Get On The Road Again ( The Sequel)

R

Rusty K

New member
Well here's my Mp3 with most of the revisions suggested from my first post. It's still lacking a lead guitar part and I still don't have that tube preamp that I desperately need. Try to imagine a fade at the end with guitar riffing.

I probably won't remix again until the guitar trac in laid down unless someone points out some glaring mistake on this mix.

I used LAME to encode this time so I hope everyone is able to download and listen successfully.

Go to www.idrive.com and look for r-dkeith, Get On The Road Again is the only tune in storage.

Thanks,
Rusty K
 
I think 320kbps is what is blowing up Winamp 'cause this one did it too :(. I'd stick with 256kbps max, or use VBR (variable bit rate). VBR in LAME is great! You can get better than 192kbps quality with just a slightly larger file size than a CBR (constant bit rate) file at 192kbps. Are you using LAME from the command line, or did you DL "Lame Batch" too? Lame Batch is a front-end for LAME... it makes it easier to convert your wav files. Check out www.r3mix.net -- there is some pretty good info there about making good quality MP3's.

The mix sounds better IMO. The acoustic still seems like it's squeezed a bit too much, but the overall mix isn't. The minor vocal peaking in the last mix doesn't seem to be there any more. Did you add some chorus or something to the acoustic? If so, I might back the effect level off a bit... but I'm getting into personal taste at this point. The mix itself is pretty clean to my ears. Are you happier with it?
 
pglewis,

Thanks for listening again but excuse my computer ignorance your whole first paragraph lost me. I used Goldwave batch conversion with LAME. I don't remember seeing any options about bitrate. It just began conversion automatically. Will the website you gave me explain it for me?

As for being happier with this mix, I'm happier if more experienced folks like yourself are. I used headphones this time and felt much more control of the mix this way but I was still worried that I wasn't hearing all I need to.

I simply experimented with different effects. The guitar and vocals are giving me fits because I have no tube pre-amp. It would help a lot. I just can't get my Martin Dreadnaught to come alive. I've tried a "Woody" pickup as well as a Sennheiser mic and I'm still not happy with the sound.

By bringing the overall volume down I was able to bring in more bass and the as per suggestion I was able to normalized at the end with good results.

Thanks,
Rusty K
 
pglewis,

So I reconverted at 256kbps. I will upload the newer version. Goldwave defaults at 320kbps. So what are the higher bitrates good for?

Thanks,
Rusty
 
I didn't know you could incorporate LAME into Goldwave. That's convenient :). I'm not sure about the bug with 320kbps in Winamp. I think read something somewhere that there is a caveat in the MPEG specifications at 320kbps. I'll see if I can dig that up somewhere. Most people either stick with 256kbps maximum, or use lossless compression for bit-for-bit archiving.

iDrive uses a secure connection so that no one is supposed to be able to "eavesdrop" on any information you transfer to and from. The message you're getting is just telling you that.

I doubt I'm that much more experienced than you are. I only have a little head-start on ya. Believe me, it all starts to come together with some practice and a lot of listening. I listened again later, and it struck me that I still wasn't hearing the dynamics I wanted in the song. I started to distrust my ears at that point, so I checked some other reference material side by side. Everything fine there, so I decided to cheat and take a peek at the wave form. If you have your stereo wav file in Goldwave, you should notice that there are some "peaks" that jut above the average level of the music, and then a mostly solid area at a lower level (the average level). You'll notice even on this mix that the difference between the loudest parts and the average level is fairly small, and the overall level fairly "flat" through the whole song. This verified what I was hearing and is probably due to too much compression and/or normalization on the final mix. For rock tunes and some other styles, that might be exactly what you're going for. But this song could use some "air" to breathe in. I took a peek at the first mix, and it was almost a solid block :eek:. You backed off a lot (especially the level), but I still think it's too much compression. I'd like to hear a mix with no compression or normalization just to compare, if it isn't a hassle. It might give me a few suggestions.

On the acoustic, have you tried doubling it? It sounds like you have no problems in the consistency dept. Also, an EQ cut between 200 and 300 Hz can sometimes pull some of the mud out of acoustics. Those frequencies might sound great in the track when it's solo'ed, but it can become pretty messy when all the other instruments are in the mix. Okay, I've rambled far too much now ;).
 
pglewis,

I can't thank you enough for your time and help. I'll work on a mix with no compression pronto and get back.

Thanks again,
Rusty K
 
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