Mix Levels for a Song with Huge Dynamic Changes

[schust]

i'm currently working on a song that starts out with a 12-string, strings, etc and then goes full Hard Rock in the middle and then ends with the 12-string again. it's instrumental.

i'm kind of lost on where I should have levels for these two distinctly different sections in relation to each other. my biggest concerns are a) the transitions sound natural and b) mastering doesn't hose one of the sections because it's so off Db-wise with the other.

current mix:

 

[egan.]

A)make it sound natural. IMO me the intro section is too loud (relatively) and compressed.
b) hire a competent mastering engineer and this is a non issue. Anybody who is only looking at RMS numbers for the whole song is an idiot. One option is to print the sections separately to allow for a separate chain but really this shouldn't be necessary.

 

[schust]

thanks

 

[Plankis]

Ask yourself this question: Does the song have more energy once the whole band kicks in?
No, it doesn't my answer would be here, a acoustic guitar appear to be louder than a whole band in this song, how odd.
Then I would proceed to lowering the calmer parts until it does. You can probably lower 3-6 dB without any issues.

Go study Hans Zimmer's Inception soundtrack for some reference on how to do dynamics right.

 

[schust]

yea, already re-mixed with quieter passage down several Db. i think i just got caught mixing too long without a break and lost perspective. love Hans Zimmer!

 

[Star Ark]

volume automation during the mastering stage

 

[B36arin]

Just mix it so that the mix sounds good and let the mastering engineer worry about maintaining the dynamics during mastering. Different mastering engineers do different things. I've burned myself with changing levels towards the end of a mix to compensate for what I thought the mastering engineer was going to do. Bad idea

 

[Lintinanims]

The transition at the end is very odds, it doesn't seem to flow well, personally I feel like you a smart way to go about that would be to mix the clean 12 string tracks into the full heavy mix, and let them run out together and find a good end point for the heavy part. Personally I feel it's bad organization in the song itself not the mix.