Kramer

[Bulls Hit]

The inspiration for this jam is from a Seinfeld rerun we watched a few weeks ago. Kramer somehow acquires this fur coat and a lady's hat and a walking cane. He's on his way to get his car, grooving down the street and they play this itchy scratchy funk nugget over it. I really liked it and so came about this tune over a weekend, so it's still raw.
Anyway I tried to get my funk on, But I'm a white boy so wth do I know about that? I'm interested in any suggestions and opinions on the mix balance

 

[number six]

Wow. Kind of a James-Brown-meets-young-Rod-Stewart vocal sound, and I like the fairly straight ahead mix, and the groove. This is so even though the only actual words comprehensible to me were, or was, "yeah." Instead of "more cowbell" here, I would go with "more vocals" and develop some material. The somewhat whingy whole tone guitars at the end sound a bit weak, but the distorted pedal sounds good. Might be fun to cover "Papa Don't Take No Mess" by James Brown and I'd wanna hear it.

 

[Nola]

Hey Bull, do you ever plan on turning down your compression, or is that part of your sound? I can think of 5 to 10 songs now and all are over compressed. If that's your sound, cool. It's neat in that over the top kind of way, but it's also fatiguing on the ear. It's a bummer because the songs all groove.

 

[Manslick]

Sounds balanced to me. Bass could be louder, but Im on cans.

 

[Bulls Hit]

number six - Yeah no actual lyrics available for this one. Thanks for th feedback. I'll check out that James Brown tune and who knows...

Nola - Heh yes I've noticed a consistent theme in your comments over time. . Thing is I'm not actually using that much compression. On the drums I'll dupe the kick and snare tracks, compress those and blend with the originals to bring up the detail & some room without losing the attack. I'll also compress the room mic but not the overheads. I'll compress the bass to even it out and also the vocals, although most of my jams don't have vocals. (OK compared to your tracks that probably is a lot of compression ) On the master I'm only knocking about 2db off and the limiter is set flat as I like to retain dynamics. Do you think the mixes are too loud, or is it the sound of them that bugs you?

Manslick - You could be right. I'll check that when I get back home. Thanks for the ears

 

[Nola]

Nola - Heh yes I've noticed a consistent theme in your comments over time. . Thing is I'm not actually using that much compression. On the drums I'll dupe the kick and snare tracks, compress those and blend with the originals to bring up the detail & some room without losing the attack. I'll also compress the room mic but not the overheads. I'll compress the bass to even it out and also the vocals, although most of my jams don't have vocals. (OK compared to your tracks that probably is a lot of compression ) On the master I'm only knocking about 2db off and the limiter is set flat as I like to retain dynamics. Do you think the mixes are too loud, or is it the sound of them that bugs you?

Hey Bull,
So basically NYC/parallel compression is what you're doing on drums?
It's not that it bugs me, but more that it is fatiguing. The sound designs are cool for a while and then my ears tire. Maybe it's the volume and not compression like you say, though usually the two go hand in hand.

 

[Bulls Hit]

Hey Bull,
So basically NYC/parallel compression is what you're doing on drums?
It's not that it bugs me, but more that it is fatiguing. The sound designs are cool for a while and then my ears tire. Maybe it's the volume and not compression like you say, though usually the two go hand in hand.

Yah parallel compression gives the benefits of compression without sacrificing the power. Sometimes I'll run the whole kit out to a channel strip or compressor if the situation demands. OK I admit I like the sound of it. It's a sickness I have but I'm not ready to be cured just yet Same with harmonics and distortion - always been a sucker for those

 

[Rokket]

It makes me think if Kramer when I hear it. I am not that big of a Seinfeld fan. I never really found him funny. He benefited from some really talented writers with his show. I don't remember this episode either, but since I rarely watched it, I guess that's no surprise.

My only nit is the lack of lyrics, I guess. It made the track a little hard to listen to. But it sounded balanced to me too. But I am also on cans because I don't want to wake the neighbor up. I am on a ship and the walls are paper thin...

 

[jimistone]

Cool Tune!
I love music with a funky groove. Really creative man. I like all the sounds you are getting. I see others have comented about it being heavily compressed. I think it sounds great.

If it sounds right it IS right!

Nice work.

 

[Stratomaster]

Nice drum sounds as usual, nice tight groove. I like the high sustaining notes, works really well against the groove. The main single note guitar tone is kind of mid rangy for my taste, that part where it plays solo around 1:30 etc i really noticed it. The hooting vocals i found to be a distraction, i liked it when towards the end you were blending sustaining voices, made me think it would be cool to just have backup vocals for a tune like this, like if you muted the lead vocal and only heard the three imaginary backup singers...

 

[Bulls Hit]

Rokket - One of the things I liked about Seinfeld was all the supporting cast were excellent in their own right. There was no dead wood. Yeah I've always had a problem with lyrics and vocals, so most of my tunes don't have them. Thanks for the listen

jimistone - In a mix I'm trying to get it to sound like you're hearing it up close near the stage in a small sweaty pub with a good PA, and all the guitar amps are dialled in and you can feel the pulse of the kick drum and get a sense of liveness....sometimes I get closer than others and compression helps with that. Appreciate the comments, thanks jimi

Stratomaster - I know what you mean about that mid range tone. That's not a bad idea about just having the backing vocals. I was originally just trying to capture a funky mood and then redo the vocal when some lyrics arrived but that's not likely to happen now. Cheers Strat

 

[TripleM]

Very cool sounds all around. I always like your soundscape. Balance on everything sounds good to my ear. I especially like the lead/riff guitar sound on this.