What are your favorite references? Do you have some in each of the three categories we discussed in this episode? ►🎚Mixing Breakthroughs: mixingbreakthroughs.com ►🎛Compression Breakthroughs: compressionbreakthroughs.com ►🎧 EQ Breakthroughs: EQBreakthroughs.com ►🔊Mastering Demystified: MasteringDemystified.com ►✅Become a channel member here: ru-vid.com/show-UCqEKv3KIZoZrjv2LymD3iMgjoin
Great choice w/ Blonde Redhead! I recently added their new 'Sit Down for Dinner' to my reference tracks - great production. Other faves are Moses Sumney - Doomed, Bjork - All Is Full of Love, lotsa Radiohead - and for more orchestral stuff: Thomas Newman - The Night Window... just to name a few! Great topic : )
That Madeleine Peyroux record sounds really great. I'm fan of RAM record by Daft Punk also altough it sounds almost too huge in the bottom and lacks some punch from the drums in some songs. But it is very dynamic and sounds great. My usual references are: "Santa Monica" and "All or Nothing" from Theory of a Deadman mixed by CLA and mastered by Ted Jensen. Tonal balance is incredibly.. balanced haha. It sounds present and bright but also warm at the same time. It's saturated but not oversaturated. The vocal is more hifi, has some nice bottom and presence but doesn't lack mids. Really great sound. "Painting" by Blindside (the same duo as the song before) - I love the tonal balance also on this one. The bass guitar is sounding huge and is very loud in the mix, the electric guitars sound incredible, the whole midrange is so present and done so well (very present mids on the guitars and bass) I always listen to it before mixing anything rock/metal. The snare sound is amazing on this one, really love it. Also it sounds really dynamic and "natural" for a rock/metal record. Listening to it loudly for a longer time doesn't fatigue your ear - it has that perfect balance of great eq, compression etc. "Cry Pretty" also by Carrie Underwood mixed by CLA - it's the reference for the maximum amount of bass in the pop/rock/country song and also the maximum amount of lows and low mids in a vocal. Really love that vocal tone - it has some beef in the low mids, makes you feel that vocal performance more than many other songs from her. "Southbound" and "Love Wins" by Carrie Underwood (the same album) but this time mixed by Serban Ghenea - they have the perfect tonal balance - sound warm, dynamic, open at the top. The background vocals are a tiny bit too bright at times especially on the sibilance. But they fit so well! I love how the instruments are panned on those ones also. Compared to CLA mixes from the same album those Serban mixes have a tiny bit digital tone on the top end so it almost sounds too bright in the air frequencies but overall they are really amazing mixes. Love the smooth vocal tone, love the punch of the drums, how much space and energy there is and fader balance. I go back to those ones a lot to refresh my ears. The compression is a bit less on vocals than on the CLA mixes which is Serban's signature usually + used reverbs and delays sound more modern. "Sunny" from Bryan Adams (album is called Tracks of My Years if I remember correctly) mixed by Bob Rock and mastered by Bob Ludwig - really great reference for more natural and dynamic sounding genres. Love the dynamics on vocals and the piano in the end section of the song is sounding incredible. The compression on vocals is lower so you can really feel the dynamics and emotion in Bryan's performance. The vocal tone and drum tone is the best I've heard on any Bryan Adams album. Whole record is more on the darker, moodier side. It's more jazzy. I really enjoy the sound of that album and it also refreshes my ears. "Rock With You" and "Get On The Floor" by Michael Jackson from Off The Wall (2001 Bernie Grundman remasters for special editions - I don't like the new ones...) are probably the oldest references I use. I love the dynamics, tone, vibe, performances.. I just don't enjoy how thin and somewhat unnatural the vocal sounds in the high mids but it seems they used sm7. For today's standard the vocal is also buried in a mix on a quieter notes and too dynamic. But Michael's performance is fu**** incredible so I don't care as much haha. The instruments are sounding insanely good - very natural, dynamic, the whole mix has a ton of space.. Those songs makes you wanna jump and dance, absolutely great stuff. I like Off The Wall album more than Thriller when it comes to audio quality and mixes. It sounds more alive and natural to my ear. I enjoy it more.
