Live Jam cover - Tubestation @ Midnight - how do I cure these glitches?

[Bubba po]

I'm very pleased with this live mix, but two things make me unhappy with it.

1. There are peaks on the vocal track printed to the sound file.

2. The bass was D.I.d. It has a fair tone, but there is that nasty "honk" on the attack of the top strings.

My question is, are there any plugins, or mixing/editing techniques, that can be used to minimise these artefacts or do I just have to live with it and move on to the next thing?

Comments appreciated.

 

[rayc]

If you don't like the honk just find it with an EQ sweep and reduce it.
The bass sounds enough likethe original to not bother me. The live Jam LP I have doesn't deal with the honk much. I'd be a little more worried about the slight fluffs in the fast bits of the riff, (I know they almost sound like fluffs on the original but they have a little more authority to them & aren't live).
I deliberately didn't focus on the vocals and therefore didn't notice the peaks.
If you are worried why don't you just compress them a little?
An outstanding song written by such a young man.
Insight & fright.
Cool cover.
The twin guitar attack gives a much better idea of the recording.
Good stuff.

 

[Bubba po]

Thanks for the nice comments, Ray. I suppose what I meant by "peaks" are the clipping noises on the vocal track. I'm really, really happy with the mix, as it happens, considering that the first time I heard the raw tracks I thought there was no chance of making it sound half-decent.

 

[rayc]

I wondered at exactly what you meant by peaks. If it's clipping - I saw in last week's newsletter that someone had a plug in to deal with clipping that already existed. I can't really see how it'd work.
No, it's not obviouls enough and any treatment may make it or the spots more apparent.
Good stuff I say!

 

[rayc]

Maybe they think it's a jam rather than The Jam.

 

[jimistone]

Good performance bubba. I thought the sound quality was very good for a live recording. Background vocals were just the right level. You guys are well rehearsed and have really good dynamics.
I enjoyed listening

 

[Bubba po]

Thanks very much Jimi. Your comments are very appreciated.

 

[dobro]

Good tune. Way too much attack on the bass. It's like an ice pick. Jesus, what did you put on it? lol Dial it back; it can live with it, honest.

It smelt of pubs
Wormwood Scrubs

Good words. I wish I could make out more of the lyrics. How come they're so indistinct?

Like I said, good tune. I like it. You do good stuff.

 

[Bubba po]

Good tune. Way too much attack on the bass. It's like an ice pick. Jesus, what did you put on it? lol Dial it back; it can live with it, honest.

It smelt of pubs
Wormwood Scrubs

Good words. I wish I could make out more of the lyrics. How come they're so indistinct?

Like I said, good tune. I like it. You do good stuff.

Hi, dobro, thanks very much. .

Re. the attack on the bass, have a listen to the original by the Jam - it's a very cutting bass tone. I have to admit, though, it's not exactly the tone I want.

As far as the vocals go, it's British punk/New Wave. The words are deliberately sung angry, slurred and in thick British accents. Part and parcel of the genre, I'm afraid. True, the words to that song are fantastic, though - look them up on one of the Lyric sites, very very good.

Joe Strummer of The Clash explains it here - from 1:08 to 1.38.

 

[Schwarzenyaeger]

If the clips are hardprinted, you're kind of screwed.
But I've noticed that you can cut away a very small bit of audio that has an unpleasant sound and your brain will let it slip through unnoticed. Like if there is an intense pop sound on a "p" you can just edit out the middle of the syllable and you won't notice the difference.

Try it out.

 

[NotThatBright]

I don't know the original, but I liked your rendition. I didn't care for the bass tone, but it seemed to blend with everything else in the parts of the song where it was supposed to blend. If that were me playing that bass, with that tone, it would be tough to hear the actual notes over the sound of my fingers sliding on the strings.

I was under the impression from a young age that good live recordings were extremely tough to pull off and often required studio overdubs and a shitload of processing to make them listenable, but I've listened to several of your live recordings, and they've sounded pretty damn good. You either really know what you're doing or technology has improved to the point that good live recordings aren't that tough and/or expensive to pull off anymore. Or both? Or neither?

