From scratch to finished product - 7 hours. "Ocean Avenue (acoustic)"

PoeticIntensity

PoeticIntensity

MagicJones.com (is a website)
A client of mine came in this morning, and we worked on this until 5:00pm. I think it turned out okay, but I'm working on learning how to master with a multi-band compressor better. Any thoughts on the final product? Too harsh? Too compressed?

Thanks for your comments.

Ocean Avenue (acoustic version)
 
Man... People must really hate this song, or I completely screwed the mix up... 3 days, and no response? Guess it's back to the drawing board. :eek:
 
I hate that when nobody replies :D I'm sure it's nothing personal and it's definitely not a mix issue. :D Good thing you bumped this I missed it.
can feel the compressor giving this with a nice even-ing effect. It sounds good loud ! How you likin' them new drums? They sound pretty good.
 
Jason,

Nice job on this one. The drums sound great. Really like what you've done with the vocals. Nice touch with the strings. There is something odd about the acoustic guitar track. Can't tell if it's a compressor or a gate, but llisten to the note at .04. It is getting chopped off. It's a little pumpy sounding (the acoustic). The overall mix sounds great to me, considering it was a one day effort.
 
OK...if I remember correctly your a drummer right? The drums sound GREAT!!!! So Im assuming you have a pretty nice set up to be able to record live drums this nicely. Man Im with guitar zero...something about the acoustic bothers me too...to me, it could use some more "shimmer" seems a little mid rangy or boxy or sumpin like that.
As far as the song and performance...very nice.
 
Good song but the acoustics guitar sounds "processed" when it's in my L ear. It's not as big an issue when the rest of the instruments come in.
MBC just mean more things to get wrong for me.
Greg has good ears so hone in on theose freqs.
 
Thanks for the kind comments and suggestions. Sorry I haven't had the time to respond individually. Seems like the consensus is that it's a bit harsh, especially the guitar. My client wanted to mic the amp from his acoustic-electric guitar, instead of mic'ing the guitar itself. Came out horribly harsh. The EQ I put on it probably didn't help. Drums and strings were me, and the rest of the instruments were played by my client. Drums, of course, were acoustic, and I'm pretty blown away by how much the sound changes with a different kit, but then again... It's all different, so I guess that's to be expected. I really like how they sound now.

MBCs are a beast for sure. Someday I might get songs up to current gain levels without them sounding like they have a pickaxe to your ear. Thanks again for your comments. I feel like I've come far in this musical journey. A large part due to you guys. Hats off to you all (and rep, where allowed)
 
just wanted to say I dig this take on the song. And I'm proud to live on "ocean ave" in jacksonville where the band is from.. well, it's actually called Beach Blvd, but ocean ave sounds better lyrically ;)

Anyways - yeah. I was going to say before reading that the acoustic sounded like really gross direct 1/4" input into the board or something, micing the acoustic amp sounds just as equally bad. It's ashamed you didn't mic the acoustic "just to blend it in" and secretly mute the amp :)

Add a touch of low mids and bottom to the master and this song would sound much fuller - but I really dig it overall.

Remember - the client is, well the client - they're paying you for your expertise and time. If you know that micing an acoustic amp is an awful idea, say no! I mean all you would've had to do is at the most mic it, record it, play it back and say "do you hear this? do your ears not want to bleed? Let's try it my way real quick.." :)
 
Drums sound great, Jason.
On the whole it sounds a bit scooped and especially the acoustic sounds a bit thin (yeah, micing an acoustic amp is not exactly great....;)) The highs are causing you some problems with "s" sounds in the voice.
The song could use some fullness in the low mids. Basically, learning how to use a Multiband takes a lot of time but in the end you have to ask yourself if you really need it.
The few times I've tried to use it, I noticed that if you use it too drastically, the mix goes haywire....:(
Still ahgreat song though and it sounds like the tracking and the mix were done properly.
 
the download worked now so i could take a listen. for just 7hrs thats not bad, but from my view there is still a bit to do. just some suggestions:
the vocals need deessing. i would also try to compress the overheads a bit more, maybe also saturate it to tame the highs a bit. the beginning is quite wide (stereo) & then it gets narrow. i don't understand that. i think focusing that on the parts of the song could make more sense, e.g. making the chorus wide & narrow the other parts. but my biggest problem is, that the song could be structured a bit bitter - the chorus should bring more power (also mix-wise). maybe removing the doubled vox in the non-chorus parts coule be a first approach.
 
You didn't really mic an acoustic amp did you? :eek: :spank: With the vocal, the bridge was the only part when the 'power' approached normal - the chorus needs the same treatment or better. The vocalist needs to get back in there and belt that chorus out, adding a higher harmony as well to mix in. The drums, of course, sound great. Although I found myself reaching for the imaginary drum fader, just to give it some more balls.

