SDC - Sex on a Landmine - Bobbybovine

[bobbybovine]

Hmmmm, well this was a shitload of fun. Lots of experimentation, lots of pulling my hair out etc.. Learned a ton as well. I have a feeling a certain element of my mix is gonna get a barrage of comments but I will leave it at that. I debated whether to adjust it or not but I like it as is so I left it. I tried to be tasteful, not overdo the effects, but I felt this track just needed "something" that Brando didn't have in his. I have no idea what that "something" was but hopefully I stumbled upon it. I did some editing, samples, and the usual stuff. Got my armor in place so fire away!! And as per the usual homework, thanks Brandon for tracks that sounded good out of the gate, and thanks Jetface for letting me mutilate your work

[bozmillar]

I like this one a lot. The first verse sounds great. The snare kind of threw me off at first. The attack on it feels a little funky, kind of like the attack was compressed out of it then added back in with a transient control. It has a slight tick at the beginning. I stop noticing it after the first verse though. The delays/choruses/fx etc sound like they are all in good taste, though a couple dB louder than I would have done them, but I tend to do my stuff pretty dry.

The cello track sounds like it's lagging. Not sure why.

[bholst]

Fantastic intro on that mix! You nailed it! Love the bass. Some nice underdubbing going on too. Smart choices. I'm hearing a little bit of overkill on the compression on the drums, HOWEVER, my guess is that this is a genre that you can totally get away with that sort of thing. I would gather that a little pumping actually helps. Synth sounds are working pretty well for me. Vocals sound killer to me too. For some reason that synth solo isn't doing that much for me at the 2:13 mark on, but it wasn't doing much for me in the first place, so I can't really fault you there That's gonna be a really tough one to pull off well I think. Overall, it's an extremely pleasant mix to listen to. You did a fantastic job of avoiding any harshness that can easily happen in electronic music. Awesome how you tied the ending into your intro. Very well thought out. Great job man! Sounds like a contender to me

-holster

[drummer67]

Very, very nice job on this bob.I only have a few things that got my attention.The effects on the vocals too me tend to be just a bit too much,maybe just a bit less.I do agree with boz that the cello does lag a bit, Don't know if you have slid it in time line or maybe It is just a delay out of time causing it.

Other than that I really like your mix,nice job on the mix.

[IMF OnSite Recording]

I like your drums, the kick especially, did a good job with the kick. In case you didn't know already, I'm a big kick guy . Id say one more db louder! That's just me. The I like your little beat tweaks and addons here and there. The only one main thing that I notice, everything else being great, is the balance of instruments in the chorus. They synths at times are kinda buzzing around the center and the cello is being eaten by them sometimes, the low note on the cello doesnt help because it dives in and out. I am being real technical because this is a very good mix IMO. There really isn't anything bad to say about it. If you find ways to open up the width in the synths (try delaying the left side on one.. and the right side on the other by 5-30 ms.. sweep around for the right balance and you'll find it. I never go with certain numbers, there is no cookie cutter way to make a good mix and there never will be.

Great mix man, I like it a lot.

[Magnolius]

Great mix! After your comment on my mix I was anxious to hear what you did with the song I can hear that we have a similar vision. So naturally I really like what you have here I love the way you have created interest here with some really musical edits. You also have a lot of great transitions. I particularly like the rhythm thing you added before the choruses, gives the song more interest and drive, tastefully done IMO. There is a lot to like here, the intro is gold, very professional sounding and the short snippet from the chorus really captures the listener right away. And then the stripped down first verse, and the drums, love it I don't have much to comment on here. I tried to think "what if this was my band" and I only came up with two things, the lead vocals sounds a little sharp, like pitched a cent or two too high. Is there a lot of pitch correction on the vocals? I would try lowering the reference pitch and hear if it gelled a little better. That might not work at all though so it's more on the experimental side, It's more of a feeling than the vocals being out of tune... I also felt a couple of edits and additions could be nudged a little timing wise if I was being picky. Over all though this is a superb mix that brings musical interest to the song. 5 stars.

[BlackArt]

NICE! really impressed. intro idea is good. everything sitting well together. choruses really punch in nicely. like what you did with the virus synth. it was really bugging me but a good idea to only bring it in later. what effects did you use on it?? 5 stars from me!!

