Holding On To Jesus II

  • Thread starter Thread starter BroKen_H
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BroKen_H said:
the Selig's on the vocals and master and a 2:1 1176 on the master bus
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Just to make sure I didn't mis-understand. You have a "Selig" on the vocals, right? I think I got that.

But, you also have a "Selig" on the master bus, as well as the 1176 on the master bus? I just want to make sure I understood so that we're both having the same conversation. 2 compressors on the master bus, right?
 
Sorry, I'm not that sure of ANYTHING I'm doing.
Nothing on my bass besides a 5dB scoop centered at 570hZ
Strings running bare with a scoop out from 350-600 Hz and a rise from 5.1-10k. No one's complaining about the level on these, so maybe I've got that one thing ironed out :)
Those drums are just the way they came from SSD with just a touch of 100Hz boost on the kick. I did just pull my 6k shelf boost off the bus. That'll fix a bit. :)
The swirly in the backing vocals must be from the pitch correction...changed a few notes, but not major. Is it constant, or just in a few places? If it's constant, can't be that....
Are the bridge vocals too punchy? I tried to get them slappy, but might have gone too far with the gates...
Found another compressor I didn't realize wasn't bypassed. That'll help.
I'm trying to clean this stuff up! Keep up the great comments, and I might just get this turd polished.
 
RAMI said:
Just to make sure I didn't mis-understand. You have a "Selig" on the vocals, right? I think I got that.

But, you also have a "Selig" on the master bus, as well as the 1176 on the master bus? I just want to make sure I understood so that we're both having the same conversation. 2 compressors on the master bus, right?
Click to expand...

Yes, but the Selig is a leveler and really does compression in a different light. I can switch the 1176 out, but as I just realized I had another comp running 4:1 on the final I doubt that will be necessary. It's hard to explain when you're trying to figure it out yourself. The 1176 is the master compressor built into the 9000. Have always been told that to do compression right, you need to apply little bits here and there, and not one big slap at the end...so I have a compressor on the vocal track (and a few others) and then another compressor on the master bus, and then another compressor in the final (I don't want to say mastering, but that's what propellerhead calls it) stage. The idea is to keep the dynamics and pull up the volume, yes?
 
BroKen_H said:
Are the bridge vocals too punchy? I tried to get them slappy, but might have gone too far with the gates...
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Forget gates on vocals. They won't accomplish anything, let alone punchiness.
Found another compressor I didn't realize wasn't bypassed. That'll help.
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That'll definitely help. Make sure there aren't any more hiding under anything somewhere. :D
I might just get this turd polished.
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No man, it ain't no turd. But I know how much outside ears help me when I've been too immersed in a mix for a long time. That's what it's all about here. :cool:
 
BroKen_H said:
Yes, but the Selig is a leveler and really does compression in a different light. I can switch the 1176 out, but as I just realized I had another comp running 4:1 on the final I doubt that will be necessary. It's hard to explain when you're trying to figure it out yourself. The 1176 is the master compressor built into the 9000. Have always been told that to do compression right, you need to apply little bits here and there, and not one big slap at the end...so I have a compressor on the vocal track (and a few others) and then another compressor on the master bus, and then another compressor in the final (I don't want to say mastering, but that's what propellerhead calls it) stage.
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OK cool. I uderstand now.

The idea is to keep the dynamics and pull up the volume, yes?
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On paper, but the idea is really to just do what makes the song sound best, as vague as that is.
 
That sounds a lot better from what I remember about the first mix I heard. The lead vocals might be a bit loud now, compared to the harmonies. But I'm not too familiar with worship, so maybe this is a good vocal level for this style. If that's the case, maybe bring up the back vocal just a tad.

Drums sound so much better and more natural now. It's definitely getting there. Way better.
 
To me, it almost sounds like you're pushing the Master bus too hard. I'd strip all FX off the Master bus first and foremost. Get a mix going and sounding as good as possible and post that up without any kind of "mastering". The mix is sounding squashed to me here, almost fatiguing.

Personally, I think the bass needs to come up a notch to bring it in line with the kick. They're not gelling as well as they could. The Acoustic is too harsh sounding and could go down some. (But that could be a curse of the compression/mastering)

Don't run before you can walk. Get the mix sorted first before any finishing touches.

Liked the tune though. Not my thing but it works. That's all I got :thumbs up:
 
Okay. Wow. Thanks.
I guess I'll come back to this in a week and give my ears a rest from these monsters...(M3-8s have a LOT of power. Need to get a Big Knob for Christmas and save my ears). DAW kicks right at 98-102dB through these things at volume and if I run at less, the compressors don't kick in the same (which is why you hear so much compressor) :D

Thanks for all the help everybody (and especially RAMI, whose given up an afternoon to help me!) :)
 
There's a lot of high frequency stuff flying around on the right especially - it reminds me of walking through a snow storm - can you EQ it so that it's not so wearing? You could turn it down a touch too, and that would let you turn down the vocal (it's a bit loud now), and putting a bit more verb on the vocal would get it sitting back into the rest of the mix a little better cuz it's a little forward right now.
 
That's a pretty good song! I've heard my share of Jesus songs, and this is right at the top. Maybe a notch below the venerable classics like "Here I am". I like the part that kicks in around 1:55.

We are talking about Mexicans, right?

Just kidding :) Nice work.
 
Thanks guys. Appreciate all the input I can get. I'm not going to listen to the song again until Wednesday. Then I'll take all these wonderful nudges and tweaks and see what I can do...Just needed to give my ears a break from the song. :D
 
Started retracking yesterday. I'll post something up in a couple days or a week if I can get the time (work is on unlimited OT this week and I only had yesterday off).

I was listening to a lot of my other tracks and realized this is not my best key for singing. I realized the vocals are flat and uninspired and I've just got to get them out of the baritone and get them where I sing more comfortably, so I'm upping it from C to E and we'll see if that helps. If that fails, I'll drop it to A and sing an octave higher...:D This would have been good to realize two months ago when I wrote the thing...
 
Different keys can make a big differerence to how you sing something. Tempo's even more important for me. A few bpm too slow, and the whole thing can plod or sound uninspired. Pick up the tempo a bit, and it snaps.
 
Okay, by posting the new song in the place of the old song on Soundcloud, I'm making the old versions in old posts unavailable, so I guess that works. Here's the new one up from C to E.



The backups are still a bit rough, but I think the overall mix is really coming together. Is it to bright? Still trying to get used to my new monitors. :D
 
Yeah, this one's better. The drums might be a bit overcompressed.
 
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