Lewitt Microphones - Louis Berry Challenge

[Todd MitchellParticipant]

Okay folks, seems to me with all our hard work, a PLAP'er must be able to win this contest!

In the spirit of helping each other out, would love any feedback on my mix:

http://soundcloud.com/toddmitchell-1/louis-berry-25-reasons

And here's the link for anyone else to download the tracks and do their own mix!

https://www.lewitt-audio.com/blog/lewitt-mixing-contest-feat-louis-berry

• This topic was modified 5 years ago by Todd Mitchell.

[Tony FalboParticipant]

Wow,

Nice work! I don't stand a chance. I'll try any way. I think I hear something weird at about 2:04 when the breakdown happens, "All the ways I love you." I have an issue with that spot in my mix as well, which is probably why it sticks out to me. It's kind of like the ambience changes, are you riding the vocal mic? Your snare is incredible! And you have the guitars and vocals playing well together.

Good Luck,
Tony

[Todd MitchellParticipant]

Thanks Toby - this was such a hard mix! The bleed is brutal. But I have to say that the feature of those Lewitt mics to dial in the balance between the capsules is very cool. That's a handy little tool for any stereo track!

Be sure to post yours at some point!

[Christian GillmannParticipant]

Hi Todd,

I like your mix! It's in your face (and dense), good low end, good balance. Love the guitars. All good! I know the tracks were a total challenge, bleed all over. You did a great job! For my taste the snare could have a little bit more bite (snare wire). I know it isn`t really there in the tracks.
By the way thanks a lot for posting this! I followed your example.
I did put a decapitator (distortion) on the snare bottom and used overall a bit more reverb.
Here is my mix:

https://soundcloud.com/christiangillmann/louis-berry-25-reasons-chris-g-mix

Any feedback welcome!

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by Christian Gillmann.
• This reply was modified 4 years ago by Arthur Labus.

[Pat McGhenParticipant]

Nice work, Todd! I was already struggling and now I suddenly hate my mix. Haha.

Digging yours, too, Christian. It's a little more raw, but I love that. Sounds great!

[Pat McGhenParticipant]

Here's my first shot at it.

https://soundcloud.com/mcghen-manor/louis-berry-25-reasons

[Todd MitchellParticipant]

Christian - great job! I like your mix better than mine I think!

A couple suggestions.

- I'd probably automate the lead guitar volume a bit more - bring it down further during the verses. I'd also use something to move it back
- I think you could bring a bit more point to the kick and a little more snare. The genre might not need it, but I think it could help translate. There's also a lot of long boom on the kick during the bridge - which might be clouding the low end during the rest of the song.
- a touch of distortion on the bass guitar to bring it up?

I think you've got a real shot here!

[Todd MitchellParticipant]

Hey Pat, thanks for the feedback. A couple suggestions:

- I'd clean up the intro so that it goes right in and the ending so that it ends cleanly.
- I would play with your spatial location of the instruments. The guitars being so hard panned and pretty dry create a weird vibe because the vocal parts are simply not so close because of how much bleed is going on. I think you need to move them in a bit and move them back.
- you could probably use a little saturation on the vocals to bring them up front. If you have any sort of de-noiser (like iZotope RX) and/or multiband expander, you should see if you can get a very dry, clean vocal to emphasize. If not, consider using a soft gate and/or scrubbing the vocal track to be just the vocal part.
- your lead guitar rides are pretty drastic. I might be a little more subtle.
- I think the bottom end of the track could use a little more beef. I hear the kick, but don't feel it. Just needs a little more in 50-60?

Good luck!!

[Todd MitchellParticipant]

Christian, what do you use to finish your mix (master)? I think I hear a nice little bit of saturation that's really quite great. Tape simulator?

Also, in A/B ing yours to mine, I think you could go a touch wider?

[Christian GillmannParticipant]

Hey Todd,

just saw your feedback (too late). Thanks very much! Good points. I already submitted the track - I was too fast, but maybe after your feedback now I will remix it for the fun of it.
There is a lot of saturation on my mix. On several tracks is the Kush Omega 458 a Preamp. On the masterbus is a waves J37 tape (mastering open wide setting) an also there is a Kush Novatron compressor. With this one you can dial in saturation, which I did a little. At the end I mastered it with waves Abbey TG Mastering chain, which brings in saturation, too.

Cheers, Christian

[Pat McGhenParticipant]

Thanks for listening and giving feedback, Todd!

[quote quote=57508]Hey Pat, thanks for the feedback. A couple suggestions:

- I'd clean up the intro so that it goes right in and the ending so that it ends cleanly.
[/quote]

I actually intentionally left that sloppy. A little insight on my decision making: I come from a punk rock background. So, for me, especially in a live setting, energy and emotion are more important than proficiency and what's "right".

[quote quote=57508]
- I would play with your spatial location of the instruments. The guitars being so hard panned and pretty dry create a weird vibe because the vocal parts are simply not so close because of how much bleed is going on. I think you need to move them in a bit and move them back.
[/quote]

Yeah, I agree with you on this one. I brought the guitars in a little and I think it helped. Thanks!

[quote quote=57508]
- you could probably use a little saturation on the vocals to bring them up front. If you have any sort of de-noiser (like iZotope RX) and/or multiband expander, you should see if you can get a very dry, clean vocal to emphasize. If not, consider using a soft gate and/or scrubbing the vocal track to be just the vocal part.
[/quote]

I did scrub the vocal track. I tried running it through iZotope denoise this time around, but I can't really hear much difference. But that could just be me. I'm running the lead vocals through Waves Butch Vig and I got a little more drastic with some of the settings on this version.

[quote quote=57508]
- your lead guitar rides are pretty drastic. I might be a little more subtle.
[/quote]

No rides going on for anything but the vocals. Again, this is by design. I didn't want to even it out too much because I kinda liked the chaos.

[quote quote=57508]
- I think the bottom end of the track could use a little more beef. I hear the kick, but don't feel it. Just needs a little more in 50-60?
[/quote]

Totally agree. I boosted around 55 to give it a little bit more feeling in the kick.

[quote quote=57508]Good luck!![/quote]

Thanks! Here's my second attempt.

https://soundcloud.com/mcghen-manor/louis-berry-25-reasons-2/s-HYjed

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