Like I Knew You Would

  • Thread starter Thread starter K-dub
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K-dub

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Just a remix ...

Hope all is well and you're having a great summer (where appropriate).

Kev-
 
nice, got me a K-Dub fix.
Sounds good man.
Like the synths and the bass line. I don't think I could resist a much busier bass so I give you kudos for restraint.
 
I tend to lean towards busy on the drums -- and so have to tread cautiously with bass by necessity. It could get ugly, quick, otherwise. :)
 
You know what I'm thinking? You've learned how to avoid the top twenty homer recording and mixing mistakes, and the result is that you're pretty much in the pocket every time out of the gate. Listening to your stuff is liking listening to Greg's - it's reliable and good and enjoyable.

I got nothing for this one. But I'd like to A/B it with what comes back from the ME. I'd like to hear how much (or rather, how little) difference there'd be between the two.
 
this sounds really nice. there's a lot of nuances and different treats throughout. the main riff is kind of like reggae. i wonder, did you consider keeping that thru the chorus? The switch to straight four there now feels odd.
prolly over thinking.
 
Yeah ... I lightly self-mastered this one, P ... but it's interesting to side note that I sent "New & Improved" off to the M.E., and retained a folder of my own mastering work for a S & G comparison.

What I did prior to sending it to the M.E. was take all of the master bus effects off (which is how I add mastering polish) ... and dropped the two bus levels down 6 db. The result was that the unmastered tracks peaked at roughly -12db.

The M.E. did a GREAT job ... and it was better than my own touch (particularly in EQ) ... but but but ... if you listened to the comparison ... it's different, but not THAT different. You can hear the differences, but you had to listen close.

I'm still slowly assembling and sculpting this compilation ... and it's not yet ready to be plastic sealed by the M.E. :)
 
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Manslick said:
this sounds really nice. there's a lot of nuances and different treats throughout. the main riff is kind of like reggae. i wonder, did you consider keeping that thru the chorus? The switch to straight four there now feels odd.
prolly over thinking.
Click to expand...

The switch was intentional, M ... to add texture and "push/urgency" to the interim change ... which then climaxes out at the riff.
 
Mint. Upbeat little tune, it softens the honesty of the lyrics. They're brilliant. I really like the sound at 2:07 too.
 
I really like the chiming intro/bridge thing.
Crisp, clear and cool - the synth follow on from the guitar solo was a suprise but a good one.
THe switch from reggaeish to rockish is a tried and true device that almost always works in pop & rock - it works for you too.
Enjoyed it!
 
K-dub said:
What I did prior to sending it to the M.E. was take all of the master bus effects off (which is how I add mastering polish) ... and dropped the two bus levels down 6 db. The result was that the unmastered tracks peaked at roughly -12db.
Click to expand...

I sent an album to the ME this week. I took all the stuff off the master buss except maybe some mild compression. All the mid/side voodoo and verb and EQ - all that stuff went. So I'm asking myself 'why put it on there in the first place if I'm just gonna take it off before handing it to the ME?' (Peaks were at -6 dBFS in my case, sometimes as high as -5, but he's happy with that.)

K-dub said:
The M.E. did a GREAT job ... and it was better than my own touch (particularly in EQ) ... but but but ... if you listened to the comparison ... it's different, but not THAT different. You can hear the differences, but you had to listen close.
Click to expand...

In my case, the difference was more obvious - to my ears, it's mostly EQ - he takes it beyond that 'homerecording sound' by making it brighter. It's like before I send it, I'm thinking 'yeah I like how this sounds' and when it comes back from him I'm like 'yeah I like how this sounds even more'.
 
I used John on "Unfit for Consumption" and was very pleased. I asked him to add analog cream and he dialed it in beautifully. He also did other things no other did. If I play something from that album on my iphone, I get individual song lyrics displayed. I've never seen that happen ... not only with my other albums ... ANY other albums.

Brian Lucey, from Magic Garden Mastering did "Long Days Passing Fast" and I was very pleased with his work. OTOH ... although the sound was fine on "Retrospectful", he was inattentive and flipped the stereo field l/r. What I got back sounded good, but was in reverse of what I sent him.

Interestingly, I'd used Bill Roberts on my first album (Long Days ...), but I wasn't happy with what was sent back, so I turned to Brian ... and he delivered.

Yet? I went back to Bill on "New & Improved!" and IMNSHO? He delivered an exceptional result. I thought I'd done well in self mastering it ... and he put me in my place. :)
 
Yeah, I get it. Recently I've finally starting figuring out my plugins, so on this album I started putting stuff on the master buss. Nudging it toward completion, I thought. Well, if you're not getting somebody to master your stuff, then it's perfectly legitimate doing that. But there's nothing like a second set of ears in a great room with great gear and loads of experience.
 
It's like mixing through multiple monitors. The more sources, the better the refinement.

You can trust your ears only so far as they hear through what they hear ... and then you have to hand off and trust others hear what they hear too.
 
This song, and this album, though? ... not yet mastered.

I'm still trying to assemble the work ... self mastering along the way.
 
So... are you going to stick tons of stuff on the 2-buss and then pull it off just before you send it away to the ME?
 
I normally don't put too much on the two bus -- usually a multi-band compressor followed by a brick limiter (set on the light side) -- and I never try to eq the master.

Before sending to the M.E. -- I just disable the plugs, pull the fader down 6db, and print the file.
 
Very catchy riff. I liked the tone on everything. Vocals sound great.

My only complaint is the rhythm guitars in the verses. I can barely hear the guitar on the right. And there really isn't anything on the left. So the verses end up sounding like vocals, drums and bass. After the middle break, the verses are better. But the guitars and synth could still come up even then.
 
Sounds good. Everything seems to work well together sound wise. It was already mentioned that during the chorus the guitar tracks are tough to make out. The synth and vocals seem to overpower it but it sounds fine. Nice upbeat flow.
 
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