OT:Mixes, Be Brutal-gently

[Bud Johnson]

If anyone has a moment, I'd like your opinion of these mixes.
All recorded, mixed, and mastered in SS. Native, Sonorus, Waves, and the plp-eq plugs.
Feel free (as if you wouldn't) to really rip them up. We want them as close to perfect as can be.
Many thanks
Bud Johnson

(It's really hard to expose one's self this way:eek:.)
http://www.redbrickrecording.com/Audio/I_Wanna_Be_Colin_Farrell.mp3
http://www.redbrickrecording.com/Audio/We_Can_Have_It_All.mp3
http://www.redbrickrecording.com/Audio/I_Wanna_Tell_You_Something.mp3

All are 3-4 MB

[Sean McCoy]

Pretty slammin' mixes, really. Lots of raw power. From a mixing standpoint, I'd like to hear some room on the drums on the first cut and maybe a little more of the background vocals everywhere. A case could be made for the mixes being a little dry in general, but that suits the style pretty well. Other than that the only thing that bothers me is the obviously DI'd clean electric guitar throughout. I'd suggest replacing it or doubling it with miked acoustic, re-cutting it through an amp or just dirtying it up a little with an amp plugin of some sort. I's a little soul-less compared with everything else.

In general, though, nice material and good mixes.

[Brent Bennett]

the only thing that bothers me is the obviously DI'd clean electric guitar throughout. I'd suggest replacing it or doubling it with miked acoustic, re-cutting it through an amp or just dirtying it up a little with an amp plugin of some sort. I's a little soul-less compared with everything else.

I think it's a piezo pickup on the acoustic, and I'd agree it should go. It would benefit the mix to re-track it with a mic if you're going to leave it as an acoustic.

[Bud Johnson]

Pretty slammin' mixes, really. Lots of raw power. From a mixing standpoint, I'd like to hear some room on the drums on the first cut and maybe a little more of the background vocals everywhere

You mean on I Wanna Be Colin Farrell, or on all 3.




A case could be made for the mixes being a little dry in general, but that suits the style pretty well.

That was the choice.


Other than that the only thing that bothers me is the obviously DI'd clean electric guitar throughout. I'd suggest replacing it or doubling it with miked acoustic, re-cutting it through an amp or just dirtying it up a little with an amp plugin of some sort. I's a little soul-less compared with everything else.

The lead electric was tracked thru a Groove Tubes to a Blue Pre.
Do you mean the acoustic?
Assuming so, would you want the plug to just add a little "tube warmth" aka distortion, or to put it more into a room like a mic'd cab would be? Or both?
Retracking would be difficult as the client is in the South of France till fall.
I Wanna Be Him!:p


In general, though, nice material and good mixes.

Thank you Sean and Brent for the feedback!

Anybody else? (not responding is a little too gentle :confused:)
Bud Johnson

[Sean McCoy]

You mean on I Wanna Be Colin Farrell, or on all 3.Everywhere I heard backing vocals I felt they could be just a bit stronger, or maybe just a little more present.


Do you mean the acoustic?
Assuming so, would you want the plug to just add a little "tube warmth" aka distortion, or to put it more into a room like a mic'd cab would be? Or both?
Retracking would be difficult as the client is in the South of France till fall.Bud Johnson
Retracking the acoustic with a mic would be the answer, but the Marseilles delay factor could be a problem. :o So I'd just experiment with it (distortion, verb, chorus, whatever) until the straight pickup sound isn't so recognizable.

[mikebuzz]

Re-amp it in a room !! that should give it some life

LAter
Buzz

PS: sometimes you just need to be OTB !!!

[Bud Johnson]

Off track betting ? :p

Thanks all!

[mikebuzz]

YA you got it !! LOL , hey maybe even run it through a gtr amp to liven it up ?? just a thought

LAter
Buzz

PS: After listening ( I could;nt this morning ! ) It needs GLUE !! , everything sounds well distant ( maybe the wrong word but ?? ) separated to much it does'nt sound like a band it sounds like a recording ?? , maybe some kind of saturation plug or ?? re-amp the stereo masters ?? try this http://www.jeroenbreebaart.com/ Saturation plug it's free ??
On We Can Have it all the acoustic gtr needs to be ducked under some of the other parts mainly in the chorus IMO also maybe a slight cut around 100-200 hz on the acoustic might help it sit in the mix better

[Cary B. Cornett]

First I read the other comments, then listened to the 3rd mix. I agree with most of the comment I read. I could swear the acoustic was an Ovation guitar (not my favorite). In particular, I would say yes, re-amp the acoustic, but NOT using an "instrument" amp or cab, rather use a really clean monitor type speaker, and I would find a way to kick up the top end a bit to hear more "bite" on the strings.

[Bud Johnson]

Thanks Buzz and Cary. All suggestions duly noted. I feel as if there might be more?
Anyone?
Thanks in advance
Bud Johnson

Oh, and it as an Ovation. I'm a piano player. Sounded like a guitar to me;)

[Cary B. Cornett]

Oh, and it as an Ovation. I'm a piano player. Sounded like a guitar to me;) I, too, do keyboards... just barely (simple stuff only, sometimes cheat with sequence/cleanup). I am not a guitar player, nor am I a "connisseur" (sp?) of guitars/guitar sounds. For some reason, though, the Ovation acoustic guitars, particularly through their internal pickups, have a distinctive sound that is easy to spot. :p

[rdubost]

This could be interesting thing to experiment here: how to clean the infamous piezzo !

Can you post some details on how you tracked the ac guitar in the beginning ? DI ? Onboard pre ?

I would definitely try to get something out of this dry piezo take, alter its raw sound one way or another, put in some room and probably move it a bit farther from the center.

depending on which side of south France your buddy is, i could retrack the guitar part myself :)

Roger

[Bud Johnson]

I'll get the details on the DI. The acoustic was pre'd through a John Oram "octasonics" 8 channel pre.


depending on which side of south France your buddy is, i could retrack the guitar part myself :)

He has just yesterday, (I think) gotten these mixes in the mail, and he's evaluating. He's also monitoring this thread I'm sure.
He may want to re-track, or he may want to see what I can do ITB.
I'm waiting for his list of changes, developing more of my own, (there are 11 songs) and hopefully getting even more feedback from the group.
Does anyone have any thoughts on the compression used on the mixes, good or bad? Too much, not enough? Are they close enough to "commercial levels" ?

Thanks all for your thoughts,
Bud Johnson
Anything else? (besides "get a mac:D)

[Pedro Itriago]

I would never say that