New Mix with retracked guitars and bass

[ido1957]

Since we got Jason's drum track we decided to lay down some different tracks to compliment them. Let me know what you think about this mix. I think it's close to being complete...but then I'm probably too familiar with the mix so I hope you can give us some feedback.

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9929765

Thanks !

 

[rayc]

The third bass note seems mushy each time it's played in that intro progression.
The solo vocal seems a little thin in a few spots, don't know if it's reaching for the note or the capture: might need to double them or add some thickening via chorus or similar.
Good changes & updating overall. The added bvox are ace.

 

[PoeticIntensity]

Not too shabby, guys! Drums seem a bit back in the mix, but then again - I'm the drummer! hehe.. Nice job.

 

[Chili]

I am undecided with the drums. They're there and sound balanced in the beginning of the song. I think they should come up as the song progresses, they are getting buried at times.

lead vox seems a little subdued at times, not quite punching through. I always like vocals on top of everything else, maybe others don't feel the same. ymmv... etc....

lead solo is really nice. Well played, articulated and melodic. Good job, enjoyed the song.

cheers,

 

[ido1957]

Thanks guys - always helps to get an outside opinion and your comments are much appreciated. I'll leave the bass note to Mike - maybe he can fix rather than redo. The vocal - maybe Mike can do another backup or two to thicken. Maybe the drums have too much reverb on them - I think Mike uses your dry tracks and then adds his reverb but I'm not sure. Or volume ? - he can look at this....
Great feedback - thanks again!

 

[Greg_L]

I like the swing daddy-o feel to the drums.

I hear three things happening that make this mix kind of off to my ears.

1) The drums are buried and occupy a different space from the rest of the instrumentation. The vocals and guitars are up front and relatively dry, while the drums are waaaay in the back. I know space and dimension in a mix is a good thing, but this is like the drummer is in a different room all together. Bring em up and dry em out.

2) The bass is half muddy, half tight. I suspect it's a performance issue. I get the same problem sometimes where the low strings don't have the same definition as the higher strings. I simply have to alter my playing a little and everything gets on the same page. Not that I'm telling your boy how to play by any means, but playing for recording is a little different than playing live sometimes.

3) Everything seems a little too centered, or biased slightly left. Occasionally a low tom will pop out on the right, which makes it even more noticeable. I think another rhythm guitar panned to the right would balance it out.

 

[ido1957]

Thanks Greg - good to get your feedback on this...

1) The drums. Bring em up and dry em out.

Should be able to do this pretty quick.

2) The bass is half muddy, half tight.

Mike said he reduced the bass pickup to try and balance the highs and lows. How's the balance sound to you? I think Bass is inherently boomy (Low E) or snappy (High G), with the A and D somewhere in the middle. Mike uses a Rickenbacker with an Ampeg V4B (direct out) What would some of you bass players recommend for recording this (or any) kind of bass to get the strings to all have the same volume/definition. I'm thinking the balance is okay....

3) Everything seems a little too centered, or biased slightly left. Occasionally a low tom will pop out on the right, which makes it even more noticeable. I think another rhythm guitar panned to the right would balance it out.

I'm not sure what the exact panning was, but this is the "on stage" setting Mike has set up. Sort of where you hear where the player would be standing.

 

[Greg_L]

Mike said he reduced the bass pickup to try and balance the highs and lows. How's the balance sound to you? I think Bass is inherently boomy (Low E) or snappy (High G), with the A and D somewhere in the middle. Mike uses a Rickenbacker with an Ampeg V4B (direct out) What would some of you bass players recommend for recording this (or any) kind of bass to get the strings to all have the same volume/definition. I'm thinking the balance is okay....
.

It's natural for the lower strings to be less crisp. The volume balance seems fine. It's the tonal balance that's off. The way I remedy this with my bass is to play the lower strings closer to the bridge. It tightens em up. A little trial and error will get it sorted. He should be able to find a nice balance within 5 minutes.

 

[kcearl]

the bass seems a little overpowering to me...but performance wise I think this is all really good it just seems to lack a little glue or seems a bit dry to me...gawd knows though as i have reverb dripping off everything..I think Greg mentioned the tracks spread and I get that a bit too..

not far off though and a nice performance to mix anyway

 

[queepy]

Really like the swingin' feel to this....nice playing on the guitars! Agree about the bass being a bit fuzzy/flabby at times....nice vocals!

 

[Anfontan]

It's a cool new tune Gerry-I think the bass needs to be a bit busier in the intro to keep the rhythm going with thte drums. The single sustained notes at the beginning need to be walking with the drums to drive it along.
Your vocal harmonies just need a bit of work in spots, they are a little off from the melody, it's tough to harmonize with yourself I know.
The guitar solos could use either a bit more gain or compression to get them a bit more in your face-all of this is just my opinion of course......

