Like Spinning Plates

TimN said:
I get what you're doing here, and it sounds really good, except. I think. for that buzzing in the right channel from the vocal, the delay tail of the processing, it sounds like. That sounds very un-vintage. Also, the string/synth gets a little buzzy too, at the end. It's a different kind of "buzz," but it seems to be things getting too "mid/high." I had a whale of a time with a Mellotron emulation on a tune I did, which I'll post sooner or later, in which the "strings" buzzed or seemed to crackle; a very mid-rangy kind of thing that I had to really hammer with EQ. In short, I EQ'd the mids and highs right out, and that helped whip the thing into place. I think you're right: It just needs to be re-mixed. What did you put on the vocal? Real nice vocal work, too.
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Thanks! I'm trying to remember what was on that vocal without opening everything up. I've redone it now, with less plugins. But the one you're asking about I think had both a Fairchild 670 and a 1176 compressor (overkill, which has been remedied), Waves De-Breath, a noise gate, and an EMT 140 for reverb. There were other things I'm not remembering (definitely some EQ plugins, probably a Pultec), but that was the meat of it. Now I've got it with just an 1176, a Manley EQ, a de-esser, and some Logic linear EQ for the finer points. And the EMT 140 still. I used Audacity to get rid of the hiss, so the gate wasn't necessary. And since I don't have it so jacked up with compression anymore, the de-breath wasn't necessary either.

I'll have to check out my Mellotron sounds and see if they're giving me any of that crackling you're talking about. What Mellotron emulation did you use? I use Re-Tron in Reason. I don't track with Reason, but I use it for most of my MIDI instruments.
 
I used an old freeware plug called "Meltron," though I don't think it's around anymore. I'm also fond of another freeware plug called "Redtron," which has some great presets. I do everything in Samplitude. Do you track vocals dry, or with outboard/plugins? I always send vocals in dry (instruments too).
 
TimN said:
Do you track vocals dry, or with outboard/plugins? I always send vocals in dry (instruments too).
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I haven't settled on one way of doing anything. I'm always trying different things. I do always use a UA preamp plugin when tracking anything from a microphone. Either the 610 that came with the interface, or a Neve 1073. Everything I've posted was tracked with the 610. Now I also put a Studer tape plugin (with tape hiss turned off) on anything I track, because it saves me from having to do it later and bounce every track in place.

I'll have to check out Redtron. I'd like to eventually get out of Reason entirely, so I don't have to move between DAWs and just stay in Logic. But the only non-stock instrument I have for Logic is Abbey Road Vintage Drummer. All my other drum samples and any other MIDI instrument I use is in Reason. They're great sounds, it's just really inconvenient that I can't play them directly in Logic and not have to bounce them to audio files.
 
It sounds really, really good. I dig the piano sound this time around and you've got your extra parts to sit better. Great. :)

Regarding the clicks, you could zoom right in on the waveform, identify the click, split the track either side of it and pull the volume down. I had to do that on the Uke solo in my Llano del Rio. My son's arse was making cracking noises as he shifted position slightly on the leather sofa. :D You can't tell that any fuckery has taken place. It's tedious and laborious, but worth doing.
 
Bubba po said:
It sounds really, really good. I dig the piano sound this time around and you've got your extra parts to sit better. Great. :)

Regarding the clicks, you could zoom right in on the waveform, identify the click, split the track either side of it and pull the volume down. I had to do that on the Uke solo in my Llano del Rio. My son's arse was making cracking noises as he shifted position slightly on the leather sofa. :D You can't tell that any fuckery has taken place. It's tedious and laborious, but worth doing.
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Thanks! I just did less to the piano. I had blown it up with a limiter to somewhat even out my inconsistent dynamics on piano, but it sounded way better when I took it off. I guess I went down a rabbit hole in processing it before. This time I figured hey, these patches are made up of samples that are immaculately recorded, so why am I trying to do more to it? So I just had to EQ it some to gel with the mix, and that's it. I think I need to take the synth bass down a tad. After that and fixing the clicks, I think it's a wrap. I'm going to try one more time to get the clicks out in Reason before editing the waveform in Logic. Thank you for the advice on that. I just hope I don't have to use it.
 
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