Tea time Anyone???

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xfinsterx

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Id like a little review on this one if you could find the time please. :)
Very tough mix for me, soo much going on in it.

Its mixed with nothing on the Master bus,
so you may want to turn up your system a tad.

Thanks in advance of course. :D



-Finster
 
Oh, I would simply love to mix this :p

Allrite letsee :)

About the mixing of this kind of music. I would say as a number one, avoid big verbs. Especially on those percussions. They "eat" the dynamics of the song. I don't know if you have any idea what I'm talking about :D

Hmh, you seem to have mixed this with a bit too "rock" style approach. There is a mix in my head that sounds quite different from yours. I would approach this somewhat like this:

- Intro: Make it to have more contrast against the song itself. Put those drums further at the intro, also make them somewhat ligther too. I would try to route them all to a buss and add some "lightening EQ" and reverb for the whole kit in order to move it a bit further. Use some verbs and maby even delays on that violin. I would try to make intro somewhat more eh.. "mellow" and more convincing. Kinda to it to have "epic movie intro" feel heh (nothig too radical thou!) :).

- Then when the song itself starts make it more dry. Make those percs drive it. Bring them forward, dryer and make them accurate. Now that violin doesn't somehow cut it. Vocs are maby a bit too low/unfocused. Gtr and bass seem to be quite ok, some small polishing. Crurrent drum approach sounds a bit "out of the tune" for me, somewhat I feel they have a bit too "rock" approach in them.

- Those interludes, I would say quite similar compared to the intro. Something similar anyway. That mellow "uuuuuah" just makes me to lean more towards that kind of approach.

Hmh ever listened hmm... hmm.. eg. some of Dave Mathews Band's tunes? They have sometimes a bit similar(ish) songs. If my memory serves me heh.. :p
 
Kainz said:
Oh, I would simply love to mix this :p

Allrite letsee :)

About the mixing of this kind of music. I would say as a number one, avoid big verbs. Especially on those percussions. They "eat" the dynamics of the song. I don't know if you have any idea what I'm talking about :D

Hmh, you seem to have mixed this with a bit too "rock" style approach. There is a mix in my head that sounds quite different from yours. I would approach this somewhat like this:

- Intro: Make it to have more contrast against the song itself. Put those drums further at the intro, also make them somewhat ligther too. I would try to route them all to a buss and add some "lightening EQ" and reverb for the whole kit in order to move it a bit further. Use some verbs and maby even delays on that violin. I would try to make intro somewhat more eh.. "mellow" and more convincing. Kinda to it to have "epic movie intro" feel heh (nothig too radical thou!) :).

- Then when the song itself starts make it more dry. Make those percs drive it. Bring them forward, dryer and make them accurate. Now that violin doesn't somehow cut it. Vocs are maby a bit too low/unfocused. Gtr and bass seem to be quite ok, some small polishing. Crurrent drum approach sounds a bit "out of the tune" for me, somewhat I feel they have a bit too "rock" approach in them.

- Those interludes, I would say quite similar compared to the intro. Something similar anyway. That mellow "uuuuuah" just makes me to lean more towards that kind of approach.

Hmh ever listened hmm... hmm.. eg. Dave Mathews Band?
Click to expand...



..........Right. :p
Thanks for the listen dude. :cool:
 
Kainz said:
Hahaha :D

xFinsterz: "Damn, that Kainz guy is just plain insane!"
Click to expand...

No not at all. :)
But youre speaking of more of a personal preference than any real mix issue, except for the vox and violin comment.

What my mix needs dosent have a ton to do with what style youd mix it in.

What my mix needs is advice to make it work with in the confines of th style ID like to mix it in.

And NO i dont think youre insane, you seem like a perfectly nce guy to me. :)

Carry on.

-Finster
 
xfinsterx said:
No not at all. :)
But youre speaking of more of a personal preference than any real mix issue, except for the vox and violin comment.

What my mix needs dosent have a ton to do with what style youd mix it in.

What my mix needs is advice to make it work with in the confines of th style ID like to mix it in.

And NO i dont think youre insane, you seem like a perfectly nce guy to me. :)

Carry on.

-Finster
Click to expand...

Haha, okay :)

I didn't mean to offense or anything at all, sorry about that. Those were only my thoughts and you are completely right, your mix it is! :). And also I have no idea what kinda style that band wants in the first place. Those were just my ideas based mostly on this music style and instrument arragment going on. I'm playing quite alot a bit modern latin/spanish stylish music as a guitarist. Of course this isn't quite that, but the elements are there; Gtr, percs, chord progression etc...

I mean usually in this kind of music the percs and AcGgtr are the "driver", the drums give the kick and accents, bass is giving the bottom (usually "balancing" between the unisono with the "main hook" and the kick), other instruments there are usually only "fillers" (duplicating the "main hook" or/and giving some of their characteristics to the song).

