A mechanical dream part dos

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chuckduffy

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I posted this tune a while back. After listening to a bunch of stuff on here (esp kcearl and heat) and some prior comments I realized it had pretty much a pussed out low end based on a synth triangle buzz bass.

So I played added a part on my j-bass (bridge pickup only) and mixed it with the buzz bass and a kalimba. did some panning and the like. I dropped the background vocal on the verse parts. stopped using a bunch of different verbs on the drums and just used one room, played with the panning, etc.

Mechanical Dream part dos

Again - this is a bit of a departure musically and instrumentation wise for me with the electronic bits and the like. Let me know what you think... I really wanna nail this mix down and I don't have any ears, sanity or ability to think critically left...

MIX UPDATE 2- bumped up the j-bass by 1.25, dropped the buzz triangle bass by .5, panned the crash left where it belongs, dropped the overall level a bit (this is all 'pseudo mastered' with elephant by the way - I plan on having it mastered later this month). Bass maybe too hot now, but I'd rather be told to turn it down than up as I'm addicted now...

Mechanical Dream part dos - mix two

MIX UPDATE 3 - dropped the bass 2db where it is naked in the intro. dropped the bass by .5 in the remaining sections as mix 2 seemed a tad overwhelming

Mechanical Dream part dos - mix three
 
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I think this might be the first time Ive heard a tune of yours....its very good chuck...I like it, its got a vibe that reminds me of the Alabama 3 for some reason

the synth bass works great, though when the tune first started the piano was so soft I turned the speakers up then nearly shit myself when it came in! lol

the intros a little hard to guess what volume everything is coming in at, once its in full swing it all settles nicely, its got a real bottom end to it, and the synth adds another dimension to the sound..

If I had any nits apart from the intro levels it would be that maybe the snare needs a little more sparkle...other than that I enjoyed it all the way through, some nice playing too

if I were to offer a suggestion, while youre in this experimental mood a sample of some kinda machinery, or clockwork, in the mechanical dreams parts would really add to it imo, but shit, I like samples ;)
 
Wow that's pretty good. I'm gonna disagree with kcearl about the snare. I think that loose bottom-mic sounding snare fits the style well. Everything seems to be pretty balanced to me. My only real nitpick would be that the drums seem to lean to the right a little much. I keep wanting to hear a tom or a crash on the left, but it never happens. I'd also like a little more of the J-bass. Just a little. Overall pretty good though.
 
Yep--that's impressive all right. Very pro sounding mix. Great stereo separation on the parts--everything's sitting real well. Cool song and a good voice too!
 
Wow. This is certainly more clear and spacious than the CD version. I like it a lot, but then again I was pretty cool with the other version.

I think the drums sound better this way. I'm also noticing some stuff I don't think I heard before....like a xylophone maybe?...and the guitar off to the side in the chorus where you just kind of buzz parts of the chords in a little staccato thing...that is cool.

It's really nice. That whole chorus section is just perfect. Everything's sounding pretty good here, but I'm listening on little bookshelf speakers instead of in the "studio" where there's more detail and volume.
 
heatmiser said:
I think the drums sound better this way. I'm also noticing some stuff I don't think I heard before....like a xylophone maybe?...and the guitar off to the side in the chorus where you just kind of buzz parts of the chords in a little staccato thing...that is cool.
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Your hearing a kalimba


Great idea...i love hearing little parts that make ask "what was that?"
 
Whoa!...Kalimba = "thumb piano"? That's a new one for me.
 
Hey guys I really appreciate the comments and feedback....

@Greg - THANKS i really respect your ears and attention to detail. re the snare/kcearl - I intentionally picked a very loose open sample and slid the mic slider to almost 100% bottom - so you are dead on there. I don't know how the crash wandered to the far right and of course I missed it but I corrected that. I play it on the left of my simmons kit and I always try and pan stuff where it sits. I am editing the original post to include another mix - I bumped up the j-bass up by 1.25 and dropped the buzz bass by .50. It may be too much, but at this point I'm totally addicted and loved the result in my car, monitors and other devices - lemme know. I was also reading another reply of yours on another thread and I was cracking up cause I played the bass with a purple tortex and I use the yellows alot on guitar.

@kcearl - thanks for the kind words man. I've been posting stuff since the beginning of feb I guess - glad you checked in on this one :-) Greg kinda nailed it about the snare - I wanted a big loose snare and it's all pretty much bottom mic and that's what I was looking for. I also hear you about the clock-work and I actually had a similar idea but ended up with the kalimba. It sounds kinda plonky and mechanical so I went with it. I love little parts that come and go and your stuff reminded me that I gotta mix things up a little more and stretch out of my comfort zone of guitar, bass, drums, piano. I had also never heard of the alabama 3 so I listened quite a bit. That stuff is seriously cool and I'm going to listen to some more tonight. The dude has an awesome aged, raspy character voice and I like how they layer roots instruments in with all the electronic stuff.

