Bottoms Up - Cover

NotThatBright said:
This is essentially a live recording, right? You had 14 mics around them capturing it?
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That was the intent. I was setting up to eventually go out and record live music. Everything was close mic'ed and the vocals were split before the board.
 
Sounds a little muffled and reverbish/echoish to me. Maybe that's unavoidable with all those different loud sounds in a room at once. Still sounds pretty good.
 
NotThatBright said:
Sounds a little muffled and reverbish/echoish to me. Maybe that's unavoidable with all those different loud sounds in a room at once. Still sounds pretty good.
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That is good feedback. I have about 15% reverb on the mix as I had it pretty dry and was trying to put some room back into the mix. I will pull the reverb back. I am surprised that it can be heard.

Muffled, I think I can clear that up with changing some EQ settings. Other than slight reverb (I thought slight) EQ and compression is all that was used to treat the sound. I will work on the mud.

Thanks for the feedback.
 
Bass is almost entirely covering up the acoustic guitar, which is a shame - it's too loud and wild. I like the backing vocals a lot, just the main vocals need to be a bit more upfront with some more air.
 
Sounds like it was recorded in a box. Are you going for a roomy sounding recording, like it was played in an empty bar? That's what it sounds like to me. Sounds like one mic in the back of an empty room while the band played on. Or do you want a studio quality recording done live? There is a difference. It just depends on what you're actually going for.
 
Greg_L said:
Sounds like it was recorded in a box. Are you going for a roomy sounding recording, like it was played in an empty bar? That's what it sounds like to me. Sounds like one mic in the back of an empty room while the band played on. Or do you want a studio quality recording done live? There is a difference. It just depends on what you're actually going for.
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On this recording, probably more of a studio live version. But I approached it like I would with a live set up. Eventually I want the live parts incorporated and took that approach.

Right now just taking all of the various tracks and getting it to sit right, understand how to work with the various mic'd tracks (getting the bass track right, drum kit mixed and grouped correctly), understanding the drum mix and then eventually work on getting the highest quality mix in a live setting as possible. That is my objective. Wanted to get out of a controlled recording environment and capture live music.

So, I don't want it to sound like a box for sure, but a bit bigger space.
 
DM60 said:
On this recording, probably more of a studio live version.
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Okay, so "live" like they played together in the same session, but not "live" you're in a club somewhere. Then I think you should treat it like it was done in the studio. You've got multi-tracks, right? Make it sound that way. Give it some spread with panning....not with reverb. The thing that really hurts this mix IMO is that it sounds live, but live like the band is far away in a big empty room.
 
Rhythm guitar desperately needs definition and there's a whole bunch of eq I'd do on other stuff, but it's hard to specify without having my hands on the controls. Most likely I'd try to clean up the kick and bass. Both seem to be adding to the mud.

I'd remove any shorter reverbs or delays. Or maybe I'm hearing the room. Either way the reverb is not too nice. Maybe add a medium/long reverb to open it up, but not too high in the mix. A plate might sound nice.
 
Greg_L said:
Okay, so "live" like they played together in the same session, but not "live" you're in a club somewhere. Then I think you should treat it like it was done in the studio. You've got multi-tracks, right? Make it sound that way. Give it some spread with panning....not with reverb. The thing that really hurts this mix IMO is that it sounds live, but live like the band is far away in a big empty room.
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OK, I thought I used panning, but maybe not enough. I probably should lower the room mics to keep more of the room out (there were meant for the background singers, but they didn't sing that often). Remove reverb. I will rework with the main tracks and get the room out and remove the reverb.

Thanks, this is the information I was looking for. Helps a lot.
 
DM60, I'd be interested to hear how much of that ambience was added and how much is the room.
Would you be interested in posting a dry mix for comparison?

I agree about the rhythm guitar. It need to cut through a bit more.
 
Steen, I think my reverb was causing more issues even at like 15% than I realized. I am taking that totally out and working on just a straight mix. No Verb, remove room mics (except overheads), just mics that have vocals or instrument. First post has the second remix.
 
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I listened to mix #2. But I only got the first 35 seconds. I didn't get to the point where it was probably going to kick in. Was there some sort of rendering error?

Anyway, I thought it was decent. The guitars were a little out of balance - the guitar on the right was louder than the guitar on the left.

The lead vocal gets covered up a bit here and there.

I can't comment on much more.
 
I listened earlier but came back. Mix 2, as with TripM, I'm only getting 35 secs?

Stand out thing for me is the noise on the Rhythm/Acoustic guitar. Like a crackly, rattly, sounding under the saddle pickup? Maybe? I don't know for sure but I'm not a fan of an Acoustic through an amp anyway so it can be taken with a pinch of salt.

I'll come back when you have the full mix up :thumbs up:
 
My apologies all, I grabbed the wrong file. Correct one has been uploaded to the first post.
 
Mr Clean said:
I listened earlier but came back. Mix 2, as with TripM, I'm only getting 35 secs?

Stand out thing for me is the noise on the Rhythm/Acoustic guitar. Like a crackly, rattly, sounding under the saddle pickup? Maybe? I don't know for sure but I'm not a fan of an Acoustic through an amp anyway so it can be taken with a pinch of salt.

I'll come back when you have the full mix up :thumbs up:
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I tried to mic the acoustic, but I used an SM57 and it picked up too much room. Next time I go I will bring my AKG 170, should do a better job. I am like you, I didn't like the sound and it was funky. I told him if he was going to use that he needed to get his guitar worked on. But, the sound without it had too much missing. So, I used it.
 
Anyone have any further comments? Since this is my first full live recording and mixing, I really would like as much input on this as possible. First post has the second mix. The performance can not be fixed and I am using this (and others) recording to help the band know where they weaknesses.

For me, just looking to tune my ears on areas where I can mix these live tracks better. Even if you say they sound good, that is for me feedback.

Thanks in advance for listening.
 
I think the vocalist needs some gentle auto tune to start with. Not so much it sounds like a hip hop song lol, but enough to make it more consistent since you're not comping vocals and it's probably 1 take.

2nd the drums need a lot of work. They sound like they are way in the back and need some power. I barley hear the bass. Now and then the toms come powering in and it's much louder than the rest of the kit. You have this bright acoustic to the left and then an electric on the right that isn't as bright or loud. Think about trying to get everything at an equal sound level and then go from there. Maybe something needs some EQ cuts or boosts. I normally start by panning and then getting it all at the same level. Then EQ what needs EQ to make it fit better and so on.
 
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