[bobbybovine]

I like this one a lot. The first verse sounds great. The snare kind of threw me off at first. The attack on it feels a little funky, kind of like the attack was compressed out of it then added back in with a transient control. It has a slight tick at the beginning. I stop noticing it after the first verse though. The delays/choruses/fx etc sound like they are all in good taste, though a couple dB louder than I would have done them, but I tend to do my stuff pretty dry.

The cello track sounds like it's lagging. Not sure why.

Thanks Boz. The drums in the first verse are ALL the drum room track with a sub kick laid underneath for more beef. I loved that drum room track so much I had to figure out a way to use it more than just a supplemental ambiance track. I am not sure about the cello, I forgot to automate the low parts up to match the higher parts but it was compressed pretty good. I had much more delay on it at first and I didn't like it, I wonder if I accidentally nudged the track or something. I did that a lot, "ctrl -z" is my best friend.

Fantastic intro on that mix! You nailed it! Love the bass. Some nice underdubbing going on too. Smart choices. I'm hearing a little bit of overkill on the compression on the drums, HOWEVER, my guess is that this is a genre that you can totally get away with that sort of thing. I would gather that a little pumping actually helps. Synth sounds are working pretty well for me. Vocals sound killer to me too. For some reason that synth solo isn't doing that much for me at the 2:13 mark on, but it wasn't doing much for me in the first place, so I can't really fault you there That's gonna be a really tough one to pull off well I think. Overall, it's an extremely pleasant mix to listen to. You did a fantastic job of avoiding any harshness that can easily happen in electronic music. Awesome how you tied the ending into your intro. Very well thought out. Great job man! Sounds like a contender to me

-holster

Thanks a ton Holster. On my first listen through Brandons mix, when I heard the vox at the end I immediately though that it would be cool to start off the track with it. The bass was pretty minimalist, mostly ust compression and some high and low passing. I did try some funky stuff with it but I scrapped it, I am glad I did. The pumping I can't say I really noticed it. I didn't hit any of the 3 compressors and 2 limiters very hard. I had an incling to do the swelling release on the mix after the kick in some parts that is so popular lately but I got lazy and to be honest I don't know if that would work that well with this tempo. The vox had so many options due to the number of tracks, I didn't like ANY of the tracks solo'd (sorry Jetface) but blended I loved them, So I messed around with the blend to find something I liked, then the sweet vocal delay preset in cubase stereo delay and some verb on the delay. I don't think I even EQed them other than a low and high pass. This was my first go around with synths, I didn't know what to do, so I just started playing around. I found them to have a ton of bite on the raw tracks so I messed around till it was a bit smoother. Just some EQ and compression, I also doubled the virus track and nudged one a few ms back and hard panned them. I really wanted everything I could out of the middle for most of the vox. Again thanks for the listen and nice comments.

Very, very nice job on this bob.I only have a few things that got my attention.The effects on the vocals too me tend to be just a bit too much,maybe just a bit less.I do agree with boz that the cello does lag a bit, Don't know if you have slid it in time line or maybe It is just a delay out of time causing it.

Other than that I really like your mix,nice job on the mix.

Thanks drummer, I am not sure what the lagging cello is. It was pretty much untouched, some high pass is about it and some compression. Maybe it is overcompressed? I had some doublers on it and delays at first to try and thicken them up but removed them as it lost a lot of clarity.

I like your drums, the kick especially, did a good job with the kick. In case you didn't know already, I'm a big kick guy . Id say one more db louder! That's just me. The I like your little beat tweaks and addons here and there. The only one main thing that I notice, everything else being great, is the balance of instruments in the chorus. They synths at times are kinda buzzing around the center and the cello is being eaten by them sometimes, the low note on the cello doesnt help because it dives in and out. I am being real technical because this is a very good mix IMO. There really isn't anything bad to say about it. If you find ways to open up the width in the synths (try delaying the left side on one.. and the right side on the other by 5-30 ms.. sweep around for the right balance and you'll find it. I never go with certain numbers, there is no cookie cutter way to make a good mix and there never will be.

Great mix man, I like it a lot.