@heat - yeah I do think it sounds alot more open and spacious and to me the bass just makes it a song. I don't know how I went so long working on this thing without even having a ffreaking bass in the verses.... I think my wife thinks I've lost it continually circling back to these tunes. But I'm using it as practice, and I do think they are getting better so who knows. I've been practicing a ton of bass and I really like my new setup with flatwounds and using the neck pickup only...

@whitestrat - thanks for checking it out and the kind words :-)
 
New mix = awesomeness.

You're pushing it with the bass there, but I like the j-bass sound. It adds a nice pulse to the verses that was absent prior.
 
Sounds very good-I compared to the previous version and this sounds better to me, more bassy and spacious as someone else mentioned. I'm confused as to whats been added since i hear the bass plucking during the high vocal parts in the previous version-is/was there a standup bass patch in the previous version? In any case I really like this song, the melody and chord changes during the high vocal part are especially excellent, tones are great all around and the mix is pristine.

Strat
 
heatmiser said:
New mix = awesomeness.

You're pushing it with the bass there, but I like the j-bass sound. It adds a nice pulse to the verses that was absent prior.
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Yeah - I know I'm pushing. Greg said bump it up a hair, and I went a little beyond a hair - but hey... I think part of the problem is that when the bass is on its own in the intro it's so god aweful loud that i start to think -'this cant be right' - but then when the rest of the stuff kicks in it settles down. I think I will just drop the level in the intro a couple db. I am happy that I am starting to get close to a decent bass tone now that the strings have settled in and are dirtied up a bit :-)
 
Stratomaster said:
Sounds very good-I compared to the previous version and this sounds better to me, more bassy and spacious as someone else mentioned. I'm confused as to whats been added since i hear the bass plucking during the high vocal parts in the previous version-is/was there a standup bass patch in the previous version? In any case I really like this song, the melody and chord changes during the high vocal part are especially excellent, tones are great all around and the mix is pristine.

Strat
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oh - there was no bass on the verse (i gotta live my part...) on the original - just the buzz bass synth patch. There was (and still is) a standup bass patch on the high singing parts - I raised the level quite a bit. The new part is the real bass in the verse - using my kinda newly repaired and restrung j-bass. I mix it in with the buzz bass patch and a kalimba that is new. The funny thing about the chords and changes in this song is it's really centered on a bunch of gospel/r&b chords with a bunch of inversions and 7ths and stuff thrown in.
 
Chuck, you already know my opinions on this tune man - I think it stands up beyond just mixing clinic listening, it's an excellent tune. The new additions in part dos are really cool and bring the song up another notch.

I do think the saw bass is still too loud on the intro though - I've listened through a few times and it's still close to inducing some involuntary bowel movements every time it kicks in. It may just be that you need to bring the intro piano up rather than the bass down to even things out a little and stop folks reaching for increase on the volume dial after the first bar.
 
robgreen said:
Chuck, you already know my opinions on this tune man - I think it stands up beyond just mixing clinic listening, it's an excellent tune. The new additions in part dos are really cool and bring the song up another notch.

I do think the saw bass is still too loud on the intro though - I've listened through a few times and it's still close to inducing some involuntary bowel movements every time it kicks in. It may just be that you need to bring the intro piano up rather than the bass down to even things out a little and stop folks reaching for increase on the volume dial after the first bar.
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Thanks Rob :-) This song is starting to turn the corner for me to the point where I actually *like* it, which is a real rarity for me.

I think I gotta figure out if I can really keep that long slow piano fade in - apparently kcearl thought it was just a super low mix (these happen alot on the mp3 forum) and jacked up the volume - then got whammied...

I can easily dip the first few measures of the buzz by a few db just like I did with the normal bass - but - FWIW the song used to begin with the two snare hits and then just WHAM - I may just go back to that. That might make the song fall under 4 minutes too, which would be good in my book :-)
 
Cool tune chuffducky. Dig the distorted bass growls (sawtooth wave?) alot and the arrangement has a good flow.
Your voice definitely works for this type of thing..
 
fat_fleet said:
Cool tune chuffducky. Dig the distorted bass growls (sawtooth wave?) alot and the arrangement has a good flow.
Your voice definitely works for this type of thing..
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Thanks man :-) Yeah - it's a sawtooth blended with lots of j-bass on bridge pickup.
 
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