Blast From The Past

groucho

groucho

Member
Some of y'all may remember this song from awhile ago. I've been going through some old tunes and applying some of my current-day skills to the mixing of them (not to say I have so many skills now - just that compared to, say, a YEAR ago... geez, those mixes sound like crap...)

ANYWAY,

I just went through this one and gave it a revamp. Someone PLEASE tell me everything that's wrong with it. I've lived with this one way too long and I've lost all perspective.


Thanks,
Chris

"No Choice"
 
man you have a cool voice..
..this is another cool story song....you do that well...
you need to collab with crawdad !!!..
.ARE YOU PLAYING ALL THIS.?!?!...the piano too??..OK i dont like the lead tone..it doesnt seem to fit...the rest is so laid back...then that guitar comes in all "crunchy"..of course i have shit for taste...so ...:D

man i really like your voice..
WHISKEY-FIED!..


cool
jamal
 
Problem areas--the vocals are in need of de-essing. A lot of sibilance going on. Check that out. The lead guitar sounds pretty direct, rather than as if its coming from a real amp. The bass and drums lack punch. I'm not sure if its the source tracks or the way they were recorded. I could take the drums as is, but I missed the bass--barely there.

I noticed that the piano, when it finally came in, helped to flesh out the arrangement. Maybe bring that in earlier.

Those are the things that struck my ear on first listen.
 
Jamal: Thanks for the ears. Yeah, that's me doing everything. And you're not alone on not liking the lead tone. No one did the first time I posted this tune, either.:) I guess it's time to think about changing it...

crawdad: Thank you! That was great feedback - exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

The version up there now has a little more bass - plus I added a new snare sound to try to beef up the drums a little (they're loops - have I mentioned I wish I knew A REAL DRUMMER!?)

Haven't got to the sibilance yet, but it's 2:30 and I must sleep.

Any thoughts on the latest version much appreciated. The bass in particular is driving me batty. I'm trying to avoid having to re-record it, but I fear that's not far off. Damn, if I could go back in time I'd certainly track this thing different - but then, my equipment was so much more primitive then I suppose I can't blame myself...:)

Chris
 
Oh: the link to version #2:

www.[gone now]

Uploading now (2:30 am California time). I don't usually post a link before it's uploaded, but I'm exhausted and I wanted to get this out before hitting the sack.

Night,
Chris
 
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I'm listening in phones, so bare that in mind...

Also not crazy about the lead geetar tone, and I know you know how to get good tone.
Bring that chicken shaker up! Chicken shakers rule!
Version 2 sounds a lot better than version 1. The bass level is much better. Sounds like you beefed up the snare too. Cymbals still sound a little thin. I've never worked with programmed drums, but if I ever do the thing I would try is running them back through the monitors and micing those. Might be worth trying? Your sound is very earthy and the drums could fit better in the earthiness.

Sibilance rarely bothers me, but crawdad's right. You should de-ess that. Though it's not as bad in the second mix - the other instruments seem to hide it better. Probably wouldn't have said anything if I hadn't heard version 1.

That first piano note and then a couple others hurt my ears, but I liked the part. Maybe could be tamed with some high end roll off and/or compression.

Little clip in vocals at 2:12. In bass at 3:10. Vocals again at 5:20. (OK I'm probably getting too nit-picky now, but you said "everything that's wrong":D)

Love that little outro at 5:40 with the rhythm geetar.

I totally dig your stuff! You've got a very subtle approach and really have your style down tight. More!!!
 
Thanks for taking the time to write down the nitpicky stuff, fprod - that's what I want.

Boy, a night's sleep will do wonders for my ears:). Woke up this morning and heard a bunch of things I'd missed the night before. Just shows that I need to take breaks more because I think my high-end hearing disappears completely after a few hours of mixing.

Anyway, the latest version with vox less harsh, bass up more, snare fatter and other little imperceptible changes is now at:



and the other 2 have been taken down.

Any comments on the sibilance now? The vox on this were done back when all I had was an SM57 and I had the nastiest trouble with sibilance then (like I don't now...:))

thanks,
Chris
 
groucho

I am not a nit picker, more of a nitwit really....
Just letting you know I took the time to listen and enjoyed what I heard
 
wow... that mp3 is a doosie @ 13 meg :)

Well... the sibilance is still kinda high.

The song seems pretty cool. good changes.

