Protest Funk? :eek:

[RAMI]

HEY!

Just finished this. I just did a quick mix, and I need help on the levels. Vocals too loud? Drums too loud? Everything too loud???

I'm not crazy about the kik drum sound I got. I was lazy and just started recording without tuning up my kik and making sure it sounds good and now I'm regretting it. I wanted more snap out of it, but it is what it is now.

I think I used every piece of percussion I have in the house on this. No loops, etc...All real.

All comments are appreciated.

Thnax.

WAG THE DOG

 

[7string]

I like it! I'm not thrilled with the kick either. It's not what I'm used to from you but it's there. Man, this is FUNKY! Nice job on the BGV's! Your voice is amazing as always. Snare sounds great. Your lead chops have come a long way! I was in that "protest" mode a year or so ago. There just ain't enough of that type of song anymore.

So, give me a list of the percussion instruments you used, please?

Good freakin' job!

 

[squibble94]

I think the bass has a bit too much click for this song. I would also like to hear some more lows in the bass. Try out the plug-in TSE Bass Overdrive. It cleans up the signal a lot. Ehh, maybe not "cleans up" but it can add some cool definition to the bass. Drums sound more stereo than usual? Out of phase a little bit? I hear the kick in the left speaker more. I agree with you on the actual tone of the kick though. It's a bit lifeless. Guitars and percussion really drive this song on well. Vocals sound great. Good job!

 

[RAMI]

I like it! I'm not thrilled with the kick either. It's not what I'm used to from you but it's there. Man, this is FUNKY! Nice job on the BGV's! Your voice is amazing as always. Snare sounds great. Your lead chops have come a long way! I was in that "protest" mode a year or so ago. There just ain't enough of that type of song anymore.

So, give me a list of the percussion instruments you used, please?

Good freakin' job!

Thanx a lot buddy. Hope you're doing well.

Yeah, unless I decide to re-track, this is the kik sound I'll have to live with. I tried everything to bring it to life, even trying some drum replacements.

As for the percussion:

A djimbe, which I played like a conga, since I have no idea how to play a djimbe.
An hour glass shaped blue drum from Egypt or something.
A pair of bongos.
A cabasa
As many different shakers as I could fit in my hand at one time.

Thanx man.

 

[RAMI]

I think the bass has a bit too much click for this song. I would also like to hear some more lows in the bass. Try out the plug-in TSE Bass Overdrive. It cleans up the signal a lot. Ehh, maybe not "cleans up" but it can add some cool definition to the bass. Drums sound more stereo than usual? Out of phase a little bit? I hear the kick in the left speaker more. I agree with you on the actual tone of the kick though. It's a bit lifeless. Guitars and percussion really drive this song on well. Vocals sound great. Good job!

Thanx Squibble. I'm sure I can fix up the bass with some EQ.

Drums out of phase and kik more to one side, I don't hear that at all. But I have no idea if my ears are any good any more, so you may be right. I'll see if others hear the same thing you do.

Thanx for the help.

 

[kcearl]

I didnt hear anything wrong with any of it lol


kick sounded fine to me, the shaker was a bit prominent but its hard not to hear it once you notice it if you know what I mean..love the percussion..I always end up using software but once im out of apartment living Im going to buy me some real percussion, sounds great


great lyrics and tunage..I liked it all not sure Id change anything

 

[Greg_L]

Squibbley is right about the overheads. I'm hearing the snare to the right and the kick to the left. Sometimes the snare jumps around back to center a little. It's not that bad though and it seems to work. In a car or on a home stereo setup you'd never tell. I don't have a problem with the kick. It's not as tight and punchy as your usual stuff, but it's not bad and it certainly holds it's place in the mix. Bass and guitars sound great. Vocals sound great. Fine drumming. Love the hand percussion stuff.

 

[Lt. Bob]

gotta get the 'phones out to really listen ...... one of my speakers is out ..... I'll do it tonight but ..... singer sounds like Weird Al.
Get back to ya' on the mix.

 

[Greg_L]

singer sounds like Weird Al.
.

 

[RAMI]

Squibbley is right about the overheads. I'm hearing the snare to the right and the kick to the left. Sometimes the snare jumps around back to center a little. It's not that bad though and it seems to work. In a car or on a home stereo setup you'd never tell. I don't have a problem with the kick. It's not as tight and punchy as your usual stuff, but it's not bad and it certainly holds it's place in the mix. Bass and guitars sound great. Vocals sound great. Fine drumming. Love the hand percussion stuff.

OK, well good about the kik,. But weird about the overheads. I'll have to find out how that happened. Thanx a lot man.

 

[RAMI]

gotta get the 'phones out to really listen ...... one of my speakers is out ..... I'll do it tonight but ..... singer sounds like Weird Al.
Get back to ya' on the mix.

