New Drums - I'll Stand By You

[PoeticIntensity]

Okay... So, my sister-in-law can sing. I've never recorded her before, but tonight, she came over, and through much prodding, she ended up singing the Carrie Underwood version of, "I'll Stand By You".

The next part of the story is that, after using the same Gretsch drum kit for a decade, I got a completely new kit last week. It's a 5-Piece DW Performance kit, with a load of new Sabian, Paiste, and Zildjian cymbals.

I couldn't resist but to put my new drums in the mix.

So... I'm sure I've got a bit of a road ahead of me, finding the sweet spot for this new setup.

All instruments except drums and vocals are from a minus track.

Any comments are welcomed and encouraged. Thank you!

I'll Stand By You performed by Hailey Jones

 

[Anfontan]

Very nice, the lady can definitely sing that tune well. It's nice to hear a ballad where the singer can belt out the song without studio enhancements like auto tune (I hear way too much of that on the radio these days!) Good vocal.
The new drums sound good, the snare seems a slight bit loud and forward in the mix though-could partly be the headphones I'm listening on.

 

[PoeticIntensity]

Very nice, the lady can definitely sing that tune well. It's nice to hear a ballad where the singer can belt out the song without studio enhancements like auto tune (I hear way too much of that on the radio these days!) Good vocal.
The new drums sound good, the snare seems a slight bit loud and forward in the mix though-could partly be the headphones I'm listening on.

Yeah.. Thanks Tony.. Listening to it on multiple speakers, I'm hearing the snare nicely seated through some, and others, it's way too loud. Not sure what's going on with that. Maybe I should bring it down like .5 db... Thanks for the comment!

 

[aaronmcoleman]

Nice acoustic sound in the beginning. Vocals sound really nice, kinda a weird reverb tail on them though. Around :56 and 1:54 there sounds like a little clipping in the vocals?

Drums sound good to me. Snare sits well on my system (5" crappy maudio monitors from 10 years ago).

Everything is clear, and I can pick out each piece of the drum kit easily. Nice mix overall.

 

[heatmiser]

Hey PI. Was this a Pretenders song originally? Anyway, this woman has a good voice. Certainly has more of a country flavor which may tie in to the whole Carrie Underwhatever vibe.

I think the mix sounds really good. Only two things stood out to me though. There are at least two spots (where she holds the word "staaaaand" for a while) where her voice seems to clip. Second, the snare stood out to me for some reason. Not too loud necessarily, just by virtue of its tone I think. I guess I might want it to be slightly brighter sounding for this tune? Not sure.

Did you get rid of your old set, or do you just have two now?

 

[TripleM]

Sounds very nice. Good performances all around.

There was a song in the 70's by Bonnie Tyler called "It's a Heartache." Large parts of the melody sound similar to that song.

Caught the slight distortion on the "staaaand"s. A couple of other smaller spots too. Mic technique is the solution there.

I'd back off the reverb on the vocal and snare and add a bit to the stringed instruments.

I thought the bass was a bit too loud and maybe just a bit strong in the 100hz range.

Other than that things sound real nice.

 

[ido1957]

Great - the clipping is not too bad and hopefully is a mix not a print. Love the new drum sounds. She definitely can sing - runs in the family I guess

 

[PoeticIntensity]

Nice acoustic sound in the beginning. Vocals sound really nice, kinda a weird reverb tail on them though. Around :56 and 1:54 there sounds like a little clipping in the vocals?

Drums sound good to me. Snare sits well on my system (5" crappy maudio monitors from 10 years ago).

Everything is clear, and I can pick out each piece of the drum kit easily. Nice mix overall.

Thank you, and good ears. Hailey had never been in a studio before, and had an incredible dynamic range.. When she belted, she belted... Unfortunately, the clipping is in the print, and we didn't have enough time to fix it in the end. Thanks for the comments!

Hey PI. Was this a Pretenders song originally? Anyway, this woman has a good voice. Certainly has more of a country flavor which may tie in to the whole Carrie Underwhatever vibe.

