Cadillac Express with easlern and ibleedburgundy

  • Thread starter Thread starter Robus
  • Start date Start date
easlern said:
The cowbell's my favorite part of the instrumental before the last verse lol. That little cadunka. . . and then that little whip-sounding crash before the last phrase, love those little accents.
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I'm glad you like that. That fill was quite deliberate but I was worried that it might sound unnatural or be too much. I wanted to do something a little different. Throwing a splash cymbal into the middle of the fill seemed kinda fun at the time. That section of the song is my fav.
 
Cowbells and splashes are the best. I don't know why more people don't use them!

I like the instrumental section a lot. Good back and forth between the instruments there.

The harmony levels seem good.

The only real nit from the first listen is that there seemed to be a few pops (maybe horizontal clips?) and plosives on the vocals.
 
So, you consider this just a rough mix, eh? Well damn, it sounds pretty good as is to me. lol

I haven't read other comments. I'm listening on HD280 phones. From the OP, it sounds like you're focusing mostly on vocals right now? Well, they sound really good, as do the instruments. I'm sorry, but at this level of clarity and balance, anything I might offer would be totally subjective/taste related. Nothing sounds wrong here.

I was a bit taken aback by the level of the bass guitar at the beginning. It seemed far too loud to me, but as more elements joined in, the level felt better. At a few other points later on though, it struck me as intrusively loud again, so who knows? lol I kind of thought you preferred lower bass levels too, so that was part of the surprise there. Anyway, you're focused on vocals, and as I said, they sound good.

I caught that cool reverse thingy again! Even more prominent on this track...don't turn that down.
 
Robus said:
I'm going to work some more on the EQ. I should be able to reduce the boxiness.
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The vocal was a little boxy. On another mix/tune it might suck. But I thought it was nice on this mix. Just my O. If it were me, I'd leave it.
 
New mix up in the OP. Some pretty major changes. I retracked the bass guitar. Dave was right about the groove. From the third verse on, he is leaning into the beat while my original bass was laying back. I think this cut sounds more in the pocket.

While I was at it, I switched back to the Jazz bass, which seems to work better than a P bass in my arrangements 75% of the time. I left the original mix up for now if anyone is interested to compare. I also lowered the bass part a bit. I think the changes open up the mix and let the guitars and harmony vocals be heard better.

Apart from that, the biggest change is that I raised the drum levels, kick especially. It may be too loud, I'm not sure yet. But I feel like the drums are driving the song more than in the last mix. I put some parallel compression on the tom bus and brought up the top snare mic relative to the bottom snare. Let me know what you think.

Finally, I adjusted the EQ on the lead vocal. It is sounding less boxy to me. The level of the lead vocal is slightly down. I brought the harmony vocals up by a little. I'm thinking the lead vocal could come back up a smidge.

Sorry, the overall volume level of this mix is lower. There are a few volume spikes that I need to clean up before I can get the level back to where it was before. This is a mix, of course. No attempt at mastering.

Thanks for the comments.
 
Sorry to give a critique on crappy speakers, but I'm on the back porch with my tablet and gave a listen. Just in case you need the crappy speaker check. It's a public service :)

First off, really good song. Vocals sound very good, as do the guitars. Drums could come up overall, especially the overheads. Bass and kick are out of range for these speakers, so no help there.

I'll give a listen on a proper system later, now that I've heard the song. For now I'm having a cigar and monitoring the ribs on the smoker :)

Fine job fellas!
 
I have listened back to back on my pc logitech speakers and monitor headphones the 2 versions so a pinch of salt is required :

new mix I like the drum forward, cymbal/OH could come up a bit eventually, but that could be part of the feeling/effect you are looking for, background vocals could come up a bit in some places, particularly when the piano starts, we can feel they are there but almost inaudible(this could be the desired effect) , main vocals as you said might need a small increase but very tiny though.

As a matter of taste I like better the bass and the piano from the previous version particularly during the piano solo, they gave a special signature to the song , it has more body and consistence.

The piano on the verses on the second version fits it pretty well though, level could be dropped a bit.

Anyhow the above is to be taken with a pinch of salt, still this is a cool song , I really enjoy listen to it :)
 
Only listened to the new version, kick might be a touch too loud. Something about the snare sound is a little funny, what did you do to the EQ on it? Not sure if its missing some crispness or something else, but something ....
 
Very nice! I was thinking Fleetwood Mac too, before I read the comments. I love the lead vocal sound. It's pretty much perfect. The bass drum is too prominent, I think. I feel like if I'm hearing the details of the bass drum sound through the music, it's too much. And I feel like the drums are too dry compared to everything else. But that's pretty much all I can pick at. It sounds full and lush, with great performances.
 
Yeah, I think I overdid it on the kick. I'll get a new mix up in the next couple of days.
 