I had the 3 db louder at one point I actually have 3 different kicks working there, the first verse is all room mic and the subby kick that was supplied. The room track was smashed pretty hard. In case you missed it...I love love love that room track. I actually duplicated it high passed one and low passed the other both under massive compression so I could control the blend and the volume of the snare better in that first verse. For the chorus I triggered a punchy kick and layered that with the supplied kick, that did really work well, the best of both worlds That trick with the synths is exactly what I did do and added a touch of verb to it, but I also placed the cellos in about the same panning, for the most part I wanted nothing near the vox, and the rest of the time those melodic synths I wanted to have the center with some delay and verb to about 30% pan LR. Placing the instruments in the stereo spectrum I found a bit challenging. I figured if I made the drums and the vox the star, the other things could suffer a bit of masking as they really weren't the focus Thanks for the listen and great comments.

Great mix! After your comment on my mix I was anxious to hear what you did with the song I can hear that we have a similar vision. So naturally I really like what you have here I love the way you have created interest here with some really musical edits. You also have a lot of great transitions. I particularly like the rhythm thing you added before the choruses, gives the song more interest and drive, tastefully done IMO. There is a lot to like here, the intro is gold, very professional sounding and the short snippet from the chorus really captures the listener right away. And then the stripped down first verse, and the drums, love it I don't have much to comment on here. I tried to think "what if this was my band" and I only came up with two things, the lead vocals sounds a little sharp, like pitched a cent or two too high. Is there a lot of pitch correction on the vocals? I would try lowering the reference pitch and hear if it gelled a little better. That might not work at all though so it's more on the experimental side, It's more of a feeling than the vocals being out of tune... I also felt a couple of edits and additions could be nudged a little timing wise if I was being picky. Over all though this is a superb mix that brings musical interest to the song. 5 stars.

Thanks Magnolius, I loved the ambiance in your mix, but I just couldn't pull it off myself. I mentioned in a couple of reviews that I felt this song really lacked those transitional elements which I felt were key. All pop music (at least the 50 songs I hear on the radio on the dance station) have something leading the listener to anticipation of the bigger vision of the song. The raw track didn't have that, it just kind of plugged along. I found by adding the pauses it let the chorus sound huge coming in when the RMS was about the same as the verse, a touch louder in each subsequent chorus. The little rhythm was actually the original intro that I cut, pasted, duplicated and positioned to make a cool "fill" before the break. Again that spot just needed something, and that worked pretty well. The intro believe it or not was a free plug in by Luxonix called LFX-1310. It was 3 different delays in that plug and I added the cubase stereo delay on sweet vocals preset after it on the group vox track. I really like that plug and use it a lot. The vocal pitch I did correct. I used Cubase Vari Audio to adjust the more noticeable pitch problems and them used the stock cubase pitch correct on the intermediate preset on every vox track. Any harder and I didn't like what it did to the vox, but the intermediate seems to not be really noticeable. I wonder if it is because I used very little of the lower register vocal tracks. Thanks again for your kind comments.

NICE! really impressed. intro idea is good. everything sitting well together. choruses really punch in nicely. like what you did with the virus synth. it was really bugging me but a good idea to only bring it in later. what effects did you use on it?? 5 stars from me!!

Thanks Blackart. The virus synth I high and low passed till it sounded a bit thinner, I put it through the antress distressor clone with about 6 db of reduction. I also duplicated the tracks and delayed one a couple of ms for the stereo effect and applied a slight reverb to it. The reverb REALLY made a huge difference. I could change the tone of it significantly with different reverbs and settled on the one I thought fit best.

[Stan_Halen]

Sex on a Landmine ... ha, that could be one "explosive" orgasm!

This sounds like a really bold and exciting mix Bob! I'm hearing it on headphones and I think I'm really going to have to hear this one on speakers to get the full effect. I do like what you did with the vocals in terms of 'wideness' and the space you put around them. Lots of good section changes and effects that keep it interesting. I'll really have to give this mix another listen on the 2:1 to get the full experience.

[fHumble fHingaz]

Well Bob, you've really hit your stride with this one. Awesome job! Big, bold, tall, wide, deep & bursting with creativity... I love that kick drum - it's what I've been trying to do.

Dude, I can't fault this mix, you hit a home run with this - What's more, if there are any faults, I don't really care - it made me smile & groove... that's what counts in the end.

Be proud - you just kicked this whole mixing caper up to the next level - awesome stuff!

