Remix: Light Em Up with Nick and Dave

R

Robus

Well-known member
I posted an early mix last summer. I retracked most of the guitars. Still working on the blend and levels, guitars especially. All comments welcome.

The vocals are Nick (easlern). Drums are Dave (ibleedburgundy). This is a track from the upcoming album of our soon-to-be-titled collaboration. ;)

New Mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqJIqBR8uJeaTN0MUFhXy1yNG8/view?usp=sharing

Light ‘em Up
Words and music by Ray Taylor, 2016

Fifteen minutes till the break of dawn
All your boys have come and gone
In the highlights, low lights
Street lights, cop lights
Stains and pains and false alarms
I saw your tail lights leaving town
Another lesson I have found

You turn round and you walk again
Ruins of the Northside and Southside pain
And your thoughts go back to the last night’s gain
And price you fetched and the price you paid
Old rings and such
They don’t count for very much

Light ‘em up, close ‘em round
Light a fire in this town
You don’t me to bring you down
Ride ‘em in, site ‘em in
Let the signs of life kick in
I’ll bet your singing in the wind

They say old hookers and old soldiers
We just fade to yesterday
A rough trade in the balance
For the promises we made
May you always find a harbor
And a wood to park your still
To dwell on your reflections
As we all most surely will

Light ‘em up, close ‘em round
Light a fire in this town
You don’t me to bring you down
Ride ‘em in, sight ‘em in
Let the signs of life kick in
I’ll bet you’re singing in the wind
 
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Interesting guitar arrangement, nice tones too. Clean and bitey at the same time. during the intro, it seemed like there was a quick point where they weren't really synced, but that's a nit-pick.

I like when the second guitar comes in halfway through the verses, nice. Sounds like all strats on this?

Drum mix sounded good to me too.

At times it seemed the background vocals could have been a little louder, but at other times they were fine.

I almost wanted one more soft chord at the very end on the "A", but sometimes it's cool to end on the "4". I do it too sometimes.

Nice work, man. I listened to it like 4 times. :thumbs up:
 
Thanks man. The two lead guitars are a Tele through my 15 watt Trace Elliot Velocette and an SG though a Mesa V:25 head into an open backed cab. I've forgotten just what that rhythm guitar on the right is. Could be a Strat.
 
The vocal sounds a little out of place (is it a "room" reverb?). I think you can get away with a larger reverb on it.
Otherwise the mix sounds good, Robus.

Performance wise I like it, but during the verses, the vocalist sounds like they're feeling out a melody instead of singing something well-known and concrete. During the chorus he sounds more assured and concrete with the melody.
 
More great sounding clean-ish guitars. You really do that well.

A very nice sounding vocal. A word here and there gets covered up. But not bad.

Otherwise the balance on things is great.

Bass sounds nice - no low end issues.

Drums sound terrific. Did I hear a couple of double snare hits near the beginning?
 
I think this sounds really good. Nice and bright with no muddiness. Very good song too. Lyrics are well written.
great job guys!
 
I don't hear any issue with the vocals sounding out of place, quite contrary..I thought they sounded well fit to the instruments. Sounds like a small studio, to me. Very crisp mix, lots of nice airy highs and low, fat bottom end. I like it. A lot.

Only nitpicks are the timing issues in the intro, I think Johnny mentioned it too. Can you fix it still? Vocals do get buried in spots, maybe comb over those again and seek it out. There's a few lines where everything is going and Nick drowns out quite a bit.

One last thing, I would really, really suggest throwing one more guitar into the end on the left. The fadeout with only the R guitar playing is a lopsided ending. Can you put one in, just even for the final chord if the arrangement doesn't leave room for it otherwise?

Great work guys. Excellent performances all around.

edit: I'd automate Dave's snare roll at the end of the bridge for another couple db's, it's rather quiet.
 
Thanks. I could pan that Strat sounding guitar at the very end inward a bit, but I kind of like the way the song trails off until it's just one guitar playing those ringing chords in the right hand speaker.

I do agree about the timing issue on the intro. I can fix that with a quick edit or punch in. The lead guitars generally were a pain in the ass on this song. I've got them in pairs pretty much everywhere that you hear them, playing lines that are somewhere between harmonizing and doubling. In any given passage, one the two lead guitars is louder and closer to center, the other softer and panned far out in the opposite direction. Tracking, editing, and blending them has been time consuming, and I'm not done yet.

While we are on the subject of lead guitars, anybody notice that the the apparent stereo position of the dominant lead guitar is in a different place pretty much every time a new lead comes in? That wasn't a premeditated choice, but just the result of trying to find a place to put the lead in what is really a pretty complicated arrangement, with lots of parts coming in and dropping out at different points. So where the dominant lead guitar sits is--wherever I found space for it at that point in the song. If nobody noticed, that's good!

Definitely still some work to do on leveling the lead vocal. The overall volume of the vocal is lower than before. I've gone for a bit more of a guitar heavy mix than the one I posted last summer. Lowering the vocal relative to the instruments has brought out some issues with words dropping out that I wasn't hearing when the vocal for more out front.
 
Good sounding song and mix. The guitar playing and tones sound very good to me, there's times early in the song where the guitars seem to poke out too much and other times I wish they would be louder. Are the guitar tracks automated at all? Rhythm section sounds good-could even come up in general-same with the vocals, sounds like a good vocal and good melody it could be a touch more on top imo. Sounding fine as is though, the song is coming across without the mix getting in the way. Enjoyed the listen!
 
Not automated. Each solo break is on a separate track, so I just adjust the levels of those tracks. I prefer that approach to automation for guitars and vocals.
 
New mix in the OP. I did a lot of tidying up on drums and guitars. New EQ and compression on the kick and snare.

Anyone care to try mastering it?
 
Real good mix going now, Ray. Vocals sounds absolutely great. Really crisp snare, when it needs to be anyways. There's some sections it has more top end, and it sounds great with the variety there. Good energy prior to the bridge. That part came out really good. Perhaps "almost surely well" could use gain automation to come down another .5 or 1 db. I think the word "almost" pops out a little too much. I sometimes get lazy and automate the whole phrase and then realize one word in there didn't need to be taken up.

I still think that third guitar stroke at the very end comes off awkwardly on the R side. It's just so much louder than the L that it almost negates the powerful ending. Just my opinion, I know others didn't comment on that.

I'd love to make a fool of myself and do some master bus stuff to it, even if you don't end up using it for anything other than a frown or laugh. :) Wanna send me the wav? No worries if not.
 
Cool. Let me have a quick look at that vocal line you mentioned this evening, then send you a wav. That line is one of a couple of spots where I had Nick do a punch-in. I went and changed the melody line on him, long after he recorded the original vocal. He was a good sport about it! I worked on the EQ and compression to get those punch-ins to blend, and think I'm 90% there. Looks like I need to give it one more polish to get that last 10%. Melodically, it was a big improvement.
 
Really good mix now, Robus. Sounds less muddy overall, snare sounds great now. The mix has a pleasing brightness, not the harsh type. Vocal could use a slight bump ~1db when the music is playing (quiet part it's sitting right).
 
I listened to the new mix. I thought the first mix was good. And I thought this one was good too. Nice song - nice melody - nice chorus.
 
Listening again. Really like this, sounds great! What are the settings on the de-esser? Attack and release?

edit: do I remember you saying you automate instead of de-ess?
 
No de-esser. I go through the vocal track and manually lower the level of those problem consonants.
 
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