Dirty Games

paulman77

Member
This one needs something to thicken it up a little on the riff section that comes in with the drums and repeats several times throughout the song, but I'm not sure what. Maybe just another overdriven guitar with more high end doubling the riff, or maybe a synth or other keyboard part playing something different. So far any keyboard experiments I've tried seem out of place. I'd appreciate any thoughts on that or anything else with this song.

UPDATED MIX

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1q3bgtkYyakWnBrNkppR2dXMjA
 
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Cool track. Summertime on the Pacific Coast vibes.

Are you dropping the volume of the acoustic on the left after the intro when everything else comes in? I get a sudden sense that the ringing chords drop there but my ears want them to be there. Is that a mix/arrangement move on purpose? There are a couple other spots in the song where that same guitar seems to suddenly be ducked and my ears want it to be there.

I'm not hearing where you want things to be thicker. It sounds good to me as is. I do have one other thought on the guitar on the left. It seems to be a little bit out of the same space as the rest of the mix. Everything sounds very well gelled together, except that one instrument seems a tiny bit unhinged (at least that is how it is translating in the phones I am listening to at this moment).

Hmmm, I wonder if the thickening you were talking about and my sense of the guitar being a little unhinged are actually the same thing? Mabye a little more body to the acoustic and dropping it down a touch in the mix would drop it into place and accomplish what you are feeling is missing? I dunno... just an idea.

All the sounds and tones are really good. Excellent vocals with really good tone/timbre. Great swagger.

Very cool track man!
 
Thank you! The reason the acoustic volume drops after the intro is because of the limiter on the master. I squeezed the whole thing to make it fatter, and bring up the intro. Before that, the acoustics were weak in the beginning. Now they sound kind of weak AFTER the intro, by comparison. I'm sure I can fix that pretty easily. I think where you're talking about it ducking during the song is where it goes back to the intro riff, and that acoustic that was strumming chords starts playing the riff with chord stabs in between. So it thins out the sound. There are a couple of ways I could fix that, off the top of my head. I think I need more than that to add the thickness I was talking about, something other than acoustic guitar. But maybe not, you could be right that fixing the acoustic is all that's needed. My original intention was to keep it simple, so that could be just the ticket. As far as it not being in the same space, I'll have to listen to hear what you're talking about there. I'm in the middle of moving, so I won't be able to with my monitors for a little while. Thanks for listening! If I'm lucky, your observations may just get me the rest of the way there.
 
Kind of gave me a Jack Johnson vibe. I liked the song.

The guitar parts worked well off of each other. And the performances are all real good.

Things in general have a somewhat brittle timbre. The main acoustic rhythm guitar have just a little harshness. I caught a little fret buzz in the intro too - just for a second. The lead electric guitar was pretty brittle. Those things would benefit, I think, with a notch cut somewhere in the mid 2Ks. The clean-ish rhythm electric sounded pretty good to me.

I also think the vocal was just a bit harsh. Not overly so, but again, a small notch in the mid-2Ks might help.

Drums were decent. But the snare was a little slappy.

But in general, I didn't think it was too bad.
 
i'm not hearing a lack of thickness either. what i am hearing is a panning obstacle when everything kicks in. just the way it's arranged is throwing me off balance. it's what the R and L guitar are doing, and perhaps their relative volume. sounds really good otherwise, to me. great vox too man
 
i'm not hearing a lack of thickness either. what i am hearing is a panning obstacle when everything kicks in. just the way it's arranged is throwing me off balance. it's what the R and L guitar are doing, and perhaps their relative volume. sounds really good otherwise, to me. great vox too man

That's what I'm hearing too. The rhythm acoustic and percussion are a little bit too far to the sides. If you bring the acoustic in a little, that will thicken up the right channel; if you bring the percussion (especially snare) in a little, that will help drive the left channel.
 
Thanks guys! I will work on all of that. As far as brittleness, I thought I had that taken care of. Maybe the way it was before just dulled my senses. It was ear-piercingly brittle at first, at least the guitar solo was. I'll take another look at it when I get my monitors set back up.
 
Hey paulman, I think the tune's cool and well played. I don't think the mix sounds brittle especially, but I'd maybe like a little more body and thud to the acoustic - I dunno, it's always a balancing act to not stomp on the bass part though and I maybe tend to overdo it myself in that regard.

I initially wondered if the vocal could come up a hair, but I think it's more that left panned acoustic that could come down a little and be panned slightly more centrally. It's the dominant element in the mix throughout for me. Maybe the vocals would still need to come up slightly after that, but I think that's the first thing to look at. Hope this helps.
 
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Sorry, don't know how I missed this. I like those doubled acoustics but they seem a bit dry. The lead vocal seems to hover in the background with those acoustics in front. Interesting effect, but call me a traditionalist. I want the vocal front and center. Playing is really good. Love that lead guitar tone. Drum level seems low. Your bass may be stepping on the vocal a bit, noticed it especially in your second verse. Good song.
 
I'm dying to get my monitors back and work on this stuff, and listen to more posts of other songs. I'll probably have an updated mix by the end of the weekend. As usual, the comments here are invaluable.
 
seems better right from the start. ah, great vocals. what's your vocal mic? nice transition when it switches over to the closed hat... pretty smooth. i could go without the congas, or whatever those are. they seem to be in another space and come off dull-sounding. not much character to them. great vocal melody. :thumbs up:
 
Thanks! I use an Avantone CV-12 for vocals. I swapped out the tube for a better one, though I can't remember what it is. I did my research, and now I don't remember anything about it except that changing the tube in that mic is pretty much the worst thing in the world. It was worth it, though. I think this song is the only one I've recorded so far that I didn't fight with hiss and breath on the vocal, so I guess I should see if I have the preamp settings saved so I can replicate that sound.
 
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