A little something that's winding me up

  • Thread starter Thread starter noisedude
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noisedude

noisedude

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Ok so this is a little song I've been working on but it doesn't sound right and I can't work out why. Can you guys give me a clue?

Sorry it's only 128kbps quality, I got a bit confused with the encoder.

EDIT - (very) slightly improved mp3:
http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/file.php?fid=4803

Shoot straight, I can take it!!

Gear:
M-Audio Delta44
SP T3 for vox and guitar amp
Shure 545 for guitar amp
Bass DI'd thru Joemeek ThreeQ
Beyer M400 for trumpet and sax
Soundcraft M12 pres
 
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Sounds like the bottom end might be a bit too much...It seems to cover some things when it's really rocking. Right at the beginning is what I'm talking about. It seems that certain sounds, the lower ones, might be distracting from the voice. Her vox cut through fine during the verses, when the music is thinner, but during the parts where the music is really big, it hides her vox some. When there is no vox, it's not near as much noticeable.

Clean up some of the bottom end, and it might help a bit.

Not bad for this early though....just a bit cluttered at times.
 
The bottom ends pretty muddy, guitars and horns are too distorted and there is too much sibilance in the vocals. I like the song though!
 
Something seems a bit off in the chorus part with the sax/ horn section-harmonies sound somewhat off to me. Guitars seem to be okay, it just isn't quite tight in the chorus.
 
Dogman said:
Sounds like the bottom end might be a bit too much...It seems to cover some things when it's really rocking. Right at the beginning is what I'm talking about. It seems that certain sounds, the lower ones, might be distracting from the voice. Her vox cut through fine during the verses, when the music is thinner, but during the parts where the music is really big, it hides her vox some. When there is no vox, it's not near as much noticeable.

Clean up some of the bottom end, and it might help a bit.

Not bad for this early though....just a bit cluttered at times.
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I'm the bass player ... so this doesn't surprise me for some reason. :D
 
NYMorningstar said:
The bottom ends pretty muddy, guitars and horns are too distorted and there is too much sibilance in the vocals. I like the song though!
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Thanks man. The sax parts haven't had anything done to them, so I can't work out why they'd sound like that.

Some of the 'cutting thru' trouble is my amateurish use of compression.
 
Hmmm ... just took another listen to the mp3 and it is awful compared to the version in Sonar. So I really have got confused somewhere.

I think I truncated rather than dithering and clearly needed higher quality for the mp3. :o
 
Nik, it's not just the bass...it's a buildup of things. Maybe some eq on each part, to seperate them? :confused:

Just a thought.
 
Are you going for an AM-radio kinda sound on the intro before the drums and everything kick in? Or maybe an old phonograph sound? If so, I'd go a little more extreme on the eq there and take out more low end.

Can really add much to what Dogman said. Definitely some low freq's in competition. I can definitely hear the compression kick in on the choruses. Goddamned loudness wars!

What mic did you use on the vox? She sounds really clear and present. No f/x at all on the voice? EDIT: nevermind, I noticed the gear list finally. :o
 
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MadAudio said:
Are you going for an AM-radio kinda sound on the intro before the drums and everything kick in? Or maybe an old phonograph sound? If so, I'd go a little more extreme on the eq there and take out more low end.

Can really add much to what Dogman said. Definitely some low freq's in competition. I can definitely hear the compression kick in on the choruses. Goddamned loudness wars!

What mic did you use on the vox? She sounds really clear and present. No f/x at all on the voice? EDIT: nevermind, I noticed the gear list finally. :o
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Cheers Norm!

Yeah I'm using the Izotope Vinyl plugin at the start, maybe I'll put more crackle in as well.

Not really sure what to do about the compression though as the verses will end up too quiet if I take it all off ... :confused:
 
Izotope doesn't translate to MP3 very well - I've used it & it sounds good in wav. but the couple of uses on this forum I've heard, & the conversions I've made, seem to suffer in translation to MP3. Perhaps it needs more of the other elements - rumble, hum & noise to make it less like an error.
The song is good.
The quite sections are fairly thin & the band sections are really quite muddy.
Have you tried mixing in mono 1st? It'sa a good way to hear when things get lost in each other & when things are getting their own space.
the bass, mate! It really needs some definition. It sounds fine but in the quieter sections but when things are happening it becomes a thud.
The bass drum isn't clear either.
Is it the horns or the girl's voice that are ever so slightly pitchy?
Is there a metalaphone/glok in their? It's hard to tell what that thing is.
Play the chorus without the horns. It might be them that're muddying things up. If they are you can EQ them into a better place.
The slight remix is an improvement too.
Good song - keep at it I'd love to hear the finished product.
 
I'm listening to the re-mix. I think it sounds alright to me. I was expecting the low end to be really boomy, based on the earlier comments, but I guess you fixed it up in the re-mix. It does seem to distort a bit in the chorus. And she's singing pretty pitchy at times. But the mix isn't pretty good to me.

One thing, though. I don't know if it's my system but I can swear the mix is tilted to the right. There doesn't seem to be much coming out of the left speaker.
 
I listened to both mixes. Second is better but there's a couple of observations. On the vocal, some obvious pitch issues and for my taste, I hear to much of the room in the vocal mic. When all the band is in, something is overloading. There's distortion and not in a good way. Sometimes a little grunge can make a tune feel loud and aggressive. Here it just sounds like distortion. No offense sir. :D
 
None taken!!!

Cheers for your help guys, I'm printing this thread off to look at when I have another look tonight.

I agree with all of your comments!!
 
rayc said:
Izotope doesn't translate to MP3 very well - I've used it & it sounds good in wav. but the couple of uses on this forum I've heard, & the conversions I've made, seem to suffer in translation to MP3. Perhaps it needs more of the other elements - rumble, hum & noise to make it less like an error.
The song is good.
The quite sections are fairly thin & the band sections are really quite muddy.
Have you tried mixing in mono 1st? It'sa a good way to hear when things get lost in each other & when things are getting their own space.
the bass, mate! It really needs some definition. It sounds fine but in the quieter sections but when things are happening it becomes a thud.
The bass drum isn't clear either.
Is it the horns or the girl's voice that are ever so slightly pitchy?
Is there a metalaphone/glok in their? It's hard to tell what that thing is.
Play the chorus without the horns. It might be them that're muddying things up. If they are you can EQ them into a better place.
The slight remix is an improvement too.
Good song - keep at it I'd love to hear the finished product.
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These are all good questions. Rather than replying to each, let me take a stab at improving and see what you reckon then.

Nik
 
Nik, are you tracking and mixing to 24-bit? With my software (Sound Forge) I've found converting to mp3 directly from the 24-bit file gives inconsistant results. So I always down-convert to 16 before going to mp3. No problems that way.
 
MadAudio said:
Nik, are you tracking and mixing to 24-bit? With my software (Sound Forge) I've found converting to mp3 directly from the 24-bit file gives inconsistant results. So I always down-convert to 16 before going to mp3. No problems that way.
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What do you mix down to out of Sound Forge then?
 
I like the sound of the guitars.

...little song I've been working on but it doesn't sound right and I can't work out why.
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The singer's got a great attitude projected in the performance but she's out of tune a lot of the time. Maybe autotune her track? Mix-wise, the revision sounds good.

Tim
 
Timothy Lawler said:
I like the sound of the guitars.

The singer's got a great attitude projected in the performance but she's out of tune a lot of the time. Maybe autotune her track? Mix-wise, the revision sounds good.

Tim
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Autotune it is then ... like I don't have better things to do with my life! :D

Cheers Tim, thanks for listening.

Nik
 
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