Fred is Dead

  • Thread starter Thread starter K-dub
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Nice. Everything is nice and distinct. Harmonies are good.

My only nit is that the vocals, particularly in the early part of the song, don't quite sit right in the mix. I think it's maybe their dryness against the wetness of the guitars.

Overall well done.
 
dachay2tnr said:
Nice. Everything is nice and distinct. Harmonies are good.

My only nit is that the vocals, particularly in the early part of the song, don't quite sit right in the mix. I think it's maybe their dryness against the wetness of the guitars.

Overall well done.
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Too "stand out"-ish and overly defined ... like too much "on top" of the bed?
 
Reading the first exchange in the thread, I was cued to a possible wet/dry mismatch between vocals and bed, but the vocals work for me. What caught my attention was the drums - the compression gets them standing proud and the dryness makes them prouder, which is a distraction to my ears. I know you're really good at getting everything clear and heard, but this tune's a lovely sort of Floyd/Dead meld, and neither of those bands would have mixed the drums this way. Maybe my great expectations confused my ears.
 
dobro said:
Reading the first exchange in the thread, I was cued to a possible wet/dry mismatch between vocals and bed, but the vocals work for me. What caught my attention was the drums - the compression gets them standing proud and the dryness makes them prouder, which is a distraction to my ears. I know you're really good at getting everything clear and heard, but this tune's a lovely sort of Floyd/Dead meld, and neither of those bands would have mixed the drums this way. Maybe my great expectations confused my ears.
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So - P ... swim them in more 'verb?
 
All of these new mixes btw ... are part of a catalog/album revamp that is upending, well ... everything I've done.

Like a lot of folks around since the way back when of learning even HOW to get results out of home recording (we're talking 20+ years back now), our albums were formed primarily by what we had on the production line that we were able to get finished. The only overarching purpose to the content of my prior releases was (mostly) "What I happened to finish at the time."

So I'm reworking EVERYTHING. Every mix, every arrangement, every collection. Each album is going to be reassembled with a blend of new and existing material - from the ground up - with better attention to flow, concept of presentation, and cohesion of material.

With 20+ years experience of mixing and producing NOW under my belt - and MUCH BETTER TOOLS.

A nod will be given to the legacy releases, but all the folks who bought the old works are now holding a rare collectible. The reworked releases will be much more comprehensively constructed than "This is was I got done when." Call me "inspired by Taylor Swift", who ... fighting for control over her early albums, decided to fuck the rights holder by re-recording her material. That's gumption. Mine is much less so, but I'm interested in the sonic improvement and better overall cohesion of presentation. I want each album to flow with like kind material - w/o the odd ball inclusions that occassionally made their way into the collection by virtue of being finished at the same time.

So I am interested in getting feedback for the new releases.

I'm not going to do a third time.

:D
 
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K-dub said:
Too "stand out"-ish and overly defined ... like too much "on top" of the bed?
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I’m going by memory right now, I’ll re-listen next time I’m in my “studio,” but my recollection is they didn’t quite sound like they were in the same “room” together. Hope that makes sense - and as noted, it’s a nit. But that’s what struck me.
 
Love it! Boy thats a super crystal clear mix....treat on headphones. Vocals are awesome, love the guitar effects/verbs/delays! If I had one nit..it would be that snare seems a little up close in the mix compared to the rest..
Great song Kev!!!!
 
stratmonkee said:
Love it! Boy thats a super crystal clear mix....treat on headphones. Vocals are awesome, love the guitar effects/verbs/delays! If I had one nit..it would be that snare seems a little up close in the mix compared to the rest..
Great song Kev!!!!
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Thanks bud!

You guys taught me good here.

(Not kidding)
 
I always worry that what I notice will taken without a grain of salt.

Listen to how there's a hit/scratchy rhythm hit RIGHT OUT FRONT on this one. It works. But it works because it's occasional. Just saying.

 
sonusman 2019 said:
This is a strange, quirky, pretty song that sounds like the result of Pink Floyd and The Beatles getting together to get it done. I like the guitar work in particular.

