"The Strip" - an updated version

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GONZO-X

GONZO-X

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"The Strip" - an updated version









i got great feedback on this tune, from many places, and i appreciate that.
spent the weekend updating this mix, with new tracks and lots of edits.


ok, a few mix tweak notes for us geeks:

vox: dialed back the vox delay (it's just a slapback, but no verb was there.)
i added a NEW 2nd verse with 2-part harmony, and added lyrics to the funky bridge breakdown.... 2 part harmony there as well. i used a ADK Hamburg condenser to capture vocals, ran it into a ART DPS mic pre, out of that into a DBX MC-6 compressor, and into the soundcard VIA the digital out of the ART.

percussion: mixed out the conga at the beginning of the opening of the tune, it was cluttering the beginning.
i left the hand claps, and let the conga come back in when the vox starts, that cleaned up the clutter quite a bit.
total EQ tweaks on the shaker, also added LIMITING.

Drums: changed the snare- went to a 14" rogers, from a slingerland.
sounds much more meaty. tweaked the main ride cymbal as well.

i edited the entire drum track, for subtle changes all over.

tweaked ALL the drum eq's, and took out the reverb on the snare, and left on the room mic for drum effects. added a compressor on the top snare head. usually, all the drums are dry, and go to a drum bus, that i put a special channel effect on, that uses 2 compressors in series, along with 2 eq's in series. it's a great channel plugin.

MIX:
remixed the whole thing, made the guitars LOUDER, put a limiter across the drum buss which allowed me to make the entire send to the master buss hotter without changing the peaks (no higher than -6db EVER).

bass: rolled off the bass guitar starting at 55hz, gentle Q, and thatcleaned up some of the low end issues.
 
GONZO-X said:
"The Strip" - an updated version









i got great feedback on this tune, from many places, and i appreciate that.
spent the weekend updating this mix, with new tracks and lots of edits.


ok, a few mix tweak notes for us geeks:

vox: dialed back the vox delay (it's just a slapback, but no verb was there.)
i added a NEW 2nd verse with 2-part harmony, and added lyrics to the funky bridge breakdown.... 2 part harmony there as well. i used a ADK Hamburg condenser to capture vocals, ran it into a ART DPS mic pre, out of that into a DBX MC-6 compressor, and into the soundcard VIA the digital out of the ART.

percussion: mixed out the conga at the beginning of the opening of the tune, it was cluttering the beginning.
i left the hand claps, and let the conga come back in when the vox starts, that cleaned up the clutter quite a bit.
total EQ tweaks on the shaker, also added LIMITING.

Drums: changed the snare- went to a 14" rogers, from a slingerland.
sounds much more meaty. tweaked the main ride cymbal as well.

i edited the entire drum track, for subtle changes all over.

tweaked ALL the drum eq's, and took out the reverb on the snare, and left on the room mic for drum effects. added a compressor on the top snare head. usually, all the drums are dry, and go to a drum bus, that i put a special channel effect on, that uses 2 compressors in series, along with 2 eq's in series. it's a great channel plugin.

MIX:
remixed the whole thing, made the guitars LOUDER, put a limiter across the drum buss which allowed me to make the entire send to the master buss hotter without changing the peaks (no higher than -6db EVER).

bass: rolled off the bass guitar starting at 55hz, gentle Q, and thatcleaned up some of the low end issues.
Click to expand...

Holy Crap! Kick ass mix. Bout the only thing I'd add is more of that lovely Rogers snare in the verses and the louder solo section to kinda counter the bass line and balance it a bit. The guitars are unreal....the soundstage is very well defined front to back...
In the back of my head I kept hearing David Lee Roth hollerin' all over this.:D
 
Love the guitars, love the vocals... Sounds nice and full.

On the other hand, I was expecting a huge boomy drum set when it came in, and, sorry, but it didn't quite deliver. The set you're using sound extremely compressed. The only thing I hear from the snare is the initial snap. This is entirely personal preference, but with the huge stage set from the vocals, guitars and bass, I wholly expected the drums to explode. I personally would take down the compression quite a bit, and let the natural sounds come out of the drums, with a healthy slathering of reverb. Take a listen to "Alive and Kickin' by Mr. Big". Those are more of the drums I really wanted to hear on this one.

The song rocks, Gonzo. I really, really enjoyed it just as it is. I just think a bigger drum sound could make this song soar.
 
Gonzo,
I must have missed this one the first time around. I just like hearing your great 'Ace-esque' vocals and that bad-ass guitar tone! I wasn't sure where the song was going at first, then it kicked in, then it changed again. Three songs in one - I like it! I'd love to know where you get your structure/arrangement influence from. I agree that the drums could be a little more ambient/bombastic, however, that may be tricky with intricate parts you have going on, there might not be enough sonic room. Fun song!

