Rock project final mixes

[TexRoadkill]

We just got the mixes back from a fairly well known mixing engineer and I think he did a pretty good job. My main CD player and computer both died yesterday so I haven't had a chance to listen to them with a sub so let me know what you think of the low end. I'm thinking it's a touch heavy so we'll probably have to get that tightened up in mastering.

The first song is Roundabout and I posted a rough mix before. We've since doubled the track count with more guitars and added percussion. We also retracked the lead guitar because of intonation issues. I liked the urgency of the older guitar tracks but the intonation on this one is better. Overall I like the way the groove came out.

The second song, Vitality, seems to be the favorite of some of the major parties involved but to be honest I like it the least, lol. Go figure.

Let me know what you think.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/texroadkill/singles

Roundabout
Vitality

[sloop]

Roundabout, This is nice--maybe a little overcompressed. I like more dynamics, but this is (sadly) more realistic of what is being produced today.

The producers have made the decision that loud is good and louder is better so they squeeze everything tight and make it all loud.

[elephant]

sounds top notch

love the chorus

am listening on 'puter satellites with a sub
seams to be too much middle and not enough brightness

gtr solo is great

top notch!

[FattMusiek]

The sound quality is undeniable. This are excellent recordings Tex. The verse in Roundabout sounds commercial. Specifically, the drums and guitars sound great. The band is also very good. Basically, I would say this is a recipe for a good song.

Great job!

[Outlaws]

Is that your band Tex or did you just produce it?

Its good. I like the panning of the guitar after the intro.

[Wireneck]

sounds like you did a fine job tracking. The band isn't that bad either. Not really my style but it has a nice polished sound to it. Good work man

[Laynestaley]

I listened to Vitality. Sounds real good. The harmonies are nice. The only thing I could think of is that I'd like the bass the be a little brighter, it sounds a little muddy to me. But I'm just nitpicking now and listening on cans..

[Scott Tansley]

Only listened to Roundabout. Really like it. Good mix, really good playing too. Well done.

[M.Brane]

IMHO the bottom is not bad. Maybe a bit hot overall. That could be a result of the dynamics though. My VU meters spent most of their time near 0 or above, and never went to the peak or much below -5.

Don't care much for the snare sound. Needs more "crack", though it does work better on "Vitality".

Overall it sounds good. If I heard this on the radio I wouldn't give the mix a second thought. That could be good or bad depending on what you're shooting for.

[CanopuS]

Sounds really great

You know what I'm gonna ask

What mics/preamps etc

[chrisharris]

the intro guitar got fixed...cool.

You're gonna' hate me for this, but I think I liked your mix of roundabout better...gits seemed bigger. This is more bass driven, ... nothing wrong with it at all...totally appropriate, and probably more 'RIGHT,' lol. Anyway, nice job. The other tune's well done, too. Honestly, these were pretty casual listens on my part, which is why I'm mostly just patting you on the back, lol.

[smellyfuzz]

LOT OF DEPTH!!!!


A definite improvement from the last cut, which I liked very much.

This mix I find much sweeter, defiantly has more clarity, far more space and like I mentioned more depth.

Overall, FANTANTIC engineering job.

5 stars for song and production.

[TexRoadkill]

Thanks for listening everyone. I've been going through a love/hate relationship with these tunes and I had to give it a break. I wish the mixes had a bit more high end on them and I'm hoping mastering can fix that up. It's always weird having somebody else mix your recordings.

Now I'm jonesing for some better pres and a distressor so I can get a bit more of the sound I'm going for. Anyone want to 'invest' $5K?

[o0Charlie0o]

I'm going to agree with your initial thought of the bass might be a little to much... I have an 8 inch sub on my system and the bass easily drowns out a lot of the song. I can still here everything fine and the mix sounds great, but i think the bottom end should be tightened up a little.

[lynx]

Great stuff! Checked out both tunes, top-notch all the way round.

[Recording Engineer]

A very nice produced, but not over-produced recording in my opinion... I liked "Roundabout".

I find the low-end and high-end fine... And pro mastering will help with making sure it's overly-bright or bass-heavy only if the listener's system is as such.

I agree that the snare could have been tighter... It's the first thing I noticed, but nothing that bothered me what-so-ever.

The lead vocal sound on this is less than desirable for my taste, but listen to how much tightness, warmth, depth, and space all the instruments have individually and how they all come together as one and accommodate each other; and I'm just talking from a recording perspective!

The songwriting and playing was certainly exceptional too though!

I've got a little feeling that this maybe was done on analog tape? I very-well may be wrong. And very cool if I am! Seriously just a wildly guessing...

