"Just Walked Away" - new tracks, new mix

GONZO-X

Well-known member
"Just Walked Away" - new tracks, new mix

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it's my "say 'no' to depression" public service announcement.
heheh

re-tracked every vocal, remixed from scratch. lots of your suggestions used for reference.
the lead vocal was tracked twice, and panned 4% Left, 7% right, with slightly hotter mix on the left track.
Each harmony vocal track was also tracked twice, and blended together left and right.

used a much more conservative compression on the input vocal tracking, then some more mild compression on mixdown.
i used sonar's vocal channel, with 2 serial compressions, very light on each one.

used my strat for the rhythms:
strat1lv4.jpg


and the carvin for the solos:
dc200close.jpg


i think this is much closer to stickin' a fork in it.
yes, no?


alternate site for streaming:
http://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/just-walked-away
 
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I remember listening to this a little while ago. I can't remember any drastic differences from this. But that could be a bad memory on my part.

I like the distorted guitar sounds. You might be able to improve the tone if you could add just a little in the upper mids - like 5k-7K. Just brighten them a wee bit.

Tight vocal doubling. Liked the Deep Purple line.

Bass might be a little loud. Compare with a pro mix to verify. Loved the bass part.

What ever delay and/or reverb you're using is perfect for the mix.

Reminds me of Yes a bit.
 
I think your guitar tone is excellent. The vocal doubling sounds great. Tight performance and the mix sounds great to me. The only small picky thing I can come up with is the vocal volume. Kind of quiet in parts. Other than that I wouldn't change a thing.
 
tripleM-
thanks for listening....
you know, i DID try brightening the guitars (ended up being at 2-3khz), and they ended up sounding harsh.
i would much rather have the guitars a bit darker, they sit better in the mix, they do no fight with the clarity of the vocals, and they sound heavier without the bright bite.

i'm doing the guitar captures with a Palmer PDI-09 now, and it can get incredibly bright, but i've found a setting with it, that at VOLUME, just sounds really rich to my ears...

it lets me drive the rhythms louder, without them being too 'in your face'
well, i'm still experimenting, getting closer to 'that sound'.

it's easy for me to get it with miced cabs in a really good room, but i don't have access to that right now....

i went really light with the reverb on the vox, none on the drums, just room mics brought in underneath the kit mics, and maybe i had a long delay on the solo guitar, that i printed.... can't remember now, i'll have to go and INVESTIGATE!
LOL
thanks again....



Guitar Zero-
i love doing the vocal doubling, it's hard, i gotta punch in at the front of verses sometimes when i don't nail it in the once pass, but once i've 're-learned' what i did in the first pass, i can usually match it the second time.

now, everyone has different ideas about the vocal mix volume...

i personally think it's plenty loud enough, normally i mix vox more in line with the rest of the instruments, on this one i pushed it a little harder..
but you might be right, it drops in volume a bit in the very last 2 verses and chorus, because i built the music levels up to be more intense on the last part of the song.

i mean, i brought the vox up TOO, but, since the music is just THAT much more intense, it starts to blend the vox in.
i don't know, that's a hard call, to wear the producer hat, while doing the engineer thing AND the artist thing.....

maybe you're right, i hear it lower, but like it that way.
thanks for the comments!
 
...if Ace Frehley and Yes loved each other and had a baby boy, and that baby grew up and tattooed a bad-ass guitar tone on both arms - He would be this song!! :eek:

The guitar tone is superior. Is that all the Egnator? The arrangement far exceeds the capacity of my tiny 1-4-5 brain. Your harmonies are very good and unpredictable, even better.

What else can I say? Make more. :D
 
that reminds me of a lot of parties in the 80's except you have made it more up to date...WICKED!!!!

It's familiar yet different than anything I've heard. Were you a Skyhooks fan? even sound like Zapa a little...cool


Awesome recording dude. I would keep it as is. I really can't think of anything I'd want to change.
 
tripleM-

you know, i DID try brightening the guitars (ended up being at 2-3khz), and they ended up sounding harsh.
i would much rather have the guitars a bit darker, they sit better in the mix, they do no fight with the clarity of the vocals, and they sound heavier without the bright bite.