Dude I really like the drums on here. They are relatively meaty. Agree the bass drum could come down a bit.

The new bass line is great too. You really locked in on this. It's tight man!

The vocals sounded a bit low at times - especially when they first come in.
 
Much better. The bass and drums sound really locked in, now and the mix is all the better for it. For personal preference I think the kick and bass are possibly a hair too loud in the first third of the song before the rest of the instruments fill up the space. Pretty excellent stuff.
 
Great mix (whatever mix I'm hearing...I'm assuming the latest). Love the guitar tone on the right. Great, tasteful, Steely Dan-esque solos. Low end is very tight and right. If you are cutting the kick, make it a small cut :).
Anyway, the song has a Dreams (Fleetwood Mac) feel to it, with (like I said) Steely Dan-esque solos and the voice reminds me of America's Gerry Beckley for some reason...
 
MX 9

this one is pretty low in level, playback wise...
had to crank it up quite a bit to match typical pro release playback

really dig the harmonies...
and i really dig the drum groove, it almost has a 'hop' to it that isn't there..
reminds me a bit of some cool steely dan drum tracks, like the ones that purdie plays on,
but this is not too jazzy or funky...
feels like a good rock groove that is spacy and mellow.

dig the clean guitar parts for sure...
the keys are perfectly filling....and the tone on them is perfect for this song.
bass is in the pocket.

i do hear some low mids in the lead vox, that if those were dropped out, would make the lead even clearer, without adding any high end.
 
Thanks Gonzo. My love for Steely Dan is well known on this forum. Bernard Purdie is an absolute badass drummer. His Purdie Shuffle (triplet hat groove over a half time kick/snare) is all over the Royal Scam/Aja/Gaucho era Dan records. For my money, he and Chuck Rainey on bass were among of the grooviest rhythm sections ever heard in pop music.

Getting Dave to contribute drums has kicked up the level of my recordings, as have Nick's vocals. We are coming along as a rhythm section. When I was last making music with other people many years ago, we would all get together and jam for an afternoon and the groove would come together naturally. Internet collaboration is a different game. I lay down some parts to a drum loop, which usually lacks the feel I'm looking for because I suck at programming drums. Then Dave lays downs drums with the feel of a real drummer. Then I usually have to retrack the bass, and sometimes guitars, to match his feel. So it's a back and forth process, zeroing in on the rhythm. We wind up talking a lot about groove as we go. It's different from what I've done before, and fun.

I agree there's a little more EQ to do on lead vocals. It's getting there. I'm continually making tweaks in the chain that I use for Nick's voice. Last thing I do when finishing a song is save the vocal chain. Then it becomes the starting point for the next song, with further tweaks. So I think my treatment is getting better and better. I'm certainly learning a hell of a lot about processing vocals. No tuning on his lead vocals, BTW.
 
nice guys. sounds really good.

the lead vox are def boxy, but it works almost like an intentional effect... it's close to a transistor radio type of thing, but it sounds awesome, ha. the vocals seems less wide than usual, is something different there? the low end sounds perfect, to me, and the synth solo section sounds frickin great. nice use of that patch there.

i heard room noise/hiss on some track, i think it was the background vox? it's like a slight high pitched hiss that comes in just before some vocal passages and disappears suddenly when they stop. i agree the toms could use some meat down there. also, i'd try to fade it out over a longer period; seemed really sudden to me.

but i wouldn't touch the vocal EQ, it's unique and it really makes it's mark on this tune.
 
Listening on more proper speakers this time (consumer 5.1). The lead vocal definitely has a boxy thing going on. It sounds less prominent when the vocals push louder...I'd suspect the compressor as a first guess. I like the character of the compression though.

Drums don't sound as low on bigger speakers as they did on itty bitty tablet speakers. I like the snare tone in this one a lot more than the last song that you fellas did. It's a good "pow" right at a pitch that I really like.

If you end up revisiting the mix again, I might suggest a little more high end on the compressed guitar on the right. Or maybe a little ambiance of some sort on it just to give it some air. Love that fingerpicked compressed sound though.
 
That's a really good observation tadpui, I'm gonna have to do some experimenting. I did mess with settings on the pre so I wonder if I got it too hot coming into the compressor.

Edit: actually maybe I should drive it even harder, if it improves with a louder source. I'm a little baffled actually. . .
 
I only listened to the latest mix (MX 9 at this point), and I really enjoy it. All the sounds are very pleasing to listen to. The guitars are beautiful, and the kit just sounds very natural and nice. Great playing and performances by everyone all around. Vocals are extremely solid and very nice.

If I had to nitpick one thing, I'd say I wouldn't mind a bit more definition in the bass transients, so it's not as much of a throb as it is a defined note, but that's nitpicking.

I can't make heads or tails of the lyrics. Any chance you could clue us in a bit on the meaning?

Nice stuff!
 
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