Kakeux died on a mine!

[kakeux]

Hi there,

Ok here's mine!

It was a real struggle for me as I love the song as I heard it in Brandon's mix but was in deep s..t trying to do something with the tracks. I'm not used to create effects and "dance" stuff...so I tried to have fun and I did so be prepared, but not really confident in what I've achieved. I know that some of you will hate my stupid ideas

I'm quite happy with the overall sound I got, I went for a sort of a mix between MC Hammer and Michael Jackson (good luck for finding the Jackson influence, and well the MC hammer too).

Thanks for the listen!

I hope I will have time to comment on all your entries but this month is already at its end and it still a busy one for me.

Cheers!

[willj]

Hell 45 views and no takers i'll give it a go! Brilliant beginning with the cinematic sounds yes, but also with the lil whaa action on the virus. that thing was driving me bananas for the last 2hrs. Id like to hear a little bit more meat from the snare drum especially with the kick being as weighty as it is. really a good mix all in all. The creative choices are cool, but i dont think theyre doing a lot to help the song. Nothing to hurt it tho either. The chorus has wonderful impact coming out of the verse. Perfect. Nice job with the verbs especially in the quiter parts. You really dialed that in nice. Its not overdone anywhere. The chorus vox seem just a hair too loud, but still really nicely done man. Them damn samples made it too easy for you Fine mix my brutha!

[drummer67]

I feel you should of used the hole vocal line in the intro instead of cutting it in at stepping on a land mind. Cool intro after that tho. IMO,with the kind of vocals we have in this song the snare should a bright one instead of being chunky.IMO, the snare should always match the vocals in tone. A deep vocal would work nice with the snare sound you have here. IMO,there are times when the kick and snare become lost in the mix.During the solo I think you went a little too far with the effects. At times the vocals are a bit to much on top of the mix at times.I think the end was cut too much,part of (mine) was cut to quick.
With all that being said I think you did a good creative mix here, nice job.

[fHumble fHingaz]

LOVE the intro - I was waiting for someone to use an explosion! Wow, that got my attention!

For me, you've absolutely nailed the mix during the chorus - It's full & clear, & it moves forward really nicely. I hear what you're doing by providing contrast during the verses, & it is totally cool, but somehow, it seems a tad empty there. Perhaps because there is so much space, the mix seems to be crying out for some slow, low end waves to fill it up there? IDK...

The buildup during the solo leading to the explosion was genius, because that part of the song is a little boring in it's original form.

The vocals have a slight "hardness" about them that I don't love - it sounds like you might have boosted around 2-3k, which might lead to the impression that they are too loud. For me, the vocals had a pretty nice timbre in their original state. With a song like this, where the arrangement is fairly spare, unlike a rock tune where the guitars are competing with the vocal, you could afford to have the slightly softer & more delicate in that range.

Nice job, K!

[redworks]

creative touches throughout. I do like the additions that you have made what i have a problem with is the transitions in and out of these additions. A lot of them sound too abrupt and just don't quite flow. If you would have taken the time to tighten those up this would be a rocking mix. The very beginning and the very end are prime examples it feels like we jump into a song that has already started and leave before it is finished. Oh and i do find the vocals to be a little edgy. They could have used a little fx to soften the edges. Great ideas though, as i listen through the second time i like them even more.

[bobbybovine]

Hey kakeux, lots of ear candy with this one. I gave this a bunch of listens and here are my observations. The very first thing in the song is the vox and is totally spotlighted and I like that idea (since I did the same thing ). My issue with yours is I can hear the very end of the previous syllable before the word stepping so it sounds like it is editted. Staying on the vox I find that your blend and eqing you did on it seems to accentuate the high mids and is causing a harshness that didn't bother me at first but became more noticable as the song progressed, I think a little bit of notch eqing on the offending tracks would clear this up nicely. The core parts of your song I think sound fantastic, good choice of kick and snare, the bass sits well and you have a very nice change of feel going from verse to chorus. Great job with that, the ear candy however I can't say I am diggin it all that much. I really like the explosion, but I find some of your added sounds like the intro swell and the extended drum roll before the last chorus seem to stick out more than I feel they should. Overall though, the mix sounds great. Good job.

