Destiny - New work from "Who We Are"

K-dub

Well-known member


Although I sing this, the piece was written by Bill Quinn, our bass player ... who also drums, and plays piano, and guitar (but not on this piece). Frank Busse drums, John Jeff on guitar -- and I play the keys.

Any/all comments warmly appreciated.
 
I'd actually pulled this down as I set to work on drums ... which I felt sorely lacking in the original track posted.

I employed the drum replacement tool in Sonar ... beefing up the kick and snare. I also pulled the midi created by it, and then folded both the samples (in the replacer) and Addictive Drums synth up and in behind the original recording. The result, I think, was a much better sounding kit.

I also worked on bringing the BGVs out a little more.
 
Cool track. On headphones the BVs are a little loud. My only nit is your kick sample - it's cutting through OK but seems flat and dry and out of place in the context of everything else being so lively
 
Big thing that jumps out mix-wise is that the left channel is brighter than the right at the start with the way you have the jangly guitar panned.

BGvox could probably use a touch of verb; they feel closer than the rest of the mix.

It's a pretty solid mix overall tho. Lot of stuff going on, but it all seems to have a place.
 
Good suggestions both. I totally get what you're saying. I do need to "blur" the BGVs more, and blend in the kick so that it doesn't sound as dry as it does. It's the midi track that's poking through w/ the beater.


Thanks guys!
 
This is "live" btw ... drums/bass/guitar/keys ...

Only the vocals were tracked later.
 
Did you run it straight to a stereo file, or do you still have distinct tracks for each of the live instruments?

Distinct tracks. I run the mikes into a Soundcraft Ui24r and then record into a thumbdrive. Then I bounce the tracks into my DAW for mixing.
 
Generally it's good.

The chugging guitar in the intro is a little too low-end-heavy. I'd lighten that up.

I thought the rhythm guitars dominated the drums a bit. I'd lower the guits by a db and raise all the drum tracks by a db. They cymbals are getting SoundCloud swirl-i-fied. That's probably not an issue.

The bass is a bit rumbly and indistinct.

I personally didn't care for the synth when it was only on the right side and opposite a guitar on the left. It just somehow didn't feel right to me. I liked the synths in the outro however.

Too much reverb on everything, and too long of a decay.

All the other stuff sounded first rate.
 
Generally it's good.

The chugging guitar in the intro is a little too low-end-heavy. I'd lighten that up.

I thought the rhythm guitars dominated the drums a bit. I'd lower the guits by a db and raise all the drum tracks by a db. They cymbals are getting SoundCloud swirl-i-fied. That's probably not an issue.

The bass is a bit rumbly and indistinct.

I personally didn't care for the synth when it was only on the right side and opposite a guitar on the left. It just somehow didn't feel right to me. I liked the synths in the outro however.

Too much reverb on everything, and too long of a decay.

All the other stuff sounded first rate.

Thanks S!

I'm getting used to the new equipment with different players, and it has been a learning experience. I didn't touch the eq on JJ's git ... because he's usually so good w/ tone. He's a home recordist himself, so he thinks about that stuff. I get, though, that the lows on the git will muddy up the low mids.

Good point.

There is only one git ... with a delay panned to opposite side to create space ... but the issues you mention are part and parcel to the freq cloud you noted.

The drums are the central challenge here. I was experimenting with mics on them, and they didn't come out well. I had to add "supplemental sound" for the first time since I've been recording. That was quite the new lesson.

Point noted ... but confused (slightly) on the bass. I'm hearing it fairly well ... but will take your ears (as always) under advisement.

As a straight up four piece ... holding to "able to play live" recording ... sacrifices of recording must be made. Hence the panning scheme ... for clarity.

Reverb is mostly on the drums ... to hide their weak parts ... and the necessary layering.
 
Point noted ... but confused (slightly) on the bass. I'm hearing it fairly well ... but will take your ears (as always) under advisement.

I didn't have any trouble hearing the bass. But it had a bit of a low end rumble. My second point about being "indistinct" just meant there wasn't a lot of articulation between notes. Like if a bass was drunk and slurring its speech. It's as much a playing style thing as it is a tone thing. But cleaning up some low end might help.
 
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