Stu and Kev - "Fred is Dead"

K

K-dub

Well-known member


A return to an original composition done whiling away the hours on a Pink Floyd-ish piece.

I sent Stu a germ of idea with the vocal tracks and a poorly played 12 string part ... and he put this together from my random thoughts.

Hey -- it at least keeps us amused. :)

Any/all comments, as usual, warmly appreciated!
 
The kick pretty much completely disappears when Stu starts playing.

When you start singing, you could mute some of Stu's playing - the guitar and voice parts sort of fight each other.

Really liking this one. Warmly appreciated, as someone once said.
 
dobro said:
The kick pretty much completely disappears when Stu starts playing.

When you start singing, you could mute some of Stu's playing - the guitar and voice parts sort of fight each other.

Really liking this one. Warmly appreciated, as someone once said.
Click to expand...

Talk to Stu ... he's got ALL the files for mixing. Outside of the aforementioned contribution, I've very little hand in this. He amazed me, as he frequently does.
 
I could hear the kick, but it was pretty weak.

Nice little tune you guys put together.
 
dobro said:
The kick pretty much completely disappears when Stu starts playing.

Really liking this one. Warmly appreciated, as someone once said.
Click to expand...

Ty Paul...I half thought about dropping the kick out (except for in the quiet parts) because it might have made the thing harder to mix. I like being drawn back to it in the quiet sections so I'll probably do something like that in a remix. It wasn't a problem to mix so I just left it steady throughout.

dobro said:
When you start singing, you could mute some of Stu's playing - the guitar and voice parts sort of fight each other.
Click to expand...

Mute or mix better? When I listen again I'm thinking to at least bring down the electrics over the vocal. This is what happens when you let guitarist mix stuff. :)

DM60 said:
I could hear the kick, but it was pretty weak. Nice little tune you guys put together.
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Thanks for checking it out, DM60.
 
Nice full guitar sound in the intro. Bass sound is nice and its level is good.

I think in general tho, the intro guitars have just a bit too much bite.

12-string is a bit "over swirly". But that's probably just the sound that it made. I'm not usually a fan of 12-strings.

Vocal sounds good. I like the harmonies. Lots of reverb, but I didn't mind it on this tune.

The Pink-Floyd effects were spot on. Quite Dark Side of the Moon-ish. Or Wish You Were Here-ish. Or both.
 
The kick sound is pretty bad. No beater sound, no low end. Just mid rangey muffledness.
The instruments on the side that come in between vocals could come down 1db or the vocals up 1db.

There was definitely a strong DSofM vibe going on. I believe that there might be some similar chord progressions.



I'm just really not digging the kick. That's my big gripe.
 
eq.jpg

Schwarzenyaeger said:
The kick sound is pretty bad.
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That made me laugh because I made it sound like that with EQ. I was was going for a heartbeat and the kick coming out of the sample sounded like...a kick.

Note the heartbeat stops on the fadeout. I wanted people to hear Nietzsche's heart stop....and not start again. It was a dig at Kevin in case he noticed. I clearly didn't do it right...lol. I'll have to let it go on a few measures further and get louder...and then do a little (final) gasp. That'll do it. :)

I also tracked some melody tracks of "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" but I thought that was too confrontational to include so I pulled them out. :)

Schwarzenyaeger said:
The instruments on the side that come in between vocals could come down 1db or the vocals up 1db.
Click to expand...

Yeah...I think so too. I was anxious to get it done. It's the first thing of any scale I've done in a while. I'm planning on re-mixing this pretty soon.
 
Sounds pretty good. I liked all of the effects and delays and stuff later on in the track.

I didn't mind the heartbeat so much, especially after reading about the intended purpose of it.

I didn't care for the 12 string tone so much, but I often don't, so not necessarily anything wrong there. They just have such a crispy/lite sound to them without a lot of body to my ears.

There was a lot going on in this one, but I thought it all held together well.
 
TripleM said:
I think in general tho, the intro guitars have just a bit too much bite.
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I was hoping to emphasize the harmonics...because I'm also trying to sell those guitars. In the opening I'm using a bit of smacking technique to try to draw out those harmonics. Then I'll point people to this clip and tell them to listen specifically for it. That tone is right at the beginning of this tune and this will a be good sales tool...maybe. There is good definition and clarity in the upper harmonics on that guitar. I know exactly what you mean though and if it weren't for all that I'd be inclined to mix them with less bite.

