This was a custom mix for a client. I digitally remixed and Mastered the Who’s Behind Blue Eyes.
I had gotten the master stems and mixed it hybrid. Harrison Mixbus and my 32 track digital external console. If you need mixing feel free to get a hold of me. I can be found on Facebook. Massfusionstudio or you tube. I don’t know The rules for mixchek and don’t want to be disrespectful and give contact information on their site. I mixed this song with a more modern day mixing style. The mixdown pre master was mastered using Samplitude. I mostly mix outta The box with a hybrid between plugin and external gear.
Mixing Help from Audio Engineers
Behind blue eyes remix
- Rock
- September 14, 2020
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Eat your heart out Limp Bizkit! This is how the real song is done. You omitted the famous John Entwistle bass guitar, your acoustic guitar was generic with no emotion, the vocals were mono tone and lacked emotion, the whole songs beauty is the harmonies and non to be found in your pathetic version. No drum samples could ever replace Keith moon. Next time don’t try to remake a song from legendary musicians. I’m still shocked to this day that Pete Townsend and the record group gave permission to track it out. Don’t tread on classics. You’ll wind up sounding like idiots
This is probably the greatest recording the who made. It was originally recorded in 1968. Rogers vocals are saturated with emotion. The reason? His dog was hit by a car and passed hours before he got into the studio to do his vocal tracks. He had a hard day in the studio. I gave this mix a “just recorded yesterday and released today” mixing techniques. Probably one of the best mixes i did. I left out the vocal deesing and laid the drums back so no perfect mix is out there….
Yeah love the modern and open sound you gave it. Nice work. The drums themselves didn’t seem as modern as the rest of the track, but did you only have a drum stem to work with instead of the actual multitracks?
Only 2 track drum stems. In 1968 they’re lucky if they new how to mix let alone create amazing drum stems lol. Today’s drum kit mics are more advanced. That’s The sound of The 60s and 70s. Sometimes you Gotta just do your best with what you have. I still like a tight kick. You feel the bass drum kick you in the back in a car stereo. Old school thock. I’m not a fan of today’s drum mixing methods. To much sub bottom end on the kick and takes up all the headroom in the mix. You only hear Today’s drum tracks and don’t feel them. Over compressed. AC/DC has great drum tracks. The Guitar and kick pound you. True dynamics. I’m an older guy and don’t particularly care for some of today’s mixing trends. Tail end of 70s and the 80s had the greatest drum hits. That’s my standard of measurement for my taste
Gotcha. I’ll keep those references in mind when listening to your stuff 🙂
When the first tape echo unit came out everyone sounded like they were playing in a valley. Perfected digital audio comes out? Everybody over hypes up all the frequencies that you couldn’t accomplish with analog tape and vinyl. They had limited dynamic range
That’s why everyone complains about the “digital” sound of ITB mixing and we have so many analog emulations we use to shave off those high end frequencies
It’s what you put into the box is what’s captured. Binary isn’t the problem. It only captures what you tell it to capture. It only lacks the rounded curve of an analog sine wave. Square wave has sharp edges that can’t bend. It’s like trying to put a round peg in a square hole. The analog emulation software tries to soften it up. Truthfully? Just bouncing a track to a local $20 tape deck recorder from a pawn or salvation army store will give that natural Tape compression and saturation smoothness. I happen to use external tube units to warm up the signal before it hits the hard drive and binary converters. I like using the low cut on kicks and cut up to 63hz. Then use a low shelving starting at 160hz to warm up the kick and give it that classic kick you in the face low thud thock. That’s my taste. I save The subsonic for the bass guitar and give him plenty of room in the mix. You’ll always hear The bass players intricate fingering and nuances in my mixes. The trick is to compromise the kick drum frequencies. Then I’ll tickle the kick top end at about 3-5kz to get it to cut through. I dislike floppy kick drums. I use generous downward expander to tighten it up. I don’t like hard panned drum fills because drum fills sound fuller in a tight stereo center because they’re coming out of both speakers and have more amplitude than a drum hit coming out of just one speaker. So i keep my drums tight center stage. Fills spread out from the audiences perspective and not flipped left to right from the drummers perspective.
If you’re really looking for a classic analog feel and tone in the box? Use fundamental frequencies rules. Don’t hype up a basic cymbal crash with 10k shine and above. In realty? A crash cymbal has mostly 3k high end. The rest is lower mids. When you artificially boost frequencies that the instrument doesn’t create? You’re only hearing harmonic distortion of the 3rd and 4th octave of that frequency. Basically all you’re creating is pink noise or white noise in the upper harmonics. This is really why today’s recordings don’t sound natural like old analog. Same with today’s rock and roll music. The guitars are all harmonic distortion. Nowadays you can’t discern a real guitar from fake virtual instruments. I only hear static lol. Basic electric guitar is about 2k fundamental. Most sensitive to the human ear. Basic Rock and roll has a frequency response of 50hz – 10kz. When i master i roll it off into that dynamic range. You filter out the upper harmonic distortion and have a much natural sounding mix
I hardly ever boost anything on OH’s or cymbals. I find that’s the quickest way to drive a spike into people’s ears lol
I’m not trying to school you or anything. If you’re serious about how to mix in the box without sounding like in the box m study music genre frequency ranges. That’s why Most mixes sound in the box. Bad choice of frequency response.. When a kick drum comes out of my subwoofer on playback? I shut it off and don’t continue to listen to the fake mix. Same with bass guitar. Don’t get crazy! The more bottom end you use? The thinner your mix sounds on budget Wal-Mart special speaker system…
Generally, the needed range for Rock music is about 60 Hz to 8,000 Hz, with Classical extending at both ends from 40 to 12,000 Hz.
I don’t mind going to school 😉 I’m committed to a life of learning when it comes to audio. One of my teachers in school said he had hearing trouble above 8k. Yet, he worked with the likes of ZZ Top, Destiny’s Child, and many other great acts. So, the higher frequencies definitely aren’t as crucial as we think 😉