homerecorded indie-newwave

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ordovizium

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we self-recordorded this song about a year ago in our rehearsal-space. since then I've been constantliy trying to improve the mix.
would be very grateful for any tipps or advice!

Thanks!

 
This is performed and recorded very well. Lot's of reverb on the drums. Has kind of a dark 80's feel to it. The vocals sit perfectly IMO. Nice job.
 
The arrangement trolls along between 20 and 55 MPH. it would be nice to have a 200MPH freewheeling burn after the first half...dynamics.

The acoustic guitar sounds dead. Stereo mic's and new strings and a lower action might be the ticket. It sounds like a plywood, second-hand 1965 Harmony archtop...no gloss and sheen to the sound.

The vox, screamed an octave or fifth up, during a 200 MPH theoretical burn, would go it over the top.

The piano is panned hard left...all alone...disconnected to the rythmic tapestry being woven more to center.

There's a limited amount of bite and impact in the playing, or as a result of any processing? The drums are sitting int the background...the bass drum could use some point and slap. Needs some spikage?

I hear some nice opportunity for delay in the vox and acoustic...bouncing off a virtual large hall's walls, to paint a picture in space.

MHO. FWWIW. YMMMV.
 
I agree with jeffmaher, especially in regards to the piano. The same sort of weird panning happens with the rapid guitar near the end.

I like the singer's voice. It's good for that late-80's dark new wave style. (Is it still new wave when the genre is 20 years old? :D )
 
I'd agree with the others..its seems to lack bite, sparkle, or jump out at you, but Im far from any expert..the ending begs to be thrashed out ad infinitum

I loved the composition and style, its so far up my street its parked in my driveway :)

the piano, although the right instrument imo, needed much more stereo..either panning or enhancment..

I couldnt help thinking about the 4AD label when listening..or even Felt (This Mortal Coil are also great for music ideas soundwise from this period)...for me this is verging on a classic tune..

cant wait for any updates :)
 
jeffmaher said:
The acoustic guitar sounds dead. Stereo mic's and new strings and a lower action might be the ticket. It sounds like a plywood, second-hand 1965 Harmony archtop...no gloss and sheen to the sound.
Click to expand...

I didn't even hear an acoustic. When does it come it? :confused:


Overall, I'd say nice job. I didn't notice anything that really sticks out as needing much attention.
 
hey guys and girls

thanks a lot for your input! it's really what i was looking for :)

i tried to take all your ideas into account:
- piano isn't panned left any more
- copied and delayed the guitar (although it's not an acoustic, but a strat through a fender twin) to the right (though quiet) and put a little more verb on it.
- the bass drum spills a lot into the overheads and that kinda removes the clarity of it. i therefore muted the OH's in Parts where there is only bassdrum.
- picked guitar has less midrange to let the bass come through
- took some reverb off the drums - especially the BD

about the dynamics: is it in the playing or the mixing/mastering? here's a version without the maximizing during mastering....maybe that's more dynamic?

should the speed vary (wasn't recorded over metronome - just a live-recording in our rehearsal space)? any other tipps?

It's not our goal to explode in any part of the song or to rock out - it should just drive you a little insane. a friend of us once compared our sound to "coitus interruptus" (sorry if this is inadequate here) - it's like you're almost there but it just doesn't happen. it's what keeps you going :)

thanks a lot!

PS: thanks for the comparison to 4AD! very flattering... if you want to hear more: http://cqsmusic.com
 
night and day...it makes the vocals so much easier to concentrate on..excellent

maybe the piano up a tiny bit but thats personal preference..I think the mix is perfect..really good job..I'll give the rest of your stuff a listen to now

I used to be a man about town too ;)
 
I heard the first version, but will have to wait until I get back home to hear the update. I like the song - I hear some Bauhaus / Peter Murphy going on.
 
I think I prefer the first version. I like the ambiance/wall of sound thing you have going on. The drums also sound a little better.

Although I do like the clarity of the second version. I wonder if you could find a balance between the two?
 
I like the version that plays when you click the original link a lot (not sure if it's the first or second mix, but the keys don't seem hard-panned, so I assume it's the remix.)

The kick seems slightly distracting in the quieter parts, but that could be a difference in my room and system. The strat seems a tiny bit bassy for the genre, but I'm no new wave aficionado, so...

Really like the arrangement.
 
I think the high hat is a smidge hot in the 2nd mix...otherwise, put a bow on it and call it done!!!


A year is WAAAY too long to work constantly on a song. :D
 
This is well done. Not the sort of thing I listen to often, but I think it came out really well. I like that it is at times quite sparse and overall very restrained. The fact that it might exlode at any time but never does is in an odd way a plus here I think.

I listened to both mixes and liked both of them. Maybe the 2nd one is a little tamer and smaller overall, but the clarity may be slightly improved...not wild about the kick sound, but I guess that has already been discussed. The voice is perfect for this style. Nice job.
 
Thanks again for all your comments!

The mix is exactly the same - except for the piano and the guitar which are panned (and guitar eq'd) in the second version.
The main difference seems to be the level of compression applied to the whole mix (i prefer not to say mastering since i don't have a clue about it). This also makes the reverb louder which results in "more atmosphere" but also "less clarity". of course - if you turn up the volume of the second mix to be equal to the first one, they sound much the same.

The bassdrum seems to be the point in which everyone agrees...the main sound is a triggered sample which I took from one of our studio-recordings and it is heard at the beginning of each verse. the spill of the orginal BD - which is crap by the way - is heard when other parts of the drumkit are played.
so is it the "clean" sound which isn't good (that's what i can easily change) or is it the "mixed" one?

Does anyone here have any mastering experience? I matched the EQ to a "Grizzly Bear" song, which resulted in 3db boosts at 1khz, 110 and 40hz. I can't really say much about the very low end since I mix on my headphones (even though they are "Grado"-headphones).

Any advice would be great - and if anyone with some experience wants to try and master it....you would be very welcome!

The point in mixing this song again is, that we're planning an album and don't know where to record it yet. Studio's are too expensive and we haven't found a good producer yet (ended in mixing the songs by ourselves). Therefore we're seriously planning to record and mix it at home...so this is kind of a test to see if we can do it or if we should spend the dough and go the studio-way.

Thanks again! great support here!
 
I like the new thing a lot better. The sounds are realer. And the Strat sounds like a Strat!
 
hey all,

it's nearly three years later, and accidentally I have to do a version of this song without vocals....so I revisited the mix very quickly and this is what it sounds like.

hope you guys like it....of course it's smashed into the limiter like there is no tomorrow....
dl(.)dropbox(.)com/u/788031/ManAboutTown.mp3
 
This mix sounds really good, I might bring the bass up a bit. As a song I really like it too, the drumming and vocals remind me of joy division a bit.
 
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