Alright Already - A New Mix by Mike Sieben

[Jibgolly]

Re: Alright Already - A New Mix by Mike Sieben

I managed a starbucks for 8 years.... ewe

i cant believe you tell people that.

[miketpoto]

Re: Alright Already - A New Mix by Mike Sieben

I can't believe you tell people where you work now....

[miketpoto]

Re: Alright Already - A New Mix by Mike Sieben

OK people, many of you have DL'ed and not given me your thoughts and feelings. There's more than a few peep's who's opinions I value that I havent heard from, so bring it! Be honest and blunt, you know I would be

[Kinetic]

Re: Alright Already - A New Mix by Mike Sieben

Hi Mike! I promised I would give you an opinion and I will, just give me ?till tomorrow.

One question right away though...after rendering in Live, do you do anything else to the file, do you just straight convert it to mp3?

[miketpoto]

Re: Alright Already - A New Mix by Mike Sieben

I render out of live to an AIF and then use Itunes to convert to a 192 mp3. I do some gay witchcraft voodoo stuff too, but thats just for fun.

[alexfish333]

Re: Alright Already - A New Mix by Mike Sieben

I do some gay witchcraft voodoo stuff too, but thats just for fun.

This mix did have a certain je nous say qua(I know the spelling is butchered-Just read it phoenetically!)
Minutes 20 and 28 were of note to me and I wrote down notes to myself to mention I dug those

[miketpoto]

Re: Alright Already - A New Mix by Mike Sieben

This mix did have a certain je nous say qua(I know the spelling is butchered-Just read it phoenetically!)
Minutes 20 and 28 were of note to me and I wrote down notes to myself to mention I dug those

Note taking, I'm impressed! If we were in class I'd want to pass notes now, but no paper footballs.

[Kinetic]

Re: Alright Already - A New Mix by Mike Sieben

Ok Mike, a bit later than promissed but here?s my 2 cents.

Music : Fuckin? A! Right up my alley, you seem to be in the same intersection as me, I always balance between my "techy" side and my prog side. All the tracks between approx. minute 15 and min. 47 are brilliant. Not that there?s any bad tracks here, but that whole section is full of great stuff. I?m not too sure about ending with "Need To Feel Loved". I love the track, and I guess it?s supposed to be like a saying goodbye track, but it doesn?t seem to fit in. On the other hand I love that you use a track from a different genre to start the set, it works real well and it?s something I like to do too.

Mixing :Spotless. As long as someone know what they?re doing in preparing the tracks, that?s usually the case. I like how you vary the way you bring tracks in and out...sometimes mixes are longer, sometimes they?re more abrupt. However, I have to ask, do you mix without a controller (just keys and pad)? Sometimes I can see sudden drops or rises in volume levels.

Which brings me to my conclusion : I don?t know if you use a limiter or compressor in your master channel, IMHO it could prove useful, to keep your levels in check, because not only do I perceive some fluctuations in level here and there, the mix seems at times a bit too loud, almost going into clipping. Also, in very melodic tracks like "Need To Feel Loved", you might try changing Live?s warp type to Complex, because I could hear Live?s timestretching work in places in that track.

This is not criticism though, I?m honestly just giving you some advice. Overall, I give this one a 8/10, and it?s definitely one I?ll keep in my car too!

[miketpoto]

Re: Alright Already - A New Mix by Mike Sieben



Thank you Thank you

I use the X-session midi controller when mixing in ableton, but in mastering I have been known to manually tweak a few levels and bump things up and such...

My levels in this mix are pretty high, I didnt hear any distortion in my studio monitors but then again in headphones I heard a bit later on when relistening... Putting a limiter on the master track seems to muffle or morph things to a sound I dont really like (I am still experimenting with settings to see if I can get a sound I like that does it's job with levels too).

Need to Feel Loved is warped in complex not beats mode, and I think that the tempo that I played it at in the mix is 1 bpm lower than its original tempo, but I did tweak the EQ's on it so it sounds a bit off intentionally, but still not exactly how I wanted it to sound in the end.

I'd love to hear what compressor/limiter options you have had success with... let me know, and thanks for the detailed feedback, I really appreciate it.

[Kinetic]

Re: Alright Already - A New Mix by Mike Sieben

Thank you Thank you

I use the X-session midi controller when mixing in ableton, but in mastering I have been known to manually tweak a few levels and bump things up and such...

My levels in this mix are pretty high, I didnt hear any distortion in my studio monitors but then again in headphones I heard a bit later on when relistening... Putting a limiter on the master track seems to muffle or morph things to a sound I dont really like (I am still experimenting with settings to see if I can get a sound I like that does it's job with levels too).

Need to Feel Loved is warped in complex not beats mode, and I think that the tempo that I played it at in the mix is 1 bpm lower than its original tempo, but I did tweak the EQ's on it so it sounds a bit off intentionally, but still not exactly how I wanted it to sound in the end.

I'd love to hear what compressor/limiter options you have had success with... let me know, and thanks for the detailed feedback, I really appreciate it.

Oh you use a controller. Ok, I felt that in a couple of places the levels jumped a bit and at first I thought the cause could be the use of a mouse or a trackpad.

As for Need to Feel Loved, I noticed what I called the "timestretching" in 2 spots, which coincide with the vocals on the breakdowns. It might just be some slight distortion instead though.

The Limiter I use is a stupidly simple one, fortunately it?s available for Mac too, it?s called W1 and it?s a freeware clone of the famous Waves L1 plugin. I like it because It?s really simple, it has no GUI and only 3 controls http://www.yohng.com/w1limit.html I use it with a fairly large release time, the point is really to just catch the peaks, not to compress anythimg, modern dance music is already compressed enough.

Alternatively, try Live?s own Compressor II with the Limiter preset.

There?s a couple of other options but they?re Win only I?m afraid.

Anyway, like I said, really enjoyed it, so take this as just constructive (I hope) criticism.

[miketpoto]

Re: Alright Already - A New Mix by Mike Sieben

The Limiter I use is a stupidly simple one, fortunately it?s available for Mac too, it?s called W1 and it?s a freeware clone of the famous Waves L1 plugin. I like it because It?s really simple, it has no GUI and only 3 controls http://www.yohng.com/w1limit.html I use it with a fairly large release time, the point is really to just catch the peaks, not to compress anythimg, modern dance music is already compressed enough.

Anyway, like I said, really enjoyed it, so take this as just constructive (I hope) criticism.

Thank you much....

Totally constructive, thanks