"A Brother With Wings": Post HRC mix

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SLuiCe

SLuiCe

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A Brother With Wings (mixed)

The original is still up for A/B purposes.

Alright, there are some things I want to retrack on this, but for the sake of purity I've just mixed the original tracks that were heard in the challenge. I did drop a couple of "tripled" vocals in the first verse to create more song dynamic.

I was going to accompany this with a breakdown of track EQ, Compression, and Reverb as I said I'd try to do for a few people. In fact, I started to embed screen shots from my project into a Word document. But it appears that can't post it here, and I don't have a website, so I dropped it for now. But if anyone wants to talk about specific details, maybe something about a particular track or something, by all means, shoot.

Because of the challenge we couldn't use any compression, so I got some proximity effect tracking the full voice stuff. At first I was irritated, but I've grown into it a little. I think it adds contrast.

As always suggestions are welcome. I took a couple from the dry mix thread for this mix. Suggestions like: don't drown it in effects. :)

Here's the link again. Thanks a lot!

Tom
 
I didn't hear the original version, so I can't compare, and I listened to this in lo-fi, so any mix comments would be meaningless. I can only comment on the song itself. Your songs always have a little something unexpected in them .I kept waiting(hoping) for this one to just explode into massive walls of guitars (I could just hear it in my head) but it never came. Maybe that was the unexpected thing? Oh, well... that's just a guitar dick's opinion, so feel free to disregard. I'm not saying I didn't like the song, I just found it a little anti-climatic. Now I know what my girlfriend feels like after sex.......
Hmmm. On a side note, my one year old daughter just dropped three farts of a stature any man could take pride in.
 
Basically what you're saying is I've gone and taken a perfectly good pop theme, and fucked it all up.

Yep, probably.

:)
 
Oh, I wouldn't say you fucked anything all up. I like it. It just kept foolin me, that's all.
 
I like the song alot, but I too was expecting something to jump out in contrast, like some guitars...

I think a nice tasty guitar solo would sound cool....
maybe something strange and quirky... maybe something like that little solo in "Perry" but a bit longer...:)

Just my opinion, course I dont know much...:p
 
Now wait a minute! didnt I just hear this on another post?
Where I thought it was you. something about a 1969 tape thing!!:confused: :confused: :confused:

something called the real thing by russel morris



I really liked this a lot
needs some cleaning up, but thats a great song, nicely performed

Peace
Bill
 
Nice work!

This sounds quite good. Some would probably nail you on a little sibilance here & there, but I like it that way. It makes the vocal during the verses very intimate. I love dynamics! It is a bit of a tease like others mentioned. I guess we get used to hearing things presented in certain ways.

I wouldn't even try to critique your writing/arrangement on this.;)

If you can convert those screenshots to JPG you can attach 'em to your posts. You have to save 'em at low quality, or shrink 'em down to fit 'em in though.
 
Ok, I screwed up somehow! I was in the other post and clicked it to play when this started somehow. I knew It sounded like you Sluice:o :D :o :D

Peace
Bill
 
Oooh-- i like this, SluiCe! I think this mix rocks. Its interesting--things come up close, then go far away, but its all balanced. The tones and timbres are smooth as silk. It just feels "right". And, I'm amazed at how much life you breathe into that acoustic guitar. This is one of your best, for sure!
 
Thanks for the feedback guys. I don't know why, but I just didn't/don't feel inclined to add more to this. I think it's what I'm writing about that makes me want to keep it so simple, I don't know. Maybe that'll change with time. But either way, thank you for the songwriting tips. They're good suggestions for someone less stubborn. :) The other problem I face is getting into a pattern of arrangement. I don't want to fall into a formula. Just reading responses here tells me people are trying to predict my music. And I hate that. Because that means someone is thinking- not listening and feeling.

But I'm assuming there are no major sonic issues because for the most part the focus has been on the arrangement. Did anyone A/B it? Is this an improvement over the dry mix? Did I tame the bass overload on your system? I do appreciate the song comments, but is this thread otherwise useless?

