Softdance new guitars & REAL DRUMS

  • Thread starter Thread starter rayc
  • Start date Start date
rayc

rayc

retroreprobate
http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=4072258&q=hi
Above is the link to the soundclick streamer for a return of Softdance.
It had peaked in terms of what was achieveable with badly recorded finger tapped drum machine backing.
RAMI - he of the Pygmy Resurrection Society - offered to thump some tubs to help it along.
RAMI supplied a truely propulsive beat.
His tight playing pointed out some synch issues with vocals & sax against the guitars which wasn't obvious when the beat was, previously, merely approximate.
A little synching feeling & some excellent RAMIFICATION really seem to have brought this one to life.
THANKS RAMI!
Any other suggestions folks?
 
Sounding pretty good man...vocals might be a bit quiet in the mix...but it's getting there....:cool:
 
Great distortion on the guitars on this version...bold and aggressive. You were right on your past thread - you are not afraid to use distortion on this one :D. The addition of the drums enhances the whole piece very well. Nice playing by Rami on that.... Mix is good overall - I'd bump up the vocals a db or so....

:D:):D:)
 
Sounds good guys. I love the drumming and guitar sounds. Vox can come up a bunch. Only real nit I have is there seems to be something wrong with the hi-hat sound. It's not a performance thing. The performance is great. Something just sounds funny with the hats. They sound kind of warbly or something. The ride and crashes and the rest of the kit sounds fine, it's just the hats. Like something got messed up in the file transfer or file compression or something. They don't sound like this on Rami's other stuff. Maybe it's just me. :o
 
The main riff in this song is so cool. It's going to be in my head all day. :D And that's what you want a song to do.

I think you've got the backing tracks well balanced, drums, bass and rhythm guit's. Like IDO said, need to bring up the vocals and i think you're solo instrument as well. I'm sorry to say, but I can't tell if it's a sax or a guitar. Of course, I haven't had my morning cup of coffee yet....

I like the vocal style. It reminds me of someone from the early 70's, but can't think of who.

Cheers,
 
Hey Ray , this rocks....real drums add sooo much to the vibe...I kinda hear what Greg mentioned in his post..the cymbals have a kinda high end swishiness or warble going on....love that drum fill around 2:02! Vocals are cool but could come up just a bit....sax sounds great!!this is one of my fav's from you.....
 
Sounds cool, Ray. I hear what they're saying about the hats now. Didn't notice it before. To me, it just sounds like they're distorting a bit. I might be wrong. though.

I hate these pricks with good ears. :(
 
Sorry Super... I was uploading a slight remix.

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=4072258&q=hi

thanks for the responses folks - I've boosted the vox, sax, solo gtr(pretty poor solo - but I'm no good at the) & played around with the drums.
The issue of the cymbals has me beat - I'm happy enough with them but I have to get them back to pristine to do justice to the ttracks RAMI sent me. I've reinserted them from a new conversion from the original files. I have to add some gain to bring them into line with the rest of the song & have varied from adding 3db, 6 db 9 db (as in the original) & just naughty old normalizing (last step bring all the other stuff down I suppose) but solo'd they sound really good. I've fooled around with a couple of mastering plugs on this one & swapping between hasn't made any significant diff to my ears (poor tools that they are given my hi freq loss).
The end result is, on this mix the drums may well sound the same as previously. I'll keep at it & perhaps you may have some ideas.
I'll look at a different MP3 -> wave converter as well.
 
....I probably didn't help. I tend to track really low. I think my drum tracks peak at about -10db on a good day. But simply turning up the track shouldn't be a problem, distortion-wise. I do hear that my snare sounds more compressed than on the original track I sent you, which leads me to believe that maybe you're limiting the overall song (maybe too much), which might cause the hats to sound squashed, hence distorted???? I'm just guessing here.
 
RAMI,
I'll repost this evening with selections from the 2 final mixed & one un finalized version that has nothing on the stereo out. All I've done to date is either a cakewalk final mix comp or the Antaress Modern VDME AND a little bass boost EQ freq shelf on the drums. I'll ABC them even - cheers.
Superb playing & recording by you nonetheless!!
 
http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=6296505&q=hi
THis link will tale you to a 4 part comparison to try to isolate the problem.
part one is just a section of the drums with some added gain but no compression:
part two is the same section of the song with no compression:
part three the same part with the cakewalk final mix compression preset
&
part four is the same section but with the Modern VFM compression mastering preset.
Let me know if one is better than the other, has less of the abovementioned issue relating to the cymbals etc.
Any/all suggestions gratefully received and attempted.
 
Good song. I would suggest putting the vocals more up front, they are getting buried or other stuff is distracting from them. Nice drums. The sax needs to pay much louder too.:cool:
 
Mix #4 with the VFM Compressor is my favorite. The cakewalk comp doesn't have much affect but the other comp does. I'm not getting any issue with the hihats in any of the four samples...more feedback would be good from other sets of ears.

The vocal level on the sample is pretty much where I would set it....
 
rayc;2879764[B said:
part four[/B] is the same section but with the Modern VFM compression mastering preset.
Let me know if one is better than the other, has less of the abovementioned issue relating to the cymbals etc.
Any/all suggestions gratefully received and attempted.
Click to expand...
I def like the 4th the best!
I think the warble some are hearing is the artifacts of file compression, most likely picked up when the song was converted by SOUNDCLICK into their streaming format. MYSPACE's file compression does the same thing.
I would really love to get the original tracks of this song and have a go a mixing it. I think it a great song, and the drums are SMOKIN'!

If I were pressed for advice, I would just say that I would spend a lot of time EQing and compressing the individual tracks. To me, the ride and high-hat sound way too "thick," and not "shiny" enough. Some clunky mid frequency needs to come down, I'd start around 1k and see where it's at.

Great Song!

~Shawn
 
David,
Thanks mate. Is that from the 1st link or 2nd? I'm really battling with the vocals & sax as my taste is for slightly buried vox but I know the clinic's consensus has usually come down on the side of more when it comes to PB stuff. It comes from Terry's voice, lyrics & style I suppose. I'll boost a tiny bit more as I have faith in your ears.
Ido,
Ta Cobber. It's the 1st time I've used something specifically as faux mastering. I usually bung on the cakewslk final mix comp but nothing else. The whole range of Modern compressors (antaress I think) etc are free downloads that work well in pro audio 9 + though you need a VST wrapper spin audio has a free wrapper but I ended up buying the cakewalk one after a couple of years of dicking about).
Shawn,
mespace's processor for the streamer is pretty nasty, soundclick's is better but still does some damage.
Thanks for your kind comments - RAMI's drumming is uniformly awe inspiring!
I'll try your ideas and see if I can get my head around the whole concept. I a verb addict and am compression phobic - improving on the former but still pretty ginger on the latter. As I've said this is the 1st attempt at faux mastering. Ta muchly!
 
I really do need some opinions on the percieved cymbalism!
PWEEEZE
 
#4 just sounds louder, I personally don't necessarily think it's better. The hi-hat warble is still there in all samples.

Ray, upload a 320kbps MP3 version to lightningmp3.com and post that link in here. As someone mentioned, it could be Soundclick's squasing it down to 128 thats messing up the hat sound.
 
I can post the the 2-track mix of the drum track to see if you guys hear if the problem's on my end.
 
Last edited:
Fuck it, I'm posting the drums: :D

.


*(Now that it's posted, anyone should feel free to use it, chop it, loop it, do whatever you want to it. Just give me credit if it ends up on any of your songs.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top