[bobbybovine]

Sex on a Landmine ... ha, that could be one "explosive" orgasm!

This sounds like a really bold and exciting mix Bob! I'm hearing it on headphones and I think I'm really going to have to hear this one on speakers to get the full effect. I do like what you did with the vocals in terms of 'wideness' and the space you put around them. Lots of good section changes and effects that keep it interesting. I'll really have to give this mix another listen on the 2:1 to get the full experience.

I haven't heard it on a big system yet myself, but I think it should pound the shit out of a good car stereo. Thanks for listening.

Well Bob, you've really hit your stride with this one. Awesome job! Big, bold, tall, wide, deep & bursting with creativity... I love that kick drum - it's what I've been trying to do.

Dude, I can't fault this mix, you hit a home run with this - What's more, if there are any faults, I don't really care - it made me smile & groove... that's what counts in the end.

Be proud - you just kicked this whole mixing caper up to the next level - awesome stuff!

Thanks a lot Fhumble, means a lot coming from the current "King of the SDC" It is guys like you that push me to strive for being better every mix. Hell, if I want to compete and do stuff that could be considered pro I had to shake the "that's good enough" attitude I had. The clockwork mix really showed me what it took to get close to the level I wanted to be at, so thanks for that dude.

If there are any faults, which I know there isn't , I would appreciate any input on that front. Always trying to push through to the next level.

[Stan_Halen]

I haven't heard it on a big system yet myself, but I think it should pound the shit out of a good car stereo.

I haven't cranked it up real high either, I think that kick drum could start World War 3! There's no doubt you have very strong sub content here.

If there are any faults, which I know there isn't , I would appreciate any input on that front. Always trying to push through to the next level.

I'm finding myself having to review this two different ways. First as a "music fan", just enjoying the song for what it is. Second, with a critical ear to see if I can give you some good feedback. I suppose we already do this a lot, or should. I'm just going to separate it as much as possible.

Music Fan: This mix is very exciting, fun, and catchy! It zigs and zags but always keeps me engaged and on board. And every time that kick drum slams me against the wall , I shake my head to recover , start to cuss , then throw some metal! \m/
There are surprises along the way, like the synth-stutter and drop-out right before the 2nd chorus. The deep delays on the intro/outro vocals are great fun also.

Critical Ear: This mix does work very well, there is excellent separation of the elements, but yet they all still seem to glue together nicely. I do have a hard time finding any "faults", though there are some things that caught my attention so I'm going to elaborate on that. On one hand, it seemed like you "broke the rules" to get the sounds you did ... but then again, that is often stated as a good thing in order to get an exciting mix. That is what makes it exciting.
The list:
* Vocals - The wide vocals worked well. I'm guessing you doubled some of those tracks and matched them on left and right to balance the sound?
* Kick - The powerful kick was a surprise, but you made it work. The sustain (compression release? reverb?) on it seemed to carry a long time, into the next beat. That would usually be a problem, but on this one I'm not sure I'd like it if you cut it shorter. There is something weird and mysterious about it - disturbing even - but in a good way.
* Snare - You got a killer snare sound, and a reverb to match it well. In the first verse at least, I found it distracting as it called attention to itself over the other elements in the section. It seemed like the reverb was "too long" at that point. After the song got busier, I didn't notice it nearly as much and it fit a lot better.
Synth - The "stutter" at 1:50 was awesome! And the drop-out held the suspense (I think I'm slipping back into Music Fan mode here ...). I just thought that worked really well. I think you got the other synths to work together well too.
Cello - I noticed something there, and others commented on it. I didn't get the sense of delayed attack on the notes. Maybe the "lag" was a sustain or reverb that makes the notes last longer than we think they should - a psychacoustic factor.

So overall, just a few "taste" things as to sustain/decay of notes on some instruments were what I picked up on.

Fantastic work on this Bob!

[bobbybovine]

* Vocals - The wide vocals worked well. I'm guessing you doubled some of those tracks and matched them on left and right to balance the sound?

Not really . I panned the left / right tracks well hard left and right, and I had 2 tracks blended and dead center, but I did double one track and had the 2 tracks nudged out of time a few ms and panned 30% LR so it basically encompassed the entire stereo field. I then added a quick delay then a reverb on the delay for 90% of the vox. In the chorus on certain words, (on a landmine, time etc..) I actually sent the vox via a send to a vocoder plug and roboticized it and blended that in lightly, you can really hear it on the word "time" as it sustains longer than the rest of the vox.

