Reply To: Lianne Kaye – Glow 2023 Mix Contest – Jason Steadman Mix

Thank you for your positive comments and for the feedback too. I wonder if what you’re hearing in “thinness” was a mastering decision. I did use Insight and Tonal Balance Control as well from iZotope, and I was trying to use a – I think it was – “modern country” reference graph in Tonal Balance Control to help me out, since I have never mixed in the country genre and honestly don’t listen to much country music at all. I actually enjoy a lot of rock, heavier rock, and several (but not all) subgenera of metal, all of which tend to be a little low-end heavy. So, I was afraid of mixing this with too much bass. My references graphs in iZotope in fact were telling me that my initial low-end was too much for the genre, so I toned it down a little in mastering, and possible a little in the mix too.

For my reference track(s) when mixing, I was using some songs from Gabrielle Aplin, who is a UK pop singer/songwriter with a similar vibe to Lianne, but definitively more “poppy.” Still, the closest I could get of songs in my library that I thought would match the sound Lianne might be going for. I noticed listening back to it that Gabrielle’s voice is really prominent in the mixes she has, and I think that’s what caused me to push Lianne’s voice as I did here. I do agree with you though that if I were to do it again, I might pull her voice back by about 0.5 – 1 dB just to keep the rest of the mix a bit denser-sounding.