Redux of an older amateurly recorded track

RecordingMaster

RecordingMaster

A Sarcastic Statement
When I was in this cover band back in about 2006, we wanted some originals too as we were making a demo when I used to live with my parents. I had already recorded the drums and guitars before the band got together so I was like "record a guitar solo, bass track and vocal track and here's a song"! And off we wnt. Recording everything through crappy mini mixer into the 1/8" mic jack on my pc with stock sound card in Cool Edit Pro 2.0 with crappy radio shack mics. The demo sounded great to me at the time but I had no idea what to do. I just mixed the volume levels and panned and that was IT! We had NO idea what we were doing. The hardest challenge was that the drums were all on one stereo track. So see my notes below the track of what I did.

So years later now that I "somewhat" know what I am doing and have a better understanding and better rig, I decided to challenge myself and see how good of a mix I could make out of chick sh*t. I gave myself the rule that I was not allowed to ADD anything extra that wasn't already pre-recorded.

Original recording chain notes below as well as notes on how I mixed it. Here's the result:
https://soundcloud.com/dieseldungeonstudio/sure-2014-redux-brighton

Original Recording Chain (A.F.A.I.R.):

Drums (played by me): Untreated drywall basement room with carpet on floor > Yamaha Stage Custom > entry-level CAD drum mic pack (close mics and 2 oh's in X-Y) > Behringer Eurorack MX2004 Mixer > L/R main out to 1/8" line in jack on PC with stock sound card > Cool Edit Pro 2.0

Rhythm Guitars (played by me): Strat(?) into Fender Tube Combo Amp > Entry-level Shure vocal mic > Behringer Eurorack MX2004 > L/R main out to 1/8" line in jack on PC with stock sound card > Cool Edit Pro 2.0

Guitar Solo: Gibson Les Paul > Marshall Tube Combo Amp > Entry-level Shure vocal mic > Behringer Eurorack MX2004 Mixer > L/R main out to 1/8" line in jack on PC with stock sound card > Cool Edit Pro 2.0

Lead Vocals: Untreated bedroom of my singer > Crappy Radio Shack mic > Behringer Mini Mixer > L/R main out to 1/8" line in jack on his PC with stock sound card > Cool Edit Pro 2.0

Backing Vox (sung be me): Entry-level Shure Vocal Mic > Behringer Eurorack MX2004 Mixer > L/R main out to 1/8" line in jack on PC with stock sound card > Cool Edit Pro 2.0

Bass: Entry level bass guitar played by my old bassist in his room, DI into Behringer Mini Mixer > main out to 1/8" line in jack on his PC with stock sound card > Cool Edit Pro 2.0


2014 Redux Mix Notes:

Master Bus: Slate RC-Tube Virtual Console across all inputs and Master Bus, SSL Style Master Bus Comp plug (avg -1 db GR), Fairchild Comp emu plug with no GR just for character, Pultec EQ emu plug for low end 30 hz +2 db Boost, Clariphonic for top end
PHAT Paralell Bus: 1176 all buttons in, Decapitator
SNAP Parallel Bus: DBX 165 style comp, SPL Transient Designer
SAUCE bus: Lexicon PCM Plate Plugin
ROOM Bus: Lexicon PCM Room Plugin
HALL Bus: Lexicon PCM Hall Plugin
CHORUS Bus: Plug & Mix 'Dimension D'
1/4 DELAY Bus: Nomad 'Echoes'
VOCAL SLAP Bus: Echoboy
Guitars Bus: API style eq plug, Kramper MPX
Backing Vox Bus: Kramer MPX

Drums:
Main stereo drum track > ART Pro VLA II Comp to chop off large snare and kick transients and smooth out the overall signal to be more of an "overhead" type track, Neve style eq comp, send to PHAT bus and SAUCE Bus
Copy of isolated snare hits > Slate Trigger, Neve style EQ, URS Saturation '1951 Pre-amp', send to SNAP bus and PHAT bus
Copy of isolated kick hits > Slate Trigger, Neve style EQ, send to SNAP bus and PHAT bus

Bass: DUY Dad Tape, Neve Style EQ, 1176, SSL Twin Tube, URS Saturation

Rhythm Guitars: CLA Guitars, slight ducking on snare hits with Dyn 3 Comp in Sidechain mode, send to ROOM Bus

Chorus Rhythm Guitars: CLA Guitars, Neve Style EQ, slight ducking on snare hits with Dyn 3 Comp in Sidechain mode, send to CHORUS Bus

Guitar Solo: Re-amped through GAP Pre-73 Pre-Amp, Dyn 3 De-Esser, Neve Style EQ, DUY DaD Tape, send to ROOM, SAUCE, CHORUS and 1/4 DELAY Busses

Telephone Vox: Re-amped through GAP Pre 73 Pre-amp, Anteres De-esser, Dyn 3 EQ (for phone eq), 1176, LA-2A, Kramer MPX, send to CLA Distortion bus and Vocal Slap Bus

Lead Vox: Re-amped through GAP Pre 73 Pre-amp, Anteres De-esser, Neve Style EQ, 1176, LA-2A, Kramer MPX, send to ROOM Bus, CHORUS Bus, vocal slap (verses and prechorus), 1/4 DELAY (in chorus)

Chorus Double Lead Vox: Same inserts as above, Antares "Double" panned hard L/R, send to 1/4 DELAY and ROOM Bus

Backing Vox: API Style EQ, 1176, LA2A, slight ducking on snare hits with Dyn 3 Comp in Sidechain mode, send to CHORUS, HALL and 1/4 DELAY busses during choruses

"Mastering:" Refined settings on the Master bus plugins > Slate FG-X, beginning and end trimmed up in Adobe Audition CS 5.5
 
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I thought this was pretty good. I liked the crunch guitar sound. I like the vocal sound. Drums sound nice - but they get covered up in the chorus. Kick might be a little loud relative to the rest of the kit.

The BGV's in the chorus kind of take over everything. They're a bit on the cloudy side.

The lead vocal seems a little soft after the first verse. It's fine in the first verse, but after that, it seems a little low in the mix.

Overall I thought this was pretty good.
 
Sounds ok to me. I'm happy with drum levels. But I'd like to hear more bass.

However, what I really want to hear is the original, so that I can see the extent of imrpovement.
 
Thanks.

There is a big difference!


The original is duller, the new is vastly more punchier and brighter overall.

My comment about wanting more bass still stands.

I think I prefer the lead vocal sound of the first, but other than that, the second is reveals what a difference a remix can do.
 
Yep, you've made it louder and punchier but I don't like what you've done to the vocal much.
The bass has a nice growl but no thump & the kick drum has no thud.
The brightness was a little wearing after a minute or so.
Nice revival of the tune though.
 
I think the original mix sounds way better. Especially the drums sound way more natural. Could use some slight HF boost though.
I really don't know what people like about that unnatural overproduced sound. I thought the remix was very fatiguing and, to me at least, kind of annoying sounding
:E
I'm just honest, that's what i feel
 
The drums and instruments were too loud. It is a mistake to add too much as your ears get accustomed to louder and before you know it you have reach 99% volume saturation for each instrument. The old version is good just a touch of eq and reverb and touch gain should be sufficient I would think
 
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