New tracks laid down w/ new band

Man them overheads are wide. They sound good. But you could probably bring them in. The snare is kind of thuddy. Drummer has a nice groove.

Lead-ish guitar on the left sounds terrific. Bass sounds terrific.

Love the vocals. What effects do you have on them? They sound interesting. And no more singing down a paper towel tube.

And what effects do you have on that weird distorted unintelligible vocal that pans back and forth? That was cool.

I wasn't a big fan of the synth stuff. It was a little too polished. I'd like the song to be a little more raw and rough. Another guitar in its place would be better IMO.
 
TripleM said:
Man them overheads are wide. They sound good. But you could probably bring them in. The snare is kind of thuddy. Drummer has a nice groove.

Lead-ish guitar on the left sounds terrific. Bass sounds terrific.

Love the vocals. What effects do you have on them? They sound interesting. And no more singing down a paper towel tube.

And what effects do you have on that weird distorted unintelligible vocal that pans back and forth? That was cool.

I wasn't a big fan of the synth stuff. It was a little too polished. I'd like the song to be a little more raw and rough. Another guitar in its place would be better IMO.
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God I adore your ears and that strange connect w/ your brain. Spot on, Steve.

Recording live is well ... fucking live. I don't get to play w/ the snare sound ... it's the snare!!!

I will say that we swapped out the snare because the first pass sounded like farts through underwear in the snap. Yes. It was that bad.

I have to say that dealing with real performers ... even friends I've known for 40 years ... comes with singular challenges. You deal w/ what comes through the mics. I'm okay w/ that. I've got great musicians across a range of experience in our band. Some are really experienced, some are clueless ... but I view this as a kindergarten social project: "We're not going to be famous, so why not just have fun?"

So ... for the first time in many, many, many years ... I'm taking all the shit you and everyone else here taught me so many years ago ... and I'm applying it to a real life, in real time, with real people ... situation. I'm having a blast doing it.

We went out this last summer ... and got great gigs ... sounding like a hot mess ... but that's live.

So I brought the band into the studio this cold weather season ... to figure out who the fuck "Who We Are" is. (WWA is name of band).

This is our first track together.

I stood all the vocalists around a tube mic in omni mode and let them have at it. One of the singers was really harsh ... he's singing at the top of his range, and so I had him step back several states ... and STILL he harshed through the recording of the vocal. The one who's "standing out"? That's him.

So I tamed his harsh via EQ ... rolling off the top of everything ... because ... you know ... the vocals aren't the centerpiece of this tune. The drums and the bass are.

... therefore ... the rest of the mix slaves to the features of the mix ... and the harsh gets tamed so the instruments can poke through.

I didn't sing on most of the vocals ... but I did do the distorted vocal ... and the "Hey!"

I eq'd that part into a "Telephone Vocal" ... added a Leslie effect, crafted a panning envelope to take it back and forth appropriately, and buried it as ear candy. The arrangement repeats later in the synth section in the last verse ... just as a synth v. vocal.

More will follow ... but this is my new band ... and we actually sound like it live. :D
 
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The done of the piece is pretty much there ... morning tweaks coming following tired ears ... but all the parts are in place.

My band is awesome.
 
Trip -- I also pulled in the overheads ... great thought. I worked to tighten the overall sound. Drums are still "big" ... but they're better centered and focused.
 
K-dub said:
Still a couple more parts to track until done ... but going for a live sound.
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You've definitely got that live sound, maybe too much of it. I would ease off the reverb on the drums. That hihat is overbearing. If it's on its own mic turn it down and bring it closer to center. If that's the overheads, well I was going to suggest turning those down as well. Perhaps filter out some of the grungier tones in the hihat/cymbals. I feel like the kick needs some clarity to keep it from getting lost under all that hihat etc.

[Edit] Can't seem to get to Soundcloud to hear the newer version.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
You've definitely got that live sound, maybe too much of it. I would ease off the reverb on the drums. That hihat is overbearing. If it's on its own mic turn it down and bring it closer to center. If that's the overheads, well I was going to suggest turning those down as well. Perhaps filter out some of the grungier tones in the hihat/cymbals. I feel like the kick needs some clarity to keep it from getting lost under all that hihat etc.

[Edit] Can't seem to get to Soundcloud to hear the newer version.
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Thanks guy!

My guess is that it is the internet meltdown on certain sites today that's causing the trouble. I'm having issues getting into Netflix also ...

Good points all around. The HH is a bit loud in the bleed ... and as I mentioned to Trip (above) ... I'd already narrowed the sonic field and pulled it back in the mix. I actually have the reverb automated ... because my guitarist (also a recording guy) wanted the fills in the middle to be w/o reverb at all ... and at the end, where the vamp out is, he wanted it pulled way back. It's only in the meat of the song where the reverb appears now.

Thanks for the thoughts ... I'll be playing with nuances from here.
 
JUST got in to Netflix btw ... so perhaps it works now?

I think they've got the hack sorted out.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
That's definitely better. I still get the urge to de-harsh the overheads but otherwise it sounds pretty good.
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I'd worked so long by myself w/ my own in studio ... during the years my kids were growing up ... that I had to come to trust the good ears of folks from here ... who would tell me this and that about the work I was doing.

