Splash of Sunny Weather with Nick and Dave

Robus

Well-known member
Here's the latest song with easlern on vocals and ibleedburgundy on drums. Great job guys!

All comments welcome. Here's the starting mix. I'll work on lead and harmony vocals first, then drums and bass, then everything else. Thanks!

Latest mix:
Splash of Sunny Weather_Ray Taylor_Mix 20.mp3 - Google Drive

Splash of Sunny Weather
Words and music by Ray Taylor, 2017

He pulled up in the station
She waiting for his train
By tomorrow they’ll be halfway through today
What he lacks in brains he’s got in spades
And anyone will do
They’re the simple things that see you through
The whistle screams on the platform
Time has come at last
And they’re falling in their arms together
Soak it in like a splash of sunny weather
And drink it in
Ooh

She punching holes in the wind in her B210
Racing thunder to South Bend
It’s as good a place as any for an end
He lying low in the TV glow
Waiting for her show
The doorbell rings, they fall in together
Soak it in like a splash of sunny weather
And drink it in
Ooh

In the early morning blues
They lie in bed and think up things to lose
But there ain’t no turning back
And there ain’t much left to choose

When the highs are high
The lows are light
Halfway in-between
Is the music and the madness and the dream
He loves her and halfway versa
Spinning in the stream
Doorbell rings they fall in together
Soak it in like a splash of sunny weather
And drink it in
Ooh

The early morning blues
They lie in bed and think of things to lose
But there ain’t no turning back
And there ain’t no better news
 
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I'm hearing something of a glitch, right off the bat. At 0:08-0:11, there are very quick pauses/hiccups in the track.

I think the vocal is too up front. It isn't blending into the music well enough at this point. Not just volume, but depth/reverb-wise as well. Is there are compression on it yet? Also, the harmonies are too bold and aren't complimenting, but distracting from the main vocal.

Listening more closely, it sounds like the bass is the cause of the hiccuping sounds. Possibly. Maybe. I'm saying that based on the clear artifacts at 1:24-1:25.

The vocal seems like it's recorded very well, just the blend of it into the track isn't nearly as good as it can be. Guitars, as usual, sound fantastic. I'd move that opening snare back a bit...let it start on 3.5/4 instead of 3.75/4. It sounds too rushed, to my ears.

Looking forward to see what you do with this mix. On a side note...I preferred "bath in muddy water", lyrically. :guitar:
 
Thanks man. I'm not hearing the artifacts right now, but could be my ears are tired. I like to start loud on the vocals and work down. Figured the lead and harmony would need to come down. Yeah, there's compression. Does it sound like the right reverbs?
 
Okay thanks. There's picked bass riff right there. I was playing hard enough to bang the strings around. When I solo the bass track, there's a lot of that. I didn't think it would be noticeable or distracting.
 
Great song!
Really good lyrics. Great performances too...especially on the bass guitar and the drums. As far as the mix goes, I think it sounds really good. I will say that I was more just listening to and taking in the song than I was nit picking the mix though.
Good job on this one!
 
Sounds good Ray. Vocals sound great IMO. Nice and clear and the doubles on the accents are a nice touch. Late in the song there are some backup vocal "ahhhhs" I think it's your voice. Not sure they are adding anything.

The drums themselves sound fine. Bass drum and snare and toms are fine. Something about the overheads sounds unnatural. The cymbals and ride are very low in the mix. I am not sure but they kind of sound compressed as well, like they are pumping, but this doesn't seem like the type of application for that technique. I realize having low cymbals makes for a nice clean mix and a clear lead vocal so I don't want to take away from that, but I think they are unnaturally low as is.
 
Thanks. I agree the overheads could come up. The compressor on the drum bus is probably causing them to pump when the kick triggers it.

I'll try to get the vocals and overheads sorted and post a new mix this evening I hope--but it's a beautiful spring afternoon, so motorcycles first, music later!

BTW, anybody remember the Datsun B210? Dating myself. One of my best buds in high school had one. Come to think of it, we did quite a few buds in that car.
 
There's another hiccup at 0:10. "splash of sunny weather", in the first chorus, is pretty loud compared to the rest. 1:24 is another glitchy sound. Kick could use a little more top end click. The whole section from 2:00-2:15 has that digital-skipping/glitchy effect underlying the track. Perhaps it is the bass, as you said. It sounds similar to when there's some kind of wi-fi interference in the preamp, although I assure you it's the track as I have rewound the song a dozen times and it's clear as day in those exact spots. Plus, none of the other things I'm listening to have that interference going on. I don't know, I guess close your eyes and just listen for it; I promise it's there. :thumbs up:

Nice fill at 3:00, forgot to mention that yesterday. I didn't think the melody of the chorus was as catchy as most of your other tunes, particularly the way "sunny weather" is sung/emphasized. Just my thoughts. Great playing, all around.
 
