lo.fi.love
Functionally obsessed.
Hey folks,
I just wrapped up an intensive project, the first of its kind where I really went all out and did a ton of overdubs and bounces. I think there's around 28 total source tracks, all bounced down for the final mix.
For reference, here it is. It's my interpretation of the Allen Ginsberg poem "Psalm III": Click here
This is just a test mix, so it's still a little rough.
The main reason for all of the bounces is that the "special effects" stems were five or six tracks each (often they were multiple tracks of the same tape loop recorded at different intervals), tracked on a separate stretch of the tape while listening to a reference dub of the main mix. I bounced the effects mixes down to my two track deck and then punched in the stems at the right place on the multitrack master.
The problem, though, is that I have some stems that sound more compressed than others and I had to really crank up the compression on the final mix to get it all to hold together. The end result sounds a bit more compressed than I'd like, and a little "thin" for my taste. Looking back I probably could have used less compression on the bounce mixes, or no compression at all (although some of the mixes were really wily and had to be tamed into place).
I know what I'll do differently when I do the final mix again, and I think I know how I'll do my bounce mixes differently in the following pieces. But I want to ask my fellow eight track owners how they approach these kinds of big projects, where multiple bounces are necessary. Can you relate your experience with this sort of thing? Do you have any "rules of thumb" that you've developed and practice?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Jeffrey
I just wrapped up an intensive project, the first of its kind where I really went all out and did a ton of overdubs and bounces. I think there's around 28 total source tracks, all bounced down for the final mix.
For reference, here it is. It's my interpretation of the Allen Ginsberg poem "Psalm III": Click here
This is just a test mix, so it's still a little rough.
The main reason for all of the bounces is that the "special effects" stems were five or six tracks each (often they were multiple tracks of the same tape loop recorded at different intervals), tracked on a separate stretch of the tape while listening to a reference dub of the main mix. I bounced the effects mixes down to my two track deck and then punched in the stems at the right place on the multitrack master.
The problem, though, is that I have some stems that sound more compressed than others and I had to really crank up the compression on the final mix to get it all to hold together. The end result sounds a bit more compressed than I'd like, and a little "thin" for my taste. Looking back I probably could have used less compression on the bounce mixes, or no compression at all (although some of the mixes were really wily and had to be tamed into place).
I know what I'll do differently when I do the final mix again, and I think I know how I'll do my bounce mixes differently in the following pieces. But I want to ask my fellow eight track owners how they approach these kinds of big projects, where multiple bounces are necessary. Can you relate your experience with this sort of thing? Do you have any "rules of thumb" that you've developed and practice?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Jeffrey