Doldrums - Remix opinion

Nola

Nola

Well-known member
Hey guys. I am demoing a plugin that is supposed to simulate a "good room" through headphones (since I don't/won't ever have a treated room or monitors), and I kinda like it but don't have monitors to a/b test it on. For those of you who have monitors, can you tell me how this mix sounds in terms of balance (frequencies, volume, reverbs)? The original is on soundcloud if you'd like to compare to the first mix. The first one has more ambience and stuff. Thanks!

Doldrums Remix by Suicide Van | Free Listening on SoundCloud
 
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I remember this one. And I remember telling you that you should also EQ-trim that guitar in the intro, so that the whole part is cohesive instead of only the vocal being affected. Your call.

Ok, this sounds really good on my monitors. I'm not used to them yet, like I've told you, so take that for what it's worth.

The cymbal's are way too loud, take those down some. Not the ride though, that's good. Just those crashes. I like the balance during the uptempo stuff. Until the crashes come in. :)

Forgive me for asking, but is that effect on the vocals continuing during the rest of the song? It's hard to tell. I think it is though... if so, maybe remove if after the intro and see how it sounds with normal/clear vocals. I think that'd make the biggest difference. That.... and the crashes.

edit: came back to mention one more thing. Have you ever tried/practiced screaming vocals? I think they'd give a good edge to a lot of your songs, especially the end of this one. Have you tried it, ever?
 
Thanks, Andru. Oh yeah, I hear the cymbal issue now. I have two samples and made an error and only turned down one of them. I'll turn them down and re-uploaded it
For the intro what I decided was cutting a lot of the lows but not running it through AM processing. I'm not even sure why, tbh, but just liked the sound better.
That's great that it sounds good on your monitors. I hope that plugin helps with headphone mixes.
 
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andrushkiwt said:
edit: came back to mention one more thing. Have you ever tried/practiced screaming vocals? I think they'd give a good edge to a lot of your songs, especially the end of this one. Have you tried it, ever?
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Yeah, it always hurts my throat for days. I really want to make a punk album, though, so something will have to give.
I'm a laid back dude but love punk and all that, just not really sure how to get agro enough to pull it off! Do you have any tips?
 
Nola said:
Yeah, it always hurts my throat for days. I really want to make a punk album, though, so something will have to give.
I'm a laid back dude but love punk and all that, just not really sure how to get agro enough to pull it off! Do you have any tips?
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I just do vocal warmup exercises as often as I can. I sing in the car. I put on those "tenor warmup" vids on youtube and practice before I sing to record. I wish I did it consistently...the only time I do those is literally an hour before I get ready to sing any of my recordings. But it helps.
 
andrushkiwt said:
I just do vocal warmup exercises as often as I can. I sing in the car. I put on those "tenor warmup" vids on youtube and practice before I sing to record. I wish I did it consistently...the only time I do those is literally an hour before I get ready to sing any of my recordings. But it helps.
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How do you get the energy? And is there technique so you don't destroy the throat? Like do you still sing from the diaphragm?
PS. Fixed those cymbals now, thanks. I might have to go in and fine tune the velocities but they should at least be tamed.
 
It sounds balanced to me thru mr JBL E100s.
I don't hear any reverb but maybe a room ambience on the drums.
Between the vocal affect and fuzzy guitar I was not sure what to listen for.
 
Th fuzzy guitar plus bass's higher notes make kind of a muddy low-mid. The kick doesn't have much beef to it, have you EQed it out, or is it so low I can't hear it with my JBLs?
 
mjbphotos said:
Th fuzzy guitar plus bass's higher notes make kind of a muddy low-mid.
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Thanks, I think you were right. I cleaned some of that out on the latest. Hopefully it helps.
Regarding the kick, I EQ'd it about 45hz. So it should just be sub that's gone, but I lowered it a lot in the OH because it was boomy. It did thin out. I might look into adding more back thanks.
 
As for the plugin being a good room simulation... I'd say yes. The room/verb sounds pretty good to me. Pretty dry, which I like. I think the vocal is dryer than the instrument tracking.

I thought the kick and bass both had too much of a low end boost. They had a bit of a bouncy-ball sound. They're both a bit loud too. Snare is OK, but slightly dull.

Static at the beginning is a little loud. But otherwise I thought the intro was cool.

I agree about the fuzz guitar. It's a little cloudy sounding - could use a little more bite and less low mid.

I like the little key part.

The vocal effect at 2:33 for just one word was weird. Also overdone (as in too wet).

But the overall feel of the song was great. Lyrics were great. Always like your stuff.
 