Taras, for the life of me I'm not hearing the glitch. I have no doubt that you are hearing something, but it is escaping me. I checked everywhere that clipping could be hiding--every plugin, bus, etc. Not seeing any. There are some edits in the bass and guitar tracks, but they don't sound noticeable in the mix to me. The bass playing wasn't super clean, I'll be the first to admit. There is a fair amount of string rattling and bouncing off the frets. That's the P bass with the TI Jazz Flats. They're pretty floppy. Could you be hearing that?

Can you describe in more detail what you hear? When you say a glitch, like a digital error? Like something went awry in the rendering? Or is like a sloppy edit in a track? If so, which track or tracks? Could it be some odd compression effect? There's light compression on the master bus, and the usual stuff on the drums and vocals. No compression at all on the guitars or bass, beyond what's baked in at tracking. Reverb on the vocals and drums, no ITB effects on the guitars, keyboard, bass.

Thanks. I anyone else hearing this?

You're monitoring on headphones, right? I should try that.

STOP THE PRESS: I hear it! Yeah, okay. Now to track it down. Dude, great ears!
 
So here was the issue. The crossfade setting was wrong when it did some edits in the drum track, muting silent places in the toms and whatnot. Instead of crossfading, the volume envelope of the first clip fades to zero, then the clip right after starts at zero and comes up. All in this happens quickly, like in about 20/1000s of a second.

And it occurs in about a million places in the song! :spank: I can fix it, just going to be tedious. It's been that kind of day. Went for a motorcycle ride this afternoon. Out a hundred miles in beautiful weather, back a hundred miles in a downpour.
 
New mix in the OP. The glitch is sorted, and I learned something new about Reaper--the heal split command. :thumbs up:

Other changes:
1. More compression and lower level on lead and harmony vox.
2. Overheads up slightly.

I think it's a step forward.
 
Vocals, all around, are sounding better. A few spots are still marginally louder than others, particularly the chorus vocals. Harmonies are blended better now. There should be a high part harmony for "drink it in". I'm not hearing that glitchy sound now, so I think you got it. Though, I thought I did hear it at 0:08 still. How did that happen...did you change a setting somewhere in the crossfade? Those things don't usually change without you adjusting something, right? hmmm.

Anyways, this is big improvement over the first mix. Shaping up nicely.
 
Carelessness. I edited out the empty spaces between the tom and snare hits in order to reduce cymbal and hat bleed. I accidentally split the adjacent tracks, which were the overheads. I did not think it would matter, but in this case it did.

Reaper has two split functions: Split at cursor and split at nearest zero crossing. I've always used the latter and had I done so here, the unnecessary splits in the overheads would have been harmless. But I have been using the former more lately to save time as this option automatically adds a fade out and fade in on either side of the split... Yup. Lesson learned.

I'll check for any remaining artifacts when I do another mix today. Of the three sunny weathers, the third sounds best to me in terms of level. I'll use that as a guide to edit the other two.

Thanks!
 
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It sounds really good, overall, Robus.

A few points the bass sounds "farty" (e.g. 1:23 mark) and thin. I think the right guitar could use a little compression on it. It's a bit uneven.
Vocal sits really nicely. Very pleasing mix.
 
New mix in the OP:

1. Vocals lower still.
2. Compression on rhythm guitar blend on the right, as suggested by Nola.
3. Lead guitars on the left slightly lower.
4. Tracked down and exterminated remaining glitches, I hope.
 
I listened to both mixes. They were pretty similar, but there were things I liked better in each mix.

I liked the brighter tone on guitar on the right side in the latest mix.

I could hear the lead vocal better in the first mix. Little vocal sync issue at about 1:32 on the word "weather". Reaper stretch markers should take care of that pretty easily. Vocal tone is nice.

I thought both mixes were too heavy on the right. There is nothing on the left to properly balance the guitar on the right.

Nothing I'd change about the drums. In other mixes, I might suggest a brighter sound on the snare. But the sound works well here. Nice tight kick. Maybe raise the level of the OH's.

I liked the bass part. Moved well.
Guitars sound fine.
 
Hey 3M, thanks for taking the time to listen to both. I think the vocal levels might want to creep back up just a hair. I hear you on the guitars on the right. There are four of them actually, all blended and panned from center right to far right. I'm not sure why I stacked them up like that. It happened in the working mix. Probably I was intending to do more lead guitar work and pan that left. Anyway, no need for that now. So I'll try my usual wide-panning and see how that works.

I think I've hit the limit on the overhead levels. Any louder and the ride starts to become too dominant. Maybe I need to give it a rest and listen again with fresh ears.
 
Latest mix is nice IMO. I think the vocals sit real nicely. You dialed them back some. I would have thought they would be competing for space but somehow they are not on my system. Every word is clear.

Drums are nice and punchy. Works well for this tune.

I do hear how the right side guitars outweigh anything on the left. I am wondering if you try to balance it out would it take space from the vocals. Might not be much of a problem for anyone who has both speakers working.
 
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