Tom Waits-Time Jim O'Rourke - bad timing Jim O Rourke- good times Damien Jurado- maraqopa Morphine-buena Wilco- jesus, etc True widow- flat black Crosby stills nash - helplessly hoping Foxwarren- sunset canyon Andy shauf - the magician
since you wanted us to comment, :-) my refs are: Born and Raised - John Mayer. Just perfectly balanced overall and soo good tones, especially good reference for how bright a vocal is, and acoustic guitar. Spit of You - Sam Fender. This is kinda my check for brightness and if its brighter than this song I know I'm lost. Beautiful midrange on this mix, can judge how exiting things are, and super good sub and kick reference to check how tight and deep a system is. good depth of field check too. Good for comparing sibilance. Chicken Grease - D'Angelo. Just a percent mix, don't know what else to say.
Mostly record rock/punk genre but also some Folk/Americana. Sea Change is one of my favs, writing/songs first then production. Anything off of SuperUnknown. I'm a big fan of Ken Andrews style -- Fantastic Planet by Failure and August Everywhere by Blinker The Star. Love the sound of With Teeth by NIN. The new Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood sounds great. Anyway -- I use a bunch of things/genres.
Tame Impala's Innerspeaker is a reference of mine. Idk how Dave Fridmann mixed an album that was recorded with a BR-1600. Just goes to show how amazing Kevin Parker is in production and how good DF is as well. Mastered by good ol' Greg Calbi!!
Another great vid. Would love an hour on ok computer btw. I've just recorded & mixed a track that starts with no bass (just a few clean guitars) but by the end has full drums, bass, 4 dst rhythm guitars, dst lead guitar and full string section of orchestra ( ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LcwdNeu9QH4.html ) would you use multiple references for something that starts small but evolves into something fucking crazy? Paranoid Android would cover most of these bases (certainly the start - though the thought of you listening to that masterpiece of production before my diy effort on those headphones, omg. my ego is big & healthy but I'd like to keep it that way
Thanks! I’ll have a listen :-) For me, I try not to be TOO precise about references. I want them to inform me without being a template. Full thoughts are here: ru-vid.comO3Vf6Bmbi4I?si=i83V6RoPlywkjRqH -Justin
@@SonicScoopPeople just want the formula. These references will make your mixes better! These frequencies will make your mix professional! This plugin will finally make your crappy recordings sound like CLA! The reasoning is what matters, not the reference or the tool etc.
I love the story about him wanting more EQ on the snare.... He kept saying "more more"... They taped it and EQ'd it into another EQ.... To get crazy amounts going (outboard gear).
My top: Will You Be Tomorrow by RX bandits. Spectacular mix by Jason Cupp… Wide sound, great top and bottom end. On unbalanced system can get muddy fast with some of the ambient components buried or too loud depending on the frequencies. And of course, killer song… Also, Red room by hiatus kaiyote, Tick Tock by Tom Misch, Good Days by SZA, and WHATS GOOD by Tyler the Creator to check the sub bass.
Moon Safari is my favorite all time album and several tracks I use as reference. Other two albums I always Reference with similar vibe is Emacipator: Soon It Will Be Cold Enough and Safe In The Steep Cliffs. Great panning, delay and reverb info.
Good stuff! I figured this out on my own, but didn't ever really think about it, or what to call it. It was just something I always did. My top three are; 1: Can't Hadley Wait (and usually Alex Chiltion too) by the Replacements 2: Run To the Hills - Maiden 3: Ernie K Doe (or anything Cosimo Matassa recorded). I also reference almost all the punk stuff against the Descendents immediately, just to see if it punches enough.
The whole opening part where I share the different types of references, and guidelines on how to select your own, is easily the most valuable part. Have you ever heard it explained that way? Because I’ve been consuming this kind of content for much more than 20 years, and I’ve never heard it put that way, that completely, or that simply. -Justin
You'd have to buy and download them. (Or, you could capture them with a program like Audio Hijack. Theoretically, if you were downloading partial snippets of songs, roughly the length of the streaming services' song previews, you could say to yourself that there's kind of an ethical fair use exemption to it, as you aren't really robbing the services or artists of revenue in that case.) -Justin
Would love to do an episode on that! I had a couple of examples loaded up in my Spotify playlist, as well as some EDM examples, but the episode was already almost an hour long! -Justin
Do you have a set of references that are based specifically on the person who did the engineering side? Maybe what I’m also asking is do artists ever say I want it to sound like a Dave Pensado or John Hayes track?
