My 1st PMA Mix : Little Empire (Toby Mix)

[TobiKeymaster]

**Had a relisten with fresh ears. This mix is still not there yet, gonna take another pass....**

- Newer version below : In the Box and more, more 😉

Went for a kinda modern day Blondie vibe... Love that mix of rock , pop , punk and disco that Blondie could throw together . There's a bit of Daft Punk in there , there's a bit of Kylie Minogue (Ray of Light) too.

As with my 'Bullet' mix, trying to balance the creative B-side with the technical 'rado friendly A-side'.

Paid lots of attention to the basics : phase, EQ, pan and levels. Once the 'creative arrangement' was pretty much fixed in place, dropped the mix back down to bass , vocals and drums, and worked through the core of the mix.

Built a lot of automation into the mix - particularly for the drums and vocals .

Feels like the most technically accomplished mix I've done so far...

https://soundcloud.com/toby-davis-925439564/little-empire-shoot-you-down-toby-mix-pma

[Anders IsbergParticipant]

Great stuff Toby! Very creative and a lot of great ideas built into that mix. Love the tight guitar sound in the choruses and the carefully worked out re-arrangement. The lead vocals might get a bit lost, or at least take the back seat, in couple of places. Overall a fantastic mix though!

[TobiKeymaster]

Thanks Anders!

Yeah... I seem to be mixing my vocals too far back / low in the mix at the moment - don't know why? ...I'll have to lift them up a notch or two ...or three ....maybe four 😉

[TobiKeymaster]

'In the Box' version.....

https://soundcloud.com/toby-davis-925439564/little-empire-shoot-you-down-toby-mix-itb-pma

Went back to the Drums, Bass and Vocals and mixed up from there. Added a lot more automation : pan, reverb, eq. Tried to clean up the lows and low mids. Tried to tighten up the levels across the mix.

Prefer this version, feels tighter and slicker. Vocals are mixed quite high, particularly in the chorus - but that feels right for a pop mix.

It might lack the 'low end punch' of the Summed Version. Might have mixed the bass a touch too low in this version. Not completely happy with the vocals. Needs something.... I'll figure it out, eventually 😉

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