All My Ghosts - Frank Black and the Catholics cover.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bubba po
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Bubba po

Bubba po

Tiny Stonehenge Moment
I've been on holiday for the last few weeks and I've been a busy little bee amusing myself with recording while I have the opportunity.
Hence, I have a backlog of stuff to post. :)

I hope some of you have the time and inclination to listen and comment, I feel like I'm hogging the place, a bit! :D


 
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Vocal seems too loud to me, maybe its too far forward.
I'm listening on closed back headphones in the office.

Its definitely too loud actually, I can't really hear what the music is doing while the lead vocal is on. The instrumental bits sound fucking great though. Frank is doing well isn't he and your lead playing is good.
 
JDOD said:
Vocal seems too loud to me, maybe its too far forward.
I'm listening on closed back headphones in the office.

Its definitely too loud actually, I can't really hear what the music is doing while the lead vocal is on.
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Really? Bloody, hell, I'm not usually that far out. I'll give it another listen! :o

Edit: You're right- it was something like 5dB too loud! That can't be right. I must have done something to it by accident, just before rendering the track. Mix replaced in the OP.
 
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Bubba po said:
Really? Bloody, hell, I'm not usually that far out. I'll give it another listen! :o

Edit: You're right- it was something like 5dB too loud! That can't be right. I must have done something to it by accident, just before rendering the track. Mix replaced in the OP.
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I fuck stuff like that up all the time - sounds great now.

I think the bass is possibly a touch quiet or a little indistinct, I also think the rhythm guitars are probably a tiny bit quiet too, would like to have heard to the interplay between them more clearly. Really like your lead tone on the right in the solo.
 
JDOD said:
I fuck stuff like that up all the time - sounds great now.

I think the bass is possibly a touch quiet or a little indistinct, I also think the rhythm guitars are probably a tiny bit quiet too, would like to have heard to the interplay between them more clearly. Really like your lead tone on the right in the solo.
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Thanks, mate. Just had it turned up loud on the monitors and I've discovered a whistle frequency in the vocal. There's also a little mud there. BBL. :)
 
I think its really good having a lot of different people listen to shit on a variety of different systems - from phones to top end monitors as well as cars, shit headphones, good headphones and 5.1 stereos.

I notice loads of stuff on tracks when I'm either out for a walk or driving.
 
Sounds really good, Bubba.

Especially like the vocal's delivery.

Sounds tighter than the last rock song you posted, too. (Sorry, forget which it was, but I think a Pixies cover that was a bit loose...not always a bad thing but for pixies I think tighter is better). This one is tighter.

To me the tempo seems slightly slow, most notable in the vocals lagging a bit. I don't know the original so maybe that's how it is. You should cover Gigantic ala the Deal sisters. I always thought this was pretty awesome interpretation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSPXVm55m5k
 
I had trouble with the link, it wouldn't show up in the OP, but I dug around soundcloud and found the song.

Not familiar with the original. All sounds good to me. Personal taste, but I think the vocal could come down a little more to meld into the mix. Maybe just a db or two.

Guitars are solid. Drums sound great in the mix. maybe push the kick up a little. I've got a sub woofer and I can hear it, but not feel it.

You got a voice that fits this style perfectly.
 
I don't know the original, but I like your version,the guitar tones are really sweet , the guitar solo during the bridge is a wee bit too panned right and possibly will benefit from a more centered space in the mix or just 1 or 2db increase.(just my 2 cents thought). great cover and mix overall
 
This is sounding really good man. Guitars sound excellent. Love the bass tone when it pops out on some of those little runs. Drums sound good, but I could use even more of 'em I think.

Vocal performance is perfect for this (background vocals are really nice), but I think the lead vocal could come down a db or two and sit better maybe? I dunno, it's nice and clear as is, but just slightly too far above the band for me. I think you have the level right for a studio track, but the band almost sounds live, so I feel like the vocal could sink into the mix a bit more to mimic that live-ish feel? Not sure that makes sense, but that was my thought.

When the lead guitar first came in, I wanted to say it should be centered, but after a few notes, I liked it off to the side a bit as is. I get hung up on balance and equal distribution of sounds sometimes, but I like it when different things are panned separately and you still achieve overall balance. I think you've done that here.

Good job once again!
 
Thanks for the listens and suggestions, everybody - I've tried to address all the points raised.

New mix in the OP. :)
 
Bubba po said:
Thanks for the listens and suggestions, everybody - I've tried to address all the points raised.