TripleM said:
The vocal effect at 2:33 for just one word was weird. Also overdone (as in too wet).
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Thanks for all the input, 3M. Unfortunately the plugin demo expired so I can't do much else, but maybe I will buy it since it seems to have helped. If I do I will look at those drums being too loud.
p.s. I just wanted to clarify that isn't a vocal effect but just a lead guitar hitting a unison type note.
 
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I agree on the effect at 2:33, just came out of the blue. I listened on the home stereo, it all sounded pretty good on my system.
 
Really interesting song and mix. I think the volume of the opening vocal could come down a bit-tough to get vocals that are spoken yet distorted to sit right imo. I like the way the vocal sits later in the song, i'd bet that the opening vocals is louder with 1 guitar than the later vocal with the full band which is strange to me dynamically speaking. The opening drum riff sounds like its lagging a bad first impression for an otherwise great sounding drum track. The tempo change is really cool-i like the sound you got going on there, nice rich bassy sound with the fuzz guitar. I like the keyboard touches sounds like tron flutes, what's going on in the the sped up section the high sound? I like it. Brubeck in the radio tuning open? : ). Great tune man.
 
Stratomaster said:
Really interesting song and mix. I think the volume of the opening vocal could come down a bit-tough to get vocals that are spoken yet distorted to sit right imo. I like the way the vocal sits later in the song, i'd bet that the opening vocals is louder with 1 guitar than the later vocal with the full band which is strange to me dynamically speaking. The opening drum riff sounds like its lagging a bad first impression for an otherwise great sounding drum track. The tempo change is really cool-i like the sound you got going on there, nice rich bassy sound with the fuzz guitar. I like the keyboard touches sounds like tron flutes, what's going on in the the sped up section the high sound? I like it. Brubeck in the radio tuning open? : ). Great tune man.
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Hey Strat, thanks for that detailed feedback. What do you mean by the drum riff sounds like it's lagging?
Oh, nice ear catching the flutes. Exactly right. And I can't comment on the opening radio tune for obvious reasons, but great ear. The high notes during the speed up section is the same filter sweep during the flute section...it's a Vox with a filter sweep on it.

Are you on monitors?
Thanks!
 
I'm listening on a 5.1 system in my computer room, jbl and sony speakers+sub. The very first drum lick sounds out of time and unnatural to me-it made me think "oh some more canned drums" but really as soon as they got going i changed my mind, even though there's a few out of time hits they sound natural, like someone's actually playing them.
 
Nola said:
p.s. I just wanted to clarify that isn't a vocal effect but just a lead guitar hitting a unison type note.
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Re-listening to that line... Yeah, I can hear how it's just the interplay between instruments. That's a weird sync up. Maybe isn't a good match for this song, but it would be a very cool thing to explore .

Tuning artifact at 0:38 on "know"

I think my comments on the previous thread still hold. The contrast between the lo-fi "AM radio" intro and the lo-fi indie rock body of the song isn't really there. It sounds like it might be better than before (trying to vaguely recall the previous version), but it might be kind of a fundamental problem.
 
VomitHatSteve said:
Re-listening to that line... Yeah, I can hear how it's just the interplay between instruments. That's a weird sync up. Maybe isn't a good match for this song, but it would be a very cool thing to explore .

Tuning artifact at 0:38 on "know"

I think my comments on the previous thread still hold. The contrast between the lo-fi "AM radio" intro and the lo-fi indie rock body of the song isn't really there. It sounds like it might be better than before (trying to vaguely recall the previous version), but it might be kind of a fundamental problem.
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Thanks for detailed feedback, Steve. I will listen to that :38 mark today and see what that is. My original idea to bridge the gap between lo-fi and the higher lo-fi (haha) was to have the intro all lo-fi and then like a stretching noise (if you can go on youtube and find the opening of Dinosaur Jr Feel the Pain you'll see what I mean)....kind of a noise like that where it felt time was warping. I wasn't sure how to pull it off, though, so I just went with some drum hits and a more abrupt approach. I'd really like to know how to stretch the entire audio mix if you know how to do it. I use Cubase.

Stratomaster said:
I'm listening on a 5.1 system in my computer room, jbl and sony speakers+sub. The very first drum lick sounds out of time and unnatural to me-it made me think "oh some more canned drums" but really as soon as they got going i changed my mind, even though there's a few out of time hits they sound natural, like someone's actually playing them.
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Thanks, Strat, I appreciate that detail.

sparky123 said:
Very Lou Reedish . mix is good but kinda feels like or sounds like it needs more sheen to open it up.
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Thanks, Sparky. I see what you mean by sheen but I was never good at that. Might be hardwired b/c I grew up recording on 4-track tape and my ears are programmed toward darker sounds bc of it. Appreciate your time and feedback.
 
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