Robby's "Missing Person": re-mixed and re-imagined by your friends at Factory Yoyo

Robbie finally knuckled under to the pressure  and allowed me to mix his masterpiece. It was quite an adventure, as we worked together to completely change the feel of the song. He asked me to let him in on some of my mixing techniques, so I took upon myself to make some notes. If you ever wanted to know how my fervid brain works when I am arranging/mixing, this is the thing for you!

Missing Person Mix Notes



Anyway, here is the tune, which I still think is the finest he has written. We took it down a notch, so as to showcase his excellent singing voice. Would like to hear what you all think.


Missing Person: A Factory Yoyo Production

Most excellent IMO.  It's a great tune, the arrangement fits perfectly, and Robby's voice(s)/harmony are to die for.  The mix and vocals sounded crystal clear on this end, James.  Congratz- you took a diamond of a song and polished it even more. 

The drums certainly change the feel of this one.  Not sure which way I like them best, since I'm so used to hearing them double time.  Glad you got a decent guitar solo out of him.  :-)  I miss the sax solo, but that's just me. 

Robby, you scored!  And prolly didn't lose too much dignity in the process either.  lol

Nice job, Jim!

Nope, and I prolly don't want to.  lol

Anyway, just read your mixing notes, Jim. That's brilliant.  I'm happy that I could understand more than half of it.  lol.  If I had all those plugs I'd maybe get more of it. Anyway, I learned a few things too.  Thanks. 

sounds pretty good.... I'll have to listen later on some different cans..... I'm on some older buds right now....

the drums sounds compressed way too much.

This sounds like a different version.... but again it's been a year+ since the original was recorded...

James Yoyo, I read your pdf-notes (filled with lush Sonar and Ozone pictures) and really must formally thank you for sympathizing and taking the time to get into this excellent song, excellent performances, excellent vox work, etc.

I ponder why you used Addictive drums for cymbals ... and I now suppose that may be because SD might not have a cymbals mic / output ... in the Avatar category.  I appreciate why you grouped the kick and snare in this genre ... EQ / compression adjustments could be made without multitracking it.

Your arrangement notes are particularly inspiring.  Thanks for adding your bass-line and guitar.  I'll be following some suggestions (subtle breaks before chorus)

But, to me, IIRC, the lead element is/was the lead vox samples (Robby) ... as this is lyrically robust ... message-centric hook (country genre).  Albeit, the groove does co-dominate as the words blend into the gentle pomp.

Your rolloff of the bking vocs at 230 is a Yoyo signature, IIRC. 

Your frugal EQ economy plus compression (and saturation) seems a great pearl ...that gives full weight to the vocs / groove interplay ... forcing out the useless noise and harmonic distortion ... in your non-messy lows.

I notice you use auto-gain compensation with the MBC module (Master).  I myself would have saved the gain for the maximizer module.  But your method doubtless leads to much more precise maximizations without full EQ spectrum squashings and clashings.

Indeed, you didn't hit the volume maximizer too hard ... yet the mix is pleasantly loud and clear.

On the Master:

Miniscule negative ponderings ...

I also observed you raised the input gain (?), applied mastering reverb (?), and added yet more harmonic saturation to the master.  Also, I would have not used Ozone's stereo-widener for this mix ... as I get a detectible hiss on the sides of my mixes.  But these ponderings are personal only ... and have no bearing on this mix ... as I'm sure your ears validated them.

In Sum:

This to my ears is top shelf in every category: 10/10.  Robby, I'd hope you consider yourself most blessed to have this much loving care applied to your excellent song.

 
James, Robby
 
This is just stunning gentlemen - you two guys are at the very top of your respective games
 
James, I read through your production notes, that's a facinating insight into the how and what and why of mixing a project like this - good to see the POD Farm 2 plug-in getting a lot of use too!
 
You guys should seriously consider making this a permanent partnership
 
 
Steve
 
 
 
 

very very nice.  arrangement and mixing are just excellent.  vox are top notch as always.

really good stuff.

Really liked this mix, and the openess of the field. Picked up a little sibilance on the choruses on the "s's". Wasn't to the point of fatigue, but I'm wondering if anyone else hears it too.

Randy

Mix & song + + + + 1 ---- like the original tempo better      
 
kick needs lower EQ thump
 
?--- are those piano samples ???     ---- if not who is playing the piano +1
 

Nice job, James.  I'm gonna have to go back and listen to the original mix.  I think I know this Robby dude.  :-) 

OK ...I listened again, this time on my Yamaha headphones..... nice mix.... the drums sound compressed but not too badly.  The snare is the one that is most evident in displaying it.... but I like it.

I listened about 5 times, while I was reading the notes and examining the screen shots.

You sure put a lot of tender loving care into this tune and it shows in the results.

I applaud what you did... discarding the numerous tracks that were distractions or worse.  I am a firm believer in less is more and throw out something if it doesn't work...even if you spent several days working on it. I also say kudo's to enveloping out completely certain instruments in parts of the song.... loosing the drums in the last verse (?) ...excellent decision. 

Using the less is more theory really worked on this.... no wonder I made the comment that I didn't recognize this version..... adding the acoustic solo and slowing the drums to half speed, eliminating all the other crap tracks ( no disrespect intended there Robby...) really went a long ways toward cleaning this up nicely.

I am guilty of creating lots of "crap-tracks" on my music too. I have gotten into the habit of listening for several days to see what really works and what doesn't and it doesn't bother me a bit to highlight and delete a track that isn't working. My latest tune has about 14 tracks and only 6 are active.

Good job.

I think Robby owes you a beer for the job you did on this.

I'm glad you like it Robby. I liked the first version better because it was honest. When you go to polishing and mixing things it loses it's honesty IMO.  I like this new re-mix, it's cool, but I like the original better. And I'm not being an old school fogy so to speak, I'm just speaking what's on my mind. Heck, it's easy to offer opinions, it so much harder to deliver on those thoughts. I'll leave it at that. Everything you do sounds great, so does James, but there's just too much polish there and not enough "It's ME" in the sounds. JMO.

I wanna hear the mistakes, I wanna hear the REAL playing from the REAL PERSON, I don't want it perfect! If reality was perfect we'd all be GONE by now!

I enjoyed the listen, but those are my stupid thoughts. Keep on Rockin' Robby!!!!!!!! and keep on Jammin' JAMES!!!! You guys are both better than me, so who the heck am I to give an opinion either way.

I enjoyed the listen!!!!!

AWESOME!!!!!!!

Bobby

Hey, James and Robby,
 
This is absolutely fantastic!  I remember how much I enjoyed hearing all the different versions back in 2009, and this is a very pro sounding mix, uncluttered, very clean and crisp sounding.  I applaud James for the well detailed mix notes to dig deeper into how the YoYo Factory manufactures such nice production work.  I always find it interesting to see how different people use the same tools and plugins in many different ways during the mixing process.
 
Robby's performances, and as always, his great vocals and harmonies, really shine through on this.
 
Excellent job by both of you!
Bob

Wouldnt expect anything but excellence when a song has the yoyo stamp of approval.

As usual, the mix and production are very pro.

I'll admit though like David, I didn't dig the drums, not the sound a such,that bass kick is sucking the groove a little out of it IMO,like its off time slightly...I havnt heard the original,but drums do certainly suit this song.

Don't matter too much anyway, cos its a perfectly written song!

Robby,vocals are beautiful man.

Cian