Are you ready to rumbaaaaa !!!! New "Who We Are" tune

[K-dub]

New piece from us ... just mixed this morning.

Any/all comments warmly appreciated.

Kev-

 

[K-dub]

Comments from others felt there was almost too much percussion going on all at once, leaving the song "busy". I've edited a lot of the original tracks, and pared back the amount of percussion ... choosing to have various pieces drive various parts of the piece instead of having all the tracks going at once.

New mix is above.

 

[Crazy Luke]

Good stuff here - the whole mix could be a bit wider, with possibly more instruments hard L/R (R Guitars, Perc elements, etc.). Anything else would be nitpicky.

 

[K-dub]

I love your production quality. How do you do it? What mic's, pre-amps, converters, DAW, plugins, monitor system, etc. ????

Our drum mics are basically a cheap CAD drum mic set that go into 8 channels on a Focusrite Scarlett 1820. I've got 5 mics supplementing that. A Shure SM7b on the kick, a Shure SM57 on the snare, and a Sennheiser 421 on the floor tom. I use MXL 607 pair as overheads.

That takes up all of the mic ins on that unit.

I then patch the guitar direct out of the back of my guitarist's Fender amp into the back of a Peavey VMP2 ... because I love what tubes do to electric guitar. The direct feed sounds just like what's coming out of the speaker. Bass goes in through the 1st channel of Soundcraft Ui16 ... because they've got bass amp modeling in that interface. That then goes direct into a Trident 4T Celebration channel strip.

Vox are done later ... using a modified Karma 58 tube mic and EV PL80s ... and an AT4050 (which I like for acoustic guitar too).

That all goes into either the VMP2 or the Trident ...

... which are connected to a Echo Layla 24 ... old school sound card.

The Layla is sent via lightpipe into the Focusrite, which then becomes the master controller for inputs.

They ALL are then connected to Sonar Platinum for recording ... using ASIO drivers.

 

[K-dub]

As you can tell ... btw ... most of the stuff is NOT expensive.

You just need the right mics for the right application.

I mix mainly through old Radio Shack Minimus Sevens ... which you can find on eBay for less than 20 bucks in most cases ... driven by a Pyle 25 watt amp ... another 20 bucks.

When I want it loud ... as oft I do, I run the sound through my Event 20/20 P (Powered) monitors.

But the cheap Radio Shack speakers were recommended by my cousin ... who is a nationally know producer (Think: Stacy's Mom has got it going on). Fortunately, I already owned the pair.

 

[K-dub]

Oh ... and all keyboard parts (not yet added) go into Sonar via midi ... again no need for signal chains that add noise. We employ soft synths in Sonar.

 

[K-dub]

Thank you for providing info on your chain.

Your recordings sound very open and polished. For example, the shaker in this new song is sparkly and adds a 3D-ness to the whole mix without sounding gimmicky. On your other recordings, the acoustic guitar has the perfect sheen. I'm really impressed by your mixes. They are wide-open and sound as pro as anything that's at the top of the pop charts. I've worked with a grammy-nominated mixer (Credits) and your stuff is in the same league.

Thanks!

I learned a LOT of what I now know from the folks here. I trust their ears ... which is why I continue to post here. I will change my mixes upon their recommendations. It was my guitarist who thought the percussion in the original mix just simply made the song sound too busy.

So I went back and simplified it ... employing the shaker, the tamborine, the guiro and the bongos ... mostly alone ... during different passages, so that they drive the song w/o cluttering it now.

Also ... the acoustic guitar is MOSTLY recorded w/ the AT4050. If I wanted it bigger in a stereo spread, I'll add one or both of the MXL 607s ... which at like $90 for a stereo pair ... are a killer bargain.

 

[TripleM]

I thought this was really good. Everything is very clear and everything has space. Levels on the tracks are pretty much perfect.

Tone on everything sounds very nice. Only one minor exception is the clean-ish guitar that is down the center (or nearly so). It's a little pointy sounding. Maybe notch out around 2400hz or so.

Bass has great definition.

Nice harmonies.

Different percussion instruments were a nice touch.

Very little to pick on. Nice job.

Oh - back off the vocal reverb a bit.

 

[K-dub]

I thought this was really good. Everything is very clear and everything has space. Levels on the tracks are pretty much perfect.

Tone on everything sounds very nice. Only one minor exception is the clean-ish guitar that is down the center (or nearly so). It's a little pointy sounding. Maybe notch out around 2400hz or so.

Bass has great definition.

Nice harmonies.

Different percussion instruments were a nice touch.

Very little to pick on. Nice job.

Oh - back off the vocal reverb a bit.

You trained me ... so I blame you if I'm wrong.

Thanks bud.

I had Frank (our drummer/percussionist) lay multiple tracks ... and you know what happens when you dive deep into recording selfishness ...

It's like killing your children when you have to slave to song.

I SOOOO wanted to keep all the percussion.

I made a mix where there was only the percussion and vocals on this.

No git ... no bass ...

It is a work unto itself ... and I adored it ... as a honest alternative.

But my guitarist ... who is also a recording enthusiast with a producer's brain ... called me out.

That's what happens when real ears occur in real life ... and he said, "You cannot have all that happening with the rest of us."

He's a Brit ... so you have to frame that with that accent.

Plus my wife said, "I will never have sex with you again if you don't get all that percussion out of there."

Okay ... I *might* have exaggerated there. She said the same thing as my Brit guitarist. Maybe they're having sex ... (that's a joke for folks that don't get my humor).

But I attended ... and stripped back the percussion to where it makes sense ... a "percussion element" occurring as if there was a person in band being able to perform it ... somewhat ... to some degree ... oh fuck it.

I made the recording sound less busy.

Why?

It sounded better.

Now I'm off to have sex with my wife.

Or sleep. It's late. I'm tired ... and I like sleep.