Rough mix

[Alison]

This is a very bare bones recording. This, essentially is what I do live. It's very different from the other recordings I hear on here but, I thought that before I start adding effects, eq, and reverb, I'd love to get some ideas and input from you all. Gulp, here it is:



Hopefully, I've done this right!!
Thank you!

[rayc]

Flo & Eddie would be pleased.
I'm a bit old fashioned in that I'd prefer a more balances stereo image with the lower pizz cello up the middle as a bass would be.
That might mean that the bowed and higher pizz parts would be almost equal on opposite sides with your voice in the middle.
The same with the solo - up the guts or moving a gently around the middle.
I reckon the vocal could be a little louder.
I'll be interested in how you treat the cellos. I haven't recorded mine for several years - it was always hard work to get a decent tone because I'm an awful player.
I hope I haven't disappointed you with my mid 70s concept of the stereo spread.

[SweetDan]

The recordings of the strings are very "present"; that's good. The recording of the vocal is more distant sounding, like maybe it was several feet away from the singer (you?). I understand the need for keeping distance from a singer, especially if they vary from intense projection to softer sounds, and moving back and forth to accommodate the different singing volumes, but the vocal here all sounds too far away. The different recorded sounds don't meld as nicely as they would if the vocal had a slightly more "in-your-face" sound to match the sound of the strings.

Can you tell us a bit about the recording set up? Names of mics would be somewhat useful, the type (condensor vs. dynamic) more so, but most useful would be to describe how you had placed the mics in relation to the various sound sources, e.g., distance of the mic, angle, position, etc.

[Alison]

Thank you, SweetDan and rayc for your replies! Much appreciated! I am pretty new at home recording and I tried something different with the cello lines this time. I used a medium diaphragm Presonus M7 on the treble side, near the bridge, and a Shure SM 58 mic a bit further away near the fingerboard. Normally I have used the pickup (Realist) and mic but, this time I wanted to see if I could hear a difference using the 2 mics instead. For my vocals, I used the Presonus mic. I'm still trying to work out the distance I should be from the mic and, based on your comments, may try standing a bit closer. I'm going to work on a new mix in the next few days using your suggestions and repost (maybe add some eq and, reverb.)

Thanks again for your help!

[vomitHatSteve]

The big thing that's sticking out to me mix-wise is that instruments lean pretty far left overall.

Did you edit/comp things? I heard a click on "call" at 1:01 (and in a few other places "I" at 1:21, start of the violin solo at 2:01, etc). Is that from editing or mp3 conversion?
If you get the clicks cleaned up, I think you'll have some fine sources to make a good mix.

[JD01]

Hi Alison.

Like your last tune - Stella performances, so no worries there.
I actually like the mix pretty good as is. Quite dry, not overly processed.
I agree with Steve though that the mix leans pretty hard to the left.
Obviously keep the vocal dead centre.

If you've got your instruments in a buss, look start by looking at the meters on the buss and see if one side is noticeably and continually peaking louder than the other. Make sure you're not mixing with your eyes though - listening is more important.

Like Ray said, maybe the lower cello in the middle might both sound better and might make the L/R balance easier.

Maybe ad a hint, (and I mean a hint!) of verb to the instruments - just so you can barely tell its there until you turn it off. Note, this might sound shit and might not be worth doing. The biggest thing for me is the mix is leaning left!

[Alison]

Thanks, everyone! I'm working on a new mix today and will post it soon!

[Alison]

The big thing that's sticking out to me mix-wise is that instruments lean pretty far left overall.

Did you edit/comp things? I heard a click on "call" at 1:01 (and in a few other places "I" at 1:21, start of the violin solo at 2:01, etc). Is that from editing or mp3 conversion?
If you get the clicks cleaned up, I think you'll have some fine sources to make a good mix.

The clicks were from editing . . . I think I found them!

[musicturtle]

Alison,

Sorry late to comment here. Really good sounds on the strings, very present as other have said, reminds me of Eleanor Rigby. The vocal starts out a bit distant, but sounds much better(recording quality wise) as the song goes on. Seems you have a very good voice, strong and clear, good pitch. I do recommend a little reverb,and as James said, just a little to warm it all up some.

Looking forward to the new mix.

[Alison]

Here is a new mix. I've been working on this for a couple of days, wondering if I tend to favor my left ear (my weakest!) I added some reverb to my vocals but when I tried pushing the volume, it clipped so. . . I dabbled with a bit of compression. Also added some fx and eq to a couple cello lines. The difficult part for me is, my computer speakers are really crappy, so, I reverted to headphones with the computer version. . . excuses, excuses!! Anxious to hear what you think!

