*PLEASE* Review My Mixes

[unique_style]

I've recently been mixing an independent rap/hip hop album at a local commercial facility (www.cuerecording.com) Thus far, I've been pretty satisfied with the results of the instrumentals, but felt as though the vocals were too bottom heavy and muddy.

So recently I decided to take reigns at the boards and PC (mixing instrumentals from 2" tape though an SSL to protools, while the vocals are remaining "in the box") and mess around with the EQing of the vocals. The goal was to significantly brighten them up and clean up that muddiness. Something tells me I may have inadvertently gone from one extreme to the other, although the newer versions sound 100% better to me.

I'm hoping some of you experienced audiophiles would be so kind as to lend me your ears to listen to an A/B comparison of these mixes, and offer your input. I'm looking for feedback specifically on the tone of the vocals, level of reverb saturation on vocals, as well as their level (volume) in comparison to the instrumental. I feel as like the vocals could be a smidge louder, but would like a second and third opinion.

If you could give these tracks a quick listen and jot down some notes it would be greatly appreciated:

http://www.thetakeover.com/mixes/track1before.mp3
http://www.thetakeover.com/mixes/track1after.mp3
http://www.thetakeover.com/mixes/track2before.mp3
http://www.thetakeover.com/mixes/track2after.mp3

Also, if you feel as though I completed missed the mark on the after versions, some specific advice as to which frequency bands I should EQ accordingly would be great.

[djui5]

I like the afters....

FWIW's, I think the mixes are lacking some punch. They seem a little "safe" if you ask me. Especially for tape mixed on an SSL.


I wouldn't make the vocals any louder, but maybe a touch. They're sitting pretty nice now.

[unique_style]

Thanks for the feedback.

In the after mixes, I just took a blind stab in the dark as far as EQing is concerned. A high pass filter was applied to the lead and lead chorus vocals at 210 hz. A 1.5db boost was also applied to the 6khz and 10khz bands. Does this defy conventional wisdom? I was truly gauging the adjustments by what *sounded* appropriate to me, as opposed to technical knowledge.

Also, any suggestions for adding a bit more punch to the overall mix?

[djui5]

Sounds fine to me. Might cut back the 6K a touch. Wouldn't hurt. Cut it back a db.

For punch, you wanna mess with compressor settings. The SSL compressors are infamous for this, and is partly why a lot of rock guys love SSL's.

You set the release to something average like 250ms, set the threshold so it's below the music level, then tweak the attack until it starts getting punchy. You'll hear it in the kick more than anything.

Don't do this to the mix as a whole, do it to the individual tracks. Do the kick first so you can get a feel for it, then do other instruments.

You can also get more punch out of it by sending the music bed to a buss, patching a compressor/limiter in, slamming it to bejebus and back, then bringing this back in under the original tracks. It will also make things louder and sound "bigger". Your track could use a little of this.

Also, you can massage the stereo buss compressor for this, but it's going to affect the mix as a whole and isn't something you'd really want to do.

Nice studio to be mixing in btw.