I think the mix sounds really good. Only two things stood out to me though. There are at least two spots (where she holds the word "staaaaand" for a while) where her voice seems to clip. Second, the snare stood out to me for some reason. Not too loud necessarily, just by virtue of its tone I think. I guess I might want it to be slightly brighter sounding for this tune? Not sure.

Did you get rid of your old set, or do you just have two now?

Yeah.. Clipping sucked with this session. It was a freebie, and we were in a time crunch... Snare seems to either work really well, or come out too loud on various systems... Still working out the bugs.

I traded in my old set for a completely new one. It was just time for a change. Thanks for the comments, Pete!

Sounds very nice. Good performances all around.

There was a song in the 70's by Bonnie Tyler called "It's a Heartache." Large parts of the melody sound similar to that song.

Caught the slight distortion on the "staaaand"s. A couple of other smaller spots too. Mic technique is the solution there.

I'd back off the reverb on the vocal and snare and add a bit to the stringed instruments.

I thought the bass was a bit too loud and maybe just a bit strong in the 100hz range.

Other than that things sound real nice.

Thanks, Triple! Good ears, and good suggestion about adding verb to the strings. Always love (and usually take to heart) your comments.

Great - the clipping is not too bad and hopefully is a mix not a print. Love the new drum sounds. She definitely can sing - runs in the family I guess

Thanks, Gerry! You're a kind man. When you gonna send me some tracks again? I miss drummin' for ya.

 

[rayc]

Yeah, does have a Boony Tyler vibe. Not Lost In France though.
The strings are nice & compliment the melody & guitar well.
The bass is a little too fretless "Japan" sounding for me - sounds like some chorus was added as well as reverb onto a scooped tone. It's the tone for sliding between notes and playing around the melody to my ears. But then again I listened to too many japan albums obvioulsy.
Nice work by the singer & def. suggestes you should work with her agin. Fem Vox for some of your tunes maybe!

 

[ido1957]

I'm revising and recording new tracks on old stuff....might write some later this year...

 

[Chili]

All instruments except drums and vocals are from a minus track.

What's a minus track??

Man, this song sounds familiar... Oh yeah, what Heat said, Chrissy Hynde and the Pretenders. Great song.

Okay, great vocal performance. She sings with confidence and emotion. nice. What kind of eq was done on the vocal track? I'd like to hear a more fuller tone from her voice. to me it sounds like the bottom end was pulled down.

I like the violin doing those little chugs.

Good job all around. Now get her to do some originals!!!!

 

[cello_pudding]

bass sounds great. for me the vox sit strange with EQ. there's some body missing, and possibly some high's need to be cut, and some boosted. great performance though.

You've heard about the clipping it seems.

The fiddle is a little distracting. i don't like the tone. it sounds too electronic. too much mid or something. it sounds direct.

You may have tweeked the potential out, it seems like you have some tracking/mic position issues. perhaps you can fix now, but mic choice and position seem like where things would need to be changed for next time.

snares a little high for this style, it doesn't sit along the others. the kick needs to be brought out a bit.

 

[chrisjorge]

Snare up front a little too much. Cymbals could come up a bit. Play with the snare reverb a bit too to get it to sit in the mix better. Maybe a bit less? Vocal distortion at :56 and 1:53? Maybe collapse the drum panning a little to have it sit better?

 

[stevieb]

Although I am not much of a Carrie Underwood fan, good drums and vocals. I am not "hearing" Bonnie Tyler, no gravel in the singer's voice, no over-belting. (FWIW, I sorta liked Tyler's stuff, though.)

The song was, indeed, written by Chrissie Hynde, and recorded by her and The Pretenders (there was a time when "The Pretenders" were just whomever was playing music for Chrissie, at the moment.) My GF at the time (and of ten years) was big on Chrissie Hynde (and any female performer,) and hearing that song reminds me of how much she did NOT "stand by me" when I needed her most.

 

[Antidote]

I Love it I agree about the snare sitting above the mix but I am listening through Macbook speakers where everything sounds a bit too bright anyway. She is a very talented singer

 

[PoeticIntensity]

Yeah, does have a Boony Tyler vibe. Not Lost In France though.
The strings are nice & compliment the melody & guitar well.
The bass is a little too fretless "Japan" sounding for me - sounds like some chorus was added as well as reverb onto a scooped tone. It's the tone for sliding between notes and playing around the melody to my ears. But then again I listened to too many japan albums obvioulsy.
Nice work by the singer & def. suggestes you should work with her agin. Fem Vox for some of your tunes maybe!

