Song #12 - Need Mixing or Tracking or Song Writing Advice

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ibleedburgundy

ibleedburgundy

The Anti-Lambo
I wrote and recorded this little diddy two weekends ago. Been mixing it in my spare time. Attached is the third mix. I play all the instruments. With the exception of bass drum, snare drum, and bass, this is all recorded through my new toy: Audient ASP-008. The guitars are all through a VOX tonelab SE. The bass is DI into a Meek TwinQ. I didn't do too much to the mix. Light reverb on the overheads (a pair of Naiant X/S's). Scooped toms and bass drum mic's with SM57s and a D6 respectively. The snare drum has a LDC AT4040 through an RNP. Compressed the bass going in and then again with a plug-in. Minor EQ to the guitars - scooped the lead and added some upper and lower mids to the distorted guits in the B section. Added a touch of low mids to the snare.

Anyway, I'm not opposed to re-tracking or adding more tracks. This could be tighter. So whatever advice anyone has, I'll take it. Thanks!
 

Attachments

Cool stuff IBB! I'm grooving on the guitar tones. For my tastes I'd like the snare to be bigger and punchier. It seems tame and a bit distant compared to some of the other elements.

Nice arrangement--really keeps moving and keeps me interested!
 
One of the guitars does something weird at 0.51, but how did you pull off that shit at 1.33? Very nice. Really liking this one. I'd like Debbie Harry singing on this one. 'Course, I'd like Debbie Harry singing on just about anything. Lovely tune, man. You reminded me of Blondie. Only... more Russian. ;)
 
WhiteStrat said:
Cool stuff IBB! I'm grooving on the guitar tones. For my tastes I'd like the snare to be bigger and punchier. It seems tame and a bit distant compared to some of the other elements.
Click to expand...

I can do that. The snare blend "as is" is about 90% overheads and 10% snare mic. Thanks!

dobro said:
One of the guitars does something weird at 0.51, but how did you pull off that shit at 1.33? Very nice. Really liking this one. I'd like Debbie Harry singing on this one. 'Course, I'd like Debbie Harry singing on just about anything. Lovely tune, man. You reminded me of Blondie. Only... more Russian
Click to expand...

Yeah, at :51 there's a guitar strum with no notes fretted. I kinda did that on purpose. In that particular case it created a kind of loud harmonic or something. Actually you can hear it on some of the other chord changes for the distorted guitar.

Funny you should mention Russian influence. My bass player (who doesn't play on here) is from St. Petersburg. He's a tremendous influence on me when I write stuff like this.

1:33 just happened. Needed a change-up. My real instrument is classical guitar so this picking pattern came to me in about two seconds. My first take of the drums there was less ambitious and then I realized there was room for some fills. I asked my keyboard player to come up with something insane to layer on there but he hasn't gotten back to me yet.
 
hmm so I remixed this thing and I'm realizing there is not much punch to be had on the snare. I used to use an SM57 in which case there was plenty of punch. Lately I've been enjoying the full bodied sound of the AT4040. It has some good qualities but punch isn't one of them. Oh well. I still turned the snare up in the mix and added some mids and highs. I also boosted the bass drum and added dither on the master fader.

I also did an alternate version with some light compression (1.75:1) on the master fader. Not sure which one I like better.
 

Attachments

The cmp one sounds good to me. I really like the song - it's well mixed but also has lots of musical variety - plus it got a hell of a beat! Good one.....
 
Wow cool tune. The guitar melodies blend really well over the chords. I like the dynamics you've got with the drums - I can almost see Grohl's hair flying during the crash cymbal parts. You can beef the snare up by doubling the track and compressing the copy. Sounds good as it is though, got its own sound. Great tune. Can't believe the number of quality tracks I'm hearing tonight
 
I listened to the mix on your first post. I like the song...it kind if reminds me of an instrumental on the Vaughn brothers album(SRV & jimmy) style and tone wise. I think the drums sound good and they are well placed in the stereo field. The rythum guitar and bass guitar have excellent tone and lock in with the bass drum nicely. The guitar playing the melody sounds great too. The only beef I have is I don't like the crunch guitar. It's not that I don't think a crunchy guitar would sound good...I don't like the sound of the particular crunch you're using. But, I really don't know how to describe what I think would sound better. I reviewed a song...I think by Rami...that I said needed some ambiance or reverb and it has a guitar crunch tone that would be killer on this tune. Sorry I can't do better than that at describing what I think it needs. Anyway it's a minor beef and it's a great song and a really good recording.
Congrats
 
jimistone said:
I listened to the mix on your first post. I like the song...it kind if reminds me of an instrumental on the Vaughn brothers album(SRV & jimmy) style and tone wise. I think the drums sound good and they are well placed in the stereo field. The rythum guitar and bass guitar have excellent tone and lock in with the bass drum nicely. The guitar playing the melody sounds great too. The only beef I have is I don't like the crunch guitar. It's not that I don't think a crunchy guitar would sound good...I don't like the sound of the particular crunch you're using. But, I really don't know how to describe what I think would sound better. I reviewed a song...I think by Rami...that I said needed some ambiance or reverb and it has a guitar crunch tone that would be killer on this tune. Sorry I can't do better than that at describing what I think it needs. Anyway it's a minor beef and it's a great song and a really good recording.
Congrats
Click to expand...

Good ear. I am not in love with the guitar sound I got on here either. It's actually kind of harsh IMO but it was the best one for the job with the tool that I had. When I was playing with the EQ I realized this was not something I could simply cover up. No matter what frequency I tried to boost - those frequencies would be harsh too. I set the distorted guitar somewhat low in the mix hoping nobody would notice lol. I used the Vox tonelab SE because my Mesa DC-5 is at my friend's house. Maybe I'll re-track with the DC-5 once we start practicing at my house again.

Thanks!
 
I really like this. The rhythm guitar is a bit crunchy but I think it fits the song and the sound. Love the tones on all the other guitar parts. Especially the chorus'y, flang'y part. Reminds me of Guns N Roses, It's So Easy, the bridge part. I could hear this as a theme tune to a Marvel/Superhero type film. It's a good groove and has enough in there to keep it interesting. Nice changes, nice mix (cmp dith)

Will there be vocals?

Good work. :thumbs up:
 
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