[jpierre]

that intro had me there mehn.. I agree with the whole phrase in the vocal.. sounds like it has in alot of highs in there.. like the high dominate the frequencies...some instruments sound thin as well.. but like the versatility in ur mix...

[IMF OnSite Recording]

*I am listening for a second and third time but now I'm actually on my monitors instead of my HD280 pro's. This is only fair to everyone that I listen again and with my standard listening environment. I am also toggling in and out my outboard stereo EQ that is finely tuned for listening for pleasure which I use to keep my lows and highs in check when mixing*

The words on the intro seemed a bit off target, and that pitch swell was a bit louder than the mix kicking in, which gives a dissapointment to some; if you adjust the ratio of loudness right, it should burst into a heavy rhythm to drive the start of the song. Just some level adjustments and youll be golden on that. Nice creativity on that!

When the chorus opens up, i feel like the isntrumental elements could use a little more attention. Low pass those shrilley highs out of the synth. There seems to be a whistling sound on the effect you did with the virus synth. Easy way to remove this occuring offensive resonant frequency. Sweep for it with a high Q filter until its obvious you are on the frequency range that is producing that signal, then bring it down at least 6db... or remove it completely.

Some parts of the songs, the drums get barely audible, like the "hold my hand we'll make our final stand" part.

Your chorus opens up a bit, and I like that Low pass those buzzy synths a bit and move them around a bit to give a feel of space. You could send to some delay and\or do some smooth automation panning.

Those explosions feel like theyre eating up all the headroom on the 2bus when they come in, I would bring them down a little bit. I like the idea, and think its great, but if its clipping or saturating too much of the space, it will sound rude instead of cool. Thats a simple volume adjustment.

The drums could use some more POWER to them. I would say adding some more 60-80hz in a broader Q for the kick, as it has enough presence in the highs to maintain its position in the mix. The snare, maybe up a couple DB.

Vocals could use a little more meat on them, I would high pass too much past 200hz, overall they're good.

Still hearing that whistling in the virus synth even in the chorus.. It would be a good idea to find the frequency doing that and eliminate it.

I like your ideas and with some minor tweaks you could really get this thing grooving real damn good!
Good job man

[mannygtr]

man u got a pandora of ideas here! maybe somtime too exagerated i can sense u were experimenting a lot through the mix which makes it less solid and groovy sometimes. Chorus is pretty solid and open i like it, it sound like the chorus here should sound IMO. I would have appreciated a more powerfull snare.Vocal lack some body.. overall u got some producer skill man, just too much in this case maybe lol. good job and keep on using your imagination!

[danmanisa]

I felt the MJ thing when I went to mix it too! And I hear it in yours after the first line! Perhaps a little long with that effect, but great sound and excellent idea. Also, no such things as 'stupid ideas' when you are mixing! I would never apologies for experimenting. If anything, people should apologies when they don't. How do you learn anything new? Ok, enough lecturing, to your mixmobile...

You mix is very sparkly! I wanted to avoid bright, as it may come across as meaning offensive. Whilst the tone is not fatiguing or offensive it is very bright. I like almost all of what you have done here sonically. I am not a fan of the treated synth in the left, as the modulation distracts when it hits the bassy part of the envelope and the overall tone is a little mosquito like. Not meaning to sound harsh, as I feel the rest is pretty much spot on. The vocals seem to have been high passed or equed pretty heavily. It works, I'm just not used to hearing them without that thickness they had. The more I listen, the more I like!

I love that Morse code, tremolo synth from the second verse. I'd mute it during the "so cold" section to help with the build up, but that's just a person preference. I REALLY like the ambiance you have given the drums! They feel like they belong with the vocals and sit perfectly!

