ozewiezewoze - with fat_fleet & fritsthegirl

[heatmiser]

Hey,

This is kind of an odd one...

Apparently the main melody here comes from a traditional Dutch tune that parents sing to their kids or whatever. I liked the melody a lot and wanted to try to create an arrangement around it, so I added a bunch of chords and an additional section to the tune, then I sent fat_fleet some scratch tracks of classical guitars, bass and organ and he played drums to it and added a glockenspiel. I then ditched the acoustic guitars and tracked electrics, then I sent it off to fritsthegirl who added the vocals, which, while Dutch, are apparently just gibberish.

I really liked what both of them contributed here and it was fun to mix.

This is the 2nd, and hopefully last mix, but if anyone hears anything glaringly out of place, let me know. If nothing else, I will store the info away for next time as always.



Thanks,
Pete

 

[rayc]

It's COOL - the wah really makes the quirkyness factor greater.
Vocals could be a little louder - I know you've described the words as jibberish but I still strain to hear it clearly. At these levels the esses are the most destinctive part of the vocal track so there's some essing that could be addressed.

 

[Zeed Mantis]

Yeah man i like this mix, it has a really natural sound to it. Very live and rich. I agree with rayC, maybe the vocals could use a midrange 2.5 or 3K boost and some de-essing? I would love to hear more of the sweet upper tone in her voice. The only thing I could say about the mix is some parts do feel like they are fighting each other a touch in regards to EQ, alot of instruments in this track in that upper midrange so it's a hard one.

The organ and guitar are both panned great though, and the voice fills in the center very well. Bass is warm, drums are nice and jazzy sounding, very naturally mixed and compliment the song rhythmically instead of pervading over it. Kudos man!

 

[jiff 41]

Very nice Heat
I agree with what the others say about the vocals (the S's are the only parts that are really audible!) & I think fritz has probably done a very good job on this one if we could hear her! .

The drums do sound jazzy which is fitting I think but for me the bass is cracking, a lovely round, up close warm sound that makes me think you must have played bass in a band at some time!

And the wah guitar is good as well, your lead playing is quite distinctive & recognizable!

 

[DavidK]

Cool track. Love the wah guitar. As already mentioned, vocals need boosted about 2-3 dB. In addition, the rhythm guitar could be lowered by that much. Other than that, I think it's one of your best tracks.

 

[Mr Clean]

I really like it. I actually like the way the vocals are and you can only just 'kind of' make out the words. Adds to the mysteriousness of the whole thing. The backing is nice and tight. FF's drums are great, as are FG's vocals. Love that bass tone the most and the way it really grooves along. <~Best part of the track for me!

Top stuff as usual Heat mate. Thanks for sharing.

 

[dobro]

It's COOL - the wah really makes the quirkyness factor greater.
Vocals could be a little louder - I know you've described the words as jibberish but I still strain to hear it clearly. At these levels the esses are the most destinctive part of the vocal track so there's some essing that could be addressed.

+1

 

[heatmiser]

It's COOL - the wah really makes the quirkyness factor greater.
Vocals could be a little louder - I know you've described the words as jibberish but I still strain to hear it clearly. At these levels the esses are the most destinctive part of the vocal track so there's some essing that could be addressed.

Thanks ray. Following some additional research, I find that while the tune is sung in Holland, the words aren't actually Dutch. There's a theory they might originate from Portuguese, but who knows. Anyway, for those having trouble hearing them, here are the lyrics so you can follow along:

Ozewiezewoze wiezewalla kristalla
kristoze wiezewoze wiezewieswieswies

Seriously.

I guess I agree about the sibilance somewhat (I already removed quite a bit following the 1st mix), but not so much on the levels. She's got 4-5 tracks here, and I like the blend and don't want them to be upfront at all for this. There's definitely some consensus so far on this though, so I will at least play around with it here on my end and see what I think about louder, and less crispy sounding vocals. It's all those damn "Z"'s!

