Arrested for driving while blind

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jimistone

jimistone

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This is a ZZ Top cover. I love this song and groove and I've played it hundreds of times live. The drummers son played the guitar ride on the end. He's getting pretty damn good IMO. :guitar:

Little shit!! :mad: :D

Anyway I tracked the bass and a rhythm guitar today. I know you're not supposed to mix the same day you track but I threw this quick mix together and I thought it sounded OK. But, I have stereo speakers for monitors and I haven't seen how it translates on other systems.
Any mixing advice is appreciated!

Rock on!






 
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No advice on the delivery - it's great. The first and foremost impression on the first listen is the sound on the vocal. It's kinda phasey/boxey. There's a similar sound on the solo guitar, but it sounds good on guitar. The guitar solo outro (drummer's son?) has some notes that are poking out too much.

Nice tuneage.
 
dobro said:
No advice on the delivery - it's great. The first and foremost impression on the first listen is the sound on the vocal. It's kinda phasey/boxey. There's a similar sound on the solo guitar, but it sounds good on guitar. The guitar solo outro (drummer's son?) has some notes that are poking out too much.

Nice tuneage.
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Thanks dobro, I appreciate you giving it a listen. It's a flanger on the vocal. ZZ Top has the same effect on the original. I have a little phase on one side of the stereo lead guitar track. I haven't done any mix automation on the lead.guitars. right now it's just a "set the faders at the aproximate level and let it play" mix I will try to smooth his guitar out with some fader automation. Thanks for pointing that out on his guitar part.. I may lose the flange on the vocal....even though it's a trademark of this tune. The vocal sounded pretty good without the effect today when I was experimenting.
 
For me, everything is straight up the center. Is it this way on purpose? It loses some energy when you don't have that spacial separation. I think all the music parts sounds great....vocals sound good too. The mix is taking away from all the greatness this could have in my opinion.
 
Bruthish said:
For me, everything is straight up the center. Is it this way on purpose? It loses some energy when you don't have that spacial separation. I think all the music parts sounds great....vocals sound good too. The mix is taking away from all the greatness this could have in my opinion.
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Thanks man. That's always my problem in my mixes. It's my weak point. I don't really know how to create a spacious mix. Thanks for the listen
 
Performance is tight, very much.

The mix is boomy. Sounds like the guitar or guitar reverb or even the vocal effect.


Did you try just panning some stuff? Put the backing vocals a far out, maybe the hi hat somewhat off center?
 
Excellent playing. Very ZZTop tones! Love the lead tone. The vocal is a bit middy and phasey. The kick is pretty muddlled out, no def. The second lead at the end is a bit overblown.
Nice job! :D
 
Schwarzenyaeger said:
Performance is tight, very much.

The mix is boomy. Sounds like the guitar or guitar reverb or even the vocal effect.


Did you try just panning some stuff? Put the backing vocals a far out, maybe the hi hat somewhat off center?
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Thanks man, I'm going to work on he booming and see if I can tweak it out. I should have spent some time mixing this instead of throwing up a quick mix. I really dug it and threw it up before it was decently mixed. Thanks for your input and will incorporate it into my further mixing of this tune.

BroKen_H said:
Excellent playing. Very ZZTop tones! Love the lead tone. The vocal is a bit middy and phasey. The kick is pretty muddlled out, no def. The second lead at the end is a bit overblown.
Nice job! :D
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Thanks so much broken_H. I had a lot of fun playing this and it kind of sucked ti finish the tracking because I was so much fun playing the parts and recording them. The flange on the vocal is added in the mix, the track is recorded clean. I may lose that effect on the vocal. I'll work on the kick also.
Thanks for checking it out!
 
Sounds good, Jimi. I'm not familiar with the original. Are those solos yours or did you play something like the recording? Definitely has the ZZ top tones going on.
 
Good performance:thumbs up:

Luvs me some ZZ. Takes balls to even attempt to play the Rev's Gospel.
:D
 
I know nothing of ZZ Top. One of those bands that never really gripped me.

