New "Who We Are" recording: "Outrageous" (Escaping abuse)

Sounds good man! Though i'll be honest, there's things I like and don't like about the mix. Vocals seem a bit out front to me and the drums, the snare sounds a little dull and something about the toms, maybe its the tuning, I'm not sure but they sound weird to me. I just started recording real drums myself, and yours sound better than mine so who am I to say. The bass sound is great and I like the chimey guitar and keyboards as well as the song and arrangement. Good job man!
 
Stratomaster said:
Sounds good man! Though i'll be honest, there's things I like and don't like about the mix. Vocals seem a bit out front to me and the drums, the snare sounds a little dull and something about the toms, maybe its the tuning, I'm not sure but they sound weird to me. I just started recording real drums myself, and yours sound better than mine so who am I to say. The bass sound is great and I like the chimey guitar and keyboards as well as the song and arrangement. Good job man!
Click to expand...

You hit on the two things I think are weak in the mix: the snare and the toms. The toms are just boomy. They ring and mess up the drum clarity.

I think I need to keep working on cleaning them up. The snare doesn't have that crisp, tight snap I like. It's just ever so slightly on the "dull thud" side.

Thanks for the comment. You've reaffirmed my suspicions about needing further tweaking on those elements. Regarding the vocals? I like them a little forward ... but I will also play w/ that a little more. Too forward is too forward.
 
already covered my thought.
got this at 1 o'clock (loud) bass sound is great.
Song is very cool.
Tame them drums.
I like cutting edge vox so to me they are fine. love that bridge. piano and falsetto work well. nice vox arrangement.
some white noise on the fade but I guess you like white noise kev :)
 
Manslick said:
already covered my thought.
got this at 1 o'clock (loud) bass sound is great.
Song is very cool.
Tame them drums.
I like cutting edge vox so to me they are fine. love that bridge. piano and falsetto work well. nice vox arrangement.
some white noise on the fade but I guess you like white noise kev :)
Click to expand...

Yeah ... the tom rumble is a bit out of control. Will do, bud.

You know what that white noise is?

I employ a drum "biggen" technique where you aux out the master drum buss to two mono L/R channels on a separate buss, hit them with a short delay (psuedo early reflection), and then hammer the buss w/ a brick limiter ... just slamming the tracks. The longer the delay, the bigger the "space" ... but I find it best to make it noticeable in the absence, but not the presence.

Then you also port the drum master out to a reverb, and kill the early reflections in the reverb plug (being handled by the mono L/R busses) and adjust the tail to suit.

The white noise comes from the mono busses ... big time. I should probably add a gate to kill it when the busses aren't being triggered.

It does work to take a smaller room and make it sound larger though ...
 
I agree the snare and toms sound a little weird. Especially the toms. The snare is passable. The whole mix gets sloppy when the toms roll.

There is a clean-ish electric guitar on the left that plays some accents every now and then in the verses. It's a little pointy.

The mix is a little narrow. The instruments on the edges don't play constantly. It leaves a lot going on in the middle.
 
Drums. Rest sounds really good. Vocal especially. I agree with 3M that things get weird when the toms go off. It's just muffled, no attack or tone really. And the snare has zero snap, just a thud. Although it's not the case, it sounds like it's low passed down to 600hz or something.
 
Overall, like it. Vocals seem at the right mix for the song. Maybe some air on the vocals, but that is a judgement call. I hear the snare, I liked it at first, then after more into the song, it wasn't working as well.

Other than that, good song, nice changes, good playing. Good stuff.
 
TripleM said:
I agree the snare and toms sound a little weird. Especially the toms. The snare is passable. The whole mix gets sloppy when the toms roll.

There is a clean-ish electric guitar on the left that plays some accents every now and then in the verses. It's a little pointy.

The mix is a little narrow. The instruments on the edges don't play constantly. It leaves a lot going on in the middle.
Click to expand...

I brought the drums in more narrow to deal w/ the tom's rumble issue. It got worse as I pushed the sound stage to the wings. This is weird ... as I was using the same setup as before, and the toms sounded fine. I have several takes. Maybe I should experiment w/ other takes on the tom rolls.

I'll look at the point on the elec also. I'd already tried to tame it (you're right, it's pointed).

Thanks bud!!
 
andrushkiwt said:
Drums. Rest sounds really good. Vocal especially. I agree with 3M that things get weird when the toms go off. It's just muffled, no attack or tone really. And the snare has zero snap, just a thud. Although it's not the case, it sounds like it's low passed down to 600hz or something.
Click to expand...

That's the thing, exactly, A. It obfuscates like a tom-tom wash that kills the clarity in drum fog.

I'm playing w/ the snare sound still -- I started w/ too much snap and not enough meat. I *may* have over done it the other way. Thanks for the thoughts!
 
DM60 said:
Overall, like it. Vocals seem at the right mix for the song. Maybe some air on the vocals, but that is a judgement call. I hear the snare, I liked it at first, then after more into the song, it wasn't working as well.

Other than that, good song, nice changes, good playing. Good stuff.
Click to expand...

The snare is a bit "inconsistently played" ... and I can't tell you how many hits I replaced. :D

No song is perfect, but I've obviously got more tweaking to attend to.

Thanks D!
 
K-dub said:


Rebuilt the drums from scratch. New mix on link.
Click to expand...

snare is much better. toms are better overall, though still a bit washy in the tail. a lot better than before though. it's funny how much the snare sound determines the mix. i'd turn the toms down a little, especially near the end where they pick up.
 
andrushkiwt said:
snare is much better. toms are better overall, though still a bit washy in the tail. a lot better than before though. it's funny how much the snare sound determines the mix. i'd turn the toms down a little, especially near the end where they pick up.
Click to expand...

It's so hard for me to willingly turn down toms. They're my favorite part of the drums. :D

I will listen, though. Thanks for the check back!!

Kev-
 
Listening to the remix. Vocals are VERY nice, but the first couple lines are tentative. You have a very nice falsetto. :)
Toms may still be too wide.? I really like narrow drums, so that's a grain of salter there...agree that they're just a little too prominent in the mix, but it's your mix.
 
BroKen_H said:
Listening to the remix. Vocals are VERY nice, but the first couple lines are tentative. You have a very nice falsetto. :)
Toms may still be too wide.? I really like narrow drums, so that's a grain of salter there...agree that they're just a little too prominent in the mix, but it's your mix.
Click to expand...

I may narrow them a little more. They do kind of run the sonic stage from way left to way right. I also discovered, much to my dismay, that there's a click in the kick that I'd not noticed. Once heard, I cannot help but notice it, and so I must kill it.

Fortunately Sonar has a drum replacer. I now just have to figure out how to use it. :D
 
Just my .02. I'd give a touch of reverb over the whole mix. It has a bit of a dry sound. I'd call it about 98% where it should be.
 
I really love the intimacy this song has! Very nice man! My biggest thing is it sounds as though the kick is bringing the song down like there is a heavy compressor/limiter on the master track? Just seems to be pumping more than it should.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top