* Kick - The powerful kick was a surprise, but you made it work. The sustain (compression release? reverb?) on it seemed to carry a long time, into the next beat. That would usually be a problem, but on this one I'm not sure I'd like it if you cut it shorter. There is something weird and mysterious about it - disturbing even - but in a good way.

well there are 3 different kicks in this mix. The 1st verse drums are Room drums and the supplied kick layered for uuumph. I doubled the room tracks, high passed one and low passed the other and HEAVILY compressed them. seperating the tracks like that allowed me to adjust the snare volume independant of the kick on that room track. I LOVED how it sounded and had to use it spotlighted somewhere, thought the 1st verse was as good a spot as any.

* Snare - You got a killer snare sound, and a reverb to match it well. In the first verse at least, I found it distracting as it called attention to itself over the other elements in the section. It seemed like the reverb was "too long" at that point. After the song got busier, I didn't notice it nearly as much and it fit a lot better.

See above, after the first verse again I layered in another snare for more meat under the one Brandon supplied. In the break down section it is only the supplied snare with a layerd Clap on it blended with more clap than snare.

Synth - The "stutter" at 1:50 was awesome! And the drop-out held the suspense (I think I'm slipping back into Music Fan mode here ...). I just thought that worked really well. I think you got the other synths to work together well too.

Thanks, I decided to do short silience before all the chorus (except the last one where I used a drum fill) to make the chorus sound f'n as huge as possible when that kick comes in. The stutter was a tremelo and a pitch shifter starting at 0 and automated to maxwhen the silince starts. I am very please with how that turned out. I tried 100 different things there and I didn't like anything, I am glad I stumbled upon something that worked.

Cello - I noticed something there, and others commented on it. I didn't get the sense of delayed attack on the notes. Maybe the "lag" was a sustain or reverb that makes the notes last longer than we think they should - a psychacoustic factor.

I am not sure about the lagging cello, I said above it could have been I accidentally nudged it as I did that quite a few times on other tracks that I had to undo. I haven't looked at it since I submitted.

So overall, just a few "taste" things as to sustain/decay of notes on some instruments were what I picked up on.

Fantastic work on this Bob!

Thanks Stan, I appreciate the critical ear

[redworks]

Bob, i am assuming that you have already received a lot of thumbs up for this mix. Your creativity on this mix is right on and the fx you have going are big and give it that something that you were saying it needed. Even the snare which i felt was a little off when i listened through the first time (it is almost as if you have reversed it) has become a part of the mix and does not sound out of place to me. I appreciate how you have been able to create a big synthy mix without the synths irritating the crap out of me. Oh and your groove remains solid throughout. I would love to give you some more critical feedback but the truth is after 3 times through i keep finding myself thinking 'that is cool. wonder how he did that?, or just enjoying it'. Really well done man I am sure others have found things that can be fixed, it is not perfect but it feels so good.

[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 drum and bass coming in like that is real cool. Snare feels hidden a bit until about 50 seconds. That was probably intentional with the drum and bass beginning, so in another perspective, that's actually real cool . I really like the snare sound once it's revealed fully... ALOT. I really like your effects and little things you added like the parts before the chorus. Well done there my friend! Good balance and width as well.

On more thing I noticed is that the kick steps on the bass a bit with its sub harmonic decay. Possibly rolling some sub out can fix that... or if you used sidechain with the bass, reducing the threshold a bit so its only moving the bass down a little.

Overall this mix has a good groove, balanced instruments, and clever tastes added to it. Well done!

[bobbybovine]

Bob, i am assuming that you have already received a lot of thumbs up for this mix. Your creativity on this mix is right on and the fx you have going are big and give it that something that you were saying it needed. Even the snare which i felt was a little off when i listened through the first time (it is almost as if you have reversed it) has become a part of the mix and does not sound out of place to me. I appreciate how you have been able to create a big synthy mix without the synths irritating the crap out of me. Oh and your groove remains solid throughout. I would love to give you some more critical feedback but the truth is after 3 times through i keep finding myself thinking 'that is cool. wonder how he did that?, or just enjoying it'. Really well done man I am sure others have found things that can be fixed, it is not perfect but it feels so good.

