Mixing Analysis #3

Mix Analysis #3 – Smells Like Teen Spirit

0:00-0:07 – Guitar- Slight Reverb

0:07-0:18 – Guitar, Bass, Drums – Compression on Drums and Bass

0:18-0:27 – Sweeping Guitar, Bass, Drums – Panning on Guitar

0:27-0:43 – Vocals added to what's above

0:43-0:59 – Sweeping Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums – Small Oscillation and Reverb on Vocals, Panning on Vocals

0:59-1:24 – Chorus: Vocals (Doubled) Guitar, Bass, Drums – Reverb on Vocals

1:24-1:31 – “Interlude”: Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums – Vocals follow guitar

1:31-1:40 – Sweeping Guitar, Bass, Drums – Panning on Guitar

1:40-1:57 – Vocals added to what's above

1:57-2:12 – Sweeping Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums – Small Oscillation and Reverb on Vocals, Panning on Vocals

2:12-2:37 – Chorus: Vocals (Doubled) Guitar, Bass, Drums – Reverb on Vocals

2:37-2:45 – “Interlude”: Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums – Vocals follow guitar

2:45-3:11 – Solo: Guitar, Bass, Drums – Feedback at end of solo goes into next verse

3:11-3:26 – Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums

3:26-3:42 – Sweeping Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums – Small Oscillation and Reverb on Vocals, Panning on Vocals

3:42- 4:06 – Chorus: Vocals (Doubled) Guitar, Bass, Drums – Reverb on Vocals

4:06-4:27 – “Denial”: Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums – Doubled Vocals, Reverb on Vocals

4:27-4:34 – Fade out on all instruments

Producer: Butch Vig

Mixer: Andy Wallace

-Blink 182

-Motion City Soundtrack

I didn't find where this was mixed at.

Mastering: Howie Wienberg

-Hollywood Undead

-Coheed and Cambria

Mastered at The Mastering Lab

This song, in my opinion was well mixed. There are spots where I thought levels could have been a little higher, such as the bridge. The guitar could be brought up just a little. But then there are parts that I thought were mixed absolutely to perfection. Such as the chorus. The doubling on the vocals along with the sweeping makes a great, almost creepy sound. The special thing about this song, is that two different mixes went out. The Andy Wallace version, that went onto the CD. Then the Butch Vig version that I believe went onto a special copy of the CD, as an special track. 

Now when I was doing research on this song, I could only find Butch Vig talking about mixing and recording this song. In the video I found on youtube, he stated that the vocals were doubled in the chorus, which made it sound more beefy. And then he went into talking about the end part of the guitar solo. Butch stated that the guitar solo wasn't anything special, just a instrumental version of the vocal melody rather than trying to make something else up. 

What really was cool, in my opinion, was at the end of the solo, when the guitar feeds back. In the video Butch really draws your attention to the feedback and how it does give nice overtones. Then later on he said that in the final mix, it was brought back, by Andy Wallace. Now in the reissue of the album, you can hear Butch's mix of the song and how he does keep in that last part of the solo.

Finally he talks about the last parts of the song, and how Kurt Cobain's vocal chords were sounding like they were about to come out of his throat. This is because of how hard Kurt went on every song, and didn't stop. I think the ending, raspy voice, is a nice ending to such a generation defining song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErcJ2kUC4Wg