Last night was the first night I got to work alongside my guitarist ... a fellow recording guy ... and we had wow synergy.

Plus ... I was able to tap his ears. I had actual ears helping me right where I was working!!!

A new day is born.

... and I'm a happy dude.
 
Couple of things you could do on the 2-buss (I did a mock-up just to see)

In order ...
EQ --> High Pass below 38hz (steep), then boost 64hz like 3-4db using a Q of 1 or even a little less (depending on how much deep bass you like - I like a lot, so I went with 4db). Cut 225hz 1.5db with a narrowish Q. Really broad boost at 4.3khz by 2.5db - let is span several octaves. I think even just these small EQ moves will make a marked improvement.

M/S EQ --> high pass everything below 100hz on the side channel. There's also some build up around 70hz in the sides. Then narrow cut of 2db at 5khz to tame the grit in the ride/hats (side channel again).

Multiband compression - try 100ms attack and auto release, ratio of 2:1. adjust the threshold for no more than 0.5 to 1db of gain reduction in the mid band. Set all the thresholds the same as it seems to work for this track. Set the low cut off to 160hz, and the mid cut off to 3.5khz. This will just help the limiter not distort the lows, and it took care of some low-mid build-up.

I found these little tweaks cleaned up the mix nicely. Can't quite explain why, but the guitars get beefier, bass gets deeper without being overpowering, everything gets just a tad more clarity and the mix feels more separated. Hope it helps :)

Here's a shot of the EQ settings (well, the main one .. had to use two since I'm stuck with using free plugins)

2- BusEQ for Monkey.png
 
RedStone said:
Couple of things you could do on the 2-buss (I did a mock-up just to see)

In order ...
EQ --> High Pass below 38hz (steep), then boost 64hz like 3-4db using a Q of 1 or even a little less (depending on how much deep bass you like - I like a lot, so I went with 4db). Cut 225hz 1.5db with a narrowish Q. Really broad boost at 4.3khz by 2.5db - let is span several octaves. I think even just these small EQ moves will make a marked improvement.

M/S EQ --> high pass everything below 100hz on the side channel. There's also some build up around 70hz in the sides. Then narrow cut of 2db at 5khz to tame the grit in the ride/hats (side channel again).

Multiband compression - try 100ms attack and auto release, ratio of 2:1. adjust the threshold for no more than 0.5 to 1db of gain reduction in the mid band. Set all the thresholds the same as it seems to work for this track. Set the low cut off to 160hz, and the mid cut off to 3.5khz. This will just help the limiter not distort the lows, and it took care of some low-mid build-up.

I found these little tweaks cleaned up the mix nicely. Can't quite explain why, but the guitars get beefier, bass gets deeper without being overpowering, everything gets just a tad more clarity and the mix feels more separated. Hope it helps :)

Here's a shot of the EQ settings (well, the main one .. had to use two since I'm stuck with using free plugins)

View attachment 98361
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I've rarely encountered such specific adjustment of file on the board. Before I address ... can you do me favor and send the result of your eq?

I'm not arguing. Not in the very least. Totally appreciative.

I just want to hear the result. The more ears the better, but I need to hear ... and thank you!

KevinWhiteCT@Gmail.com -- please send what you're hearing ... and thanks!!
 
Sounds good.

The thing that really jumps out at me is the hats sound phasey on my monitors. Maybe some of the cymbals as well.
 
You might have amazingly great ears. I never discount what a person hears.

Seriously ... some folks hear up to echelons of sound I'd never get ... but they still hear reality ... where I might not.

All input is good input ... and now I know I should consider my back listen in that listen.

Thank you.
 
New treatments based on the advice received ... now up on the links. Thanks to all for the help!
 
The cymbals are kinda washy - I'm assuming that this is a 128MP3 so my first suggestion would be upload a 320MP3 to a site like Google Play.
There's quite a bit of info that gets lost and the bass tends to get boosted in an unflattering way (in my experience). Google play allows you to stream without downloading (which some consider dangerous :) ) and though somewhat compressed, 320 is as close as you can get to a full on wav file.

That aside, love the song, sounds like a live performance to me as well. This is totally danceable :D It has that 70/80's vibe - kind of Santana - ish That lead guitar really sings, great tone there, but everything seems to have been captured well and sounds great.

Other than the cymbals I'm digging the choices you've made sonically and arrangement-wise.
 
ido1957 said:
The cymbals are kinda washy - I'm assuming that this is a 128MP3 so my first suggestion would be upload a 320MP3 to a site like Google Play.
There's quite a bit of info that gets lost and the bass tends to get boosted in an unflattering way (in my experience). Google play allows you to stream without downloading (which some consider dangerous :) ) and though somewhat compressed, 320 is as close as you can get to a full on wav file.

That aside, love the song, sounds like a live performance to me as well. This is totally danceable :D It has that 70/80's vibe - kind of Santana - ish That lead guitar really sings, great tone there, but everything seems to have been captured well and sounds great.

Other than the cymbals I'm digging the choices you've made sonically and arrangement-wise.
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It's whatever Soundcloud converts it to ... but I checked closely for phase on my system, and I'm not picking it up. Doesn't mean it's not there ... only that I'm not hearing it. I'll have to check out Google play ... as I was unaware it even existed. Thanks C!!
 
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