Everyone is commenting on the snare The first part is only a heavily compressed drum room track that was supplied with no other snares!! That room track was doubled, one high passed and one low passed and both heavily compressed. I did that so I could adjust the snare volume a bit more easily as I found compressing just the one room track had the snare way too loud. Once the first chorus kicks in the snare changes to a barely audible room track, the supplied snare track, a second snare sample for more meat, then through a room reverb in Cubase Reverence (which was intended to give some feeling of space but instead drastically altered the sound of it unexpectedly , it added a lot of 300hz to 500hz in in which I really liked, then sent to another reverb for the space I was trying to get with the first one ) I also removed most of those snare sounds for the breakdown part and added a clap to the snare there. Thanks for the listen and comments redworks, always appreciated.

*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 drum and bass coming in like that is real cool. Snare feels hidden a bit until about 50 seconds. That was probably intentional with the drum and bass beginning, so in another perspective, that's actually real cool . I really like the snare sound once it's revealed fully... ALOT. I really like your effects and little things you added like the parts before the chorus. Well done there my friend! Good balance and width as well.

Thanks Ian, read above and you will understand why the snare sounds as you say it does.

On more thing I noticed is that the kick steps on the bass a bit with its sub harmonic decay. Possibly rolling some sub out can fix that... or if you used sidechain with the bass, reducing the threshold a bit so its only moving the bass down a little.

Overall this mix has a good groove, balanced instruments, and clever tastes added to it. Well done!

The bass was sidechained but I had a reduction of almost 8db on it!! I started at about 4db at first but I wanted the kick, snare and vocals to drive this song. So the 8db reduction helped get that kick out there more. I was actually debating for a while if I had the kick too big and too "out there" but I liked so I said fuck it! I thought my kick would get the most comments but it turns out to be the snare Thanks for the detailed listen and insightful comments.

[wireman957]

Very nice mix, Bob. I've decided for now that unless something really jumps out at me as "off", I'm going to try to listen from the point of view of a client or music consumer. I'm going to try to evaluate based on what the song does for me and not necessarily try to nit-pick things to death - I think there's been a bit too much of that going on lately, not that we don't all have something to learn, but even the big boys do things at times that don't always appeal to someone's personal taste.

You've done an excellent job of opening up the groove of this one, exposing all the parts and textures and I really have nothing to pick on at all, which makes me happy! If I had to have one thing, it would probably be the solo area which could use a little more power, but there you go, personal taste and in no way detracting from your mix.

Very, very nice, man! For now at least, you've established the benchmark, I think!

[bobbybovine]

Very nice mix, Bob. I've decided for now that unless something really jumps out at me as "off", I'm going to try to listen from the point of view of a client or music consumer. I'm going to try to evaluate based on what the song does for me and not necessarily try to nit-pick things to death - I think there's been a bit too much of that going on lately, not that we don't all have something to learn, but even the big boys do things at times that don't always appeal to someone's personal taste.

Oh come on now Jeff, nitpick away, don't let me off the hook! This whole gig is personal taste, and really, if you don't like it I will just ignore what you said anyway

You've done an excellent job of opening up the groove of this one, exposing all the parts and textures and I really have nothing to pick on at all, which makes me happy! If I had to have one thing, it would probably be the solo area which could use a little more power, but there you go, personal taste and in no way detracting from your mix.

Ok, well one thing is better than none...or is it? I can't say that I really knew what I was doing with the solo. I didn't want to overpower the mix with the synth, but I felt it had to be prominent. I got to a point with it where I didn't know what else to do so I just left it where it is, I still wouldn't know what else to do to it.

Very, very nice, man! For now at least, you've established the benchmark, I think!

Thanks for the great comments man, just trying to keep up with the Jone's or should I say fHumble's!

[wireman957]

Oh come on now Jeff, nitpick away, don't let me off the hook! This whole gig is personal taste, and really, if you don't like it I will just ignore what you said anyway


Thanks for the great comments man, just trying to keep up with the Jone's or should I say fHumble's!

Seriously, brother - I thought it was a great mix! Even though I may have done things differently (and did), I really didn't hear anything "wrong". That's what I was trying to say. Not sure how much anyone learns from critiques that are based only on personal taste things anyway and if I'd had anything technical to say, I would have! You done good! If I'd been your client and got this mix I'd be really, really happy!

