Hey Petemeiser - First time hearing this tune for me. I listened to both versions several times and could only hear the most subtle difference, and even then I wasn't quite sure if I was really hearing them, or just wanted to believe my ears could hear all that stuff. I must have no ear for sonics...
What effect is that on the robodrums between the verses? Is that a slap-back delay or modulation effect? It's pretty cool. I like the tune...I guess I'd agree that maybe the bass doesn't thump quite as much as some of your other stuff, but I'm really just digging for something to say here. The synth solo after the breakdown is really cool. I'd be curious to know how much of this is from the original recording and how much you retracked. I've been retracking older stuff of mine as well, and I've found that once I retrack a few things, suddenly the rest of the song sounds sad and sulky compared with the updated tracks and I end up retracking waaaay more than I intended to.
Ha! That is classic. I spent forever messing with that mix and it probably doesn't even sound too different at all. Figures....
The robodrums were a drum machine through a multi-FX guitar pedal. I don't remember precisely, but I know there was tons of distortion, compression, an exaggerated noise gate effect, and maybe a little flanger or phaser. I used to just keep turning things on and off until it sounded mutated enough. The "synth" solo is an electric guitar - now we're tied as far as mistaking guitars for synths!
I know what you're talking about with regard to revisiting older recordings. My intention was just to add acoustic drums and maybe augment the guitars and vocals a bit, but I went overboard and added many additional tracks.
What remains from the original cassette tracks are the distorted drums, the lead vocal, the bass, the toy guitar "solo" and the tea kettle solo. I guess that sounds like quite a lot, but I added like 16 more tracks to those things.
Are you close mic'ing your snare? That might be what you're looking for. Keep the OHs wide and send the snare straight up the middle...
Yes, I have a dynamic mic on the snare and it is centered. The first mix has the OHs panned wide like I always do, but where one OH is placed directly over the snare while tracking, I think it actually should be panned closer to center than the other OH mic, right? That's what I did on the remix and it sounds a little more solid to me, but still odd somehow. Does that make sense?
...The Cobb in Lyme Regis down in sunny Dorset...
The British start talking local geography and it always sounds like the Shire or something
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I've just listened to your updated mix on proper speakers Heat. Still sounds great to me Heat - love the lo-fi vocals, which may have been more by inexperience than design if it's an old song. I do feel the vocals could still come up a touch throughout, though it comes down to personal preference and I guess you've probably got them where you're comfortable if you spent hours tweaking. It's pretty much done to me - great work as usual
Thanks Rob - I'm glad you checked it out again! Yes, the lo-fi-ness was unintentional. At the time, it probably sounded pretty slick to me. They were recorded with an sm~57 through an analog delay guitar pedal into a tascam tape deck.
