Old song, new mix

Rokket

Trailing Behind Again
Yeah, this thing is 14 years old. It's a collaboration, but I'll be darned if I can remember all the usernames of those involved. Basically, the drums, a telecaster track, a banjo track and the solos are all different people.

There are no vocals yet. They were also done by someone other than me at the time, but I wanted to sing my song my way, hence the remix.

So this is just a vocal bed. I have been out of the music hobby for many years and my skills are very rusty. So this is posted for help. Please listen to the end if you can.

Since I am having trouble uploading the mp3 directly, I went with this:

Vocaroo | Voice message
 
The whole mix sounds muddy. Or that it’s just missing some of the high end. I’m curious what this was recorded on being that it’s 14 years old lol. That’s like the age where it’s equally likely to be tape, cassette, hard track, or a convertor, but even if the latter, they were expensive, and the expensive ones (unless they were the best of the best) weren’t as good as the cheap ones are today. Tech is moving fast, it seems.
 
The whole mix sounds muddy. Or that it’s just missing some of the high end. I’m curious what this was recorded on being that it’s 14 years old lol. That’s like the age where it’s equally likely to be tape, cassette, hard track, or a convertor, but even if the latter, they were expensive, and the expensive ones (unless they were the best of the best) weren’t as good as the cheap ones are today. Tech is moving fast, it seems.

I am still messing with it. I noticed it's missing highs too. Thanks for the listen.

I recorded this on a Fostex MR-8. I never got into computer interfaces as I found them too hard to use back then. And I couldn't afford one. I am not really sure how the tracks I didn't record were done. Everyone had something different they were using. I did have a hard time lining up some of the tracks due to latency and all the different methods we were using back then.
 
It's a mono mix. When the guitar solo comes in it is a bit too loud. I think I hear a banjo. Hard to tell what the instruments are, things are kind of mushed together frequency wize.

I attached the mp3. Are you having trouble navigating the attachment window?
 

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  • Vocaroo_s0dAH1yvSqxC.mp3
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I think I will take my mix to mono and see what I can hear that way. I'd forgotten about that little tip. Thanks



I attempted a couple different times to attach the mp3 with the attachment window. I hear that others are having issues too...
 
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Thanks for the listen. I went back to the drawing board and started from scratch. I have all the tracks except for the solos loaded. There are no effects on anything yet, so I am doing a volume only mix for now. I will start with the kick drum and work my way through so that each track has its own space and then post again. Probably going to be a few days until that happens.
 
It sounds like data compression mangled your mix pretty badly. Lots of mid-range and distortion on the high end. The second mix is better about it, but still not great.

It looks like the loudest point in the song is that thunderclap at the beginning, you probably want to turn that down so everything else can come up.
 
Why not start it from scratch instead of trying to salvage an old mix? I like lo-fi sounds a lot, but this is pushing the limits!
 
Why not start it from scratch instead of trying to salvage an old mix? I like lo-fi sounds a lot, but this is pushing the limits!

Long story short?

All of my gear was stolen several years ago. I have arthritis in my right hand now. I don't have the money to invest in new gear because I have college age kids. All the guys and gals I used to collab with are no longer on the boards.

I could go on.

How is this lo-fi? It's all digital.
 
It sounds like data compression mangled your mix pretty badly. Lots of mid-range and distortion on the high end. The second mix is better about it, but still not great.

It looks like the loudest point in the song is that thunderclap at the beginning, you probably want to turn that down so everything else can come up.

Which is why I started over with the mix. I realized I had but some sort of compression on each and every track. There was no room for anything to breath. And the thunder clap is gone.
 
The rhythm section - drums, bass and acoustic - are pretty consistent throughout. It's actually quite a good groove. When the guitars come in, there's more variation. One sounds very thin and scratchy, another is too forward. I would try and get those to blend better
 
The rhythm section - drums, bass and acoustic - are pretty consistent throughout. It's actually quite a good groove. When the guitars come in, there's more variation. One sounds very thin and scratchy, another is too forward. I would try and get those to blend better
I was having issues trying to get the distorted guitar to sit in the mix. I think I fixed it with the new session. I will be posting an update in another day or two.
 
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