WEEK 11 – AA1: Eskimo Joe New York Mix (1)

My ears were tuned up quickly as I know my home setup well. Took out volume and panning on everything. Up with kick, then snare, leaving headroom on master fader for the rest of the mix. When happy with the balance, I slowly brought up overheads. Bass and acoustic guitar were next and it was blending enjoyably. Spending time on the drum tracks and bass first paid off. Faded in acoustic guitar; less was more and didn't take much to make a difference. As Stephen explained on Tuesday (2); each new instrument adds colour to the aural landscape! Perhaps a reason we spend hours lugging, plugging and tweaking - the rush of fading in the guitar. I digress. I was aiming for a static mix.

I held things back rather than attempting to get over the previous track. After about 40 minutes I gave my ears a rest. On re-listening, was sounding not bad. Few minor volume tweaks, created wav. file and onto panning mix. I was taking it slowly.

DryMonoMP3.mp3

Once satisfied, I dropped each instrument out and faded it back into the mix. Helpful in resetting sound and senses. Sometimes much the same as before, others times wondering how I was originally so out.

Problem with panning is I want a spot for everything. Full 360 degrees, not left to right! I focused mainly on the vocals, and built around that. Two tracks an octave apart, one slightly left, the other right (see pic below).

PannedMP3.mp3

On review through speakers next day, I realised the vocals on left had more sibilance than vocals on right. Reason? Left speaker on it's side pointing directly at my ear, right at my chest (and higher register?).

Panning most effective. Great source material captured 'on the day'. EQ more urgent dealing with poorly recorded cases. Feel my ear for a balance is okay, but might spend some time fine tuning my frequency identification with a sine wave, a one band EQ and some good headphones.

PannedEQMP32.mp3
Vox still not quite there ... !

References:

1/ "Digidesign News - Eskimo Joe Remix Winner Announced." Digidesign. 2007. http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?langid=61&navid=48&itemid=24910 (accessed May 26, 2007).

2/ Fieldhouse, Stephen. Audio Arts, Week 11 - The Mix. EMU, University of Adelaide, South Australia, May 22, 2007.

Mixed on Pro Tools LE 7.3.1 - "ProTools LE & M-Powered Systems." Digidesign. 2007. http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?navid=28&langid=61& (accessed May 4, 2007).