Thank you!

[Lt. Bob]

very cool ..... love the strings .... and especially the cello ...

Much better with the vocalson this mix .... originally they were mixed too far back but this is about right.
Vocals are usually what most people are nervous about so they tend to mix them too far back .... but your vocal is strong so mix it up like you have in this new mix.

And no need for excuses ..... this is nice.

[Alison]

very cool ..... love the strings .... and especially the cello ...

Much better with the vocalson this mix .... originally they were mixed too far back but this is about right.
Vocals are usually what most people are nervous about so they tend to mix them too far back .... but your vocal is strong so mix it up like you have in this new mix.

And no need for excuses ..... this is nice.

Thanks so much! I think I'm just a bit insecure about all this home recording stuff. . . so much to learn and I am very grateful for this group!!

[Lt. Bob]

Thanks so much! I think I'm just a bit insecure about all this home recording stuff. . . so much to learn and I am very grateful for this group!!

it's a good group ...... some good ears here.

[rayc]

100% better.
The backing still leans to the left but is less of an issue with your more present vocal.
Nice string capture.
Insecurity is normal.
You should hear my lead guitar playing - or my cello playing for that matter! Nevertheless I sometimes employ these things in songs and folk help me milk the best from the efforts.

[musicturtle]

Much better mix. I like the reverb and compression on the vocal, makes it pop out more. I would like a little less verb on the vocal, but that's maybe just me, because your voice sounds great.

[JD01]

This is excellent now, Alison.
What you've done with the reverbs appears to work and you've improved the L/R balance.

I know you feel like you have loads to learn, but you're a good player, so you've mastered the hardest part.

Do you know the "theory" of how to use reverb and compression?

When I started learning to record a few years ago I thought I was a pretty good guitarist. Turned out I was very wrong indeed. Recording and really listening to my own playing (as opposed to playing on muscle memory) has made me a much better player.

[SweetDan]

Here is a new mix...

Sounds much better. The louder vocal goes better with the strings now.

The vocal still sounds less present/bright than the strings. I'd try the some EQ tweaks (with a parametric EQ plugin) to increase the clarity:

- first (and counter-intuitively), try to find and cut frequencies in the vocal track's low-mid range that are masking any clearer, higher frequencies
- next, apply gentle, wide boosts to the best-sounding upper frequencies in the vocal track

(See also: https://music.tutsplus.com/tutorials/a- ... -cms-25184)

...wondering if I tend to favor my left ear (my weakest!)...

...The backing still leans to the left but is less of an issue with your more present vocal...

I think the left-leaningness of this mix is that you've got the track with the "bass line" panned to the left. I'd try putting that track in the center of your mix. You can probably leave the other parts panned as they are now, but might need to tweak them a little after moving the bass part. Often, bass (with kick and snare if you have them), and the lead part (usu. a vocal), are all panned to the center.

[vomitHatSteve]

Definitely an improvement.

I'm not hearing the clicks.
It's still leaning a bit left, but it's less pronounced.
The reverb on the vox is a good touch. I might look into putting some verb on the other instruments to match and make everything sound like it's in the same space.

[Alison]

This is excellent now, Alison.
What you've done with the reverbs appears to work and you've improved the L/R balance.

I know you feel like you have loads to learn, but you're a good player, so you've mastered the hardest part.

Do you know the "theory" of how to use reverb and compression?

When I started learning to record a few years ago I thought I was a pretty good guitarist. Turned out I was very wrong indeed. Recording and really listening to my own playing (as opposed to playing on muscle memory) has made me a much better player.

One of the reasons I love recording is it helps make me a much more precise player! You can't get away with "mistakes" recording like you can when playing live (although I have to admit that I've become pretty good at copy and paste with occasional blips on recordings!) I also love to learn and this group is the best discovery for that.

I am just beginning to understand the theory behind compression and reverb. . . been reading about it a LOT!! Learning by doing is the best way!

Thanks SO much for all the encouragement from all of you. I love having another set of ears! Going to start on a new one asap!

[Alison]

Definitely an improvement.

I'm not hearing the clicks.
It's still leaning a bit left, but it's less pronounced.
The reverb on the vox is a good touch. I might look into putting some verb on the other instruments to match and make everything sound like it's in the same space.

Great, thank you! My ears totally missed the clicks until you mentioned them! I don't want to get too carried away with reverb but your suggestion is a good one, thanks. I'll try some on one or two cello lines and see how it goes.

Funny, my left ear has a bit of hearing loss. . . maybe that's why I lean left?