Yeah man i like this mix, it has a really natural sound to it. Very live and rich. I agree with rayC, maybe the vocals could use a midrange 2.5 or 3K boost and some de-essing? I would love to hear more of the sweet upper tone in her voice. The only thing I could say about the mix is some parts do feel like they are fighting each other a touch in regards to EQ, alot of instruments in this track in that upper midrange so it's a hard one.

The organ and guitar are both panned great though, and the voice fills in the center very well. Bass is warm, drums are nice and jazzy sounding, very naturally mixed and compliment the song rhythmically instead of pervading over it. Kudos man!

Great. Thanks ZM. As noted above, I'm happy with the vocals, but there's a bunch of you wishing for similar adjustments here, so I'll give it a whirl and see.

There's two rhythm guitars here (one on either side), plus the lead, plus 2 organ tracks...all fighting for the same space. I can hear them all distinctly, but then I know exactly what I'm listening for, which always makes it tough to be objective. I didn't do much EQ at all on those instruments though, so maybe I should? Glad it's sounding good overall for you!

 

[heatmiser]

Very nice Heat
I agree with what the others say about the vocals (the S's are the only parts that are really audible!) & I think fritz has probably done a very good job on this one if we could hear her! .

The drums do sound jazzy which is fitting I think but for me the bass is cracking, a lovely round, up close warm sound that makes me think you must have played bass in a band at some time!

And the wah guitar is good as well, your lead playing is quite distinctive & recognizable!

Ah, another similar concern with the vocals...you guys really can't hear them? Strange to me as they're crystal clear for me. But again, I've heard it 100 times and know what I'm listening for, so maybe I'm taking too much for granted.

Thanks about the bass. I was pretty happy with that on this one. I got a new bass a few months ago which has been great as it's much easier to play than my old one.

Yes, my lead playing is recognizable...recognizable as being something no one else would want to do! It works sometimes...others, not so much, but I try.

Cool track. Love the wah guitar. As already mentioned, vocals need boosted about 2-3 dB. In addition, the rhythm guitar could be lowered by that much. Other than that, I think it's one of your best tracks.

Thank you David. Hmmm. There's two rhythm guitar tracks (one on either side) playing somewhat similar, but distinct parts...I wonder if I lost that separation somewhere? I thought the levels there were good. But I'll give it some thought next time I listen. Thanks again!

 

[heatmiser]

I really like it. I actually like the way the vocals are and you can only just 'kind of' make out the words. Adds to the mysteriousness of the whole thing. The backing is nice and tight. FF's drums are great, as are FG's vocals. Love that bass tone the most and the way it really grooves along. <~Best part of the track for me!

Top stuff as usual Heat mate. Thanks for sharing.

Finally! Someone digs the vocal processing. Thanks Mr C.

Mysteriousness...exactly! That's uh, exactly what I was going for! Maybe it is actually. I don't know, but I was definitely going for something different here.

I love the drums on this. I asked him for "mellow, splashy & lots of fills"...he delivered precisely what I imagined. Really great. Thanks about the bass. My new one is proving to be loads better than the old.

+1

Grrrr. So, let me guess? Bring up the vocals and de-ess them somehow? Sheesh...you guys...

 

[Chili]

I'm in the more vocals camp, but before touching the vocals faders, try bringing down the organs first. I think they might just a tad too much and might give you just enough of a difference to bring out the vocals.

All else sounds good. I'm particularly keen on the bass part. Love it.

Oh and praise the lord, Jerry has risen from the Dead!!!

 

[Zeed Mantis]

I apologize for the length of this next post in advance haha.

Heatmiser, you can definitely hear everything in the mix for sure, it doesn't feel like anything is out of place or too loud, it's really that sounds are fighting for my attention.I want to focus on the vocals, but then there's the guitars and organ which are all sounding equally important in this mix.