Ironically, given what I just typed, out of the live songs of yours that I've heard, I think this one has the worst sound quality. That's if I'm remembering correctly, which I may not be.

 

[Bubba po]

I don't know the original, but I liked your rendition. I didn't care for the bass tone, but it seemed to blend with everything else in the parts of the song where it was supposed to blend. If that were me playing that bass, with that tone, it would be tough to hear the actual notes over the sound of my fingers sliding on the strings.

I was under the impression from a young age that good live recordings were extremely tough to pull off and often required studio overdubs and a shitload of processing to make them listenable, but I've listened to several of your live recordings, and they've sounded pretty damn good. You either really know what you're doing or technology has improved to the point that good live recordings aren't that tough and/or expensive to pull off anymore. Or both? Or neither?

Ironically, given what I just typed, out of the live songs of yours that I've heard, I think this one has the worst sound quality. That's if I'm remembering correctly, which I may not be.

Thanks - I think! This live recording is fully multitracked. The only real difference between mixing these tracks and mixing a studio take is the bleed and the rough playing and singing . Of course there is a fair bit of processing. Much of it had to be strongly eq'd, lots of it is compressed and most of the tracks were sent to a reverb bus in greater or lesser amounts, one that has a very nice sense of the event happening in a real space.

There is one overdub in the tracks I've posted so far - the solo to "Homicide". Our other guitarist usually plays that, but he made a complete fucking arse of it, so I rubbed him out.

 

[Bubba po]

I actually think it's the best sounding of the lot, so there you go.

 

[NotThatBright]

Thanks - I think! This live recording is fully multitracked. The only real difference between mixing these tracks and mixing a studio take is the bleed and the rough playing and singing . Of course there is a fair bit of processing. Much of it had to be strongly eq'd, lots of it is compressed and most of the tracks were sent to a reverb bus in greater or lesser amounts, one that has a very nice sense of the event happening in a real space.

If that read like a "backhanded compliment", I didn't mean it that way. All of your live recordings sound good, including this one. If you're telling me that this one is better than the others, then maybe that bass tone in the song here bothered me more than I thought

There is one overdub in the tracks I've posted so far - the solo to "Homicide". Our other guitarist usually plays that, but he made a complete fucking arse of it, so I rubbed him out.

I thought you were the lead player in the band! You can't let this guy do any solos. Sure, it starts with just the solo to "Homicide", but it's a slippery slope. Before you know it you're playing keyboards!

 

[Bubba po]

I thought you were the lead player in the band! You can't let this guy do any solos. Sure, it starts with just the solo to "Homicide", but it's a slippery slope. Before you know it you're playing keyboards!

I'm definitely the lead player, even though my chops aren't remotely the best in the world. I do like to give others in the band their chance - call me soft, lol. I have to say, though - after a year of doing Homicide, he hasn't once nailed it. It's so simple as well - he does it so badly it's not even funny.

 

[NotThatBright]

I'm definitely the lead player, even though my chops aren't remotely the best in the world. I do like to give others in the band their chance - call me soft, lol. I have to say, though - after a year of doing Homicide, he hasn't once nailed it. It's so simple as well - he does it so badly it's not even funny.

Obviously I was kidding about that. I have no idea what the dynamics within bands are like, but to be honest it wouldn't have even occurred to me that some guys within bands could be so "territorial" except for something I once read or heard about Geezer Butler expecting to be a rhythm guitar player when he joined Black Sabbath, but Iommi refusing to allow another guy in the band to play guitar. I don't know why it surprised me to learn that there would be such competitiveness (insecurity, whatever you want to call it) within bands, since people's innate personalities are going to shine through no matter what they're doing. I guess until then I had always assumed being in a band was a constant party.

Anyway, when I made the quip about your buddy playing a solo, the Butler/Iommi story was what I was thinking of. In case you were curious!