I thought the mix sounded pretty good all the way up to the end solo. That was a little too loud and as someone else said above, some notes poke out more than others. A bit of editing in places with it and some automation and it could sound great.

I didn't mind the mix being all the way up the centre. Only having one working ear, it makes it easier for me to hear everything. :laughings: Selfish.

Great tune and performance. :thumbs up:
 
Supercreep said:
Sounds good, Jimi. I'm not familiar with the original. Are those solos yours or did you play something like the recording? Definitely has the ZZ top tones going on.
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Thanks superceeep. My guitar work, while not lick for lick, is very close to the original recording. I learned it when I was 17 years old...1977. I wasn't a seasoned enough guitarist, at that time, to have the fretboard knowledge and basic blues chop vocabulary to learn it correctly. There was no Internet or guitar tab back then...you put a vinyl record on and tried to figure it out. So, my version isn't textbook but I've been playing it that way too long to change.

It's the old dog new tricks thing man.
:D
The lead guitar on he outro isn't me and is not even simular to the original.
 
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RFR said:
Good performance:thumbs up:

Luvs me some ZZ. Takes balls to even attempt to play the Rev's Gospel.
:D
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Yeah, I love 'em too RFR. The Rev is a certified guitar god now...and highly reveared.
Back when I was learning to play EVERY BODY was trying to play "la grange".
Thanks for listening
 
Mr Clean said:
I know nothing of ZZ Top. One of those bands that never really gripped me.

I thought the mix sounded pretty good all the way up to the end solo. That was a little too loud and as someone else said above, some notes poke out more than others. A bit of editing in places with it and some automation and it could sound great.

I didn't mind the mix being all the way up the centre. Only having one working ear, it makes it easier for me to hear everything. :laughings: Selfish.

Great tune and performance. :thumbs up:
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Finally a guy who can tell, with one ear tied behind his back even, that this is a good mix!
I'm the mono king!
Hahaha
That's funny.
thanks for the listen and comments Mr clean
 
Love this song. I remember when I was in high school or junior high they used to advertise these compilation CDs on TV of '70s garbage called "Guitar Rock" which my brother ordered, and this was one of my favorite songs on it.

My speakers suck and I can only pick out mix problems that are pretty obvious, and I can't detect any here. Playing and vocal is great. I know they had an effect like the one you use on the vocal in the original, and I always liked it for this song. Yeah, the kid does some great guitar playing at the end. Not crazy about his guitar tone, at least for a ZZ Top song, but it doesn't ruin the song or anything.
 
Thanks Not that right I appreciate you taking time to give it a listen and comment. I'm going to put a spectrum analyzer on it and tweak it some more (I'm clueless on what to even look for on a spectrum analyzer but I read it helps you with mixing)
Any way thanks again man!
 
I don't know the original either, but that vocal effect sounds like something reminiscent of zz top in general, so I think it fits and actually sounds pretty cool.

Good performance and the mix seems fine to me. Nice work.
 
Yeah, ZZTOP flanged the lead vocal a lot. Thanks for listening and commenting heat.
I appreciate it!
 
Im not really familiar with ZZ but I can recognize that as a very tight performance.

I do query the vocal sound though. Flanger aside it sounds a little boxey, as if there is some lower mid early reflection and with the highs being muffled - as if the vox was tracked in confined but semi treated space.

Where did you track it ?

It could all just be the flanger though.

Can you upload a sample of the unprocessed vox ?

Btw, if you want to give this a more modern mix sound with out over doing it, double track the rhythm gts and pan them at 10 and 2 o'clock. Put the lead slightly off centre with its delay return on the other side. Run the master mix through a multiband comp and give it a gentle push.
 
Thanks Cfox. I'm stil trying to learn how to mix. I appreciate you pointer on getting a better mix. I will put it to use. I had already uploaded a remix to soundcloud , so I'm going to go ahead and post it. In the meantime I will do another remix incorporating your advice.
I appreciate you taking time to listen and comment and really appreciate the tip on mixing.
 
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