[Toki987]

' damn nice package. I like the smooth on the 1st one. the guitars are thick and solid and with no mud. Everything in it`s own space. The kit sounds together and holdin hands with the bass. 'drummer had a teeny cramp in that first expression but passes well. Vocals sittin in the pocket nice. 2nd tune, good instr't balance and vocals riding out front nicely. Mix not quite as spread wide to me as the 1st, guitar a little thinner. The kit had a slightly different up front sound, mainly on the ridin toms, but both sounded good to these old ears.

[TexRoadkill]

Thanks again everyone.

RE - That was recorded on my Radar 24 Nyquist which everyone says is about as close to 2" as you can get with a digital system. The mixdown was actually done through PT into an Otari board for all processing and summing. I wish he could have used a Radar for the mixdown but he likes PT and they band was on a tight budget. The mix was done up in Seattle otherwise I would have just brought mine in.

The drums were recorded with just 2 OH's (C1 and MXL V93) and a kick (ATM25) and snare mic (57 underneath). He copy/pasted the toms from the OH tracks and put them on their own tracks for 2 ch of tom tracks EQ'd to taste. Then he used the snare track to trigger a gated copy of one of the OH tracks EQ'd for the snare.

I thought my original drum tracks were pretty decent sounding and he didn't really change the sound considerably but he was able to make them a bit tighter and upfront and it did help the fills cut through. When I heard what he was doing I was afraid they would end up sounding too processed but he did it pretty tastefully.

[Middleman]

I think Tex and Sluice should be banned from this board for making stuff too good.

This sets a new bar here at HR in my opinion. Excellent tracks. I really like the 2nd song for creative vision. The first one is commercial but the 2nd passionate. Very good stuff.

[Recording Engineer]

Nice to know it wasn't 2"!!! But damn, you've got the best of the digital realm right now with you Radar 24 Nyquist, in my opinion!

And WOW! That's 4 mics on the drums? Man... I never get enough tom volume and/or definition when I mic up a kit with 4 mics. Then again, most of these "drummers" I get in my studio... As we all know, it starts with the playing!

Talk about inspiring! Guess what I'll be doing for the next month... A LOT of drum miking experiments!

By the way... The bass guitar... Tell me about it?

[chrisharris]

Hey Travis...that drummer hits a fuckload of crashes in Roundabout. It's panned pretty hard left to, so it sticks out more.

This has nothing to do with the thread, really...just, if you ever record them again, lol...you might mention to him that not EVERY downbeat requires a crash.

Carry on!!

[packratlouie]

maybe he wanted those crashes there to add a certain "mark". Thats the problem with most people, always gotta follow the books and do what everyone else does. Which is why most music nowadays has hit a low. I am a drummer and myself, i would not have hit so many crashes, simply because it was not my style. I definitely noticed this, but I thought it moved the song along quite nicely.

[Douhgy]

I really like the intro guitar riff on the first song. Nicely done. The shakers add a lot to the chorus. It's funny how much a little tiny shaker can solidify a mix. I think the triangle on the chorus is a little to present. Sounds good man.

[TexRoadkill]

MM- Thanks man.

RE- I can't remember what the bass was. Some type of Pbass but not fender. It was pretty nice and the bass player was damn good. As I recall he had an Ampeg head and a 4x10 cab. I miced the cab with a Senn E602 the same mic used on kick. He liked a very clean deep bass tone and it was a bitch to mix on my NS10s and crappy room. It was a big part of the reason we were forced to go to a real studio for mixing. In retrospect I wish we had just gone direct. The ME was also bitching about some of the tonal dropouts caused by the cab. In the end I think it sounds good but it probably could have been better. It does have an interesting tone the way it excites the sub in an almost synth bass type of way.

Chris and PRL - The drummer's enthusiasm for fills was a cause of some controversy throughout the session. He is a good drummer but it's the typical individual part vs the song as a whole issue.

Doughy - Thanks. Roundabout was probably the most produced of the songs. We really added a lot of little touches to try and fill it out. It's funny how the percussion really pops out in different monitoring situations. I'm curious to see how the final mastering affects that. I played a little bit of 'porn guitar' as a percussion instrument in the verses also. It's just a palm mute with some wah pedal for a bit of 'whacka whacka' but it added a cool texture.

[TexRoadkill]

Originally posted by CanopuS
Sounds really great

You know what I'm gonna ask

What mics/preamps etc

Sorry dude, just noticed the question. Everything was done through a Soundcraft Ghost. Most of the electrics were a C1. Vox was an MXL V93. Drums were both of those plus a 57 on snare and a Senn E602 on kick. Perc was a Behringer ECM8000.