away for awhile, and pull them both out and see what you liked most.
Maybe!
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