hi.. fairly new to mixing and mastering. Check out my mix and let me know what I can improve on. FYI, artist brought a YouTube beat to the session and didn't have wav files so it was a little hard for me to get all vox takes to sit in the mix so I fear it'll be either to loud or to soft compared to the beat. regardless let me know! Feedback is essential in my opinion. Thanks
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I listened to a bit of it - truthfully, I shut it down after hea
I listened to a bit of it - truthfully, I shut it down after hearing the "N" word over and over... Sorry, but it's just something I'm not comfortable with, and never have been, having grown up in the era of The Civil Rights Movement.
Mix-wise, I'm not hearing anything glaring; based on what I did hear, my ears are telling me that you have a bit too much gain reduction happening, at which point I would offer the suggestion to be careful about the amount of processing you have going on, particularly with the various stages of gain reduction you have happening here; I'm not sure I see a need to use the Waves vocal rider and a compressor, and then you're adding another stage of gain reduction again with the limiter ( which I'm assuming is on the 2-Bus?)...
Processing should be chosen based on the need for it, and not just "because you bought it" or "because you happen to have it available". Over-use of gain reduction is the most common mistake heard in today's novice and beginner mixes, I hear it all the time.
Backing off on the reduction a bit will allow your mixes to breathe, to open up and have some air to them. Over compression results in thinned-out sonics, and to my ears, that's what I hear happening here.
Also, microphones and preamps matter... big time. I'm not familiar with the mic you are using, but at it's going rate of $90, it will never compete with pro level LD condensers...and while the Scarlett is a decent entry-level preamp/i-o, it is still a budget pre. If you want to improve your sound quality, start by getting a better mic and preamp.
Quality costs money... there's just no way around that.
That being said, I think you've done an okay job with using what you have available.
Only IMO of course. Ask 5 different engineers what they think and you'll get ten different opinions. ;)
-d.
also...gear I used...akg p120, scarlett 2i2..waves vocal rider,
also...gear I used...akg p120, scarlett 2i2..waves vocal rider, waves limiter, api eq, cla-21 compressor, logics basic noise gate, JJP vocal channel strip, and running my mix through Izotope ozone 6. Again, any feed back is very appreciated. Went to audio engineering school a year ago and im just now being able to record mix and master my own sessions rather than being a runner! So im not new to terms or gear, more new to being in command of entire session front to back. Thanks again guys and gals.