Instead of going back and thinking like, "what the hell do I do with a mix that's sotting this nice already?", would try to look at it like, "what's the most important thing in my mix, what is the driving track?" And if you come to the conclusion that one track needs to be more prominent then don't be afraid to cut volumes or scoop eq to make space.

But on the other hand if you conclude that all those tracks need to be that way in the mix to give it that eerrie vibe then leave it brother. It all comes down to your taste and your vision of what you want to achieve.

 

[robgreen]

The highest compliment I can give this is that it would attract three buzzers on Britain/America's Got Talent within about 30 seconds

Really creative, well balanced and surprisingly catchy. It finally knocked Frits' facebook song out of my brain.

Everyone's contributions all add something to the overall sound. I personally feel that the vocal level is fine - I wouldn't bring up or de-ess 'em if it were me. As homerecorders I think we sometimes tend to push for more clarity, separation and vocal prominence than I hear on a lot of commercial recordings (well the records I hear in my collection anyway). Maybe it's because we subconsciously don't want to make any mixing decisions that may be taken for amateurishness, I dunno?

I could have listened to that opening few bars with the verby vocals and piano go on for about five minutes. If I've got one criticism it's that it resolves into the next much drier section a little abruptly. Other than that, unusual and excellent

 

[PDP]

Very cool,

I love the vocal, sounds almost like choir boys.

Rhythm has a nice mellow swing to it.

 

[paddedcell]

I like this tune -- the standout part for me is the guitar work; somewhat downplayed, but really lyrical. As pleasing to listen to as the vocals. My initial reaction was to suggest, like others, that the vocals come up, but then I realized that the vocals are being used for "texture" as much as they are being used to convey "melody". In that context, I see what you're doing here. . .

If I was mixing it, I'd probably bring up the drums a bit, particularly the high end. I do hear the splash of cymbals, but they seem a little blunted and distant to me. Other than that, I like it as it is!

A question. When you sent your initial scratch tracks to the drummer, did you record them using a click track? I've entertained the idea of doing long-distance collaboration, but it seems so daunting to try and prep something that a drummer could work with (drum machines are really dandy, but there's nothing like a real, human, or close-to-human drummer). . .

 

[heatmiser]

I'm in the more vocals camp, but before touching the vocals faders, try bringing down the organs first. I think they might just a tad too much and might give you just enough of a difference to bring out the vocals.

All else sounds good. I'm particularly keen on the bass part. Love it.

Oh and praise the lord, Jerry has risen from the Dead!!!

Thanks Chili. Finally getting a new bass guitar made a world of difference. I didn't realize how horrible the action was on my old one until I went shopping for new. Hopefully that will carry over into future projects.

I tried a bunch of the things suggested here with the mix, and while it definitely sounded different, I wasn't convince it was better (that may come down to execution though). I kind of like having everything draw equal attention to itself with nothing too out front (although I had no problem pushing the lead bits out there for some reason).

I apologize for the length of this next post in advance haha.

Heatmiser, you can definitely hear everything in the mix for sure, it doesn't feel like anything is out of place or too loud, it's really that sounds are fighting for my attention.I want to focus on the vocals, but then there's the guitars and organ which are all sounding equally important in this mix.

Instead of going back and thinking like, "what the hell do I do with a mix that's sotting this nice already?", would try to look at it like, "what's the most important thing in my mix, what is the driving track?" And if you come to the conclusion that one track needs to be more prominent then don't be afraid to cut volumes or scoop eq to make space.

But on the other hand if you conclude that all those tracks need to be that way in the mix to give it that eerrie vibe then leave it brother. It all comes down to your taste and your vision of what you want to achieve.

Thanks for the follow-up. I appreciate it. I liked the way you framed this...playing around with the mix the other night, I guess I came to the conclusion that I don't want any one component to drive the mix here, and prefer to have all elements competing more or less equally for attention. I guess I'm going for sort of an ensemble feel with this maybe...with various things popping in and out of focus throughout if that makes sense.