Try a boost in the 6K - 7K range and see if you like it. Yeah the 2-3k range is going to make it harsh. If you don't like the 5-7k boost you can always put it back.
 
maximusbs

if Ace Frehley and Yes loved each other and had a baby boy, and that baby grew up and tattooed a bad-ass guitar tone on both arms - He would be this song!!

heheheh i laughed out loud.
thanks for that.

it's not an egnator-
it's a vintage boogie, a Mark 2B 60 watt with graphic eq (no reverb)


rigpdls.jpg


hey, i'll go make some more.



BuzzHaze
you must have done some good parties in the 80's!
lol
suprised you can remember them, most can't.......
skyhooks!!!
now, there's a name you don't hear every day.....
i saw the skyhooks at the jacksonville florida colliseum, i don't know, way back in 1976 maybe? i was a little kid....
they were great.
i remember the guitar player, wearing face makeup (like a MIME) and playing a gibson SG really wicked.
what ever happened to those guys?



tripleM
my most recent previous mixes, have had much edgier guitars....
and i like that, for certain songs.....
but lately, you know, i just don't dig the 7k push on my guitar tracks...makes them harsh to my ears.

i think the way i had the palmer set, rolled off some of the highs, and really, that was the sound i was looking for on the rhythms.
i used a different setting on the solo.

my presence on the boogie is pushed pretty hard, and pushes at 10K.......

when i'm mixing, i usually experiment quite a lot, with HPF and high tweaks, but on this one, i just happened to hear the tone i was going for right off the bat. sometimes it's a happy accident.
i'm finding that my ears are getting tired of super bright guitar sounds, and listening to Josh Homme a lot lately, is probably rubbing off.
 
squibble-
thanks!
those are toontracks EZdrummer.
i actually wrote the song to a single kick drum click, kinda like a one beat measure, arrranged the song, and after i got the rhythm parts the way i wanted, i went back and created the drum parts.


frederic-
thanks for listening!
 
Man, this sounds amazing. I love it pretty much on all levels. Well done, man I got a bit of work to do to achieve that kind of fidelity.
 
Yep. Turned it way up. Awsome. Like I was at the biker bar....
Everything sounds great....very Aerosmithie, with more dirt in the guits.

High five-ah.
 
Zombre
thanks zombre...
i've been working hard on trying to dial my mixes in.
lot's of experimenting, reading, studying, and more experimenting.
some things i'm still guessing at, some i'm nailing down.
plus, i've been writing and mixing since about 1984, so i should be getting decent at it by now!!
LOL


jeffmaher-
turning it up, is always what i suggest.
HEHEH

like, 'piss off the neighbors'- loud.
then, you get to really hear the power of the licks, the attitude, and vibe.
i guess that's why so many people dig listening on the headphones and ear buds these days, it's the only way they can really crank i up.
but, i still prefer to feel the music too.
requires large woofers, and mucho clean power!
thanks for listening...
 
This party music indeed.
The lyrics are serious & the melody belies the theme but there's nothing wrong with nestling a tough message in a party package.
I like the growl in the bass.
Nice recording and terrific playing.
I like the proggy touches too.
THis kind of reminded me, musically, of some Starcastle without the keyboards.
Some nice Queen esque noodling bits from 4.00 too.
Skyhooks? maybe post Red's departure when they had Bob Spencer join (formerly from Finch) - he could ROCK!
Terrific work.
 
buzzhaze-
well, the skyhooks had a sound, you know?
it was quite unique (at the time) and i think they just didn't have enough big label push behind them to break in.
they were out just before AC/DC, they may have even set the stage for them to step in.....


Rayc-
party music!
yeah!
well, i'd like to think SOMEONE would party to it.....even tho it is a message song.

STARCASTLE!
who in the world (besided you and me) even know who this band is?!!
LOL
another name, dropped here, that i haven't heard in AGES
another great band, folks should check out. classic stuff.

thanks for listening and commenting!
 
ok, still tweaking the low end.

is this any closer?

man, i still have 4 tufts of hair left to pull.......
 
Always love to hear your stuff. This is no exception. Sparkly technicolor guitars. Am jealous. :o

Nice work.
 
Holy cow! I'm listening to Motley Crue again! When you get high with your vocs, you sound just like Vince Neil, dude...

Yeah, this rocks. Man... There have been a lot of great posts on this board recently. This definitely fits the bill.

Great rocker. I want more!
 
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