Groucho & Sluice

[groucho]

Thanks for the further comments guys. I'm at work so I can't do a person-by-person, but I appreciate very much each response. I'm actually in the middle of remixing this whole damn song from the bottom up. Decided, after all my haranguing about hating reverb, that with just using delay I'm noticing the song seems "smaller" than some of my other stuff. When I mix in some discretely panned verb copies I can get a beefier, more "full" sound, which is definitely what this tune requires. Always more to learn...

Thanks again,
Chris

 

[dobro]

Reminds me of Waylon meets Paul Butterfield.

You hear me? That's a good collaboration.

Good good playing, good good words! Man you do lyrics! That harp/e guitar back and forth is wonderful magic. (There's something about the different reverb on 'em though that might stand looking into - at times, it sounds on headphones like the harp's coming from *behind* me and panned left. Weird.)

Yeah, I haven't read the other comments, but they've probably said everything I can say. This is the best work I've heard from you so far in terms of everything you can name, and that guitarista takes it from 4 up to 5 stars.

What a good song LOL.

 

[A1A2]

good sounding mix. I agree about the comment that the bass should come up a bit. The kick gets masked a bit from time to time. But, all in all, this sounds really good. Dig that guitar tone alot, too.

Al

 

[twist]

Excellent tone on that harp, and excellent guitar sounds as well. This realy kicks ass guys. I agree about the vocal being a little hot at the beginning only. you've got some great sounds here, and it sounds like your still rethinking the mix. Keep us posted!


Twist

 

[chrisharris]

Fucking cool roadhouse vibe all over this... (I can like it, b/c I'm not even a little bit French).

Sounds really good on the monitors. In the cans, I wish it would thump my head some...you know, that really really low dangerous stuff that gets mixes in trouble, lol.

Reminds me of the very first tune I heard from you, Chris...with less low end, maybe, but I thought that first one had too much low end anyway (as I'm sure I commented). As I recall, your response was something like.."I think I just like more bass than most people."

It's that kick ass harp. I picture it being blown thru one of those old RCA mic's like the one that used to sit on Letterman's desk, with the distortion made the old fashioned way...tubes overdriven. I'm rambling, I know. The guitar work was drop dead perfect (tone) for this, if not sloppy enough. Tom's a versatile guy, no doubt.

It's funny, I guess we just kinda' get used to each around here, but anybody who uses the phrase "cream cheese on rye" in a blues tune deserves a freaking thumbs up.

There might be a plosive on "prayin' for the rain" @ 1:48, or it may just be the coincidence with the kick...not sure. Either way, not critical. I'm trying hard here; I haven't read any of the other posts, but besides the lack of a subsonic thunder (which may not be desired anyway), nothing sticks out to me as "wrong" with this mix.

Cleverly engaging, as expected. Just liking your tunes makes me feel smarter, lmao.

 

[Khompewtur]

Haha, those vox are pretty funny. You've got one of those voices to pull this off groucho.

I've gotta agree with a lot of what's already said. I think i get this funny picture in my head of Sluice on one side of a stage with his guitar hooked up to a stack and you on the other with your harmonica hooked up to a stack. Sweet chops Sluice, that's a tone I haven't heard from you yet. You guys work really well together.

 

[groovejunkie]

great guit work - very cool rough vocal also - I thought the bass should come more up

good work!

 

[groucho]

Okay, first of all, thanks you guys for your input. Unfortunately it is now totally moot since I've redone the whole damn thing.

I know it's a little late, now that we're into the 2nd page on this thread, but if anyone's still watching it, I'd love to hear your take on the latest mix.

I did a lot different this time around. In general I decided I needed a lot more "beef" on the sound. So this one's louder, thicker, and, um... beefier?

Hmm... I'm hungry.

It's there in the same place:

 

[groucho]

Oh, almost forgot - there's a (noticiably yuckier-sounding)192kbps version here:

Thanks guys,
Chris

 

[participant]

Ahem...

strum strum strum.... dooo... bum bum bum

There's a thing in the air.

cool...

ride cymbal/open hat sounds funny... hilarious actually...

Lots of stuff to think about and hear.... hard to tell what's taking center stage here.... thinkin' the harp should be panned just a bit harder, or have more 'verb on it.... it's at the same depth as Tom's guitar... which is OK... but they're butting heads right now...

Harp has a good chunk of the middle of the soundstage. Listen right at the end (last couple of notes)... it's fairly "wide".... have you put any delays on it? The thing it needs is a narrower notch width/freq-wise, or more reverb. If you're thinking "delay", maybe "echo" would be a better thing? As in much LONGER delay on the harm... like 1/8th notes, with 25% feedback.

More 'verb, or further to the left of the soundstage gives the vox more room too... compression helps too

Recording sounds fine... the tracks are OK... just some mix issues.

if this blows, I'm enjoyin the breeze

Nice jobs


C

 

[Lt. Bob]

Nice collab guys........can't give mixing comments 'cause my ears are still full of ocean.....but the song's great and I especially like the harp and, of course, Toms' git parts.
Nice!!!

 

[Jagular]

Downloaded last night & listening on cans at work.

I LOVE this. What a great vibe this thing has. Mix sounds fine to me for where I’m listening. Of course that doesn’t mean much.

Excellent song & performances. Straight to the keepers folder with this one.

Nice work gentlemen!!

 

[muzeman]

Hey Chris,

Great lyrics man!
Toms guitar just rocks,and that harp is great.

Your vocals really make the song shine!

The only problem I can hear from here is not enough clarity and bite on the drums.
The snare sounds pretty muffled.
Just a minor nitpick.

Truly a great collab.
You guys rock,
Pete

 

[groucho]

Was: Groucho and Sluice - now is: Waves Renaissance Comp sucks

Thanks you guys for the further input. As it turns out, this tune was a huge learning experience for me. And what I learned is this:

THE WAVE REN COMPRESSOR SUCKS!

Why do I say this, you ask?

Because this whole time I've been bugged by how lousy my mix was of this song. I thought I was losing my mind, but every time I played it alongside something else I've recorded lately it just sounded smaller, weaker, thinner, less defined... in short it sounded like shit (despite y'all's kindhearted comments to the contrary.).

I couldn't figure it out. Tom played a great guitar part. I thought my performance was reasonable. The drums suck, okay, but still...

So I went back and tried to figure what I did different this time around. And then I found the answer: this was the first tune that I used the Waves Ren Comp exclusively, for reasons I won't get into here.

Anyway, that was the only difference in my usual recording chain. So I went back tonight and remixed, but using the compressor I ususally use (the one in Cool Edit, which is a vastly underrated compressor I think) and TA DA... back to normal.

I just played my initial mix (using the CE Comp) alongside the old mix (using the Waves Comp) and with very little else done differently, the Waves mix sounds like ASS.

So I'm never using that piece of crap again, and neither should you.

I'm telling you, if you've been having trouble with harsh, small-sounding mixes, take my advice and check your chain for the Renaissance Compressor.

"Warmth." "Color". "Fatness" - yeah right.

Just a little public service message.

Chris

 

[M.Brane]

Bump!

Great tune & performance guys.

Drums need to come up though, even if they suck.