Check my mix please.

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Freudian Slip

Freudian Slip

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This is just about the finished product that was on a different thread. The thread had soem confusion at the begining beacause the soundclick server would not let people in. So I am here for a fresh start. The song is called "Just Like" . It's a song I wrote for my wife. It's not really my type of song so..... But if you could comment on the mix I would appretiate it.

The song has been run through a multi-band compressor now. I am hoping that didn't mess with the mix too much. Sounded OK to me except for a couple parts.

Anyway here is the link. Everything seems to be working with the server now.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=589306

Thanks for any tips or suggestions.

F.S.
 
GOOD song - the lead licks need a tiny lift except in the solo - it's right in the pocket..
The bass definitely needs some definition. It sounds a little grumbly.
It may be that the panning of the b/voxis too extreme.
The singing works well though - I'll be blunt - some of the sustained notes on the end of phrases edge toward cabaret. The phrasing, apart from those odd occasions, is good. I can't explain other than cabaret - stylized? a spoonfull beyond elegant sifficiency? That's just me mind.
I like this song.
What's the effect in the intro? It could be a little more subtly employed - the compression probably brought it up.
Good work, nice melody & arrangement.You managed a sentiment that was affectionate without being sentimentally affectionate.
 
Hi Rayc: Thanks I think;) No really I am happy you stopped in and took the time to listen.
You have mentioned everything I have been struggling with. I am sure my final mix will not be what you would consider ideal but, We are looking at the exact same things.

The lead licks: I actually tried to put them on a even keel with the vocals or a little below. the mix you are hearing is the lowest they have been. But I think more people agree with you than me on that.

On the bass: the only thing I have done is a hi-pass eq. I was not able to adjust my bass just as I like because I have a little buzz problem on the third fret of the e string. But clarifie if you mean I need compression or mids please:)

Now where you really have me worried :confused: :eek: :D "cabaret - stylized"? Is there another way to say that where I won't feel so gay (not that there's anything wrong with that) or will I have to listen to music I hate to understand:D This lovey dovey stuff is not my style so it all sounds a bit odd to me.

(I hope the Sienfeld referrence in the above paragraph was not lost on all)

The effect in the begining is "waves enigma" I like the pulsing timing of it. You're dead on though. I felt it might be a bit much but wanted something there. I used it on one of two panned guitar tracks and panned them both tward the center as it went to two normal guitar tracks. They still are at 10 or 15% panned through the whole song.

I am working on mellowing that out. I think I will try bringing in a dry track and do a crossfade with the effected track . Bad thing is I do not have automation so I had to split the track and do a destructive edit to apply the effect. I will find away around it though.

Thanks for the complement on the song! I really never set foot in this type of song so I am glad that people seem to like this. It's hard to know what's overboard. It all seems a little overboard to me if you know what I mean.


F.S.
 
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Freudian Slip said:
Hi Rayc: Thanks I think;) No really I am happy you stopped in and took the time to listen.
You have mentioned everything I have been struggling with.
Click to expand...
RayC has a great ability to critique a song - a true producer's style I'd say..... :D :D :D :D

Freudian Slip said:
Thanks for the complement on the song! I really never set foot in this type of song so I am glad that people seem to like this. It's hard to know what's overboard. It all seems a little overboard to me if you know what I mean.
Click to expand...
You have a great tune here - perhaps you should continue in this vein, if only occasionally, as the songwriting is very good.

:) :D :) :D
 
Thanks Ido1957: I hope I didn't sound put off at all on Rayc's comments. I was serious about how I was looking at the same things. I think I have most of it where I want it. The one thing that I was not looking at was the definition of the bass. It was totaly dry except for the hi pass. I think it sounded pretty good before the muti-band comp but that sucked the life out of it in favor of the kick. I have placed some compression on that channel bit it still seems to go away when the whole song gets going. I think it will hav eto be a compromise.

I did mellow out the beginig and I think it sounds good. I also placed a low cutt on two of the backing vocal tracks to try and loose some stacked low end there.

I am glosd you like the song ido. I told the wife that if something happens with this song I guess I will have to write her more:D

I will let you two know when I upload the new mix. At this point I am working under the multi-band comp to try and fine tune it.

Thanks again for the comments from both of you.

F.S.
 
well I have a new mix uploaded. I really am happy for your suggestions Rayc. It helped me take a direction. I am listening to it now and I am wondering if I need to turn the bass down a bit or maybe the gain on the low hz on the compressor. The bass is now sounding a bit double compressed to me but let me know what you guys think.

What do you think of the begining now Rayc? It sounds better to me. I get to hear that pulsation I like but not too loud or for too long.

I tweeked up the fills a hair to.

