New song, same old schlock about ansibles.

  • Thread starter Thread starter VomitHatSteve
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VomitHatSteve

VomitHatSteve

Hat STYLE. Not contents.
MP3
FLAC

Hey guys, this song is the follow up to the one I posted here.

I've changed my drum micing setup pretty extensively. The kick is a little farther out from the center of the drum, and the OHs are now an XY positioning just above the high hat.
I also mixed in a dry take of the kick since the version with reverb and EQ wasn't quite cutting through.

I know the vocals got a little buried at times (I don't have the patience to mess with that much automation), but how bad is it?

Thanks for your feedback!
 
The echo/reverb on vocals is cool :D
When the vocals pop the whole song gets "better" for me. I love vocals so they are what I like to hear. Automation please!
The drums sound great - maybe the real drummers can chime in here but to me they are nice.
I hate you cause your bass tone is so defined???!!!!!????
 
Thanks!

Which part were you thinking of with the vocals popping?

The bass is actually a mix of DI and a little Crate monitor that I have. The monitor's pretty cool because it has almost no low end, so it adds a little bit of growl and a lot of definition!
 
Is there any extra reverb on the drums? if so, i'd take it down a notch, i don't think it's helping make them present in the mix.
The other thing I'd try would be to eq out a lot of the low-end from the dry kick so you're left with mostly the click of the beater. I'm assuming you've got another kick channel somewhere adding to it? If not it might just be a symptom of the reverb.
Vocal delays are a nice touch dude. Can you drop them down in the mix just a tiny bit, maybe a couple of dB? You might draw focus more to the original vocal that way, and therefore the lyrics too. Just a thought, sounds different as it is, and different is usually good :)
 
Thanks CA.

Ok. I've got a new mix up (FLAC, MP3) with a little less reverb on the vocals and drums and a little more automation on the vox.
 
The new one has some definite differences. Can tell from the bass. Sounds like the mids are higher. Gives it a bit more personality. I like your guitar sound a lot. Good stuff. Your timing on the drums could use some help. Your bass, on the other hand, is cruisin' along just fine, timing-wise, which (unfortunately) makes your drums sound all the more off-beat in places.

The guitars are also a bit low in the mix, and your vocals seem to be lower in places, and higher in places. Not sure if that's a result of the automation or not, but it gets to be a bit much in places.

Good to hear your stuff again, Steve! Haven't listened to your stuff lately, and I've missed it. Thanks for sharing!
 
Thanks PI!

The difference in bass tone probably comes mostly from the fact that I used my fretted Kramer instead of my fretless, down-tuned Fender in this one. I generally make these decisions based on which instrument it's easier to play the song on rather than what I think would sound best. :D

I'm still working on learning to play these drum things. The plan is to do a couple side-project recordings and hope that by the time I get back to my main project I've learned to play the dumb things decently.

The really quiet parts in the vox happened largely because my lower range isn't that good. I had friend who was going to do those parts, but he never got around to it. :(
Were the bridge vocals too loud, do you think?
 
I think that generally this mix better. The next point that I would want to address would be some of the musicality. It's difficult to get a really tight sounding track when you play most of the instruments. You have to try and step back more than you normally would and listen to the interaction between parts and how well they lock together, especially in terms of timing. For me, the drums don't always lock in nice and consistently with the bass. Bits like that are what's holding this back from being a really tight track.
Having said that of course, there are some amazing records out there that have been performed, recorded, mixed and mastered by one guy.
If you can do it, you get the unique opportunity to really anticipate what the other instruments are going to do and how they interact, if you can hold it all in your head that is.
 
Wait... You're saying you get other people to help with your recordings?! Who does that? :D

Yeah, sometimes I'd like to get other people to participate, especially with the drums. But I do like the fact that I can work on these things at my own pace.

The thing that PI missed with the timing is that the bass and guitar both also had a few flubs. You just don't notice them because the drums have more. :D
 
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