Alternative Rock (ala Modest Mouse, Arcade Fire..)

  • Thread starter Thread starter austinm08
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austinm08

austinm08

the pigeon knows the way.


I love working with this band.. their music rocks! If only I was a better engineer.... :drunk:
 
I like the music, cant hear the vox in some spots, the mix may be a bit thick in the lo-mids, but overall sounds pretty good. Thanks for posting it.
 
Geez dude, this is good all around. Great sound and from what I can tell great engineering, too. The vocals are the weakest link, not the parts themselves but sometimes they fit oddly in the mix.

I like the guitar sound. You did a good job getting the Arcade Fire type rock guitar. The beginning vocals sound Radioheady, so how can that be bad?

Nice
 
Side note: If you guys are interested in keeping an eye on this band (I think they have potential..), they're called Me Like Bees (.com). You can also watch a little vid I produced of them (incl. a 'live' performance) at www.youtube.com/melikebees.

PDP said:
I like the music, cant hear the vox in some spots, the mix may be a bit thick in the lo-mids, but overall sounds pretty good. Thanks for posting it.
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I was afraid of that (buried vox). With the first mix of a different song, the band thought the vox were way too loud. So ever since then, I've been working on keeping them low to kind of mesh with the music instead of stand out on their own (I think the style kind of calls for this).. but maybe I'm getting a tad too close.. perhaps they should come up another dB or so.

As for the low-mids, yeah, I can see that too. I did kind of want the sound to be a little "warmer" with this style so I may have boosted the low-mids a hair on the master bus.

I appreciate you listening and for giving me some feedback!

guitarmonkus said:
Geez dude, this is good all around. Great sound and from what I can tell great engineering, too. The vocals are the weakest link, not the parts themselves but sometimes they fit oddly in the mix.

I like the guitar sound. You did a good job getting the Arcade Fire type rock guitar. The beginning vocals sound Radioheady, so how can that be bad?

Nice
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Thanks for the compliment! Yeah.. I need to work on getting those vocals fitting in there better. I pretty much just let them do what they want with their guitar sounds... just slapped a 57 in front of each of their amps. If I were to change anything, I may go for a tad less distortion.
I appreciate your time and feedback!

And I don't know at what point I would be "breaking the rules" for this forum.. but this was recorded at my school's studio.. so not exactly a "home studio". :) But this is my go-to place for advice on a mix.. I haven't ever posted one at Gearslutz.. maybe sometime I will try that place out.
 
Good work austinm08.

I agree with guitarmonkus that the vocal doesn't quite work... it kind of floats under the mix a bit. I'm not sure if it's the performance or the mix.
 
Thanks for listening, Tobe. I'm guessing it's mainly the mixing.. much improvement needed on my part.
 
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With fresh ears I definitely agree that the vocals are low.. it was mainly a thing of keeping them down a bit because at first the band said they were way too out front. Gotta keep 'em happy.

Thanks for the input, guys.
 
austinm08 said:
With fresh ears I definitely agree that the vocals are low.. it was mainly a thing of keeping them down a bit because at first the band said they were way too out front. Gotta keep 'em happy.

Thanks for the input, guys.
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Hey Austin, I followed the link to your website and saw the equipment you are using. What is the large mixer on the desk for? The digi 002 is firewire to computer so why do you need that other huge mixer?

CLong
 
That picture is a bit misleading, and I'd like to replace it. It was actually taken in the studio at my school. That's a 24-channel Mackie which we use for pres and for OTB mixing (I usually mix ITB, however). I just don't have a pic of me in front of my gear.

That IS where this song was recorded, though.
 
austinm08 said:
That picture is a bit misleading, and I'd like to replace it. It was actually taken in the studio at my school. That's a 24-channel Mackie which we use for pres and for OTB mixing (I usually mix ITB, however). I just don't have a pic of me in front of my gear.

That IS where this song was recorded, though.
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Gotcha. I do as well, it is more flexible. I always felt like I was missing something with my setup because I saw everyone else having these huge boards. That band you just recorded was pretty cool man. Some good talent there. The long haired dude reminds me of Robby Steinhardt from Kansas (ironic?)
 
Yeah. I can't live without a control surface for writing automation, though. I think all that a big console is good for is impressing non-engineers. hah. If it's a board with nice pres, then obviously that would be useful.. but I'd rather just have them as rackmounts.

Steenamaroo from the forums has got me interested in converting channel strips to preamps, so I bought a couple Ward Beck strips on eBay.. can't wait to get to work on them!

Oh, did you check Me Like Bees out on YouTube? Cool. Yeah, they're pretty good. I'm not too familiar with the guy from Kansas.. :P
 
Yeah i am checking out the bands website now. Those songs on the music player, did you record them all? I especially enjoy the acoustic guitars and drums. Some good recordings and mixing.
 
Ah, cool. Nope, the only ones I've done are called "Iconica", "Devil's Song" and "Good Machine". I thought those sounded really good, too (in the player). One of the band members who is a friend/fellow student said he thought I was a lot better than who they recorded with before, but I don't know that I agree. :) I'm more experienced with mixing lighter stuff like the ones in their player, though.
 
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