Love Me I'm Rich - amacca mix

[Andrew MckenzieParticipant]

Great song, I loved the trem effect on the bass (created by sidechaining an LFO to the SSL channel compressor) so I let it go through the whole song. Tried to get the end like a "wall of sound" style chaos. 🙂

Cheers...Andrew
https://soundcloud.com/amacca-938159740/amanda-hardy-love-me-im-rich-amacca-mix

[Mark WarnerParticipant]

Hi Andrew,

Nice clarity and separation in your mix. Maybe the chorus could lift a little more? Try taking the drums down -5 to 1db in the verse and pre-chorus so they come up in the the chorus. Maybe the bass too. I build mine from the end backwards to get the loudest part at the end and then worked to the beginning automating things at different levels so that when played through it hit the loudest at the end. Sometime I will also have an instrument getting louder by -5 to 1 db through a section as well to emphasis a build up.

Cheers - Mark

[Andrew MckenzieParticipant]

Great tips Mark...Cheers mate

[Warren HuartKeymaster]

Hi Andrew, great mix! Excellent definition on the kick, it could come down a little and the heavy guitars overall could come up to help the dynamics, making the pre hours and chorus lift more. Great tones though. With the right balances this will be fantastic! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren

[Andrew MckenzieParticipant]

Thanks Warren, appreciate the feedback mate.

[TobiKeymaster]

It's all there - all the tones are great! Particularly like the 'weight of the vocals'. Each guitar has it's distinct tone - works really well. Levels just feel a little uneven.

[Andrew MckenzieParticipant]

Thanks Toby, that's my issue at the moment...trying to get consistent monitoring and levels....maybe in another couple thousand hours or so 🙂

[TobiKeymaster]

Something I've found to be really useful... I listen to the mix on my mp3 player through earbuds while walking the dog. Start at a 'regular' listening volume - listen a few times. Then drop the volume - listen again a few times. Eventually I end up barely being able to hear the mix.

Each time I drop the volume, certain instruments or parts will 'drop out' and certain parts will stand up too much. Then when I get to the studio, I adjust the mix accordingly.

Apparently, mobile devices have a dynamic range of only 6db (compared to Vinyl, which is 120db). I found this a really useful article :

http://www.pro-tools-expert.com/home-page/2015/11/17/aes-release-recommendations-for-loudness-of-audio-streaming-and-network-file-playback

When I mixed 'Night Falls', I mixed to an average LUFS of -16 and a LUFS range of 2. It is by far the closest 'translation' from what I hear in my DAW to Soundcloud, I have ever managed. I've been really frustrated lately by how badly my mixes were translating to soundcloud - so I've been doing a lot of research into it.

Hope some of that helps! You're a fantastic mixer and one of the guys on PLAPA, who inspires me to get better and try to match the quality you bring to all your mixes.

Toby.

[Andrew MckenzieParticipant]

Thanks for the kind words mate, I'm certainly learning to be better with the help of communities like this one.

I usually use ear buds, monitors, cans and the dreaded car test.

I'm finding that listening on monitors or good cans (a.k.a. flat response) is difficult to get the highs and lows just right because, for the most part, 40 odd years of listening on "Hi-Fi" grade systems with hyped top and bottom. So when I reference my favourite tracks on monitors, they sound dull, lifeless and too much mid range.

Great tips on the loudness saga though...it's always weird to hear the difference on different platforms.

Cheers...Andrew

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