Damned compression! Get your hands off my song you damed dirty compression!!!!!!! Or was it apes?

F.S.
 
ido1957 said:
You have a great tune here - perhaps you should continue in this vein, if only occasionally, as the songwriting is very good.

:) :D :) :D
Click to expand...

I did not thank you enough for that comment the first time around:)
I am a writer first an foremost, not the best player, a decent singer but I like it most when people like the song.

Thanks
Dave
 
Freudian,
The intro is much better.
I had a closer listen to the things I was referring to in terms of cabaret it's the throat sound on the last end of the syllables - it only happens on about three words total. Think Elvis in white. The ah added on the end of words sort of thing. "...perfect dayah", ...mannnn "clearah" you follow on with a nice crisp express & best.
The bass is better - bummer about the fret rattle - there's more definition now.
Pity you can't do non destructive editing - what are you recording to?
This mix is pretty bloody close to nailed. Though you'd best listen through ears other than mine.
Ido is right. When one of these songs comes to you follow it through. Don't force it obviously but if it strikes you as necessary - it must be. Too many people shy away from being expressive because of the lack of cool factor. This song is cool. If you get an opportunity listen to Ido1957's stuff - heaps of heart felt, cleanly expressed & effecting emotion & whacking good tunes too.
Perhaps you could flie this under forbidden pleasures. I can't write this way because I have no facility for melody - I have to use collaborators - I wish I could write like you & Ido, can't that's all.
 
Thanks Rayc.

Ya, I like the intro way better now. I wanted it subtler than it was too. I sort of knew it was too much for the song.

I got ya on the throat sound;) “just like you-a” I’ve been know do that here and there. This song has a lot of screwy vocal stuff to me. I sang the wrong way (not how I was trained) on purpose to try and soften my voice. I’m in the process of ignoring all of that.

On the editing. I can do non-destructive but it I only want to effect part of a track I have apply the effect to the section rather that run it real time. It's not a problem until I close the program and save it. I am using cakewalk pro audio 9 with assorted plug ins. I can always go into an older saved version and steal the track from there if need be.


If I had automation I could just set up the effect real-time and fade it in and out as I like. The studio I have used has cubase and he can do all that. I also like how he can buss multiple tracks together, and he can mute clips in a track rather than delete them or move them to an unused track.

When I upgrade my computer I might look at switching over. I will say that I tried cubass and sonar and PA9 is way less complicated to me but it is limiting.

Thanks for the fresh ears

I am going to de-pan the back-ups a bit.


F.S.
 
Well I just uploaded the final version I think. Mainly just tried to fix the end of the song with some cutting and pasting and threw some extra verb on the end to try and give it a more natural decay. It's not perfect but it's about as good as I can get it without rerecording parts.

I think it's time to call it good and spend some time with the wife I wrote the song for;)


Thanks of all the help guys.

Still like to hear opinions.

F.S.
 
Freud,
I'm using Cakewalk Pro Audio 9.3 - the updates to 9.3 are free downloads I left the link in the Cakewalk forum if you're interested - there are only 2 threads in there by me so it should be easy to find. Are you using a VST wrapper? You can automate almost everything in 9.3 - I can send you the relevant pages from Cakewalk Power if you'd like.
You should be able to drop the into Aux 1 or 2 & send to it.
Sorry about the oblique undies comment - I was in another space last night/yesterday.
Ah, found them:
Upgrade
http://www.cakewalk.com/support/archives/ardownloads.asp
You do need to go through & install them in sequence but they're good.
Plugs
http://www.sonicspot.com/daplugins.html
 
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I didn't read the responses before posting this, so sorry if it is a repeat. I mean this in the most respectful way...has anyone ever said you have a David Bowie expression to your vocals? That is an awesome thing, and I don't mean to imply you sound like him, but more there is a unique quality about the vocal delivery and overall songwriting that is unique, fresh with a nod to 'new wave' rock of yesteryear. Dig completely, man. Production-wise, I still new at this too, but I would think a good outboard reverb unit going into final mixdown would add a little depth to this recording. Great tune, man.
 
rayc said:
Freud,
I'm using Cakewalk Pro Audio 9.3 - the updates to 9.3 are free downloads I left the link in the Cakewalk forum if you're interested - there are only 2 threads in there by me so it should be easy to find. Are you using a VST wrapper? You can automate almost everything in 9.3 - I can send you the relevant pages from Cakewalk Power if you'd like.
You should be able to drop the into Aux 1 or 2 & send to it.
Sorry about the oblique undies comment - I was in another space last night/yesterday.
Ah, found them:
Upgrade
http://www.cakewalk.com/support/archives/ardownloads.asp
You do need to go through & install them in sequence but they're good.
Plugs
http://www.sonicspot.com/daplugins.html
Click to expand...

