Steely Dan-ish tune ...

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K-dub

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I'm working on a new collection where I'm experimenting w/ a variety of electric keyboard sounds.

On this one, I swapped out the grand piano originally employed and remixed the whole thing. I think it kind of veered the song into sounding a bit like the above mentioned band.

Thanks to Tjarko Busink on bass and Frank Basile on drums.

Any comments on the mix are warmly appreciated.

Kev-
 
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This one is real muddy to my ear Dub. Vocal sounds good.

But the main keyboard and the bass are muddying the mix a bunch. Something in there is pumping. I think it's the bass, and it's only in certain spots.

Some little skip at 2:25. I think there were some other instances of that.

Think this one needs work.

Do you still stay in touch with Tjark?
 
I like steely dan, cool tune dawg :D

Some of the instruments need to be brightened up with some EQ. Over all it's a little bassy and I think if you just did a little subtractive EQing it'll clear right up. I think I hear a little over compression as well. Seems to choke a bit at times.
 
I think you're right, Trip. Little too much mid-low mud going on between the bass and low end of the keys ... which I didn't eq at all.

The "pump" is actually noisy tom tracks that I had to slip edit. What you're hearing is the hiss of the clip as it open and shuts rather abruptly. I'll look into seeing if I can make that less apparent.

... and yes, T and I are FB friends and still chat on occassion. He's got a fake name there, but if you do FB, friend me and I'll link you up.
 
Your ears are good, FP -- see my reply to Trip for what you heard and mentioned.

I think I just got a little lazy ... but that's why I come here and people point me right again. :)

Thanks for the comments!
 
yeah... weird EQ on the mix... and it's like the whole mix is New York slammed on the main buss.... Below 200Htz is too compressed.
 
I think I got the main issues addressed. I removed the pump on the drums -- it was overly compressed, overly noisy tom tracks -- took out the bottom on the keys so that the bass got a little more distinct (and I took a little low mid mud out of that too) ... then rearranged the levels a little more ... and arrived at the new mix up top.
 
I'm not hearing that pumping any more.

I still think the bass is real boomy in spots. There's a note or two he's playing that really pop out.

Do you have a gate on the "main" keyboard part? A couple of weird sounding things, especially noticeable in the intro (:04 - :05). There are other less noticeable spots.

Things are pretty dry, except the snare, which has a rather long decay.

Liked the weird keyboard solo at 1:50.
 
TripleM said:
I'm not hearing that pumping any more.

I still think the bass is real boomy in spots. There's a note or two he's playing that really pop out.

Do you have a gate on the "main" keyboard part? A couple of weird sounding things, especially noticeable in the intro (:04 - :05). There are other less noticeable spots.

Things are pretty dry, except the snare, which has a rather long decay.

Liked the weird keyboard solo at 1:50.
Click to expand...

I knew exactly why the pumping was happening and so that was an easy correct. There is no gate on the main keyboard ... it's just the way the part was played ... no sustain pedal.

I do think I got better separation between the keyboard bottom notes and bass guitar, but I don't have a compressor on the bass because Tjarko is pretty solid with his playing. Maybe I should employ one to tame the parts that poke out at you.

Thanks for the check back, Trip!

Kev-
 
If it were me, I'd tame the bass with EQ not a compressor. Like a real thin 6 db notch somewhere around 70-80hz I'd guess.
 
Do you have a compressor on the just what would be the "overheads"? The tins and toms sound heavily compressed and weird. The cymbals are way out front and the toms have the tell-tale sign of mega compression. Maybe that's just how the fake drums sound. It's not very pleasing or natural. The bass is a little boomy in the way lows. The rest sounds pretty good.
 
Always love your stuff, this one maybe not as much as others. Performances are spot on, par for the course for K-dub.

I'm on cheap headphones, so I may not hear the mix accurately. However, I feel the vox might be too far out front. Maybe the cymbals and sidestick as well.

I'm not a fan of the staccato feel of the epiano in the intro. Maybe replicate the same reverb/delay treatment as the vox. Just to give it a slight decay.

only my opinions,
 
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