Mixdown Practicing & Learning

Magghy Ji

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_uxnbuxn _
Sep 13, 2020
Hi mixers 'n' trixters, hope you're doing great. Here comes my quick'n'dirty version of 'Billie Jean' by the one and only Michael Jackson:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18DcX55mRWPals2na8bTf3HUQmqwuheg6/view?usp=sharing
57 compressors, autotuned vocals, additional drum samples… is not what I used here.
Imo balancing was the most time consuming and interesting thing this time because the correct blending of the parallel sounds kind of mattered a lot.
Tried to retain the transients as much as possible in memory of Bruce Swedien (and ruined them with master bus limiting eventually :-)
- LA-2A waves emu on drums (max. 2 db gain reduction)
- SSL bus compressor on master bus (max 2 db GR)
- EQ on individual tracks
- FX sends
The rest should have been (volume) automation - but I just couldn't afford 91 mixes this time. :-)
Seems to me that the tempo is slightly slower than the original version - did anyone else notice that (pitch is the same)?
Back then they must have got rid of the second half of the bridge @ 3'48'' (which I've mimicked)
Thank you and have a great week!
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Brandon Towles
Sep 14, 2020
Hey man! Other than automation, I feel like the bass could use some compression, it comes and goes in the mix a little. MJ seems a little pushed back in the mix, maybe more predelay on the verb or just a db bump. Good job!
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_uxnbuxn _
Sep 14, 2020
Hi Brandon. Oh yes, you're so right. this is really unfnished bizniz. I hope I will find time to "finish" this mix one day. I really struggled to get the drums sound the way I wanted - though it took a while I didn't achieve it. Awesome advice, thanks for listening.
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Hans Mulders
Sep 14, 2020
Hey Clinton,
I like your mix. The I agree with Brandon on the lead vocals which in the verses seem to be just a bit to far in the back. Nice stereo image. Good, clean mix.
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_uxnbuxn _
Sep 14, 2020
Hey Hans. alright, I will work on that for sure! Thank you for your feedback, super helpful! Take care, bro!
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Nikita Markovskiy
Sep 15, 2020
cool, reaaly vintage style mix
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Leigh #111
Sep 17, 2020
Clinton, I like the bass. Nice job. It's mellow and it stays under everything. There are other fixes to mention about the mix but the main thing I noticed right away was the high highs on the overall mix. When I turn the mix up loud they stand out in a big way. Did you add a high shelf or something to the 2 bus? I does sound to me like something was added after the fact.
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Mark Milbourne
Sep 17, 2020
Hey @Clinton Schorschl, Sorry for the late review. My first reaction is that the kick feels very high in the mix, maybe a little more bottom to sink it down a bit. Notice where you have the Bass Synth, it is sitting under the mix.
The space the mix is creating seems to be backwards, MJ has a lot of reverb while other elements are really up front. Probably work on where elements are in the front back mix.
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_uxnbuxn _
Sep 17, 2020
Hi Mark, no need for being sorry. I see/hear what you mean. I'm struggling with front/back stuff, ER, or reverb in general. So thank you for your great input, I will try keeping that in mind. Cheers!