What I Want (reprise)

[TripleM]

A couple of months ago, I had a computer blowout. I ended up replacing not only the computer, but the converters and software as well. I switched to Reaper. This is the first mix I completed with it. I posted the tune before, but this mix is a bit different. New guitars. The vocals are mixed different - not as much detail, but warmer. The other tracks sound fairly similar to the previous version. So anyway, let me know what you think.



Mix 2

 

[Brian Miller]

First off, this song is great. Very enjoyable to listen to. You could leave it just as is! But since you asked:

-I would try to get a bit of detail back into the vox. They are difficult to understand at times, but I don't think it's a level issue. You might try to bring them up 1db. During the chorus, it might help to bring the backing vox down a little. They drown the lead vox, and contribute to the clarity of the lyrics.

-I might either back off the rhythm guitars a little during the verses, and/or pull them in narrower, to create a greater difference between verses and chorus, since the overall mix is pretty compressed and you're losing a fair amount of dynamics (which you can see by looking at the waveform).

-Drums sound really nice!

-Overall tonal balance is real good to my ear.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Greg_L]

Great drummer! That guy is a fucking bad ass!


I think the guitars are way better than I remember. But unfortunately this thing is mangled with compression. Way too heavy handed for me, and I generally like a little master squashing. Back it off. Let this thing breathe.

 

[Chili]

Ummm, that's a pretty kick ass song. I love it. I almost want to say the rhythm guits are too much, but I think I'm going to say bring the drums up more. I can hear the kick just fine, but the rest of the kit is not there.

Love the tone on the guitars. To me, that is the holy grail of crunch.

Some good bass work in there.

4 minutes of straight singing is a lot. Not many breaks. Not sure if you did that all in one take, but the vocals start to lose control near the end.

Haven't read the other comments yet.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[dobro]

Maybe the drums are having a hard time blending with the rest of the mix cuz they're a bit overcompressed? You know what would be fun with this one? If the second vocal was *lower* than the main vocal. An octave down. I think it would engage. You probably don't want to track anymore, though.

Good tune.

 

[Brian Miller]

Maybe the drums are having a hard time blending with the rest of the mix cuz they're a bit overcompressed?

I wonder if the drums sound overcompressed because the who track is heavily compressed and over-limited? I would first back off the master compression and limiting, giving it some room. The drums may not struggle to blend with the track given more space to do so.

 

[TripleM]

Brian Miller - that's an interesting idea to narrow the guitars in the verse and expand them in the chorus. I'll do a remix and try it out. I'll clear up the vocal just a bit. But I don't want to over do it.

Greg - I'll grudgingly admit the drummer is bad ass. If you'll admit he's sometimes a smart ass. To those who don't know, Greg is the drummer on this. I didn't slam this much harder than I usually do. But I'll back off of it a bit.

Chili - thanks, and I'm glad you like the song. I think I might lower the guitars just a bit and then nudge up the snare.

dobro - the idea of an octave lower vocal is a good one. But yeah - I'm kind of sick of singing it. For shits I might do a scratch vocal an octave lower just to see if I can do it. My range isn't huge. The drums aren't compressed much. Just the snare, and it's about 2-4 dbs of gain reduction. Might be the limiting on the main buss like Brian said.

I'll get a new mix up tonight. Thanks everyone.

 

[Greg_L]

Greg - I'll grudgingly admit the drummer is bad ass. If you'll admit he's sometimes a smart ass. To those who don't know, Greg is the drummer on this. I didn't slam this much harder than I usually do. But I'll back off of it a bit.

Okay, but if you're gonna slam it this hard, you need to remix it. The right mix can withstand some hard limiting.

 

[Bruthish]

Great Guitar tone. What are you using for a recording guitar rig?

 

[DM60]

I get the over compressed, but it seems for a song like this, it doesn't really take away from the song. Maybe some top end?

I thought the vocals were really good.

I thought over all good track.

 

[TripleM]

Brutish - thanks for the compliment on guitar tone. Here is the chain (just guitar, amp, mic):

Les Paul >> Marshall DSL40C >> SM57.

The LP was a Traditional with 57 classic pups. I used the bridge pickup, with the tone and volume at 10. I don't remember the amp settings. But I have them written down. So let me know if you want them and I'd be happy to look it up.

DM60 - thanks for the listen. Adding top end can be dangerous. Any particular track you were thinking of?

 

[DM60]

Just over all air. Not sure that is done by reduction of compression or ...

 

[heatmiser]

Hey MMM - A fun tune to be sure. Entertaining lyrics and a catchy melody as always.

Guitars sound good. I could tell it was greg on drums before I confirmed it in a later post. Good performance there - tones of energy. Bass pops out nicely here and there too.

Overall, the tracks sounds like it lacks dynamics like it's been flattened somehow? Maybe that's the compression people are mentioning, or maybe I'm not sure what I'm hearing.

Always enjoy hearing one of your tracks. Thanks.

 

[TripleM]

heatmiser - thank you sir. Glad you liked it. Hopefully I took care of a bit of the flatness.

New mix in post #1.

I backed off the limiting a bit.

I tweaked an EQ setting on the lead vocal and nudged it up a bit.

I tried Brian Miller's suggestion of narrowing the guitars in the first. In the first verse the doubled guitars are panned about 70%. In the first chorus, they expand to 100%. They stay there after that. It sounds OK. Not sure yet if I like it. I also had to play with the volume to keep the level consistent - I think panning laws were kind of getting in the way.

 

[heatmiser]

I do like what you did with the vocals a lot. It's subtle, but I think they're clearer and sound better overall on mix 2. I didn't hear a huge difference with the backed off limiting myself...

 

[DM60]

Sorry man, I didn't realize there were two tracks on the post. I listened to the newer one, and this sound much better.

As a personal note, I think it could still be notched on the upper high end a little more, but I think waiting to read what the experts have to say would be the best.

The change you made from over all sound made a big positive difference on my system.

 

[Brian Miller]

For what it's worth, I think the narrowing made a big difference in the power of the chorus, and distinguishing it from the verses. Whatever you did on the vocals - YES!!!

I don't feel like the overall track is any less squashed, but with the other changes you made, and the style of the song, I think it works.

Really well done man.

 

[TripleM]

I backed off the limiting a little bit more. Since there were no true mix changes, I updated the link to mix #2 in the first post in the thread.

 

[robgreen]

I remember this one, the lyrics and tune are excellent. Mix 2 sounds better than mix 1 - the drums are a bit brighter and more punchy.

It's a really smooth mix, and I wonder if it's something in your tracking that somehow squashes the dynamics a little? I dunno, you've backed off the limiter a few times, so I'm guessing that it's not that any more. It doesn't seem like too much of a problem - it gives it a little bit of an AM radio feel, which is still cool.

 

[TripleM]

Thanks rob.

The only individual tracks I compress hard are the vocals. So lack of dynamics must come down, to some extent, on the way I play it. Anyway, I appreciate the thoughts.