Chapman - Heat's mix

[fritsthegirl]

Yo.

Been away for a while. It was cold out there.

Nothing original here, but it feels like a new song to me now, so...

A long time ago Heat told me he'd like to mix Chapman for me. Well, we finally got around to it. We added and amended a few things...I rearranged and did the vocals again, Pete played a different bass track to fit with the new mix, and added a couple, maybe 3, maybe even 4 (!?) very sweet guitar tracks. And he used some cool garage band string sound.

Over all, I think the result is a great deal better than what I managed to mix. I was a little sad to see Dobro's bass go. Sorry dude.

Heat's mix:



Here's the original:



Thanks for checking it out.

 

[dobro]

About time!

The solo instrument that comes in at 2.08 and the guitar that follow soon after are a bit big for the mix and the vocal that preceded it.

Yeah, this arrangement serves the tune better, and this mix sounds better. And will sound better again when the shouty instruments get dialled back a bit.

Nice to hear this tune again. Do some more.

 

[rayc]

Bin a long time 'Trish/FTG.
How are you?
I've missed your whimsy & cynicism.
The new mix has Moody Blues sound to it, (mellotronesque - then again you had that flue sound in the original) or, from an entirely diff angle, sounds a little like the backing on one of the tracks from janis ian's Between The Lines LP. There's an upping of the melancholy stakes for certain.
A lovely re-imagining of the original. I like the original still. If there were to be an album I'd put both on to top'n'tail the beast.
Nice work heat.
Lovely stuff FTG.
We ask a lot of ourselves when we write, perform, record AND mix a song.
Are you back with new songs and energy?
Re-listened to both. Cool bananas.
Anychance of a download so I can pop it on my PDP?

 

[gecko zzed]

Well, I don't know what to think. I listened to both, and there are elements I like in both, and I'm torn.

I really like the emptiness and space in the original version. In particular, I liked the vocal. It was quite dry, and its air of fragility suited that arrangement.

The second was generally a better mix, and the bass was better defined, but the mix was also quite busy. I think it could afford to be culled a bit. I wasn't quite taken with the vocal on the new version . . . there was a tendency for it to be a bit slidey and pitchy, note the first couple of lines: "In the light of the morning, when your dreams are put to sleep". Compare 'dreams' in both versions. In the original it hits the note nicely. In the new it slides up to it.

I enjoyed the song, but.

Well done!

 

[Pinky]

There's just a touch of pitchiness at times on the vocals. 98% fine, just those few spots. I think autotune is used so much (myself included) that we forget things can be a little off but still be fine. I noted this in case it wasn't on purpose.

Ending is abrupt. I could hear a repeat with a fade out... ?

The lead guitar is pretty loud/jumps from the mix, cuts easily through the mix. It could probably be lowered a few db and still come through.

Mix wise I think it was solid, I could hear everything fine.

 

[heatmiser]

Thanks for the mix comments guys.

LOL @ "shouty" Yeah, I want that part to be loud. I replayed that section tons of times trying to find just the right balance and this is where I settled. It was kind of a big deal to insert something so rockish into one of her seemingly mellow numbers! I agree about the lead guitar part though. It's borderline piercing which seemed effective at the time, but perhaps too much now. We'll see what frits says.

She only asked for a remix and a guitar "solo" essentially. Interesting that this sounds more busy as I didn't add anything really except for in the middle. I actually erased portions of her tracks that are present in the original, so you'd think it would sound more sparse? Maybe it's just the way I panned and processed her tracks?

I think she too thought I had added or redone more than I had, but it's basically the same tracks save for that middle section. She had some revision requests following my first couple of mixes, but this one was a good compromise. Thanks again.

 

[fritsthegirl]

There's just a touch of pitchiness at times on the vocals. 98% fine, just those few spots. I think autotune is used so much (myself included) that we forget things can be a little off but still be fine. I noted this in case it wasn't on purpose.

Ending is abrupt. I could hear a repeat with a fade out... ?

The lead guitar is pretty loud/jumps from the mix, cuts easily through the mix. It could probably be lowered a few db and still come through.

Mix wise I think it was solid, I could hear everything fine.

I actually went back to do those vocals again, but I agree they're still not as good as the first version. Mind you, I think I did those about 700 times! I've never used autotune. Not that I'm proud of that or anything, cos it means I get occasionally pitchy vocals!

Thanks for checking it out Pinky.

 

[fritsthegirl]

Well, I don't know what to think. I listened to both, and there are elements I like in both, and I'm torn.

I really like the emptiness and space in the original version. In particular, I liked the vocal. It was quite dry, and its air of fragility suited that arrangement.

The second was generally a better mix, and the bass was better defined, but the mix was also quite busy. I think it could afford to be culled a bit. I wasn't quite taken with the vocal on the new version . . . there was a tendency for it to be a bit slidey and pitchy, note the first couple of lines: "In the light of the morning, when your dreams are put to sleep". Compare 'dreams' in both versions. In the original it hits the note nicely. In the new it slides up to it.

