Okay - I'm quoting Paul's comments here
[i]"I hope that the words and comments are read as "friendly conversational" and not demonstrative..."[/i]
Of course. Paul has obviously worked hard with my song and his criticism is constructive and helpful. I am very grateful for this. I'll be going over everything he wrote and did with a view to making a better mix than my first try.
[i]"[b]First Impressions:[/b] Wow, this is a loud mix for such an easy going tune. Why? Its very effected for sure, but it has a vibe that I like. Old school in a new way. The voice is really forward and intense from 500hz to 1.5K. Those guitar string squeaks. Ouch. That is a lot of low end – is that why the loop doesn’t sound cohesive? There is something about the rawness that I really dig and don’t want to lose whatever I do. Keep it simple. That guitar bend is too flat. “Nails on a chalkboard†– I can kind of hear that. It really pushes on such a simple tune. "[/i]
The mix is loud because I thought it was the thing to do at the end of mixing. I'll be careful this time to ease up a bit on that.
I would not have spotted the voice EQ thing, but agree it is forward and intense. Probably I was too close to the mike and also mixed it loud. I will look at the vocal's EQ as well tho' I despair because, to me, EQ is tougher than Barbie's math class.
The guitar bend is off – I need to re-record it, along with the vocals and acoustic guitars
[i]"Taking a look and listen: OMG – there are EIGHT plug-ins on the master bus. The Gain plug in isn’t doing anything so I bet was used to check it for mono compat. I would have put that last in the chain after the other stereo-ness junk. Hmmm, he has the MultiMeter BEFORE the Directional Mixer which is widening the mix. Therefore, as the phase starts to get mucked up with the DirMix, it won’t show up on the MultiMeter’s correlation meter. Assuming that is why it is there. But wait, there is a second MultiMeter at the end of the plug-in chain! Ah ha. Ok this one is post Multipressor, Direction Mixer, Exciter (eek), and an AdLimiter. What was the first MultiMeter for?
Let me bypass all the plugs and take a listen. Hmmmm, it gets a lot warmer and the squeaking guitars aren’t as squeaky. Too exciter excited? God knows I’ve binged too hard before. But when it’s bypassed there are some good qualities of the mix that go away as well, so I will have to revisit that. "[/i]
I blame Logic's 'Final Hip Hop' preset and my dependence on it. This will be the first of many examples of my using effects presets and mix presets without “looking at†what they are doing. DirMix and Exciter will go and if I use the Gain, I will try and make sure I know why.
[i]"[b]Backstory and low end:[/b] I have a system with NS10s and a subwoofer. The subwoofer handles 80Hz on down. I can monitor with just the NS10s, just the subwoofer, or both. I check to see what is in the subwoofer. Mostly a lot of kick. A huge whole heck of a lot. "
[/i]I have $70 Samson RH600 headphones and $40 Logitech speakers ($25 tin ears).