Hehe...I'll let him know. Wait, I'm doing everything, it must be me.

Funny, I've been told that before, but it's been a while. I hoped I lost that "voice".

Thanx man.

 

[PoeticIntensity]

Something is weird about the kit. Some funkiness with the stereo imaging going on. Not entirely sure what it is, but when the drums came in, something immediately sounded off. Hmm... Drumming performance was exceptional. Great groove, man. All other instruments as well. Balance sounded overall pretty well-done. Except for the drum-kit stereo weirdness, sounded killer.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[RAMI]

Something is weird about the kit. Some funkiness with the stereo imaging going on. Not entirely sure what it is, but when the drums came in, something immediately sounded off. Hmm... Drumming performance was exceptional. Great groove, man. All other instruments as well. Balance sounded overall pretty well-done. Except for the drum-kit stereo weirdness, sounded killer.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanx a lot Po. I think I figured out what the problem is with the drums stereo weirdness. I've been thinking about it since it was mentioned up top a few hours ago.

I tried aligning my snare and overheads in REAPER. I've never done it before, but remembered reading people talking about doing it, so I thought I'd try it. I had trouble figuring out how to do it, so I probably fucked it up. I had trouble "reading" or "interpreting" what the waveforms were telling me. What seemed to be the first point of the transient on the snare track didn't look at all like the first point of the transient of the snare in the overheads. So, I probably just made it worse by guessing how they should be aligned. I probably should have just left them alone because they sounded fine before that. I'm going to re-load my drum tracks and leave them un-aligned, since I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Funny thing is, I still don;t hear the weirdness, but enough people have mentioned it that it must be there.

At least I know that it will be easy to fix.

Thanx a lot guys.

 

[PoeticIntensity]

Yeah, dude. For *all* of my mixes, both for me and for my clients, I re-align my snare and kick tracks to the overheads. For some songs, I even do it to my toms. An easy way to tell if it needs doing is by soloing the overheads, giving them a good listen, and then soloing the snare in and out while it's playing. If your snare sounds more hollow, or lower in volume when you bring in the snare in, it needs re-aligning (or just flip the phase, to see if that makes a good difference). Recently, I've been re-aligning my tracks until the snare sounds identical to the overhead snare, only louder. This is a good indicator that it's in good phase.

Anyway... Hope that helps. It took me a long time and a lot of failing to figure out how to properly align my tracks, but since, my tracks are sounding a lot better.

 

[RAMI]

Yeah, dude. For *all* of my mixes, both for me and for my clients, I re-align my snare and kick tracks to the overheads. For some songs, I even do it to my toms. An easy way to tell if it needs doing is by soloing the overheads, giving them a good listen, and then soloing the snare in and out while it's playing. If your snare sounds more hollow, or lower in volume when you bring in the snare in, it needs re-aligning (or just flip the phase, to see if that makes a good difference). Recently, I've been re-aligning my tracks until the snare sounds identical to the overhead snare, only louder. This is a good indicator that it's in good phase.

Anyway... Hope that helps. It took me a long time and a lot of failing to figure out how to properly align my tracks, but since, my tracks are sounding a lot better.

Thanx a lot for the advice. I always flipped the polarity on my snare. I thought re-aligning would be even better. It probably would be if I knew what the hell I was doing.

I just put them back and I'm going to upload the new version in a few minutes. Another mistake I remembered I made when I looked at my tracks was that I actually tried aligning my overheads with each other...and I'm pretty sure that's what screwed up my sound the most. They were fine before I touched them.

Sometimes you try to do too much and realize that if you just left well enough alone, you'd be better off.

Thanx again for the ears and the help, everyone. I'm literally half-deaf in my left ear and it always puts doubt in my mind when I'm mixing.

 

[PoeticIntensity]

Yup. That'll create all sorts of weirdness. I try to never touch the overheads' alignment.

 

[RAMI]

OK, I just uploaded a version with the drums back to where I THINK they were.

If any of you get a chance, just listen to even just 20 seconds and let me know if it sounds normal.

If it's still weird, I'll just re-upload my original drum tracks and I'm hoping it will be fine. I'm hoping it's ok now, but like I said, I just moved the tracks back to where I think they originally were.

Thanx a lot guys.

WAG THE DOG

 

[PoeticIntensity]

Yeah... This sound much better. Drums seem to be in their place here.

 

[RAMI]

Yeah... This sound much better. Drums seem to be in their place here.

Awesome! Couldn't have done it without you, man.

I was hoping I wasn't going to have to re-load the original files only because I did some editing to the tune after all the tracks were in and I would have had to snip parts all over again on the drum tracks. Just would have been time consuming.

I really appreciate it, brother.

 

[RAMI]

...last time I try aligning my tracks. I wasn't even sure what the hell I was looking at.

From now on, it's the polarity button for me.