The Jongleurs - Just Say The Word

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Armistice

Armistice

Son of Yoda
Absolutely pumping them out at the moment... because I have about 3 or 4 more sessions with the singer/other guy and then we're probably over for good, and I'm going to get a damn album out of all this work!:D If it kills him.... :mad:

So, my usual mix by committee entry (see previous threads for boring story about ill positioned monitors...) - all mix feedback gratefully received. Backing vocals the major challenge with this baby. First rough mix:

Just Say The Word

One of my bitter and twisted un-love tunes this time... and it's even short and relatively simple.... what was I thinking?? :laughings:

So that's:

me: lead vocals, backing vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, bass & drums
him: backing vocals....

I know, he works hard!:)

Have at it.... :thumbs up:
 
Some very cool chimey chords.
Your main vox sound fine on there own but there's a different rooms thing going on when the Bvox happen too.
I like the lines and even the way they sit but they do sound like different sources.
There's a little bit of the GoBetweens going on in this one with you as Robert and him as Grant. The acoustics remind me of how the electrics were played in their early stuff as well.
The bass lines are fine but I can't decide if the bass needs more definition of is sweet as it sits. I'll have to listen a few more times.
The electric guitars stuff is very cool.
Ambum - yep milk him while you can so that the project has that continuity.
I'm going off to listen to a gobees album now - you've inspired a listen.
Coll stuff Armi!
 
rayc said:
Some very cool chimey chords.
Your main vox sound fine on there own but there's a different rooms thing going on when the Bvox happen too.
I like the lines and even the way they sit but they do sound like different sources.
There's a little bit of the GoBetweens going on in this one with you as Robert and him as Grant. The acoustics remind me of how the electrics were played in their early stuff as well.
The bass lines are fine but I can't decide if the bass needs more definition of is sweet as it sits. I'll have to listen a few more times.
The electric guitars stuff is very cool.
Ambum - yep milk him while you can so that the project has that continuity.
I'm going off to listen to a gobees album now - you've inspired a listen.
Coll stuff Armi!
Click to expand...
Thanks Ray... those BVs were always going to be difficult because of the dynamic nature of them... he goes from quite loud to almost whisper falsetto and I've done a heap of volume automation to get them into line. Not sure what else I can do there... :D
 
Mix sounds nice and full as usual armi - good tune and the panned guitars sound great.

I don't mind the too vocals sounding in slightly different spaces as I think it's a nice contrast. Your other guy's voice reminds me of Michael Stipe a little from what I can hear - something in the phrasing. My general feel is that his vocals are slightly too high in the mix throughout. There's an element of them competing with rather than supporting your lead.

You do both sound good together though, enjoyed the listen.
 
robgreen said:
Mix sounds nice and full as usual armi - good tune and the panned guitars sound great.

I don't mind the too vocals sounding in slightly different spaces as I think it's a nice contrast. Your other guy's voice reminds me of Michael Stipe a little from what I can hear - something in the phrasing. My general feel is that his vocals are slightly too high in the mix throughout. There's an element of them competing with rather than supporting your lead.

You do both sound good together though, enjoyed the listen.
Click to expand...

Thanks Rob.... I've actually just gone and put a new mix up and tamed him here and there because I agree in spots he's a bit out there. He's really hard to control but he does come up with some awesome lines! I've turned the rhythm electrics up just a smidge and also fattened up the snare before Jimmy69 comes along and tells me it's crap...:D

For some reason it really stands out to me how hollow the sample sounds when I've converted it to MP3 and I'm listening on small headphones via my iPod... sounds OK on the monitors. Anyway, it's better now...

Thanks for the listen.:listeningmusic:

Cheers
 
Sounds very nice, very clean and crisp, as usual. The most obvious problem for me is that the kick becomes very weak in the chorus when things get a little busy. I would also turn the ride up a tiny bit in the chorus. I too, like rayc, feel like the bass lacks some definition. Other than that, I think this is a pretty cool song, and the guitars sound great.
 
Thanks saads... I'll have a look at the kick - I had a listen late last night on the lounge stereo and I see what you mean. An easy fix.

Not sure what more I can do with the bass - I'll tweak the EQ a bit and see what that does... I think I'll have to get new strings on it and use a bit more "defined" sound in future. Had new strings for months... just been too lazy to install them! :D

Thanks for listening.
 
Yep, nice and crisp sound.

Sometimes I feel the guitar "tools about" and gets a bit too fiddly over the melody and the lick might actually work better if it was used less often... but I think I am complaining as much about my own guitar in my stuff when I say that :)
 
Thanks for listening Tobe... another Sydney dweller I see... that's at least 3 of us now...:)
 
The snare sounds quite good for this tune IMO. Not crap. lol!

