revisiting "Bald Spot" with rerecorded parts and a new mix

[moogyboy]

hi all

A while back I'd submitted a few songs for review (thanks for your feedback!), including a goofy rock/soul workout called "Bald Spot". That's one track I was never able to get right in the mix, and I kept coming back to it again and again trying to figure out what was wrong. I think after some reworking I finally have a mix that I'm relatively happy with.

I think the critical piece of the puzzle was a very poorly recorded drum track. You guys remarked before about how it was too distorted, but I didn't realize that it was also taking up too much valuable sonic real estate in the midrange, fighting with everything else. A few days ago I finally rerecorded the drums using a different miking technique--I found a 1/4">XLR mic cable that I'd forgotten I had, which allowed me to use both inputs of my Fast Track interface. One input was for my MCA SP-1 condenser mic mounted about 36" directly over the snare, and the other for my ATM41HE dynamic mic on the kick. For the first time since I've been recording in REAPER, I've managed to record drums with more than one mic, and the drum sound suddenly opened up all that space in the middle. Incredible!

That really helped because in the meantime I'd also added female backing vocals (two friends visiting from New Jersey, who I pressed into service on a moment's notice) and rerecorded my "horn section" using voices from my Casio Privia piano. There's a lot going on in this song!

Anyway, enough talk. Have a listen and tell me what you think. Enjoy!

cheers

Billy S.

 

[TripleM]

Fun song.

Some of the timing is a bit loose in spots.

Snare and toms sound good. I'm not hearing much from the overheads. I heard sticks hit each other a couple of times.

Some pitchiness in the vocal.

The mix is pretty sparse. The instruments, especially the guitar, are thin and a bit wimpy.

The reverb is pretty heavy.

 

[moogyboy]

Thanks, everybody I've played it for has gotten a smile out of it.

I only used two mics for the drums, so there is only one overhead for the entire kit, plus the kick drum mic. Since my interface has only two inputs and I don't have a mixer handy that's all I could manage. I'm glad it sounds as good as it does given that limitation.

I agree that the rhythm guitar is not particularly well-recorded. It's a bitch to EQ; I may redo that track as well. I don't think I could replicate my solo, so I probably will leave that as is. I used two different guitars, a strat for the rhythm and a Les Paul for the lead. Same amp, though. Both miked with the same mic I used for the kick drum. (Also used it for my lead vocal, going against usual procedure.)

cheers

Billy S.