The Needle and the Damage Done

  • Thread starter Thread starter easlern
  • Start date Start date
I like it. Interesting shuffle beat to it. The guitars, keyboard and bass all sound good, and your wife sounds great. There's a bit of harshness on the vocal that could be EQed out. Or is there some clipping going on?
 
Thanks for your comment Robus! Yeah I noticed there was a little harshness too and I couldn't quite figure it out. The signal is low so I don't think it's clipping. I think it's coming from the organ actually because I put some saturation on it and it crackles now and then. I'll have to play with it some and see. . .
 
The mix leans a little bit to the left early in the song, and in short spots later on.

The sleigh bells - or whatever they were - sounded well recorded. The keyboard part on the right sounded good. Lead guitar sounded decent. Vocal was nice and clear - a note or two gets a little harsh.

Overall, I thought it was pretty good.
 
Yeah I think I made a mistake panning the drums a little left. Are they usually just down the center? I know the bass sits there and the vocals seem natural there too? Maybe it's usually the secondary instruments that are panned, so like just the bells, organ, and piano maybe.
 
My preference is to have kit, bass and lead vox centred, with other instruments scattered to the left and right.

I like your approach, even though I've never been keen on Neil Young (or this song).
 
I love Neil Young and also that the drums are panned, just like to good old days with music, and where Neil Young is no exception. A nice cover but as someone mentioned, the vox could maybe be cut somewhere in 2-3000 hz or just turned down in volume or why not some chorus effect.
 
Thanks Around, I will try that cut! I found some tricks online with reverb and delay, I'm not sure I could get away with a chorus though because my artist doesn't like to hear any processing in the vocals. Probably best because I tend to throw in too much processing on the vox sometimes. . .
 
Yeah the voice is great but it it's a bit piercing. What is the vocal chain? Could use some mic technique or a compressor maybe.
Very clean and clear overall so just the vocals for me.
 
The vocals have EQ, de-esser, compression of ratio around 4. Not much else on it but reverb, she likes to keep it simple.

I made a new mix with some vox tweaks, the guitar has a bit more bite, the organs I brought up a little (love that organ with the saturation, just a little crunchy!) I fixed the pans on drum, bass, and vox so they're more standard (sorry Around, it's just a little easier to balance that way!) And I widened the pans on the other instruments quite a bit.

View attachment needleAndTheDamageDone_arranged_mastered2.mp3
 
I think the vox harshness is still there but hopefully it's less pronounced now. Kind of struggling with taming it without burying it in the mix.

I tried a cut around 3k but it lost character. I ended up doing a smooth cut to the 500 or so and a dip around 1k. I wonder if my room is a factor. . . it sounded great while we were recording. :P

Actually that may be it because I have a serious issue with standing waves around 500 and 1k would be a harmonic of that.
 
Much better mix. The harshness is gone from the vocals and the stereo imaging feels more balanced. Good job!
 
The remix is much better. The whole idea of doing Neil Young in the style of Amy Winehouse is a pretty good one though; sounds really interesting.
 
I'm listening on a different system than the last time. Might be hearing different things....

Vocal harshness seems fine now.

The guitar on the right that comes in at about :57 shifts the balance of the mix to the right. I might try to take a little of the low-middle out.

Other than that, I think it's shaping up nicely.
 
*Listening to the latest mix.

I really like this. I'm a massive Neil Young fan. Great song from a great album. On my system it all sounds really good. The backing is nicely blended and the vocals sound great on top. Your wife has a very nice voice. I only have one ear to listen so I might not hear all the nuances that others hear in the Stereo field but it sounds fine in Mono.

This'll be a keeper for my HR Forum Folder. Very good work. :thumbs up:
 
Your wife has a lovely voice and the whole arrangement really suits the songs, I have to admit you and your wife nailed it :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top