Jessie Ware - What's Your Pleasure? - mixing quality.

[MitchT]

Love this album - the songs, the music, her voice... but has anyone else listened to it and felt that the whole thing sounds somewhat muffled? It's like the mixing lacks that essential width and clarity that it needs in order to really pop. OK, I listen on YouTube music, but other things I listen to the same way have all the sparkle that this seems to lack. I can't believe something that sounds so muddy was signed off for release.

[geezerbutler]

I have it on CD and it sounds OK to me. I think the production sounds deliberately a bit 'old school' - reminds me of some 80's soul and R'n'B records that I have.

It's a really good album (just like the previous records) and Jessie is great - she really deserves to be a much bigger star than she is.

[thebraketester]

The production is rubbish. It could have sounded great but it doesn’t. It sounds flat. The vocals sound like they were recorded through a duvet. Shame, cos it sounds like it could have been great.

[MitchT]

I'd never heard of her before she released "Spotlight" as a single, but having checked out some of her older stuff it seems that this sound is a theme throughout her work. "What's Your Pleasure" is quite a dancey and electronic sounding album and, IMO, should really have been produced with the clarity that you associate with dance and electronic music. To me it sounds like it lacks width and has been compressed excessively.

Anyway, I dragged my favourite track from the album ("The Kill") into Logic Pro, hit it with some mastering plug-ins and it's now a long way to sounding like it I'd prefer it to. I suspect the only way to really sort it though is to go back to the mix and master it again.

[MitchT]

Actually, I think big part of the problem is visible here...

[beambeam1]

geezerbutler said:

It's a really good album (just like the previous records) and Jessie is great - she really deserves to be a much bigger star than she is.

Agreed, always expected her to be bigger than she is. I only found out about her when in London for the Olympics and have always like Wildest Moments especially but... she just sort of stalled? Same goes for Delilah, banging debut album then went quiet.

[Rod200SX]

MitchT said:

Actually, I think big part of the problem is visible here...

Reminds me of Metallicas Death Magnetic album. Which I loved but I had to turn down every song in software for it to be listenable at higher volumes.

[Louis Balfour]

Rod200SX said:

MitchT said:

Actually, I think big part of the problem is visible here...

Reminds me of Metallicas Death Magnetic album. Which I loved but I had to turn down every song in software for it to be listenable at higher volumes.

What are we looking at there?

[MitchT]

Louis Balfour said:

What are we looking at there?

It's been mastered so loud that there's no dynamic range left and it sounds like it's suffocating itself!

[Louis Balfour]

MitchT said:

Louis Balfour said:

What are we looking at there?

It's been mastered so loud that there's no dynamic range left and it sounds like it's suffocating itself!

Got it thanks.

[DanoS4]

ie it shouldn't be a solid block of black.

It should be lots more white bits

I've lot count of how many loudness arguments I've had when mastering - no dynamic range is (still) killing music imho

[LaurasOtherHalf]

Interesting subject! Can anyone offer any more examples?

[gazza285]

DanoS4 said:

ie it shouldn't be a solid block of black.

It should be lots more white bits

I've lot count of how many loudness arguments I've had when mastering - no dynamic range is (still) killing music imho

What do they do these days, run (ruin?) the mix through a compressor? I don't have much studio experience, live sound was my bag.