Not sure on the bridge. I love the idea, but to me, there were a few balancing issues that made the bridge and explosion feel small rather than more intensive. Perhaps doing the old slowly fade the section before trick by a few db would have the bridge build a little better. Poorly explained, I know, but I am pretty sure you know what I mean!

Overall, I think this is a really solid mix and well thought out and cared for arrangement. You have experimented and played, but not to the detriment of the actual song, and that is an important thing to distinguish. Nice one!

[kakeux]

Hi there,

Thanks to all of you for your comments!

It seems that the vocals are the "issue" here, I did EQ them quite a lot so I might have made that too much. I wasn't very pleased with the mid-lows I was hearing on the vocals tracks, and my Michael Jackson vision brought me to light and bright vocals. I can't be really objective on my work after hearing it so many times, yeah I've mixed it for quite a long time because editing is a real painful job for me (Redworks, this is probably why transition are not that good). I will have a fresh listening to it again.

Are the bright/edgy/crispy vocals more a problem during the second verse and second chorus? I suspect the vocals track named Vocal_TC to be a part of the the issue.

For the other issues, I really need to listen to it again.

Just for the fun, I had tons of plugins and none of them had a explosion sound So I have to create my own, and that wasn't easy (for me).

Thanks a lot guys, really appreciated the comments!

[jhkillam]

Nice creative touches, definitely. I'm in agreement with someone else, the editing of the opening line is SLIGHTLY off, I can hear the end of a word before the actual line starts. Minor issue though.

I vastly prefer the roomy snare sound for this song over the drier approach you've taken, really more of a taste thing though. Kick sounds nice and solid though.

The transitional section after the synth solo seems to drop in energy a bit somehow. I think maybe I'm just missing the solo a bit, and then with what part of it that is there cutting out, it feels a bit empty to me. Maybe the sample you put in could have some more prominence.

Certain notes on the chimes seem to stick out a lot more than others, may be an EQ thing or they could use some more compression to even that out, or automation of course.

[wireman957]

Really nice mix overall, kak! Good job of transitioning from section to section and I really have only minor issues here, most of which can be called personal taste.

Coming out of the very cool intro, I wanted to hear the music be the explosion, but it came in a little subdued. I think this is just a balance issue - either drop the "movie sound" a couple of dB or use a musical element to really smack us between the eyes for that part. I'm not really sure how else to put that. Oh, and there's a very slight artifact right at the beginning of your trimmed vocal intro. Maybe zoom in a little closer when trimming and a trick I've used before is to use a very fast fade in from about .5 seconds before and up to about halfway through the initial transient to clean up edits like that. (I hope that made sense)

I read what drummer said about the snare tone. I agree it could be a bit brighter in the verses, but it seems to work well during the choruses, so I don't know. EQ automation or splitting the snare track with slightly different EQ for the verses maybe...

Very creative leading back into the end choruses! Kudos there! Actually there are lots of creative little goodies going on here. You should be proud of this mix! Nicely done, man!!

[kakeux]

Hi,

Thanks for the comments guys. Yeah I heard that glitch at start right after posting my mix, was to late to re-edit

Wireman, I am kind of proud of it. Not because I find it perfect or what, but just because for the first time since the Slate cup started, I made a mix that tells the story the way I imagined it. Editing is a real hard job for me, as I find it pretty boring and counter productive most of the time. But I've learn a ton during this one.

I made some completely stupid things to end up with some funny effects. Like changing the length of the voice so much that when played it sound like a THX intro. There are tons of vocal that are played backward and it really fills the chorus in a nice but strange way, that was a fun things to play with.

Thanks again for the comments.

[Magnolius]

Many great ideas in this mix! As commented above some of the transitions before and after these effects could have been smoother and it is also a delicate matter to balance a transition effect so what comes after sounds bigger and not smaller in comparison. The intro feels a little like that to me, a buildup that is more powerful than the verse it builds up to. What I really love with this mix is the drums they are both hard hitting and have this awesome sense of space around them. Great work on those! On my monitors the vocals feels a bit harsh and I think you have room for a fuller vocal sound in this mix. But over all an interesting and engaging mix!