But ok, lets try something else :D

- ACgtr, is that DI? I must be honest.. that sound sucks! :). IMO it just doesn't cut in this arragment and song. I really dunno what to do it..

- Violin, as I said that doesn't really cut it. But I know mixing one isn't the easiest task around ;). Sounds somewhat too roomy and dark. Needs precense.

- Drums, overall quite dark sounding. Kick is working nicely. Snare and overheads are quite roomy sounding. Bad room?

- DistrGtr, works well. Trusty Chris gtr quality here :)

- Those percussions suffer from the same as drums. Somehow very dark and muddy. Needs clarity. Ease up with the verbs. Use some nice short roomverbs here. Experiement a bit.

- Vox is basically quite good. Buff it up a bit. It is somewhat "thinny". Of course, maby he is "thinny" sounding :)

- Backvoxes, ok. Those "S"es annoy somewhat. You get S here, S there, S everywhere stereoimage.

Overall the sound needs some precense and clarity. Sounds like you are recording in a rather dark room?
 
You come up with some incredible stuff -X! This one is all over the map for me in styles. The intro kinda reminded me of Uriah Heep and the rest kinda reminded me of Kansas and Zappa, becept the vocal was about 3 octaves higher than Frank's. After only one listen I think the violin should be a bit more out front when not behind the vocals. Other than that this is great! You have a great gift for incorporating things into your music that is not, uh, normal. ;) Keep it up!
 
Kainz said:
Haha, okay :)

I didn't mean to offense or anything at all, sorry about that. Those were only my thoughts and you are completely right, your mix it is! :). And also I have no idea what kinda style that band wants in the first place. Those were just my ideas based mostly on this music style and instrument arragment going on. I'm playing quite alot a bit modern latin/spanish stylish music as a guitarist. Of course this isn't quite that, but the elements are there; Gtr, percs, chord progression etc...

I mean usually in this kind of music the percs and AcGgtr are the "driver", the drums give the kick and accents, bass is giving the bottom (usually "balancing" between the unisono with the "main hook" and the kick), other instruments there are usually only "fillers" (duplicating the "main hook" or/and giving some of their characteristics to the song).

But ok, lets try something else :D

- ACgtr, is that DI? I must be honest.. that sound sucks! :). IMO it just doesn't cut in this arragment and song. I really dunno what to do it..

- Violin, as I said that doesn't really cut it. But I know mixing one isn't the easiest task around ;). Sounds somewhat too roomy and dark. Needs precense.

- Drums, overall quite dark sounding. Kick is working nicely. Snare and overheads are quite roomy sounding. Bad room?

- DistrGtr, works well. Trusty Chris gtr quality here :)

- Those percussions suffer from the same as drums. Somehow very dark and muddy. Needs clarity. Ease up with the verbs. Use some nice short roomverbs here. Experiement a bit.

- Vox is basically quite good. Buff it up a bit. It is somewhat "thinny". Of course, maby he is "thinny" sounding :)

- Backvoxes, ok. Those "S"es annoy somewhat. You get S here, S there, S everywhere stereoimage.

Overall the sound needs some precense and clarity. Sounds like you are recording in a rather dark room?
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Ill require you to post something you have tracked and mixed in the future. :rolleyes:

Also there were no reverbs used in the mixing process. :D

Furthermore, one of the main reasons i get buisness is because of the ambient sounds i attain.
Which to a small and humble degree ive begun to pride myself on.
This is not me being defensive, but merely explaing the approach, so it makes more sense to you Kainz

-Good day. ;)
 
7string said:
You come up with some incredible stuff -X! This one is all over the map for me in styles. The intro kinda reminded me of Uriah Heep and the rest kinda reminded me of Kansas and Zappa, becept the vocal was about 3 octaves higher than Frank's. After only one listen I think the violin should be a bit more out front when not behind the vocals. Other than that this is great! You have a great gift for incorporating things into your music that is not, uh, normal. ;) Keep it up!
Click to expand...

Oh no no no 7, this is a band i tracked called Swindlefish.
They just got signed to a label called called Alternative Tentacles.
Its a label run by Jello Biafra (Dead Milkmen).

Thanks for the listen bro.

-X
 
xfinsterx said:
Ill require you to post something you have tracked and mixed in the future. :rolleyes:

Also there were no reverbs used in the mixing process. :D

Furthermore, one of the main reasons i get buisness is because of the ambient sounds i attain.
Which to a small and humble degree ive begun to pride myself on.
This is not me being defensive, but merely explaing the approach, so it makes more sense to you Kainz

-Good day. ;)
Click to expand...

Ah, makes more sense now and I understand more the sound you are after. And I must agree. Overall that room ambience is giving these tracks nice and warm sound, but it also kills some of the attack and precense that more close micing would achieve. If you have channels, do both? :rolleyes: . You don't happen to track to an analog?