I'll listen again and see if I can still get that definition at lower levels in that 2500-3500 region. It still may work after a good cut. Do me a favor though. You have good ears and I respect your opinions. Listen to the intro again, from the standpoint of trying show off harmonics, and tell me if it still goes too far to the point of biting. The clarity of that register is hard to emphasize without biting I suppose.

I'm working on another tune right now that highlights the intonation of the guitar....a million layers of harmony ought to do it. :)

TripleM said:
12-string is a bit "over swirly". But that's probably just the sound that it made. I'm not usually a fan of 12-strings.
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heatmiser said:
I didn't care for the 12 string tone so much, but I often don't, so not necessarily anything wrong there.
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If this tune was to have a 12 string it was going to be Kevin doing it...I can't even play them...much less record them. :) Once one gets good at playing and recording them well I imagine a 6 string is a cakewalk. I rarely take out my acoustics anymore. It's pretty much electric for me.

TripleM said:
The Pink-Floyd effects were spot on. Quite Dark Side of the Moon-ish. Or Wish You Were Here-ish. Or both.
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...but not a fraction of the money-ish. :)
 
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I thought it was a pretty good tune and mix. I agree with the other RE: the kick/heartbeat sound. I like the idea and sound of it, just needs to come through better in the mix in places. Like heat, I'm not a 12String fan much. Is that DI'd? Sounds very thin. A bit more body to it would really help to thicken the sound where it is more prominent.

I'm a big Floyd fan so this one struck a chord with me. Dig it! :thumbs up:
 
StuGort said:
View attachment 92278

That made me laugh because I made it sound like that with EQ. I was was going for a heartbeat and the kick coming out of the sample sounded like...a kick.

Note the heartbeat stops on the fadeout. I wanted people to hear Nietzsche's heart stop....and not start again. It was a dig at Kevin in case he noticed. I clearly didn't do it right...lol. I'll have to let it go on a few measures further and get louder...and then do a little (final) gasp. That'll do it. :)
Click to expand...

Well, it starts and stops and starts and stops ... from what I can hear of it. :)

Which is exactly what the lyrics are suggesting. So, good on ya! lol ...

StuGort said:
I also tracked some melody tracks of "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" but I thought that was too confrontational to include so I pulled them out. :)
Click to expand...

Um, thank goodness for small favors? :D
 
Mr Clean said:
I thought it was a pretty good tune and mix. I agree with the other RE: the kick/heartbeat sound. I like the idea and sound of it, just needs to come through better in the mix in places. Like heat, I'm not a 12String fan much. Is that DI'd? Sounds very thin. A bit more body to it would really help to thicken the sound where it is more prominent.

I'm a big Floyd fan so this one struck a chord with me. Dig it! :thumbs up:
Click to expand...

Glad you liked! A 12 string naturally doesn't hold much low punch. I cannot imagine the mud that would occur with all those strings if it did. I used a miking configuration that Stu suggested. It's different than what I normally position the mikes at. I had an AT4050 guitar level, 12-16 inches out from the neck joint, pointed back at the sound hole. About three above that, I placed an MXL 603 pointing down at the neck. In the stereo file I sent Stu, I then panned the AT 4050 left (bass) and the 603 right (upper end). I listened for phase and didn't find much as I held to the 3:1 rule pretty closely.
 
So...I did lot of little stuff on this remix.

I tried to find acceptable heartbeats on the internet but they were all pretty noisy. The good ones...you gotta pay for. I gave up and just tried to make my kick sound even MORE not like a kick. :) It should be much louder though. Listening to the Soundcloud upload and the .mp3 conversion...well...it's not subdued like this straight out of Sonar. I don't know what gives. Something happened in the conversion although I didn't check any filters in the process.

The electric "edge" was reduced by 4 db in the 3000hz range. I'd go further even but I need to use this clip for other reasons. I didn't remove the electrics over the vocals but I did reduce them by at least 4 db in the mix. ...even more in some areas.

I also extended the heartbeart out a few more measures to make sure we know Fred is really dead.

 
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