From a songwriting standpoint, I have no complaints or points that I would have brought up had I been asked to produce.

From a performance standpoint, I think that they're are some giveaways in the drum track that it is not 1-real drums. 2: programmed by a drummer. Well all the other instruments and performances have a fluidity to them, the drum sound kind of stiff and disjointed within the song. I will say that the programming is better than average that I hear, but not on par with what a drummer that would play this tight and consistent would make decisions about doing in this song.

My only other complaint, performance wise has to do with the bass guitar. I feel like it spends a little too much time in the guitar registers and doesn't have enough low end to support the song in a dreamy kind of way that the performance is suggest. The actual parts are creative and nice, but I think intrude a little too much in the guitar around and possibly could be pushed an octave lower support the song better.

None of the above would cause me to not listen to the song again. :-)

On to production elements.

If I took the kick, snare, symbols of one group, and the Tom says another group, I would walk the overall feel of their equalization to be opposite what they are. Or clearly said, unlike for the kick, snare, and symbols to have a bit more of a pillowy kind of sound, and the toms the sound a little more scooped out and not so tone oriented. I honestly feel that making this about chain would help the sort of can sound and feel of the drum track a lot and hide it in the mix a lot better.

There is a clean guitar in the beginning of the song that's pannd quite a ways right. Only the rides symbol counters it on the left, but since the right symbol is very sparse and the guitar is very busy, it feels like the whole mix is weighted towards the right channel. I think a nice fix for that would be to double back guitar and place the double track over on the left with some reverb on it and delayed somewhere between 60 to 90 milliseconds. You can possibly even chorus that stereo crew to create a little bit of movement between them. I think this would balance things out nicely create an interesting effect for that guitar.

My only other production gripe would be the lead vocal. I think that it's compressed a bit too much, and how's very present 200 Hertz centered region that makes it sound kind of distorted. Doesn't sound aired out, clean and a little dynamic like the genre would like to hear. It sounds too much like a modern produced vocal.

This is a very good production for something that is in really going to be sold to the masses. Take my suggestions with a grain of salt. :-)
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Boy - you really nailed it.

This started life as an acoustic piece on 12 string guitar and vocal only.

A friend of mine (who adores PF) then added most of all the other guitar work - bass, rhythm and lead.

I then blended in the keys ... and, last of all, the drums - which are midi (as correctly surmised).

Normally, I'll build a song from the drums/bass up ... and this piece was done nearly completely in the reverse of that.

Excellent thoughts all, duly noted. I will pay attention when I circle back around to address the piece again.
 
I gave this a couple of runs today.

The Floyd references are spot on, probably early Floyd at that. Maybe a little Electric Prunes thrown in...

RE: the drums, I kind of like the way the drums just sit there, locking in nice and steady, while everything else sort of swirls around the playing field. Most of the time, I like for the instruments to reside in the same "space", but for this one, it is not a so much of a performance piece, as a collage of sounds working together. It's very early 70s psychedelic sounding to me, and I like it.
 
TalismanRich said:
I gave this a couple of runs today.

The Floyd references are spot on, probably early Floyd at that. Maybe a little Electric Prunes thrown in...

RE: the drums, I kind of like the way the drums just sit there, locking in nice and steady, while everything else sort of swirls around the playing field. Most of the time, I like for the instruments to reside in the same "space", but for this one, it is not a so much of a performance piece, as a collage of sounds working together. It's very early 70s psychedelic sounding to me, and I like it.
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Needs a Gilmour lead.

:D

Actually, Stu does a great job on it. It's a very different collage of sound he constructed on the frame.
 
K-dub said:
Needs a Gilmour lead.

:D

Actually, Stu does a great job on it. It's a very different collage of sound he constructed on the frame.
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2nd the Gilmour statement
But also agree what's here is also rather good. Mix seems nice, clear, space for everything ....I listened on phone so can't say much more mix wise.


I dig it
 
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