Brad :D
 
Cool lyrics and well performed. Is that Aerosmith I hear in there?

Great job,
 
TeyshaBlue
thanks for listening...
yep, i've already gone back and tweaked the snare in and out some more, since i posted this version....
some folks don't like the pure hard left/right/center panning, especially with the rhythm guitar hard left, and acoustic hard right.
but i think the clarity of it totally works....
there have been a lot of classic mixes done this way.....


poetic
glad you dig them guitars!

you know, i tried the big boomy drum kit thing...
first, with a ton of room compression, and a big hall verb...
and second, with just a lot of the room mic on it...
and in both cases, it ended up sounding 90's hard rock dated.......
i dig mr big, but back in the 80's, when they were 'big', that unreal drum sound was quite the norm, and it really does date a sound.
i did go back and start over on this mix, and i'm using a 'bit' more room mic, and no compression (except on the drum buss, and we're only talking 2db of compress, so it's very light)
thanks for the good ears and critique!


maximusbs
appreciate the review...
and yes, it IS tricky, getting the drums to take up so much room, and then having all the other stuff going on.
it's a bit of a compromise, and i'm still fluxing around with it, trying more experiments.


sk8boi
i don't know about any aerosmith, but there's tons of bat's brew in it!
HEHEH

thanks for listening..
 
Not trying to be mean, but I found the song to be very annoying until the meat of the song kicked in. Even then it was kind of like too much bull shit all over the place to be enjoyable. I really had to force myself to listen to the whole thing. I would need to be at least on my 6th beer to sit through it again.
 
foulphil,
hey, if you don't get it, that's cool.


everybody likes something different. that's what makes the world go around.
LOL

how could you possibly be mean?
everything is relevent.....some folks like country AND western!!
:D

if you were some high end mix engineer or producer, your opinion might carry some weight.
but everybody' has an opinion, most are more than willing to give it, and i laid it out there, so it's fair game, so you're not being mean.
 
Reminds me of Mark Wahlberg and Steel Dragon in Rock Star. Nice clean mix.
 
oh, you mean that movie about Judas Priest, that george cloony made!
heheh

didn't zakk wylde play in that flic?
and jason bonham, the zep drummer's son?

yeah, i remember that flic, that was like 10 years ago or so.....

the singer from Steelheart-Miljenko Matijevic- sang that guys voiceover.
whew, i saw steelheart way back in the mid 90's, i guess....
i thought that guy's voice was like one of the highest i'd heard at that time (i guess bach from skid row, and slaughter have pretty high voices too)
i don't think my voice is anything like those guys, but hey, i'm glad i sound like anybody!!
LOL


the mix, this was done in sonar producer 6, all ITB, mastered in wavelab.

thanks for listening.....
 
Wow vocals on this are outstanding. Backing vocal too. Great job too on the ITB mix. On headphones it's got some nice space on it, although the drums did seem a little closed in. I think I agree that the guts should come in sooner. Also the three different parts, they all sound great, but they didn't really connect together for me as well as they could do. Great compositions though, quality stuff, I enjoyed it
 
rayc
mucho gracias


hitting bulls.....

thanks man.
the drums, you know, i have a top and bottom snare mic, i could spread that out a bit...
and i have the toms going wide left to wide right, but there's just not that many of them...
i'll go back and check how i've got the overheads panned.
it's mostly just snare and kick, tho, hard to spread that out.


well, the long acoustic section, is similar in my head, to the long acoustic intro of something like 'over the hills and far away'.

i couldn't tell my opening story fast enough, if it was any shorter.
plus, i kinda like the idea that you're sitting back for a nice acoustic rocker...
and as soon as you get used to that idea, it kicks into high gear.

that makes it........ different. :D
which is what i wanted.

as far as the different parts, well, think of it like this:

the verses, to me, are long hooks.
the short section that would be the chorus (Strip is where you'll lose it all, the flickers show you who to call, then you'll have yourself a ball) is a repeating theme....

everything works into another part of an ongoing conversation, as if the listener is walking along with me thru the strip, going from one thing to another, completely blown away by the tackiness of it all...

and the feel of the whole thing had to convey this sense of action, distraction, smells, and tells....
grinding funk, and down and dirty punk.



that's what i experienced.
that is exactly what i put into this song.

it should feel a little disconnected, a little disheveled, a little psychotic, a little schizophrenic..... just like vegas.
 
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