But I must say that I don't like that percussion verb/room happening there. I'v been playing with many percussionist and I found your percussions to be somewhat dull. I mean somehow they don't sound natural enough to me. Dull yeah thats it. They are somehow missing the "attack" and precense. Dunno, maby it is just my ears...

Yes, I will most likely post something in the future. Allthou I'm not tracked nearly as much as mixed. Also I have been playing music like 100 times more than I have tracked/mixed. Infact I'm quite new to mixing. I work mainly as guitar teacher and session/gig musician. I'v been doing quite alot studio work as a session musician thou. Been playing around uhm 18 years. So I have been playing quite ALOT and just about every music style there can be :). (there is quite alot guitar talking with me and Tim in the rumble II, check it out if are interested)

I might post something where I have played in thou.. But on the other hand I think not. It would be kinda illegal since I don't own any rights to that song or anything. And besides it would be a ready product allready, not something to post on to a mixing forum :D.

Okay back to the song.. Overall I think that this song has two elements that aren't quite there. The acoustic and those percs. But thats just me :o.
 
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Very interesting song, Chris. Where are they from?

Lots of cool elements here. I can see why it is tough to mix. I'd never even try. As you've heard from my mixes in the PMC, I can give no real advice, but I did enjoy the song. Very different. I can hear all the parts in it, and nothing seems really out of place, at least to my ears. Just listened again, and can't find anything that is blaringly out of place, so no help hear. Sorry.
Ed
 
Dogman said:
Very interesting song, Chris. Where are they from?

Lots of cool elements here. I can see why it is tough to mix. I'd never even try. As you've heard from my mixes in the PMC, I can give no real advice, but I did enjoy the song. Very different. I can hear all the parts in it, and nothing seems really out of place, at least to my ears. Just listened again, and can't find anything that is blaringly out of place, so no help hear. Sorry.
Ed
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Aww shucks Ed thanks! :D
No need to be sorry, your lack of mixing skills is easily made up for in your personality.
Edit"}Theyre from San Fran, the violin player used to play with Les Claypool (Primus)

-Cheers. ;)

-Finster
 
Very interesting Chris. Gotta say this forum has some unusual (to me anyway) and engaging music. I'll post later if I have thoughts on the mix sonority itself, but am just listening on my laptop now. I really like the orchestrated sonority of the arrangement. My only criticism relates though to two details of the arrangement and I'm only mentioning them because I think the arrangement overall is so good. I'm nitpicking really. The angular violin line that first happens at :45 is a great way to establish the "Tea Time" theme, but when the vocal does the same figures at 1:20, and later, I think the violin's doubling of it detracts and would better support the vocal by playing in parallel intervals. I like the swirling violin effect at 2:39. But it maybe should stop when the vocal stops saying "Ooooohhh" and goes into lyrics again.

Great piece.

Tim
 
xfinsterx said:
Oh no no no 7, this is a band i tracked called Swindlefish.
They just got signed to a label called called Alternative Tentacles.
Its a label run by Jello Biafra (Dead Milkmen).

Thanks for the listen bro.

-X
Click to expand...

Ah, I misundertook you sir! ;) Thanks for clearing that up!

Still great stuff tho...
 
Great stuff. It's too far beyond me being able to suggest anything.
 
This is awesome. This isn't something you hear everyday. It's fresh music to listen to. You did a really good job of capturing the sound of the violin. What did you use to mic it and how'd you position the mic? I hear fuzzy noise at about 55 seconds and I keep hearing it on and off. Is it the buzz of electric-acoustic strings?

I'm impressed, as always!
 
Finally was able to listen to this on a good system. This is an excellent recording. The things that stand out to me are the vocals (especially the personality of the singer), the overall sound of the introduction, the swirling Wizard of Oz violin passages, the percussion throughout (maybe the best thing of all), and the spots where the cello (is it?) stands out a little under the vocal.

Tim
 
Damn, I'm dead tired, but thought I'd ask a quick question -

What did you do differently on the drums? They seem to have a diffeent vibe than your other stuff, and I can't quite put my finger on it. Especially the cymbal wash.

BTW - I am asking because I really like it.

G-
 
I like the lead vocals & electric guitar. It's a fun song. I've seen Jello live a few times in SF and I can see how this would be ideal for Alternative Tentacles :) The heavy metal intro is hysterical.

I know you didn't likely have much say in this but I'd do anything possible to loose the instrument that sounds like an acoustic guitar with a pickup and trade the entire track for a mic'd acoustic to get a more natural guitar sound. There's a lot of reverb on the percusion, a little more than I prefer. The violin sounds a bit far away in the mix on some parts.

I like it. The bridge is brilliant. Must have been a blast to record!
 
NL5 said:
Damn, I'm dead tired, but thought I'd ask a quick question -

What did you do differently on the drums? They seem to have a diffeent vibe than your other stuff, and I can't quite put my finger on it. Especially the cymbal wash.

BTW - I am asking because I really like it.

G-
Click to expand...

Parallel compression.

Or better known as "new york compression".

Google it.
 
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