Rhythm Section Want Ad - VHS covers TMBG

[VomitHatSteve]

Hi folks! I'm submitting a song to a They Might Be Giants Tribute album.

It's weird to do a song by someone who packs their words denser than I do!

Rhythm Section Want Ad

As always, any and all feedback is welcome.
Specifically, I'm concerned with:
Do the lead vox get lost ever?
How're the kick and snare?
Is the panning balanced?
Does it maintain that frenetic energy that it needs?
Should I quit my day job?

Thanks!

 

[TripleM]

I don't think the vox ever get lost. THere are some passages that are so fast they're difficult to understand.

The kick and snare are fine to me.

Balance seems good to me for the most part. The tinkly keyboard on the right is just a wee bit louder than the crunch guitar on the left. But if you hadn't asked the question, I never would have focused on it hard enough to notice.

Does it maintain enough frenetic energy? God yes.

Should you quit your job? how much do you hate it?

Seriously, I liked it. Quite a bit.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

I don't think the vox ever get lost. THere are some passages that are so fast they're difficult to understand.

The kick and snare are fine to me.

Balance seems good to me for the most part. The tinkly keyboard on the right is just a wee bit louder than the crunch guitar on the left. But if you hadn't asked the question, I never would have focused on it hard enough to notice.

Does it maintain enough frenetic energy? God yes.

Should you quit your job? how much do you hate it?

Seriously, I liked it. Quite a bit.

Thanks, Trip! Yeah, it's a fast delivery in the original too. I'm surprised I managed to get the harmony to line up even a little.

I'll double check the synth level.

I don't hate my day job; I'd just rather play music!

 

[VomitHatSteve]

I did end up futzing with the synth level a little, but it didn't really seem worth uploading a whole new mix for such a minor tweak.

I may just stick a fork in this thing.

 

[Chili]

Sounded fine to me. I don't know the original so this sounded like a VHS tune to me.

Vocals were clear. Sounds great at the ending. I googled the original and your kick seemed to have more energy in the lower end, 50hz or so, than they did. But that's about it.

Good luck with the endeavor.

 

[Robus]

The vocal seems to sit on top of the mix rather than in it. It had a karaoke feel for that reason. I thought the guitars, drums, bass, etc., needed to come up relative to the vox. Good playing and singing. I wouldn't be able to get my tongue moving that fast.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

Sounded fine to me. I don't know the original so this sounded like a VHS tune to me.

Vocals were clear. Sounds great at the ending. I googled the original and your kick seemed to have more energy in the lower end, 50hz or so, than they did. But that's about it.

Good luck with the endeavor.

Thanks Chili. Yeah, I did very little to make it sound like the original. (Half of the vocal changes I made weren't even intentional; I just forgot the original words!)

The vocal seems to sit on top of the mix rather than in it. It had a karaoke feel for that reason. I thought the guitars, drums, bass, etc., needed to come up relative to the vox. Good playing and singing. I wouldn't be able to get my tongue moving that fast.

Thanks, Robus. Yeah, I do have the instruments quiet (esp. the guitars). I was really worried about burying the vox. They may need to come up tho. (I've got a ton of side-chain compression on them, which should keep them from overwhelming anything anyways)

 

[rayc]

Sounds like you doing them so that works for me.
The distorted guitar panned hard doesn't seem to have anything balancing it on the opp side.
The ding keyboard in the chorus seems to sit way above the mix.
Fab band of course so fab song and a pretty fab cover.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

Thanks, Rayc.

The synth is supposed to balance out the one guitar, but it's pretty intermittent. The randomized drums match it volume-wise sometimes?

Mix 2 is up. File Leaker | Regdar and the Fighters
I've turned up all the guitars and drums and turned down the synth a little.

 

[chuckduffy]

Thanks, Rayc.

The synth is supposed to balance out the one guitar, but it's pretty intermittent. The randomized drums match it volume-wise sometimes?

Mix 2 is up. File Leaker | Regdar and the Fighters
I've turned up all the guitars and drums and turned down the synth a little.

Smoking good job!!! One of my favorite bands. Saw them live a couple times back in the day - quite an experience. You did this justice.

 

[kindafishy]

Listened to mix 2.

Nobody else mentioned this so either I am wrong in my perception (very possible) or I am just sensitive to it (also possible), however I think I am getting a very slight bit of a pumpy sensation on the drums (or mix bus). It sounds to me like it is rhythmically correct in that the attack and release is dialled in well, but I am hearing the compression happening. Not sure if you want this or not of course, it could be a stylistic choice if it is there. Again, I could also be imagining this just due to the natural flow and rhythm of the song, but I have that perception.

Clear and confident vocal delivery. Really well played tune. Very tight.

Nice balance. I think this mix is very good! Sounds awesome overall. No concerns at all with any of the things you are asking about.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

Thanks Chuck and Fishy!

You're probably correct in your perception of pumping compression in the drums. I've got the standard drum kit, which should sound pretty normal, but I've also got my randomized synth drums (most prevalent at the beginning and the down chorus around 1:25). That's a mono signal which I run through a 3-channel spreading effect:
center channel - plain
Left channel - heavily compressed
right channel - heavily gated

With the overall effect being that quiet notes lean left and loud ones lean right. It's hard to balance correctly each song and always sounds like it's pumping a little. (But I usually figure it's passable as part of a full mix)