Hiding From The Dead

YellowDwarf

Dismember
So I've worked on this song for awhile. I'm not a regular contributor, but I try to help some of the folks new to recording and mixing from time to time- I don't feel I'm that far away from them. I've upgraded my gear recently, including working with a guy who does the drums for my stuff which takes a big load off of me and improves my music since I'm far from being a drummer. I get his audio tracks and work with him that way.

I have to ask - have I overcooked the vox with Sonar X3's free version of Melodyne? I've tried a technique of not bringing the note 100% in key and it sounds better = to me. But the sibilance bothers me, maybe I've done a song with too many SSS's in it.

As for the setup: Acoustic guitar(s) "seagull artist" are recorded about 18 inches from an NT-1A in a pretty big and verby room, as are the vox, the fuzz (blackout effectors dual fuzz) guitar is close mic'd with a 58, my crappy Peavey bass Millenium ii is di'd on an old yorkville yd-a1 as is the slide guitar (my Strat into a Pou virtual amp or whatever its called). I did a better recording job than usual and was able to get by with minimal eq and super-minimal compression.

Anyway, I'd appreciate your ears on this.

Thanks,
Timbo
 

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The vocal delivery sounded fine to me as in I didn't notice anything out of order there.
Mabe a bit to frontal.
I found lacking the low end.
 
Thanks Manslick, is it the total low end or the low end of the "low end" instruments? - I've got no treatment here.

Thanks for the listen - Timbo
 
Well like when the kick drum comes in I get hit about shoulder high instead of at the belly line.
If I crank it really high, I get it.
Listening thru JBL E100.
 
Yep, those vocals are pretty up-front. Maybe a little dry too.

Those distorted rhythm guitars are pretty far right. I might balance them out with a similar copy on the other site. To compensate, I might start having the acoustic guitar start to drop down a bit.

Otherwise, the mix seems pretty good. Coherent building up of things.

Was that "hiding from the dad"? :D
 
Nice song. The only complaint I would have (and it might be my speakers) the parts where the acoustic guitar takes lead, I had to strain to hear what it was doing, and I have a feeling the riffing might be a little "off".

I often bury things that aren't quite perfect. But, when they lead the section, I either redo it or bring it up warts and all.

It really is astounding how what the artist might feel is an mistake, turns out to not bother anyone else. It's what makes us individuals.
 
Thanks folks, this is building into some excellent advice.

VHS, I tried to make the lyrics interpretable = either the mother was a witch or the dad was the witch.

Snowman, you hit the nail on the head = arthritic fingers did the best they could and you heard or didn't hear the result. I like what you said about mistakes, you really are correct but I've never heard someone put it like that before!

To all: it was a bit of a difficult mix for me because I didn't want to lose the acoustic guitar in all the instruments that came out in the second verse and on.

Thanks for the listen!
Timbo
 
Generally a nice song.

The synchopated kick took some getting used to for me. It seems to me in spots like the instruments are not locked in with the kick. The low end is dominated by the kick, at the expense of the bass.

The electric guitars sound pretty good to me. The acoustic guitar isn't too bad either.

The vocal seems completely dry, but the instruments have quite a bit of reverb. The vocal sounds like it's in a different space from the rest of the band. I didn't think the Melodyne was over done at all. I didn't notice it.

Little pop at 3:26.
 
Haven't read the other responses. My thoughts - the acoustic and vocals are very dry compared to the other stuff, and they aren't fitting well at all with the mix. The distorted guitar on the R sounds great, really good tone and space. But with those other guitars, it sounds like two separate recordings pasted onto each other. The drums sound good but their actual rhythm is pretty jagged. Bass is almost non-existent. String synth stuff sounds good. There's just too many different spaces going on here that it's rather confusing, dimension-ally. I'd focus on getting the vocals and acoustic to match the reverb/space of the electric guitars and drums. It's like you forgot to send them to the reverb channel, as it is. And, again, that kick rhythm is disjointed.
 
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