My second mixing project

[JohnH]

I suspect this won't be the type of music most of you are into, but the Chinese Classical ensemble I play in has spent the lockdown recording from home and I've been doing the mixing.

I've never mixed anything before this, but my dad had given me his old PreSonus AudioBox, and so I have the software and the time.

Anyway, we released our second song today (called Zhuangtai Qiusi) and I'm quite proud of it, even though I know it isn't perfect:

https://anuchineseclassicalensemble.bandcamp.com/

[dave.king1]

Sadly can only listen on the phone at the moment because everything is packed for our house move.

I'll definitely be coming back for a proper listen once I'm set up again, sounds very interesting

[Simon Barden]

I think it's very good, especially for your second mix.

What I can't mentally compare it to is an original ensemble, because I've never heard one. But coming to it as a recording on its own it sounds fine. Reverb levels are good, no overly quiet or overly loud instruments, it all gels well.

Any minor flaws are within the overall performance, but that's obviously suffered a bit in the timings because of having to do it all separately rather than playing as an ensemble. With a bit more experience mixing (and the right DAW tools), you probably could have tidied up the few areas where things 'smeared out' slightly in the timing, but even those aren't bad ones, and I was deliberately listening for errors.

So a big thumbs up from me!

[McCreed]

What I can't mentally compare it to is an original ensemble, because I've never heard one.

My thoughts exactly! However taking as just a sound recording (or a recording of sound) I think you did very well.
I'm no engineer (trust me on that) but my first thoughts were: good separation and balance.

[JohnH]

Thanks guys.

Yeah, fixing timing was a task that was a little beyond me ha ha. I fixed the most glaring errors but then hit the wall of my own lack of editing skill.

If you ever get a chance to see a Chinese ensemble, I'd recommend it. It's a very underappreciated type of music - I think people tend to think of Beijing Opera when they think of Chinese music, which is definitely harder on western ears but is also very different from this type of music.

A few years ago we played with a conservatory ensemble from Beijing which was an incredible experience. They were all about 8000 times more skilled than we are, with much nicer instruments and a group about five times as large. It was wonderful

[dave.king1]

Because all my good stuff is packed for the move I still haven't had a proper listen but will offer a comment.

Our western ears are generally not prepared to hear the dissonant sounds and unusual rhythms of world music particularly the Asian sounds so when I finally get to hear this in all it's glory I won't be listening for a chromatic scale or a straight 4 on the floor.