I haven't ruled out a remix, but nothing I've done so far has really grabbed me. Thanks again!

 

[heatmiser]

The highest compliment I can give this is that it would attract three buzzers on Britain/America's Got Talent within about 30 seconds

Really creative, well balanced and surprisingly catchy. It finally knocked Frits' facebook song out of my brain.

Everyone's contributions all add something to the overall sound. I personally feel that the vocal level is fine - I wouldn't bring up or de-ess 'em if it were me. As homerecorders I think we sometimes tend to push for more clarity, separation and vocal prominence than I hear on a lot of commercial recordings (well the records I hear in my collection anyway). Maybe it's because we subconsciously don't want to make any mixing decisions that may be taken for amateurishness, I dunno?

I could have listened to that opening few bars with the verby vocals and piano go on for about five minutes. If I've got one criticism it's that it resolves into the next much drier section a little abruptly. Other than that, unusual and excellent

Thanks a lot rob. I'm glad you checked this out and that you enjoyed it. I know I've somehow done something unusual with the vocals on this as there's quite a lot of consensus about it, but I too like them the way they are.

Glad you liked the intro. It's a bit odd and in a different time signature and everything. I agree about the abruptness at the start. Those kind of transitions are typically clumsy when I try them as I'm eyeballing everything and timing things manually in real time. I added a little verb and delay to the piano and voice thinking that would spill over during the transition and soften it, but that didn't work so well. Good point about that. Thanks man.

 

[heatmiser]

Very cool,

I love the vocal, sounds almost like choir boys.

Rhythm has a nice mellow swing to it.

Thanks PDP. I'm not sure that frits had a choir sound in mind when she tracked them, but I certainly did. Glad you liked it.

I like this tune -- the standout part for me is the guitar work; somewhat downplayed, but really lyrical. As pleasing to listen to as the vocals. My initial reaction was to suggest, like others, that the vocals come up, but then I realized that the vocals are being used for "texture" as much as they are being used to convey "melody". In that context, I see what you're doing here. . .

If I was mixing it, I'd probably bring up the drums a bit, particularly the high end. I do hear the splash of cymbals, but they seem a little blunted and distant to me. Other than that, I like it as it is!

A question. When you sent your initial scratch tracks to the drummer, did you record them using a click track? I've entertained the idea of doing long-distance collaboration, but it seems so daunting to try and prep something that a drummer could work with (drum machines are really dandy, but there's nothing like a real, human, or close-to-human drummer). . .

Thanks. Yes, texture...that's it! Perfect. The vocals to me here are like additional instruments sort of. All hopefully playing an equal role more or less.

Agreed on the drums. I mean I like them as is, but I was constantly trying to bring them up more throughout the mixing process, but for some reason I struggled to do that without throwing everything off balance.

No click on this one, and drummers seem to vary in how they like the initial tracks set up for them. I recommend simply asking in advance and trying to provide whatever they need. Having said that, I don't think I actually asked fat_fleet? I had the intro done first, and then just counted off listening to it with a drum machine ready to go, and then I hit "play" on the drum machine at the moment I felt the song should kick in. Then I just played some scratch tracks along with the drum machine...sent all of that to him, & then when his drums came back, I erased the drum machine track and scratch tracks, and built the song up from there.

I don't recommend doing it this way though. Normally, I think one would record to a click, and then send the drummer a version with and without the click? Not sure. I've done this sort of thing a few times and it isn't that hard (at least for me - not sure about the drummers!), but it's always slightly different. Thanks again!

 

[Greg_L]

I think it's cool as is. The words are jibberish, so hearing them clearly isn't important. Use them for effect, which is what you did. No nits from me on anything. Love the guitars and bass.

 

[heatmiser]

I think it's cool as is. The words are jibberish, so hearing them clearly isn't important. Use them for effect, which is what you did. No nits from me on anything. Love the guitars and bass.

Thank you Greg. Always reassuring to get your seal of approval on a mix!