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your thoughts on mix and colours
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jeeboomba
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : May 5, 2014 17:24:26
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hey guys,
was listening to some guerrilla stoner rock recordings which maybe be passed off as a really bad mix.. but i feel the unclean sound gives it certain quality that i enjoyed.. i think that mix was perfect in that case.. have heard some minimal techno ppl pull off cool tracks with highly coloured mixes.. what are your thoughts on this?
how much do you value "clean mix" in your work.. and how much do you work towards it? i mean freq clashing too much is not acceptable for sure.. like kbb combo clashing etc.. but otherwise??
i see a lot of ppl in workshop give a lot of preference to this.. what do you think about this?
  re-arrange what you thought was real |
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Babaluma
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
18
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729
Posted : May 5, 2014 17:41
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frisbeehead
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
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1352
Posted : May 5, 2014 20:02
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sounds should naturaly find their way in the mix, shouldn't require much to fit inside their context. what I mean is: setting two sounds a couple of octaves appart is good enough separation, imo. in such situation, you could place a filter in there "just to make sure", but careful not to kill the sound. always best to bypass after some break when not sure or review these kind of choices later on (that's what I do).
generaly speaking, I think mixes that don't need much EQ at all are the best. but that comes with a nicely thought and arranged song, so one thing kind of depends on the other. and perhaps this is also true for the kind of music you talk about: band members naturally ocuppy their own place within the song, both in the spectrum and timming - and this is simply by reacting to it.
nothing wrong with a super colored mix, some bleeding of the instruments and all of that. only rule of gold here is: whatever the rule you're breaking, just make sure it compliments the song. and afterwards, you'll think twice about making that automatic highpass filter cut you used to, you decide case to case how much you'll let it blend with other sounds that have frequencies there. you know, like you're making a piece of furniture and you're careful not to let the joints and nails be visible, making it seem as if it was born like that, no hand craft signs for you to find. I like that kind of mix and that kind of song. sometimes dirty sounding mixes are awsome, tons of character and mood can also work wonders: depends on the material.
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jeeboomba
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
55
Posts :
516
Posted : May 5, 2014 20:49
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i kind of agree.. freeflow rawness sounds more interesting to me..
re-arrange what you thought was real |
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knocz
Moderator
Started Topics :
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1151
Posted : May 5, 2014 21:13
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Well one opinion is it depends on the context and traditions  Unfortunately, humans are creatures of habit, and usually what sounds "good" is only what someone already liked before - and it all start's off with "hey, this is music listen to it it's good".
So, even if there are errors in the music (like the typical tape-delay for example, where the tune's tempo is slightly de-tuned then re-tuned as the tape "stretches"..), since we are used to these errors they are what we define as "music" because that's what everyone is used to listening.
Lets say for example black metal - the first recordings were lame and some producer had the "brilliant / horrific" idea of EQ'ng the mids out of the tune, mainly in the guitars and bass. The result is a low quality mix, that actually defined the genre! So, in the scene if you come up with a crystal clear mix, you'll be hated for sure, as it wont sound like the genre you're going for..
However "the invention of tradition" happens everywhere, and fortunately we evolve In new psytrance for instance, the bass actually has a log of mids and some highs even, but 15 years ago the bass had a huge LP cutoff.. I say, if we brought out a "today's mix" back into the past, people wouldn't like it, as it deviates too much from the standard. Of course there is time for innovation, but if you wander off too much you'll drift away from the genre and you aim-public won't be enjoying it. Also, 20 years ago psytrance had a different mix (the beat wasn't sooo many DB's above everything else), but about 14 years ago it became the norm.
IMO, I don't care if the elements sound good or terrible, it doesn't matter - it's all about how they sound together in context - so it's about the mix. And, a clean mix isn't the synonym for a good mix (or all black metal would be a terrible mix) - just take for instance the song from Queen "Dont stop me now": it's simply brilliant and amazing, and that bass just sounds so good in the mix! But they actually released the stems, and if you listen to the bass stem it's horrible by itself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ReSk1nNdz8
Again IMO that's why you'll hear me say do whatever you want as long as it sounds good! So, if you think having a ton of specific color in a mix would sound good, than that's all that matters! As long as the music is good, who cares about the mix if it's colored, out of balance, unproportional or what not?
Super Banana Sauce http://www.soundcloud.com/knocz |
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TimeTraveller
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : May 5, 2014 21:21
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there are cases where a 'rough' recording sound better and has that special something more than a polished mix IMO. It depends on the vibe, genre (espescially some of those with real instruments) etc..
For instance I got some old demos from friends that sound hundred times better than their reproduced versions on vinyl etc. It depends.. as long nothing is masked, sometimes it can sound rougher, better, more hardcore more real.
In my work its essential to have a clean mix. Right now working with a composer of a musical, this is another situation freqs clashing is of course not acceptable.
https://soundcloud.com/shivagarden |
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splikz
Started Topics :
1
Posts :
287
Posted : May 5, 2014 22:34
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to me color is different from a bad mix.
some hardware and plugins that emulate hardware provide a certain color to the sound. but the final mix can be good.
most producers look to the clean and transparent. or they may choose the add some color to certain track elements.
whatever sounds good.
and some unclean sounds may sound good as well. |
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wirakocha
IsraTrance Full Member
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288
Posted : May 6, 2014 04:48
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