This City - alternative pop

[andrushkiwt]

Well, here's about the 4th version of this I've recorded in the past 2 years. Redid everything from the bottom up. Vocals tracked in new room with adequate padding and reflection shield. Some new tips on amp sim settings too. Added a piano vst, though it sounds better in the mix than bare, I feel. Still not sure if this is the final vision for this song or not, but I know it has potential...just not sure if I'm producing/mixing it to its fullest, or if my limitations are hindering it.

So, let me know how it sounds, if ya can. Appreciate it!

edit: let me know if you have any tips for getting rid of that hum/buzz you can make out during the fade out. I've been having trouble with my amp sims in that regard. Nothing is clipping nor near maxed out, but I get an annoying noise when not playing, or sustaining, on my bass and some guitar tracks.



When she breaks down,
and she found out,
I stood right there alone.

Catch this city,
and wait by the ocean.
I feel her emotions on me.

Catch this city,
and sleep on the sidewalk.
You whisper when we talk alone.

When she breaks down,
and she found out,
I stood right there alone.

I won't be so kind.
You give it all and I won't break.

It's too late, alone.

 

[JohnnyAmato]

Take this with a grain of salt, considering I just got back from seeing Green Day sixth row down in Indianapolis, and my ears might be shot

Sounds great to me, I remember liking the original a lot too though, would need to A/B to really see/hear the differences.

I think the piano sounds cool, nice element. Not sure exactly where you have it panned, sounds center-ish? During the verse when the vocal is going, I would pan it some to the left- you have a rhythm guitar at those parts a little more prominent on the right it seems, putting the piano a little to the left would balance that out and make better room for the vocal. Seems the vocal and those piano notes are in the same space and might need a tad more separation. I know you like LCR, but I might experiment here and try just the verse piano about 50% left. Even Chris Lord-Alge is an LCR guy, but he says sometimes in situations like this he'll put something small 50% one way or the other, so it's out of the way of the vocal, in it's own space, and not all the way right or left with everything else. Try it, you might actually like it here.

The guitars in general sound great, very tight.

As your last chord is ringing out, you'll probably just need to fade the master file as a whole to kill that hum that comes in at the very end. If you end up getting this professionally mastered, they'll just do that for you. You might end up with a last held chord that is not quite as long as you like, but it happens all the time, and here it actually doesn't sound that bad, so I wouldn't sweat it. I usually do my ending fades to the two-channel mixdown in SoundForge which is awesome with fade control, and easier than ProTools, in my opinion, for doing articulate fades. I've gotten pretty good at it over the years, and I'd be glad to do a sample for you if you feel like sending me a final mixdown of this sometime. Just let me know.

I've always wondered though if professional mastering engineers do the final fades last, because the added compression and limiting might mess with the fade if you do the fade first. Never been exactly sure how that works...

*Edit* Not sure if you've seen, but Superior Drummer 3.0 just came out, $400, but only $200 for SD 2.0 owners. Crap, I just got 2.0 last year for $99, might have to wait until 3.0 goes down in price or goes on sale

 

[andrushkiwt]

...because the added compression and limiting might mess with the fade if you do the fade first.

Yeah, after it's passed through compression on the guitar bus and master bus, and a bit of limiting, those noisey things get a bit louder. I hear ya. I might have to just retrack the final chords completely if I decide to do an album thing for real.

---------- Update ----------

You wrote about SD3, but your comment disappeared. Yeah it looks sweet, there's a thread on it in the drums or vst section going on now. join the convo

 

[jimistone]

It sounds great andrush. On on the way too work and listening on my car stereo, so I can't really critique the mix. I can say that it translates well on that system though. It really rocks!
Super job!

 

[andrushkiwt]

It sounds great andrush. On on the way too work and listening on my car stereo, so I can't really critique the mix. I can say that it translates well on that system though. It really rocks!
Super job!

Cool, thanks for listening in a different environment!

 

[TripleM]

I don't really hear much that's wrong. Levels are great. Everything is balanced really well. Vocals sound wonderful.

If I could come close to criticizing something, the guitars lack a little detail. They're just slightly less distinct than you usually produce. But that's being extremely picky.

This sounds excellent as it is.

OK maybe the cymbals are panned unrealistically wide. So two things.

 

[Nola]

Sounds good, but the vocal sounds a bit muffled. Were the lows cut enough? Or were the upper mids cut for some reason? The cymbals are a bit too loud and swishy imo. Otherwise it sounds good.

The thing is you should commit to a mix and just go with it. You can drive yourself nuts doing 4 versions of the same song and spending that much time on a mix and also lose all the spontaneity of the song. It's never going to be perfect, and it's more important to churn out new material than chase perfection in old material. If the song is good fans won't hold back b/c of a mix, so I think you're putting too much emphasis on the mix. As long as the performance is good, the mix is balanced and represents the song well, then it's good to go.

I understand getting new gear and wanted to go back to old mixes, but there should be some limit, and 4 versions seems like a lot.

I agree with Johnny to be totally accurate we'd need to hear the reference of the other versions.

 

[andrushkiwt]

...so I think you're putting too much emphasis on the mix.

Nah, I don't have world domination aspirations, I just want to put things I've picked up back into old songs, especially as I re-listen to them. If I'm not satisfied with a tune, nothing else matters. I make music for myself, first and foremost.

 

[ibleedburgundy]

Great writing great performances as always.

Relative to some of your other mixes, this one sounds a bit fried on my system when I turn it up loud. Not sure if you tracked hot or what. When it first kicks in after the piano intro the whole thing seems a bit distorted. Not sure if you're hitting the limiter a bit harder there or what. (In the other sections it's nicely balanced). This results in the most epic portion of the song kinda being a bit smaller and less open than it could be IMO. There also seems to be a bit of a sibilant on the instruments there. I am wondering if they are having a stacking effect.

 

[andrushkiwt]

Not sure if you're hitting the limiter a bit harder there or what. (

Nope, the limiter only takes off 3db max as does the compressor. If anything, it's probably the drum compressor. I did not bounce the drums out of superior drummer, so they are processed as a whole (well i did use the toontrack eq and compressor within the app on the kick and snare actually). The piano vst is compressed pretty hard. Some elements individually are, but not the master track.