It looks like everybody covered everything really well with the previous posts

Keep crackin at it... and you should have no problem of getting her mastered.
 
I thought the main git was really thin (i.e. cheap) sounding. I've heard your other stuff, so I know this isn't a consistent issue with you but,.. I dunno.. the whole mix just seems really "cheap" and thin sounding. Thin drums (no low end), thin gits, tiny piano sound, DI'ed/cheesy sounding lead, and to top it off, you used some kind psycho-stereo-spread effect on your voice. :p (which added the last bit of an "amateur" touch to it).

Before you think I'm being too harsh aboot it... don't. :) I personally dig your stuff and I know you can put out good sounding stuff (because I've heard you do it before). Basically, I'm saying that since this is an old song, there isn't much you can do to "fix" the current tracks... but it's a decent song and I would say it's prolly worth retracking in the future. You'll (as you well know) get a lot better results from retracking it using your current "tracking" knowledge, rather than trying to remix it using your current "mixing" knowledge. There's only so much you can do to fix a poorly tracked song. I know this may be a moot point, since you just want feedback on the current mix, but I just don't think this mix (as a result of the tracking) does you justice.

If you do decide to retrack :) then I would suggest redoing those rhythm gits with a much fatter tone, and doubling them to give the gits some width. I know drums are an issue with most of us (myself included) so I dunno if there's anything to do aboot that, but maybe try out different types of snares/hi-hats/kicks. Something a little more "rock". Get a more stratocaster-ish/blues tone for that lead (not so gritty). And please... take that huge stereo spread off your voice. You have a great distinct voice and I don't think it does it justice to slather it in so much effects.



WATYF


(P.S. I dunno if I've ever mentioned this, but I still have "Whatever you take away" in my regular rotation... that is one great sad song.)
 
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Nice snaky progression.

Drum programming needs to mix it up a bit, and the kick sounds a little bright and punchy to me. Backing vocals are awesome, great piano and vocals as always.

The lead tone almost pulled me in but sounded a little too DI. If it is DI, playing around with some extreme compression may soften it up a bit. Nice playing. The lead break in the middle was really good.

Kind of a strange combination of elements. Some very pro sounding and some more home studio sounding. I think the drums and electric need some beefing up to glue it all together.

Cool to hear a stab at a full band from you.

Doug
 
Thanks for the comments guys. You know, it was a delight to read WATYF's remarks in particular because I was just an inch away from concluding pretty much the same thing. I've been wrestling with rescuing this song for the last few days and today, to take a break, I recorded something brand-new (also a "full band" kinda thing) and when I played the new one back to back with the old one... fuck, it's both heartening and disheartening. The new one sounded like I knew what the fuck I was doing. The old one sounded like amateurish crap.

One one hand it's good to hear how far I've come. On the other hand it made me realize that no matter *how* much tweaking I do to "No CHoice", it's never gonna be anywhere near what it could be if I just re-tracked the whole damn thing.

So that's what I'm gonna do.

(I hate re-tracking:()

And WATYF: your post proved you can be tough and honest around here without being a dick. I thank you very much for calling it like you see it. That's the kind of feedback I *crave*.

Chris
 
One of 17,000 clinic members who likes to call himself 'Chris' :D

"No Choice" (without reading your thread at all)...

Ooh... sounds like that gtr (intro was recorded on a lesser setup than you're known for... like a 4 track? Didn't sound like it fit)....

Liking the bassline. "Threw away the left-side of his brain"... You've got the Dave Grohl delivery here... a tiny bit like Foo Fighters here...

Not liking the slapback FX on vox (imagine others have said that) but you probably like that... your other songs seem to sport it, too :D (at least not all the way thru the song....)

(just as I type that... the hard-panned vox come in :D)

The lead gtr (the country-fried edge) -- recorded courtesy of Fisher Price? Sorry... but everything else seems much cleaner...

Nice subtle shakers....

Nice run on the piano... though I'm apt to agree with others who've said in the past that MONO piano ain't my fav.

Less "clinical" sounding drums, a bit more reverb warmth.... and a few more details would put the polish where it is needed.

Good job!



Chad
 
This sounds like absolute crap, and your breath stinks too.

naw, I'm kidding. Just saying "hi," and that I agree with WATYF and CHAD on everything except the pno, probably b/c I play some, lol. So when you re-track the piano, by golly...don't make it huge.

-Another Fucking Chris
 
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