[bobbybovine]

Seriously, brother - I thought it was a great mix! Even though I may have done things differently (and did), I really didn't hear anything "wrong". That's what I was trying to say. Not sure how much anyone learns from critiques that are based only on personal taste things anyway and if I'd had anything technical to say, I would have! You done good! If I'd been your client and got this mix I'd be really, really happy!

I know what you mean. Sometimes things may sound off, but it may have been intentional and if that is the case then there isn't a problem technically since it was calculated. Although, sometimes those things are omissions and errors that slip by so I tend to still mention them anyway. Thanks again for the comments

[LePou]

Wow ! There's a lot of creative things going on your mix. All of them are very tastefull and well executed. Top job.
The only thing I would change is add a little more attack on the kick... but I'm listening on cheap headphone so... I'm gonna listen to it again tomorrow on better speaker and report back.
Very nice mix !

[kakeux]

MY first five star!

[danmanisa]

Typing as I listen (trying not to guess what the 'thing' is that you thought about changing!)
Nice kick and snare. There are a few little things about them that I would personally change, but nothing worth mentioning, as they are fine as is.
You said in my mix that you were concentrating on transitions too and it is apparent. Beautiful staccato synths into the 2nd chorus. The duplicated drums before the second half of the synth solo works really well to keep it moving nicely!
If anything (if someone had a gun to my head and said "say something critical damn you") I would argue that the main synth is a little tiring, but geez..... .
5 for you and your mix - I'd be fairly confident of a top 16, to top 8 this month. Josh, FF and Holster are yet to enter, but I'd say you are sitting at the top of the tree at least for now!!!! Perhaps they all got sick of the comp and gave up......... )

[bobbybovine]

Wow ! There's a lot of creative things going on your mix. All of them are very tastefull and well executed. Top job.
The only thing I would change is add a little more attack on the kick... but I'm listening on cheap headphone so... I'm gonna listen to it again tomorrow on better speaker and report back.
Very nice mix !

Thanks for the nice comments LePou!

MY first five star!

Thanks Kak, means a lot bro!

Typing as I listen (trying not to guess what the 'thing' is that you thought about changing!)

hmmm the "thing". I noticed when I first listened to Brandon's mix that the song felt a little flat.(sorry Brando and Jetface) And since this is not generally the genre I listen to I actually listened to the radio for once to see what the kids are doing nowadays. What I noticed as the big difference between Brandon's mix and similar styles on the radio was that the listener is led along with the use of transitions and "triggers" to let the listener know that a change is coming (like the doubled up snare build in about 80% of the songs ) So that is what I primarily worked on, not just the transitions but things that tip you off that something different is gonna happen.

Nice kick and snare. There are a few little things about them that I would personally change, but nothing worth mentioning, as they are fine as is.
You said in my mix that you were concentrating on transitions too and it is apparent. Beautiful staccato synths into the 2nd chorus. The duplicated drums before the second half of the synth solo works really well to keep it moving nicely!
If anything (if someone had a gun to my head and said "say something critical damn you") I would argue that the main synth is a little tiring, but geez..... .

All the parts that I added were already in the tracks and I just copied and placed them where I wanted them. So I like that I didn't actually manually add anything, and I also don't like to drastically change a song that has been provided. Seems to go against the "mix" not "remix" portion of the competition. Although I have no real problem with a mix that has been heavily edited as long as the core of the song stays intact but it is a fine line.

5 for you and your mix - I'd be fairly confident of a top 16, to top 8 this month. Josh, FF and Holster are yet to enter, but I'd say you are sitting at the top of the tree at least for now!!!! Perhaps they all got sick of the comp and gave up......... )

Thanks Dan, for the great compliment. I would rather lose than not have the heavy hitters submit a mix.

[lucccien]

Listening on headphones. I'm biased but I dig the minimalistic approach you started out with. On the first chorus, the ambience on the drums are less than ambience on the lo-fi drums, kind of leaving the chorus feeling relavitely empty. But the first chorus is very clean. Sick drum changeup at the start of the 2nd verse! You definitely kept the listener's interest with changes, and yours is also another rocker. Didn't hear anything technically wrong with your mix. Great work!