I really like the tune. The way it builds emotion throughout moves me. Well done man!
 
That's a sweet sounding acoustic in the beginning; i've been striving for that milky smooth sound. Toms may be a bit strong; they seem to drown out everything. When it kicks in with more guitar, backing vox, and lead vox, it seems a little crowded. I'm not sure how to separate it, but overall great mix. Also, i could be full of it, because i listened again and wasn't as critical.
 
jimmys69 said:
The snare sounds quite good for this tune IMO. Not crap. lol!

I really like the tune. The way it builds emotion throughout moves me. Well done man!
Click to expand...

Thanks Jimmy.... yeah, I'm happier with this snare... haven't bought the SSD yet, figured I'd see if I could get by on this project without it as I'm now working frantically to get stuff done and don't really have time to be learning new software. So I've been copying the MIDI file and putting a second snare underneath - makes it "thicker" for want of a better description.

Glad you liked the tune... :)
 
damianhk said:
That's a sweet sounding acoustic in the beginning; i've been striving for that milky smooth sound. Toms may be a bit strong; they seem to drown out everything. When it kicks in with more guitar, backing vox, and lead vox, it seems a little crowded. I'm not sure how to separate it, but overall great mix. Also, i could be full of it, because i listened again and wasn't as critical.
Click to expand...

Thanks damian.. I'll have a listen to the toms... I'm always fighting with them.

The acoustic is a combination of Maton Messiah guitar, and AKG 451B, Neumann 105 (yeah, I know it's a vocal mic...:)) and a bit of HPFing and LPFing - not to mention playing it twice. :D Although now that I think of it I may have 3 going in there not 2... I did a whole lot of takes and they all were pretty good, so I kept an extra one in the middle, just as an experiment...
 
The more i listen the more acceptable the toms are; i guess i had to get used to a new mix. Don't make mistakes like me and alter a mix so much that it sounds worse than your first go.
 
There is still a level of 'shimmer' that is not there yet. There is some stuff you could do there to make that happen. Just listen...
 
I would first look at the guitars at the intro. They seem a bit choked in the upper range. When the drums come in, it still has a feel of being dark in my ears.

I am no great producah, but I hear that the frequency range here is constrained. It may be just what you like. Not for me to judge, but I would wish for more pizzaz! :)

I really wish I could have a go at the mix myself.
 
This don't need more love Armi, it's got plenty. But I'll throw a bit of my hippy nature around, since it's free. :) I love this tune. It's melodic and the guitar playing is utterly awesome. Those changes at 1:07 and 2:15 make my heart melt. I'm really jealous of your skills, and wanted to comment earlier but couldn't make myself write all this nice stuff until now. It's a seriously sweet tune. :D
 
fritsthegirl said:
This don't need more love Armi, it's got plenty. But I'll throw a bit of my hippy nature around, since it's free. :) I love this tune. It's melodic and the guitar playing is utterly awesome. Those changes at 1:07 and 2:15 make my heart melt. I'm really jealous of your skills, and wanted to comment earlier but couldn't make myself write all this nice stuff until now. It's a seriously sweet tune. :D
Click to expand...

LOL - thanks Frits... cheque's in the mail, as usual... :D

I've always had this fascination with what I'll call "chordal melodies"... so working out chord sequences that are a bit different from the normal, and how to get from chord to chord using "different" chords that aren't all that common. I've used that one before in a few songs (Tears And Mascara for one), and I'll probably use it again, because no-one else much seems to...

Esssentially the sequence is Am to G/B to C to A/C# sequence with the last chord being the interesting one that's doing the melting. A standard A chord in the open position, but with a C# addded via the fourth fret on the A string, instead of it being open. You can use it to go from C to D by plonking it in between as well... try it.

And when I made up the main riff/chord sequence, which is all A variations way up the fretboard, with capo on 3, I thought "Ooh, that's a keeper...."
I tried putting various guitar bits against that riff in the intro and between verses, but it just sounded like noodling, so I decided it was strong enough just to stand on its own.

Thanks for the listen. :thumbs up:
 
Really an excellent song. The drums sound totally authentic, are they real? (or are they Memorex :D) I really like the acoustic tone and the playing as well. Great vocals too.

My only suggestions would be from personal taste. I wouldn't mind hearing just a tiny bit more of the drums, especially the kick. This one doesn't really call for a thundering kick, but I wouldn't mind hearing it thump a little underneath everything else. I couldn't make out the bass guitar very much either. But my space is untreated so bass frequencies get weird in my room. Maybe they sound fine to everybody else. The electric jumps out every once in a while during the first verse, just on a couple of chords.

Great job though, I really like this one a lot. Sounds really professional to me. Those acoustic guitars sound terrific, I'd be proud to have that tone come from my own setup (unlikely).
 
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