I like the tune, and overall it sounds pretty good.
But for me, the vocal is a bit too hot and too dry. It sounds more like it's pasted on top of the bed of music rather than being a part of it.
Also it could use a bit more compression. Despite how in your face it is, on quieter vocal passages it drops off a bit.
Vocal sounds good to me.
I like the keyboard sound.
I like the guitar runs.
Electric guitars sound a little cloudy and muffled.
The low end is dominated by the kick. The bass is getting a little covered. And the bass seems to have a low end boost. It sounds a little unnatural. I'd like a little warmer sound with more low midrange.
Cool tune, Manslick. Clean guitars sound great. I agree with Bulls the kick has a wooly tone. It's not bad, it's just something I noticed right away. Not sure if it's over-compressed maybe? I can't really pinpoint it. The track as a whole does not sound over-limited, so that's not it. Hmm, how did you process it? Eq, compression? Curious....
Hey Johnny, Trip and RFR
Guitars
The electric guitars, Parker Fly, 70s reissue Strat, DeArmond SG Style SB Electric, all 3, double tracks are straight into a Tascam 2488 instrument input.
The track has a -7 db at 1khz EQ setting, and compression set at 4:1 ratio. 9ms attack, 67ms release. There's also a separate acoustic guitar guide track thru the 2488.
These went direct into the DAW running Reason 10.2.
The 6 electric guitar tracks are hard panned L/R, and grouped into a wide open stereo buss where the EQ is rolled off a bit at 330hz and again at 3hkz. (ha looks like I put that 7db back in there)
This buss is compressed to get around 6db gain reduction using a ratio of 16:1 at -44db threshold, released at 554ms.
Bass played with fingers, is also straight in with the same DAW settings, but in the DAW the eq is HP at 122Hz and gently goes to flat at 2.33Khz.
The compression on this track is 30.5:1 at -42db, 383ms release.
This is a stereo track with a small amount of widening.
I don't usually play bass with fingers. I noticed this did affect the tone.
Drums are also into the 2488 with a pair of Neumann TLM 105 mics, set closely together and behind the kit.
The kit is crammed into a small alcove in my basement.
The tracks were recorded separately for maximum sonic control.
The compression on the 2488 is 2:1 with the same -7db at 1Khz eq.
Once in the DAW the HH eq was rolled off 12db at 1.4Khz and 312Hz and compressed at 49:1 at -52 db.
The kick is rolled off at 312hz after Bulls said it was wooly, so you're not hearing the latest tweaks. No additional compression after the earlier comment.
The snare has an EQ bump of 12db at 800Hz and gently rolls off at 6Khz.
Vox is double tracked with 1 TLM thru the 2488 with the same settings as the drums.
In the DAW I always bump at 500Hz +3db. HP at 80Hz.
Reverb
Everything thru the 2488 has reverb on it. You can hear this on the very first bass note at the intro.
Synths
In the DAW are some native Reason synths, a Malstrom with the main melody as a guide. A Europa for effect. A Thor with the big bottom wobbler that comes in at the turn. A Subtractor with a brass patch that shows up at the end of the bridge and fades in again at the turn.
The organ is a Reason device called NNXT with the Abbey roads B3 organ keyboard patch .
The output buss has a mastering patch on it with the EQ +2db at 8Khz, +3db at 2.6Khz +1db at 80Hz, compressed with 2.6db gain, soft knee -14.2db at 1.86:1 at 35ms attack and 233ms adaptive release.
Since the last update I have experimented with adding saturation to the drums as I read this can help tame transients. IDK if it does or not.
I've also played around with panning the kick and bass to get some separation and added clarity.
Sorry for the long post.
Thanks for the feedback and the chance to document this.
It's working.