I enjoyed the song, but.

Well done!

Thanks for checking it out dude. I'm going to have a listen tonight and see if I can hear that. I think the first time I posted the first version I went back and did the vocals a number of times. Can't remember if it was pitchy then, or too many lip smacks.... Not sure I'll go back and do that again for this one, but I appreciate you mentioning it so I can watch out for it.

 

[fritsthegirl]

Bin a long time 'Trish/FTG.
How are you?
I've missed your whimsy & cynicism.
The new mix has Moody Blues sound to it, (mellotronesque - then again you had that flue sound in the original) or, from an entirely diff angle, sounds a little like the backing on one of the tracks from janis ian's Between The Lines LP. There's an upping of the melancholy stakes for certain.
A lovely re-imagining of the original. I like the original still. If there were to be an album I'd put both on to top'n'tail the beast.
Nice work heat.
Lovely stuff FTG.
We ask a lot of ourselves when we write, perform, record AND mix a song.
Are you back with new songs and energy?
Re-listened to both. Cool bananas.
Anychance of a download so I can pop it on my PDP?

Hey Ray, indeed, it's been a long time!

I'm good, how you keeping?

Hey thanks for the lovely feedback. I was really happy with the mix Heat did, I think he has a much better ear for it than me, and a lot more patience. I've been tinkering away on a few things, but nothing serious has come of it. Still doing it though, just finding it hard to complete stuff. I'll enable download for you when I'm home.

 

[fritsthegirl]

About time!

The solo instrument that comes in at 2.08 and the guitar that follow soon after are a bit big for the mix and the vocal that preceded it.

Yeah, this arrangement serves the tune better, and this mix sounds better. And will sound better again when the shouty instruments get dialled back a bit.

Nice to hear this tune again. Do some more.

Cheers Dobro.

I didn't have a problem with the shouty instruments. In fact if I'd had the skill, I might well have put them in there myself!

But you like the mix overall, which is a good thing.

 

[heatmiser]

Cheers Dobro.

I didn't have a problem with the shouty instruments. In fact if I'd had the skill, I might well have put them in there myself!

But you like the mix overall, which is a good thing.

Ok, we both like the level when all the heavier stuff comes in, but what about that "lead" guitar? The last couple of highest notes are pretty piercing, don't you think? Let me know if you want a do-over!

 

[fritsthegirl]

Ok, we both like the level when all the heavier stuff comes in, but what about that "lead" guitar? The last couple of highest notes are pretty piercing, don't you think? Let me know if you want a do-over!

Thanks Heat, but I don't hear anything but the pitch of my voice piercing my ears.

 

[mjbphotos]

I think Heat's version does put some bite into the song, but the one thing I thought didn't work so well was the 'quiet section' before the heavy instruments come in - since the guitar pattern and vocals are the same as the previous section, it sounds forced. WOUld be much better if there was a real change here - guitar played different, for example.

 

[robgreen]

Sorry been meaning to get to this for a few days, but can see you may both have moved on to new mixes already. Good to hear something from you again frits, even if an update of a tune I already knew. I really like the update - Pete's additions add a lot to the overall feel and some nice textures.

I didn't feel the guitar was too piercing at all. Only issue I had was that I felt the whole mix was a little too low on the lows and a little hyped on the mids, which makes it a wee bit tinny. There's a parametric EQ on the soundcard of my pc and as I listened, I just gave it a gentle boost in the 150-400ish range and a cut at around 3k. To my ears, it sounded better straight away for that, so a tweak on the master bus may just work. I dunno what you both think or whether you even agree necessarily?

Good work both though, enjoyed the listen

 

[MysticNetherlan]

Beatles meets The Carpenters, in a slowed-down and trippy way, I like it. Very nice arrangement, very nice drums as well!

 

[fritsthegirl]

Sorry been meaning to get to this for a few days, but can see you may both have moved on to new mixes already. Good to hear something from you again frits, even if an update of a tune I already knew. I really like the update - Pete's additions add a lot to the overall feel and some nice textures.

I didn't feel the guitar was too piercing at all. Only issue I had was that I felt the whole mix was a little too low on the lows and a little hyped on the mids, which makes it a wee bit tinny. There's a parametric EQ on the soundcard of my pc and as I listened, I just gave it a gentle boost in the 150-400ish range and a cut at around 3k. To my ears, it sounded better straight away for that, so a tweak on the master bus may just work. I dunno what you both think or whether you even agree necessarily?

Good work both though, enjoyed the listen

Hey Rob, How do? Thanks for listening, always good to get your thoughts.

 

[fritsthegirl]

Beatles meets The Carpenters, in a slowed-down and trippy way, I like it. Very nice arrangement, very nice drums as well!

Cool, thanks. The drums are just loops, but Heat made them sound a lot better than they did in the first mix I did.