[Chromaphonic]

the mix is not bad. just seems a bit hollowed out. Maybe due to over eq'ing some of the sounds??? I like the mix and the creativity you put into it. I also agree with redworks comment about the abrupt transitions.

[ncls]

Great job again, and I see you did some nice treatments here and there on tracks.
I think the tiny wha-wha virus thing is a nice idea to kick this loopy thing out without turn it off.
Nice choice of vocals too, I chose the upper one but finally the lower one sounds better alone.

I don't have many things to complain about except the snare that sounds a bit in the background. I think a more snappy one that can play with the kick in the same area was a better choice, but consider this as my personal taste
By the way, I found that the perc. thingy at the beginning and during the second verse can be more upfront. I thought you wanted to hide them both It creates level contrasts that surprise at first like you forgot to adjust those level.

Again, nice job from you again

[Ableton_Love]

woah crazy intro! i like it. I think it needs to be just a bit more relative to the level of the rest of the mix tho. It get's all loud and exciting and then when the beat drops back in it just sounds quieter and more subdued.
I'm digging the FX in this track..some cool things that I never thought to try. I do believe this mix could greatly benefit from more low end frequency energy. Everything is pretty dang clear, but it's teetering on sounding a bit thin. holy roll into the last hook. Some serious creativity there. I like a few of the explosions, but you could probably eliminate a few of them. It's sort of like throwing bass drops into the mix, you want one or two of them so people think "wow that was awesomeeee" but if they hear it several more times, it sort of loses its luster.

Nice!

[kakeux]

Hi guys, thanks for the comments.

I may have over EQed vocals and it seems it creates some kind of hollowness.

For the snare, I wanted a not 80ies sound with a lot of snap. I think I'm close to that, but that's a taste choice, so it might not suits everyone.

For the first time, I thought I controlled the lows correctly ;-) . They were making my sub working fine without beeing overpowering the mix. Maybe I'm still not there.

For the explosions, actually there are only four. One at the beginning, and three at the end...that's not really too much ha ha...

Thanks again guys!

[lucccien]

Hey, sounds good. I like the synth gating you used midway on the song, though I think you could have used the gating during only the choruses or verses or the break, but not all. The hi-hats near the end are crazy! Love 'em. I thought your mix was a bit strong in the very high frequencies. I'm going to stop saying I'm biased and just say it's my opinion when I talk about the highs. I find the brightness, I mean excessive highs, are in quite a few mixes I listen to, and I'm going to attempt to have some confidence that it's not just in my head, after listening to reference after reference after reference. Your mix is very creative and well done otherwise -- a solid mix!

[kakeux]

Thanks Lucccien for the comments, appreciated. According to other comments you're not biased, I may have overdone some highs EQing..

[lucccien]

Thanks Lucccien for the comments, appreciated. According to other comments you're not biased, I may have overdone some highs EQing..

Thanks for this short statement -- I really have a lot of self-doubt!

[chckn8r]

What the hell was that at the beginning? Nice start Kakeux!

A fantastic thump you've got to the kick - I'm listening to this at low volume and there's a nice impact coming through.

The only thing that I think is missing is more emphasis on the instrumenal parts throughout - they seem to be kind of thin and put back in the soundstage. Vocals and drums are superb - present, clear and forward, but there are times when I kind of wish the synth lines had more cajones....

Great sound - like I said, at low volume, it has a nice punch - that's when you know it's good!

Cheers, D

[kakeux]

Thanks Ckckn8r for the nice comments. Ahah the intro started to take form after some time playing to slow down vocals....I can't remember why I even started to do that. But when 3-4 vocals were lenghten at an extrem level, it was sounding a bit like the THX intro. I still wasn't sure to keep it 2 min before rendering, then for 2s I said: who cares? And here you are.

For the synth, it's pretty much possible as I found them a bit boring and fatiguing after 10 listen...so I may have buried them without really thinking.

Thanks again!