 

[ido1957]

It's natural for the lower strings to be less crisp. The volume balance seems fine. It's the tonal balance that's off. The way I remedy this with my bass is to play the lower strings closer to the bridge. It tightens em up. A little trial and error will get it sorted. He should be able to find a nice balance within 5 minutes.

Tough to change position with a Ricky - with the giant pickup cover/horseshoe thingy. He has to play pretty much in front of the bridge and over the neck pickup. He does have a Fender Jazz that he could try though

the bass seems a little overpowering to me...but performance wise I think this is all really good it just seems to lack a little glue or seems a bit dry to me...gawd knows though as i have reverb dripping off everything..I think Greg mentioned the tracks spread and I get that a bit too..not far off though and a nice performance to mix anyway

I would nudge the reverb up a touch maybe. Mike will remember - I did that last weekend when we were mixing this lol...I'm a reverb junkie but you guts keep me in line...

Really like the swingin' feel to this....nice playing on the guitars! Agree about the bass being a bit fuzzy/flabby at times....nice vocals!

Just need to pull out that Fender Jazz....with active electronics...

It's a cool new tune Gerry-I think the bass needs to be a bit busier in the intro to keep the rhythm going with thte drums. The single sustained notes at the beginning need to be walking with the drums to drive it along.
Your vocal harmonies just need a bit of work in spots, they are a little off from the melody, it's tough to harmonize with yourself I know.
The guitar solos could use either a bit more gain or compression to get them a bit more in your face-all of this is just my opinion of course......

Deliberate single note hits to start/in verses - then get busier later in bridge and chorus - a dynamics thing.
Guitar licks are tough - you want them to pop at the right moment but don't tromp on the vocals. Maybe a bit of automation... They have too much gain on them now IMHO, lol, I redid them but the take was just meh so we kept the first cut.

Thanks guys - keep the suggestions coming - we'll work on this on the coming days off. Busy as all get go right now ...

 

[dewhitt]

I hear the same thing Greg mentioned above regarding the stereo field being narrow and slightly to the left (I'm resisting the urge to attempt a bad political joke here). I have to wonder if the main rhythm guitar was moved more out wide to the left and then maybe doubled on the right as Greg suggested, if that wouldn't also improve a couple of other things - bass and vocals particularly, since they'd be uncovered by the guitar. I think the bass tone needs a little work as others have mentioned, but the stereo balance jumped out at me first. Regarding the bass tone...I've never used a multi-band compressor for anything, but maybe that would help in this case?

I love the feel of the drums. PI has become the HR session player extraordinaire!

Nice work guys!

Best Regards,

Dave DeWhitt
SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads

 

[ido1957]

Bass tone can be shaped by a compressor - depending on the type of compressor. Main purpose is to level the signal out - but compressor color or actual eq on compressor can have impact. Many have some sort of eq knob on them. My Triple C has base and treble on the make up side.

 

[heatmiser]

Hey ido - I like the arrangement and performances on this one. Drums sound cool, bass is a bit too high for me and I found the whole thing to be a bit drier overall than I'd want for something like this. Background vocals in particular are awesome on this.

In general, it has a looser feel than some of your earlier stuff. Although I'm not entirely sold on the mix as is, I like the direction you guys are going with your tunes. So much more life and energy and stuff. Keep 'em coming!

 

[ido1957]

Drums sound cool

Yep - Jason (poeticintensity) doin' his thing...

bass is a bit too high for me

I think you may be right - it's a touch high. Mike's planning to redo bass as the levels were a bit hot and it may have affected the overall tones. Normally there isn't an issue with the tones but this one it seems to have impacted it.

and I found the whole thing to be a bit drier overall than I'd want for something like this.

We can try some more reverb to see if it helps

Background vocals in particular are awesome on this.

Yep - Mike wrote the backups and I think they are some of his best to date. I like the sort of overlapping? series of phrasing on the chorus'. He actualy wrote mostly everything - I just drank coffee and watched....

Although I'm not entirely sold on the mix as is,

Agreed - the mix needs some adjusting, that's why we post it here for suggestions. And we've got some good ones that we can try next time we remix.

I like the direction you guys are going with your tunes. So much more life and energy and stuff. Keep 'em coming!

Thanks for the compliments - it should mostly go to Mike!

 

[mjhamil]

New bass track with 2010 Fender Jazz American Deluxe: any better? Slight remix for drums level. Same URL, Comments please!

 

[ido1957]

Good one Mike - the bass seems to be more level across the strings. Nice tone too - definitive Fender tone. Overal lit sounds good to me - but I'm suffering from a bad cold so I'm hoping others will help out here and let you know that everything sounds alright. It's been a week tomorrow so I'm getting real tired of this cold.

 

[Greg_L]

Yeah the bass is way better. Maybe a little too out front now. I still think the song needs another guitar track though.

 

[ido1957]

Greg - if you're passing by let me know what you mean by another guitar. Right now I think there's 3 tracks - 2 OD and 1 clean. Don't wanna overdo guitar tracks...