Home Forums Lianne Kaye Remix Competition May 2023 Lianne Kaye – Glow 2023 Mix Contest – Jason Steadman Mix

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  • JSteadman32JSteadman32
    Participant
    Post count: 9

    This song is so beautiful and was so fun to produce. I went with a pretty straightforward pop-country-rock version, trying to stay pretty close to what I think Lianne will like, but also adding my own style and flavor to the production, with probably a bit more pop influence than country.

    I added a bass line during the Choruses and bridge using my Hofner violin bass, played pretty aggressively through an Ampeg SVT amp (sim). I also added a guitar solo in the bridge and final Chorus, played on my Gibson Les Paul Classic through Amplitube 5. I have a Vox AC15 in my studio, but I don’t really have the pedals I wanted to get the sound I felt worked best for this song, and I was able to match the sound I heard in my head in Amplitube pretty great.

    Throughout, there is a fair amount of synth bass to improve the low end, and there are some other synth sounds, one of which I designed to kind of specifically sound like the sound of “glowing,” just for some artistic flavor. You’ll hear it as a high-pitched, but musical ringing at various parts.

    Lastly, there is a string quartet, using MIDI instruments available in Ableton Live 11 Suite, which I think are Spitfire Audio strings, actually. Synths include a combination of Live 11 stock plugins/instruments and the bx_oberhausen from Plugin Alliance.

    I am quite pleased with the result here, and even if I don’t win, I still will come out of this experience with something I really enjoyed, which is, I guess, what really matters in the end.

    Best of luck to everyone in all the submissions.

    • This topic was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by JSteadman32JSteadman32.
    Arno DesogusArno Desogus
    Participant
    Post count: 13

    The vocal is very present and cutting through the mix… well done. That’s why I think you could try some heavier guitar sounds for the chords in the chorus with your style to make the mix more dense. Just my opinion. I can hear that you had fun doing this which – I agree – is the most important thing. All the melodies and sounds in the background. Nice!

    Sam Bybeesambybee
    Participant
    Post count: 14

    What’s up Jason, just getting around to your mix. Don’t let Arno scare you his mix is a complete tsunami of or heavy guitar sound lol. Really good tho. I liked what you have here. I don’t love giving notes like this cause 1 the song is done (for you) so it s mute point anyway but its alway good to learn so i’m gonna be as honest as I can while respecting you’re vision cause I really loved where you were headed here. Felt like a country Colplay (Yellow) 90’s rock mash up.

    Vox- I can really tell that you spent time there making her shine and it shows, but at times like mostly in the pre and the choruses she tends to over power everything else that’s going on which is a shame cause there was good work there.

    Drums- I’m not a 100 percent on how you processed them so it’s hard to say where but the low end to me feels lacking and therefore the whole sound feels a little thin. So again in the choruses should have more of a dynamic swing to let us as the listener know where the apex is. Instead the drums actually feel quieter and you start to loose the energy.

    Guitars- I actually like what you have here, I just think it’s a little quiet.

    This mix is amazing and you should be super proud. All the notes you’ll get are gonna be from the perspective of the person writing them, so take all of this with a grain of salt. I’m not sure if you have Insight from Izotope but there’s a tool there that will let you see just how intelligible things are in the mixes that I basically use on every mix. Cheers mate

    JSteadman32JSteadman32
    Participant
    Post count: 9

    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.

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