Get Funky!

[elbandito]

A fifth of whiskey and a cold Friday night. Myself and my good friend decided to write and record a song. Over the next few days I've tried to mix it. Obviously, the singing isn't the best and there are some minor mistakes in the playing but that can all be chalked up to our alcohol consumption. lol.

What do you all think, in terms of the way everything sits in the mix? The instrumentation consists of acoustic, bass and electric guitar, saxophone, vox, and some drum loops.

 

[JimmyS1969]

Funky funck! I can dig man. Like the groove. Sub frequencies are a bit out of control tho. Though, whiskey is as whiskey does. Or something like that. Wait, am I drinking whiskey now? Maybe......



Good stuff man!

 

[elbandito]

Thanks man! If you're ever in Toronto or Montreal, you should come thru and drink some Canadian rye whiskey with us.

You're probably right about those subs... I mentioned in another thread that I have problems with the lower frequencies in my 'mixing room'. I really should stop buying mics and put some money aside for the purchase of some bass traps and whatnot to make my room more conducive for mixing.

 

[elbandito]

Why is it that when I listen to this on my monitors it sounds great but when I listen to it on a home stereo system or thru headphones, it sounds 'boxy'? How can I get my monitor mix to translate well on other types of systems?

 

[JimmyS1969]

Why is it that when I listen to this on my monitors it sounds great but when I listen to it on a home stereo system or thru headphones, it sounds 'boxy'? How can I get my monitor mix to translate well on other types of systems?

Well, get to know why they don't translate, is the easy answer. Learning what your monitors are telling you is what is important. BTW, what are you using for monitors?

It seems evident that they are not producing low end frequencies accurately. Keep in mind, just adding a sub to a bad set of monitors will not necessarily help the situation either. Getting familiar with a decent set of monitors, whatever they are, will help with translation.


I may take you up on the Canadian rye someday man. Sounds yummy!

 

[kcearl]

I refuse to get funky...no matter how much whisky there is

but I enjoyed the energy...sounds like you had fun...damned I missed jamming with friends in Toronto...we were shite but after a few beers even U2 covers can be a laugh


Im not hearing boxy, but Im on my internet PC...does sound a little mono and muddy, the mix is missing a little top end overall...maybe push the instruments out a bit wider


ta for sharing...electronica is a lonely genre


sniff

 

[JimmyS1969]

I refuse to get funky...no matter how much whisky there is

but I enjoyed the energy...sounds like you had fun...damned I missed jamming with friends in Toronto...we were shite but after a few beers even U2 covers can be a laugh


Im not hearing boxy, but Im on my internet PC...does sound a little mono and muddy, the mix is missing a little top end overall...maybe push the instruments out a bit wider


ta for sharing...electronica is a lonely genre


sniff

My personal take on 'funky', is directly relative to what/how particularly 'funky' women are getting 'funky'. It can be a wonderful thing. Not sure how funky works otherwise.....ok, move on.

Yes, I hear what elb would describe as boxy. It seems to me more a matter of placing instruments in the stereo field. There really is not a stereo anything here. Unless there is a chance of drinking the same whiskey and duplicating tracks, panning them to create the space, then I would suggest drinking more whiskey, double tracking the guitars, create a space for the funk. The drums have no room/overhead sound (stereo image), which is the basis IMO for getting a sense of space in any mix.

I am curious as to what you are working with as far as DAW, mics, instruments, and how you recorded this. I might be able to offer further advice. Though, to get the funk out, I will need some very special C-W!

 

[elbandito]

My personal take on 'funky', is directly relative to what/how particularly 'funky' women are getting 'funky'. It can be a wonderful thing. Not sure how funky works otherwise.....ok, move on.

Yes, I hear what elb would describe as boxy. It seems to me more a matter of placing instruments in the stereo field. There really is not a stereo anything here. Unless there is a chance of drinking the same whiskey and duplicating tracks, panning them to create the space, then I would suggest drinking more whiskey, double tracking the guitars, create a space for the funk. The drums have no room/overhead sound (stereo image), which is the basis IMO for getting a sense of space in any mix.

I am curious as to what you are working with as far as DAW, mics, instruments, and how you recorded this. I might be able to offer further advice. Though, to get the funk out, I will need some very special C-W!

My setup: old ass laptop that has just enough power to run two nice compressors and two instances of different reverbs simultaneously in Reaper. I think its 32bit win7 and its got 4G of ram. Pretty ghetto, but it works and I like it... Except when the CPU occasionally decides to crap out on me. At least it only ever does this during mixing and never during tracking! I've developed a 'ctrl-s' twitch. Heh.

I only used one mic, cuz I didn't really want to mess about with finding the best one (priority: WHISKEY). That mic was the Studio projects cs5 - I used the C and WC patterns. It went into my US180, with nothing in between.

I put the loops together in reaper and we used the cs5 on the acoustic, sax and vox. Bass and electric went direct. My monitors are rockit 8s.

 

[GuitarLegend]

Doesnt sound like your monitor setup is bad. What audio interface are you using? You said US180, do you mean Tascam US1800?

I am using an ACER Travelmate laptop with Intel Core i3 Processor, 4GB RAM and 500GB HDD and Lexicon USB Audio Interface. It seems to do the job pretty well although there are some areas where it could use more grunt. Doesnt seem to bog down with plugins though. If I get up to 16 tracks or more, then it starts to quiver...

 

[elbandito]

Us1800, I mean. Its a pain posting in this forum from a cellphone. Edit doesn't work properly.

 

[GuitarLegend]

Us1800, I mean. Its a pain posting in this forum from a cellphone. Edit doesn't work properly.

Yep, I hear ya. Not picking on your typing, just checking on the gear you had. I didnt know a US180 but new stuff turns up...

 

[elbandito]

So, given that these are programmed drums and not live, how would you suggest that I go about making them more spacious-sounding? I've put a touch of reverb on the mix already... Maybe a light convolution reverb on the drums, if I can find a free one and some room impulses?

 

[elbandito]

Bump for info.

 

[JimmyS1969]

You asked.

Well, I hear the sub issue with the kick. It is of no issue when I turn my sub off. But ringing occurs at around 40-60hz when it is active. A simple HPF will fix that issue. That is my only nit. From there it is just the width and scope of the sound of the song as a whole. Very mono sounding to me.

I can think of things that I would do with the mix (without adding tracks), but that would involve using some specialty plugs that I have. I think you already are getting the vibe of the tune already. Double tracking the vocals would help big time IMO. Using the second takes at lower volume, to support the fullness of the track. Same with the guitar, except panning them wide to give a stereo field. Something like a PSP Vintage Warmer would give the bass some presence in the mix. Even duplicating the recorded bass track, and distorting only the high end a bit, would really help to bring out the tone, and I assume you have that ability in Reaper already. This however may not be so effective for the mix as it stands, if the drums are not made more powerful.

Parallel compression can be a great thing is used properly on the drums. Especially programmed ones. I approach things a bit differently than many members here. I have no problem adding samples to drums, even live ones. I get the drums sounding as powerful as possible, but still natural. You don't have natural to start with, though getting them sounding like they are in a room, and in your face, would be my first starting point. If the drums sound good, everything else falls into place much easier to me. Get the drums right, or at least close, then build a mix around that. The drums here sound 'AM' radio to start with, so it makes it tough to build the rest up. I assume your drum loop is a premixed stereo track, you will have a hard time getting them to sound much better. There are things you could try, but without the isolated track in front of me, I really couldn't say what might work with any conviction.

I'm not sure what you might learn from it, but you could send me the individual raw tracks as you have them now, and I could see what I come up with.

Gonna cost you some whiskey tho.....