Any comments?

Hey Ed: Great stuff. My questions: About 16 seconds into "Secret Heart" the singer hits a
consonant ("c") really hard. Did you suggest rerecording the track or was that the sound that the guy was looking for? Can anything be done about that sort of blip after the fact, with or without a bazillion dollars?
 
Thanks for the compliment.

That "c" is a very annoying thing about the mix. I did not record the CD, just mixed it, so I had to use what was there.

I asked the tracking engineer/co-producer what was up with that. He laughed and said that it was the most mellow "c" that he recorded. Apperantly, they punched that part several times with what you hear being the best one.

Although I like the artist a lot, he has one of the hardest voices to record that I have ever come across. He tends to overemphesis constanents like that ofter. Lets not even talk about his "s" at about 4.5khz. At least on this song a sidechained eq on the compressor took care of it. But it sucked having to use two compressors on the lead vocal to take care of it.

Anyway, thanks for the input.

Ed Rei
Echo Star Studio www.echostarstudio.com
 
Oh buy the way, I did try fixing that "c" while mastering with GoldWave. Without really dropping out the whole mix, I couldn't seem to make it tone down..... :(

ed
 
Great song! The quality of this mp3 is one of the best I've heard...and I don't really find the "c" mentioned before a distraction at all. Thanks for making such a fine example of what can be done with format available to us.
Ranger
 
Thank you Ranger. That was a very nice compliment about the quality of the MP3. Although I will have to admit that with the .wav being converted to MP3 at 192kbs, instead of the standard 128, really makes a huge difference. Me and one of my other engineers, Chris Stevens, who co-produced and engineered the recording in his studio, found that converting at 192 was for all pratical purposes the highest you needed to go to get the best sound, unless you were monitoring through studio monitors (really good one I mean). Anything above that really just had diminishing returns concerning file size vs. quality. But 192 compared to 128 is really a nice improvement. More body, less dropouts, extended top end. Try it sometime.

As far as recording digital, I am sold. I have friends that own analog studios. They cannot compare to my ADAT's for the quality. A lot of them are starting to flirt with digital, but are way behind the learning curve of digital. Go check out my article on my websites "Helpful Info" page titled "The Format Wars". Quite lengthy, but I believe really points out the differences in the two formats.

Good luck.
Ed Rei
Echo Star Studio www.echostarstudio.com
 
If I have the right song..."Wanna get next to you."... Then I have a few gripes... I probably wouldn't have said anything since I have read a few of your posts and you obviously know your shit...but...
I can't hear any of the kick drum... This may be a byproduct of the MP3 format, although my lows seem to get amplified when I convert them... The snare drum sounds like someone is playing an empty peanut butter jar... no ring... no volume... in fact, the toms sound louder than the kick or snare... if this is a result of MP3 conversion than forgive me...
Maybe it is just my personal taste... I like kick and snare up front...
The sound as a whole had an awesome high end crispy-ness that I know I will never be able to duplicate in my low-rent studio...


My 2 cents,
S8-N
 
WOW SN-8! I really appreciate you candidness.

You know, after I uploaded that file to the website, I just deleted it from the hard drive, I mean, I have the CD. So I haven't heard the MP3 for a while. So after your comments, I just had to rip that song and convert.

Took a listen. Then listened to the CD. The real difference wasn't in the low end, but rather in the high end that seemed to loss a lot of it's sparkle. Now I will share a little secret with you. Neither me nor the other producer were very happy that the high end on the master really got lost compared to the original mix. After the fact, we really wished that it could have been redone, because most engineers that listen to it feel that the low end on this recording is a bit too much.

I have no idea what you monitor with, but upon listening just now with my Event 20/20's, with a Hafler P-3000 power amp, the kick drum almost dominated the mix! The toms were so pushed back that they seem almost like a ghost in the mix. What is funny is that drummers all always talking about how they love that snare sound too. How it is tight, crispy, but with body.

Depending on what you are monitoring with, you may be losing the kick drum. It is down there. I agree that the MP3 (even at 192kbs conversion)has lost a bit. But, the kick is much louder on the MP3 than on the CD, and on the CD, the kick is just plain too loud. So, your monitors? What are they?

Let me know. But thank you for the input. As I say, I learn from feedback from people.

Good luck.
Ed Rei
Echo Star Studio www.echostarstudio.com
 
My monitor speakers are probably the problem... I dont have any... I'm using the speakers that came with my P.C. ( a Bose system with a subwoofer...) It isn't bad for consumer type use but its response is way too curved for serious monitoring. I can't get a decent mix using it... I'm waiting for the right time to get a decent set... right now I'm torn between Event 20/20P's and the Event TRIA.
My guess is that when I listen to some of the stuff I've done on this system through the events, the kick will be way too loud.
I couldn't even hear any on the kick on your MP3 on my system and this subwoofer usually picks it up... Maybe all the highs and mids were just too much in my face... don't know...
Also take into account that my personal tastes in music are a bit extreme...
 
Well, there is no argueing with peoples tastes either.......LOL

Thanks for the feedback none the less. I really do consider what others have to say about my work. It may not change a thing in the near term, but definately gives me something to think about.

Have you tried downloading the song Secret Heart by Sky Blue Mind on my website? Give it a try and tell me what the kick sounds like on that one. And by the way, Secret Heart is the song that was refered to in the other discussion.

Ed

[This message has been edited by sonusman (edited 09-14-1999).]
 
O.K... I listened to "Secret Heart" and the kick was there. I think it may be that the low end of the bass guitar is stepping on the kick drum in the funky song cause the bass seems less bottom-heavy in "Secret Heart". (In the funk song) I could hear a weird reverby click that sounded like it was where the kick should have been... just no thump.
You know... I've done time in five
different studios and one thing all of the sessions had in common was that the mix sounded great on the studio monitors and then when we got home and listened to it on home stereos... there were flaws. I would have to say that the predominant one has been the lack of kick drum... The second most common gripe has been the vocals being too high or low...
I wasn't into home recording back in those days so I cant tell you what kind of monitors we were using... I got to the point where I would take a jambox into the studio on which to reference the mix. I finally decided to shoot for too much kick drum in the mix cause I figure that if it is too prominant in the mix when I get it home...I can EQ it out, but if it just isn't there, you can't EQ it in...
I don't mean to be so critical of your mix... but if I was sitting in the control room and was paying by the hour... I'd be saying "Gimme more kick!!!"
The songs do sound great, though...
 
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