New mix in the OP. :)
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That sounds really good now. It sounds like you took some reverb off everything? Or used a nicer reverb. It gives the illusion of sounding tighter b/c the reverb isn't flabbing all around now.

Sounds great. Love the vocal delivery even more now that it seems drier. The vocal might be a hair high at times (compressor setting?)...see what others say about that.

Edit: Just listened to the original. I like your vocal more...more attitude and snarly delivery that works.
 
Cool. I think Nola suffers from reverbaphobia lol. I don't hear it as any drier myself, if anything, the vocal seems less dry now? Not sure, but while it doesn't necessarily seem lower in level, it sits better now I think? I toggled back and forth to be sure, because it's not like you reinvented the wheel with mix 2 (nor did you need to), but I'm really curious what you did with the vocal this time. It sounds fuller and less harsh somehow. It's subtle, but cool. I have no issues with this mix. Nice work!
 
And I admit to excess. I'm working on a song now where one track is just the reverb 100%. No direct signal. Sounds awesome! I think I may do a song that is just reverbs.
 
Nola said:
That sounds really good now. It sounds like you took some reverb off everything? Or used a nicer reverb. It gives the illusion of sounding tighter b/c the reverb isn't flabbing all around now.

Sounds great. Love the vocal delivery even more now that it seems drier. The vocal might be a hair high at times (compressor setting?)...see what others say about that.

Edit: Just listened to the original. I like your vocal more...more attitude and snarly delivery that works.
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heatmiser said:
Cool. I think Nola suffers from reverbaphobia lol. I don't hear it as any drier myself, if anything, the vocal seems less dry now? Not sure, but while it doesn't necessarily seem lower in level, it sits better now I think? I toggled back and forth to be sure, because it's not like you reinvented the wheel with mix 2 (nor did you need to), but I'm really curious what you did with the vocal this time. It sounds fuller and less harsh somehow. It's subtle, but cool. I have no issues with this mix. Nice work!
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Morning guys! Thanks very much for your comments. Yes, I did take some reverb off things. There was reverb on the left hand guitar, which I reduced quite a bit, also I took a bit off the vocal and upped the slapback delay a fraction to compensate. It gives the impression of reverb but with a harder edge that suits the song. I upped all the guitars a dB and sculpted the bass guitar EQ a bit better so it was audible in the full mix but didn't leap out too much in the higher runs.

I did drop the vocal quite a bit. This song has been quite unusual regarding most clinic comments in that the vocal is very much liked, but you lot want less of it rather than more, lol! I can only think it's because (rightly) you appreciate those guitars raging away with those honest R'n'R tones and you want the voice to sit with those as a whole rather than as a song with accompaniment. I can't fault you with that. When I dropped the vocal I played it through a few times with the ReaEQ window open and tweaked the EQ curve so that no detail of consonants was lost. I think that must be why it sits so well.

The final thing I did was to tweak the character of the reverb. I took a little of the low end out, as there is plenty of low end in the track and having low end in the reverb was muddying things up. All these tweaks were tiny, but their cumulative effect seems to have done the trick!

Thanks, everybody!
 
Bubba po said:
tweaked the EQ curve so that no detail of consonants was lost. I think that must be why it sits so well.
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Bubba, is there any chance you can explain this more? I never heard of using EQ to detail only consonants. What exactly did you do?
 
Nola said:
Bubba, is there any chance you can explain this more? I never heard of using EQ to detail only consonants. What exactly did you do?
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Well, the frequency content of consonants such as T, S, P etc, which make the words intelligible even when they are quite low in the mix, is concentrated in the 3-10k area.
There's a balancing act to perform, though - just putting an EQ hump over those frequencies will get the words heard but there's a risk of harshness and a tendency for sibilance to get out of control. Substituting the reverb for delay helped with controlling the sibilance.

I learned recently from a friend of mine about something called "whistle tones". He said that every voice has one (or more than one) and that they even ruin professional mixes. It's where one frequency in the upper mids or low treble just sticks out like a sore thumb as part and parcel of the way that singer's vocal cords resonate. You can pick them out as obvious spikes on the frequency analyser in ReaEQ and notch them out with a very tight Q setting. I just spent a bit of time listening and watching very carefully. Sure enough there was an obvious one in my voice when I upped the highs. I then tried applying that technique. It's not super perfect by any means, but you can hear the words even though the vocal is quieter, and the harshness has been minimised.

I hope that was clear. :)
 
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