I did read your comment about sibilance M. Brane.
It was tracked with heavy sibilance. I don't know if I was just too stoned or someone took my front teeth away for the morning, but a little cut around 4500Hz helped a bit. I want to re-track the whole thing with a compressor at some point. Thanks dude.

Kelly5150- I can hear some more guitars coming in too, but more as embellishments, nothing like heavy, dynamic, throw-the-whole-mix-into-the-fire guitars. Glad you liked the tune...thanks.

wfaraoni- I appreciate the listen. You said it "needs some cleaning up." What do you suggest? I'm kinda on to another project for now, but I reference these threads in remixes. Thanks Bill.

Crawdad- Don't you ever have anything nice to say? :) Thanks Al.
 
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Hey man,
I,ve been listenin'....and playin' along for the last hour or so...
D-C-B??

Sounds real good on my monitors...
Acoustic tone is superb...
What mic did you use?
I liked it right off the bat with that nice bass tone opening the tune up...
The dynamic changes created with the kick, crash and snare is the hook for me...
Sure...you could put some tasty guit leads in there....but, I like it the way it is...
Vox is super man...

sort of a cross inbetween YES and one of the newer pop rock bands,...I can't remember their name but they did that tune "Shine down on me"....I think they are a Christian band but they rock! :D

Nice to meet cha man...good tunage,
Rock on :D
Joe
 
SLuiCe said:
Is this an improvement over the dry mix?

Are you nuts? Of course it is...(A/B-d a couple of times: the dry sounded good too, but this is much better! Guitars sound more alive. Bass more round and full without being too round and full...vocals sound perfect! I'm not into keyboard pads myself, yet you always make them sound OK!)

Do I have to spell it out for you? It sounds A M A Z I N G!

Stop working on this song, make a new one please! :D
 
I've A/B'd them a few times. Second version sounds better without question, but I don't know if I can tell why. The bottom is more full without being muddy. Vocals sit more nicely into the mix. Aside from that it just sounds smoother. It was already pretty damn good before you mixed it.

The songwriting and arrangement are awesome. "Experimental" doesn't always have to slap you in the face. I like that you kept it subtle. I think all the stuff we've come to expect from you (and might be looking for) is in this - it's just not as obvious.
 
very very nice. a different facet from you for me. Sometimes less says more.
 
Some of the harmonies and chord changes in this one are quite cool. I was also struck by how similar the mixed and unmixed versions seemed. I wonder if the difference is more pronounced on a nicer sound system.

Great craftsmanship on the sound. Nice music. I think lyrically you and I are as far apart as two people can be. Your lyrics are as serious as mine are frivilous. Just an observation.

Harmonies around 1:11-1:13 could be tighter. Very minor though, I'm not sure it's worth fixing. Ditto at 2:38 on the word "upon". Again, very minor. Just being as nitpicky as I can. hehehe

Excellent.
 
Ah, you start off with only one vocal track now. So much better! You have great voice.
By the way, this song reminds me of something but I haven't figured out what it is..
 
This sounds really great, man. It's funny, but it seems a LOT cleaner in terms of reverb/FX choices than your other stuff, but it's not missing anything at all.

Thanks for the tight harmony @ 1:57...("Stand Still") super nice and normal and everything, lol.

-My favorite Sluice tune,
Chris
 
You left the toilet seat up...that's all I could come up with in terms of critique (I have no idea where that came from :rolleyes: )

Seriously, it's beyond me. Sounds awesome. One thing I have to say is you maintained the intimacy that I liked even after the full blown mix. Consider it done...and done nicely! :)

Back to work. It's getting in the way of my BBS enjoyment! :mad:

OK, maybe I'll do one more before I head out!
 
I like it loads! Very nice. Can't comment on the mixing because it kicks mine so :) Nice song. Sounds like you're into Blur/David Byrne. :) I'm liking it a lot.
 
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