Sorry, I missed this one when it came out - summertime I'm sketchy - I'll be back to work in a few days molding young minds :D:D:cool:.
 
Cool stuff, PI.

The intro guitar is distracting, and lacks the qualities I look for in an acoustic in an ensemble recording.

The drums sound very good. Not sure how much the plucked violins are helping, but they aren't hurting either.

Nice job on the vocals.
 
MadHatterTCM said:
just wanted to say I dig this take on the song. And I'm proud to live on "ocean ave" in jacksonville where the band is from.. well, it's actually called Beach Blvd, but ocean ave sounds better lyrically ;)

Anyways - yeah. I was going to say before reading that the acoustic sounded like really gross direct 1/4" input into the board or something, micing the acoustic amp sounds just as equally bad. It's ashamed you didn't mic the acoustic "just to blend it in" and secretly mute the amp :)

Add a touch of low mids and bottom to the master and this song would sound much fuller - but I really dig it overall.

Remember - the client is, well the client - they're paying you for your expertise and time. If you know that micing an acoustic amp is an awful idea, say no! I mean all you would've had to do is at the most mic it, record it, play it back and say "do you hear this? do your ears not want to bleed? Let's try it my way real quick.." :)
Click to expand...

Thank you for your thoughtful comments. Lesson learned... I had no idea the guitar would turn out so badly by mic'ing the amp on an acoustic-electric, but... I'll never do that again. I did fight the client a bit on that, but I should have refused... Had I known the result, I would have.

karumba said:
PI, it seems i'm a bit late, the link doesn't work anymore.
Click to expand...

Probably caught the site on a day when my Internet connection was down. Sorry 'bout that.

joeym said:
Drums sound great, Jason.
On the whole it sounds a bit scooped and especially the acoustic sounds a bit thin (yeah, micing an acoustic amp is not exactly great....;)) The highs are causing you some problems with "s" sounds in the voice.
The song could use some fullness in the low mids. Basically, learning how to use a Multiband takes a lot of time but in the end you have to ask yourself if you really need it.
The few times I've tried to use it, I noticed that if you use it too drastically, the mix goes haywire....:(
Still ahgreat song though and it sounds like the tracking and the mix were done properly.
Click to expand...

Ya know... I might just have to see how this sounds without the multiband turned on. hehe... Yeah... This client has come in before, and his vocals create the weirdest sibilance issues. I'll have to work on that some more.

karumba said:
the download worked now so i could take a listen. for just 7hrs thats not bad, but from my view there is still a bit to do. just some suggestions:
the vocals need deessing. i would also try to compress the overheads a bit more, maybe also saturate it to tame the highs a bit. the beginning is quite wide (stereo) & then it gets narrow. i don't understand that. i think focusing that on the parts of the song could make more sense, e.g. making the chorus wide & narrow the other parts. but my biggest problem is, that the song could be structured a bit bitter - the chorus should bring more power (also mix-wise). maybe removing the doubled vox in the non-chorus parts coule be a first approach.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the insights, Jan. I always appreciate your feedback. With this particular client, it's always a fight to get the product finished before he leaves for the day. Sometimes it works out well, and other times, he doesn't get a "finished" product, but he leaves happy, either way. I might just work on this a bit more for the experience. Good suggestions. Thanks!

maximusbs said:
You didn't really mic an acoustic amp did you? :eek: :spank: With the vocal, the bridge was the only part when the 'power' approached normal - the chorus needs the same treatment or better. The vocalist needs to get back in there and belt that chorus out, adding a higher harmony as well to mix in. The drums, of course, sound great. Although I found myself reaching for the imaginary drum fader, just to give it some more balls.

Sorry, I missed this one when it came out - summertime I'm sketchy - I'll be back to work in a few days molding young minds :D:D:cool:.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Brad! .... :o Yup... I mic'ed the amp :( :spank: Never again.

(these new drums sound great, don't they!? I'm lovin' em'!)
 
Supercreep said:
Cool stuff, PI.

The intro guitar is distracting, and lacks the qualities I look for in an acoustic in an ensemble recording.

The drums sound very good. Not sure how much the plucked violins are helping, but they aren't hurting either.

Nice job on the vocals.
Click to expand...

Thanks, SC! I'm probably going end up playing that guitar part myself and mic the acoustic properly.
 
New mix with a few differences... I'm still not sure if it's an improvement or not.. I made the changes while I was very tired... Hopefully that guitar is tamed a bit.

Mix 2 (same link as in first post, just updated)
 
The intro guitar is quite bright - I'd eq that down a bit but that's just my personal preference. I think this mix is better than mix A. MBC's are a challenge!
 
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