Little Empire - "Shoot You down"

[Mark WarnerParticipant]

Here is my take on Little Empires "Shoot You Down". I tried to go more modern with this mix using Farrell Williams (Daft Punk) and Lady Gaga as sonic inspiration. I want to put something of myself into this mix as well so I layered in some more synth bass lines and added some simple edits to the arrangement. I want to the chorus to skip a little more so I added some extra kick beats. I also pinned a note to my wall with the following points to remember while doing this mix
1. Try to give the instruments their own space.
2. 1 items leads and the rest support.
3. Add interest through subtle changes
4. Only do what is necessary.
I am in general quite happy with this mix although my use of dynamic delay is not perfected yet. The full on bass appeals to my sense of what I like to hear in music and provides the feeling of power and drive along with the drums. Hopefully the vocal is cutting though in this mix, having learn lesson from mistakes in previous PLaPA mixes.

As always feedback good and bad is appreciated.

Cheers - Mark

https://soundcloud.com/lejardinelectronique/little-empire-shoot-you-down-mixed-by-mark-warner-lje-music

Setup time = 4 hours (including writing and recording new midi/wav files)
Mix time = 8 hours (including 1 hour lost due to system crash and 1 hour repeating lost work)
Review time = 1 hour (including some basic mastering)

• This topic was modified 4 years ago by Arthur Labus.

[TobiKeymaster]

Ooooo.... I like the extra beats in the chorus - very, very nice! I love the choruses - they work so well, just excellent work. Lots of interesting stops and filters on the vox etc - really upbeat and great fun!

The verses, I don't know, it might just be my TV not doing justice to all that lovely bass, but they seem to... muddy down, does that make sense? I find myself searching for all the fantastic tones, like they're just underneath the water's surface. It feels like that's sucking the Vocals down too - like the low mids of the vocals are blending with the mid lows of the instruments.

It's certainly a track that needs to be played loud - I had to crank the volume quite high to bring out the details - but it gives it this fantastic dancefloor energy that I just love!

The vocal is loud and rich and warm and excellent - love it!

I have huge smile on my face! ...which is one of the best things, I think, anyone can say about a piece of music. Your mix made me feel really happy! If you can nail those verses, like you have the choruses - wow! You'll have one hell of a mix on your hands! Great work!

[Mark WarnerParticipant]

Thanks Toby 🙂
I know what you mean about the bass. I had a club/dance mix in mind and did envisage that it would/should be played loud, although it maybe that I have overdone it slightly, lol. I personally like the energy that comes from a driving full bass and drum combination.
The vocals are not very original, I just applied Warren's standard vocal treatment which is a tiled room reverb, a hall reverb, a dynamic delay, a Harmoniser style distortion and some slight vocal Thickening. I experimented with some MidSide (MS) processing on some of the instruments to give a slightly wider feel while preserving the centre. Thanks for the detailed feedback, that is great and very useful.
If it put a smile on your face then I am doing something right 🙂

Cheers Mark

[Anders IsbergParticipant]

Very good mix Mark! Vocal sound is great. Lots of low-end energy, which is very nice, and as you've pointed out makes it sound very good played back loud. I think you could get even better definition and clarity, without loosing the low-end thump and drive, by taking out some low-mids. Overall an awesome mix, though!

[Mark WarnerParticipant]

Thanks Anders. I shall check it to see which stems I didn't cut enough of the low mids.

[Chris SweetParticipant]

Nice mix Mark. Especially like how tight the bottom end is. Really well done.

[Mark WarnerParticipant]

Thank you Chris ☺ Warren and David's lessons made me realise how bad my bottom ends were so I have started putting mixes together "bottom up". Like Anders said, I think should have done more with the low mids but I learn a little more with each lesson and feedback.

[Warren HuartKeymaster]

Wow Mark! Love what you did with the bass synth! The skipping snare in the chorus is really cool! Great approach! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren

[Mark WarnerParticipant]

Thanks Warren, listening back now it makes me wonder if this mix/production hints at the mix of styles mentioned elsewhere recently. Its perhaps more EDM though. Cheers Mark

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