Thanks, Ray! No idea what a "Japan" bass sounds like, but... That was in the minus track already, so I couldn't do much with it. Thanks for the compliments on the singer. She knows her stuff when it comes to singing.

I'm revising and recording new tracks on old stuff....might write some later this year...

Always lookin' forward to it, Gerry. Let me know when I can help ya. My new kit is itchin' for some recording!

What's a minus track??

Man, this song sounds familiar... Oh yeah, what Heat said, Chrissy Hynde and the Pretenders. Great song.

Okay, great vocal performance. She sings with confidence and emotion. nice. What kind of eq was done on the vocal track? I'd like to hear a more fuller tone from her voice. to me it sounds like the bottom end was pulled down.

I like the violin doing those little chugs.

Good job all around. Now get her to do some originals!!!!

A minus track is basically a "karaoke" track. All tracks are already mixed and done without vocals, so I just import the minus track, track the vocals, mix and we're done. Except this time, I added drums as well. As far as EQ goes, I don't believe I EQ'ed it at all. Not much low-mid or bass to her voice at all.

Thanks for the comment, Chili. I've gotta write an original for her to sing, for sure.

bass sounds great. for me the vox sit strange with EQ. there's some body missing, and possibly some high's need to be cut, and some boosted. great performance though.

You've heard about the clipping it seems.

The fiddle is a little distracting. i don't like the tone. it sounds too electronic. too much mid or something. it sounds direct.

You may have tweeked the potential out, it seems like you have some tracking/mic position issues. perhaps you can fix now, but mic choice and position seem like where things would need to be changed for next time.

snares a little high for this style, it doesn't sit along the others. the kick needs to be brought out a bit.

Thanks for the detailed comment! I didn't have any mics on anything except vocals and drums. Mic placement for vocals, I don't think would have changed much, except presence. I didn't EQ her vocals at all - just naturally sounds that way. All other instruments were in the minus track, and couldn't be tweaked. I agree about the snare and kick, though. Thanks again for commenting!

 

[PoeticIntensity]

Snare up front a little too much. Cymbals could come up a bit. Play with the snare reverb a bit too to get it to sit in the mix better. Maybe a bit less? Vocal distortion at :56 and 1:53? Maybe collapse the drum panning a little to have it sit better?

Nailed pretty much everything, Chris. Good ears. I like my drums wide, but maybe a bit more narrow would help this one. Thanks for the comment!

Although I am not much of a Carrie Underwood fan, good drums and vocals. I am not "hearing" Bonnie Tyler, no gravel in the singer's voice, no over-belting. (FWIW, I sorta liked Tyler's stuff, though.)

The song was, indeed, written by Chrissie Hynde, and recorded by her and The Pretenders (there was a time when "The Pretenders" were just whomever was playing music for Chrissie, at the moment.) My GF at the time (and of ten years) was big on Chrissie Hynde (and any female performer,) and hearing that song reminds me of how much she did NOT "stand by me" when I needed her most.

Thanks for the comment!

I Love it I agree about the snare sitting above the mix but I am listening through Macbook speakers where everything sounds a bit too bright anyway. She is a very talented singer

Snare definitely needs a bit of work. Thanks for the comment!

 

[Herm]

I loved it till the snare came in. And Im a drummer. Its taking my head off

 

[PoeticIntensity]

I loved it till the snare came in. And Im a drummer. Its taking my head off

Yeah, dude... I listened to it for the first time in a few days, a few hours ago, and I feel exactly the same way. This was the first recording of my new drum kit, and I mixed the snare *way* too hot. It might even be mic'ed badly. Thanks for the heads up, man.

 

[stevieb]

I loved it till the snare came in. And Im a drummer. I'm taking my head off*

Don't do it, dude! It's not that bad! There are people who love you and would miss you deeply!


(*That's how I read it, at first.)