I just looked and I am running 9.2 I will have to upgrade. I am not using a vst wrapper. I think I tried it before and had limited success and got frustrated.

As far as the undies That's all cool :D I get that funky sence of humor going also. Some times people mistake it for me being an asshole... or is it the other way around???

Thanks for the links! I will upgrade. I think I had 9.03 at one time but my hard drive crashed.

Let me ask you a couple questions before I do this though. I have had issues in the past with doing a mix in the console view and going back to the begining/rewinding the song and having my faders change back. This really pissed me off because when I bought PA9 power suite I looked at the FAQ and it was never mentioned. Then I come to find out that it has been a problem since like cakewalk3 or when ever they added audio. Cakewalk gave me some lame fix (runing a .cal script) every time I wanted to go back to the begining of the song. So..... Have you had this problem with 9.03? Because I am not having it right now. And It's a very frustrating problem.

As for the vst wrapper, can you do like in cubase and hit a record button in the effect and move the sliders then stop the song and stop recording automation? Just wondering since they would be vst plug ins.

I would love the pages from cakewalk power! I will just borrow them and then return ;)

You can PM me for my email if you get the time.

Thanks for all the great help!

F.S.
 
Seeker of Rock said:
I didn't read the responses before posting this, so sorry if it is a repeat. I mean this in the most respectful way...has anyone ever said you have a David Bowie expression to your vocals? That is an awesome thing, and I don't mean to imply you sound like him, but more there is a unique quality about the vocal delivery and overall songwriting that is unique, fresh with a nod to 'new wave' rock of yesteryear. Dig completely, man. Production-wise, I still new at this too, but I would think a good outboard reverb unit going into final mixdown would add a little depth to this recording. Great tune, man.
Click to expand...

Hey Seeker.

I'll take a David Bowie comparison any time I can get one :) I hear that more than anything lately. as far as the reverb. This is actually the first ever mix that I used a reverb on the mains. the only tracks that have double reverb on them is the backups in places and the guitar fills. I was a little scared to add to much verb on the main channels because it's hitting the drums and the bass. Well it's hitting everything. I wish I had a good outboard unit. All I have is a digitech DSP256 (one of the first multi processors you could chain effects on) and a Alesis midiverb 4 (i think) it's loaned to another band at the moment. Never liked the midiverb. It's not adjustable.

Thanks for your comments.

F.S.
 
Freud,
I have had issues in the past with doing a mix in the console view and going back to the begining/rewinding the song and having my faders change back.
Yep that's common. For the simplest fix you need to set your faders where you want them & then click the little camera on the tool bar & it will take a snapshot of what's required at that spot.
You can do this all the way through each time you want to adjust faders. The automation thing is easier though. You Right click on the fader you want to adjust & select automation from the menue that appears & then choose track vol, pan, send & retrun etc from the drop down at the top of the grid that appears & then click the levels you want. It's a learn as you go thing. So I'd set up a couple of tracks in a project to work with. You can also just right click the panning button on a track & select automation & it will bring up the screen you need. Send & retrun is the same though a little more complicated.
This really pissed me off because when I bought PA9 power suite I looked at the FAQ and it was never mentioned. Then I come to find out that it has been a problem since like cakewalk3 or when ever they added audio. Cakewalk gave me some lame fix (runing a .cal script) every time I wanted to go back to the begining of the song. So..... Have you had this problem with 9.03? Because I am not having it right now. And It's a very frustrating problem.

As for the vst wrapper, can you do like in cubase and hit a record button in the effect and move the sliders then stop the song and stop recording automation? Just wondering since they would be vst plug ins.
I've only tried one VST so far. You have to selct the wrapper in the box you want it like any effect & then select the VST from inside the wrapper. After that I don't know much.
I'll PM you & then sort & scan the stuff you might need into a document to email.
 
Thanks Rayc. I will get the 9.03 upgrade. I am not a fan of the whole camera botton but what you are talking about sounds better. I have mostly switched to envelopes for volume and fade because they are fool proof. I am interested in the vst wrapper though. I hop emy system will handle it. I only have a 1ghz 512mp pc. Are there some good vst plug ins you would recomend?

PS I was just back listening to full circle. I don't know what else to say than I find it very interesting. The lyrics and phrasing are very complex. I like it! I'm a writer first, I'm the guy that has to take the sleave out and read along. Some times I'm happy with what I find other times sad.


Later
F.S.
 
Mate I'm only running 256M of Ram & my processor is not even half of yours but it's working fine - I don't have anything running other that windows & Cakewalk.
 
Well then I guess I have a shot! I love my waves though;) there is the power sucker. But every day I use less and less effects so I am lightening the load.



Thanks

F.S.
 
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