Needs Mix Help

kjam22

kjam22

Member
Here's a fresh one .... called "Jesus Is The Rock". Rockin gospel blues. I played all the instruments except the honky tonk piano. Buddy of mine played that track. Lot going on in this song once it gets going. I need some good mixing advice. I already know that I need to use a dinner plate for a pop screen in a couple of places.

Pretty fun number though.

Link is http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=2124&alid=-1

Thanks guys!
 
Cool

I like the transition from lowdown noisy recording to full production!
Lots of fun this tune, even if the message is serious, why not have a bit of fun while delivering it?:D

The honky tonk piano is cool
:cool:

Keep it up:)
 
kjam,

Snappy little number! I really liked the vintage vinyl sound you created. In some respects it sounded much clearer then when everything kicked in.

I basically could hear that the drums had something weird happen to them in that they seemed to be phasing a bit on my speakers and the top end of them seemed to be sucked right out of them somehow.

The vocals were well sung and with only a bit too much verb on them compared to the rest of the mix which sounded pretty dry by comparison.

You might be able to fix up the mix by separating the instruments out a bit by panning them off here and there and adding some verb in the opposite direction of the dry pan position.

The break in-between when the intro stops and the full band kicks in seemed to be a little to long and not in time with the intro to a small degree.

Overall, a happy little tune that was well played. Work on the mix a little with fresh ears and should have something there to be very proud of.

Cheers! :)
 
Thanks guys.... I appreciate it. I do need some fresh ear right now! The pause between the old and the new... I intended that to be not "in time". I wanted a moment of hesitation. Maybe should have kept it in time?

Remixed a little tonight. I did put more high end in the drum overheads. It will take me a couple of weeks to make all the changes necessary.

Thanks for the listen and suggestions.
 
Yes, excellent 'vinyl' sound. Couple'a those crackles made my neck twitch ... or at least I hope it was the crackles ;-) !

You might be able to make even more of this 'vintage' sound by copying the vocal track and then adding some 'tape hiss' to one copy of the vocal track, and then mixing those two vocal tracks, one regular, one with added 'tape hiss', until you get even more of that 'vinyl warmth' sound. I think there is a plug-in in SoundForge to do this.

The vocal almost sounds 'to clean', like the 'vinyl effect' is riding on top of a really clean mix ... but remember, I'm listening very, very carefully, and very critically, and on really clean headphones, as I always do.

Overall the vintage vinyl sound is real cool ...

Continuing from 00:45 -

yeehaawwww !!! Yes, country-blues it seems ... honky tawnk with that piano ...

A little to much verb on the vocal, but I can understand all the words on this first listen. If you back off a bit on the verb the understandability of the words will increase a lot, and this song's message is of course very important.

When tempted to add to much verb ... because maybe you aren't getting what you want so you keep turning the reverb up ... add a little delay, just a standard 20milisecond delay to the vocal, and that will make a little reverb , go a long way ...

Drums can come down a touch in favor of the piano, the piano is a more important instrument for this 'genre' ... and it is a very interesting use of the blues ... for a little lesson in praise.

Yes, at 2:30 now, I'm hearing the piano loud and clear, and it sounds great !

But earlier, as this is a very good piano sound, bring the drums down a touch, to let those piano fills and accompaniement earlier stand out a bit.

The guitar in the walkup to take the song out is a bit overbearing. These types of 'walk it up and out endings' are familiar to the listener, therefore you don't have to use a lot of guitar, which is really driving this technique as you take the song out. What's really important I think is that the listener be left with that honky tawnk piano, it's a big hook, and big fun. Use it while ya got it.

IMHO, this honkey tonk piano is very valuable in this piece of music, guitars and fiddles are dime a dozen when you've got a 'real' honkey tonk piano player who can do it justice.
 
Thanks studio for the review.

I agree with you about the piano. I just remixed it with the piano more prominent through out. The guy is really a talent... on all styles of keyboard.

That honky tonk is a factory setting in my roland 3080 module.

The vinyl sound. That's created by dropping the needle on an LP at the end of the LP so that it just keeps on turning and poping. The guitar and vocal are done on one track and eq'd with a disproportionate amount of mids. Plugin's won't help me..... I'm recording on a Yamaha aw4416 hard disk recorder.

Thanks again. Later
 
Some little nitpicks:

I think you could nail the vox on that "vinyl" intro a little better - some pitchiness - especially on the word "soul".

I'd like to hear a lot less verb on the vox. Bring em' forward and take the fog off em'!

It sounds like you could stand to do some eq work to help everything sit together better. There is a lot happening here and it's kinda fighting for space.

Is there a bass in there? I think there is, but it's pretty non-existent.

Not crazy about the drum fills.

Overall, this has a slightly too "mechanical" sound for my taste. Part of that is because of the drums I think.

I think you should have the piano in there all the way through. Really helps the sound. And lighten up on the harshness of the piano sound a bit. Just cause it's "honky-tonk" doesn't mean you can't have ANY low end.:)

Cheers,
Chris
 
Thanks for the pointers Groucho. I really appreciate it.

I have posted a new mix using several ideas. I cut some of the vocal reverb. I bumped the piano up (although he didn't start until 8 measures into the song lyrics). I took studio's suggestions about the ending.

And I spent a lot of time on the bass. Lowered the level in the sub frequency.... and bumped it up in the low mids. Maybe it will be better. Maybe worse? Seems like it has more "tone" to it.


Anyway.... thanks for advice everybody.
 
This moves along nicely. You play very well. I like the piano too.

Vocals around 3:00 lose their oomph. I don't think I'm hearing proximity effect, but it's kinda like you backed off the mic to let loose. I just re-read the post to see if it was you singing..."dinner plate for a pop screen." LOL...I like that. So maybe that has something to do with it. You sing well though. Your voice seems pretty fitting for the swingy style of this too. Heard a little trouble with the higher notes, but I love that sort of thing some times actually. I like character. The more character in music, the better. And it's not like it was annoyingly flat or anything anyway.

I read in "another thread" that you play for quite a few people on weekends. That must be a lot of fun. I hope I get back into performing again. I miss it a lot. I like reading about other homerecers' gigs. It's always a good reminder of where the fun is at. :)

Take it easy man. Good tune.
 
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