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Thread need help again!

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1 need help again!
hi folks,

it is me again - with a new rough mix - any suggestions appreciated!!

http://www.callasong.de/mp3/30147/Happy2004.mp3


thanks in advance

mark
2
anybody???
3
yea cool, ill get it tonite, cant D/L right now sorry
4
I pesonnally think the recording and mixing are pretty good. Maybe I would not have opted for this kind of electric guitar sound. It's strange because at times the acoustic guitar sound is very natural and at other times it's more piezzo-ish. Are there two different tracks of acoustic guitar? The drum sound is very clean and natural.

Who's the guy who sings background vocals?
I don't know why but the overall vibe makes me think of Jerry Cantrell's Boggy Depot album.
5
Hi Mark-

I noticed 2 things about this recording-

The drums are VERY dry and one dimensional sounding to me. I can hear very little "room" ambiance, and to me it made the drums sound really flat and lifeless. The kick needs a little more low end punch for this kind of music. I also didn't notice much of a stereo spread on them, which leads me to the other thing I noticed:

The stereo image that is created by the soundstage of the whole mix is really narrow. I could hear that the guitars had been panned left/right, but it sounded to me like almost everything else was panned almost straight up the middle, or close to it. Sometimes I will even pan instruments that are traditionally kept "on center" (vocals, snare, bass, kick) away from dead center just a little to either side to give things a little depth.

I think that the basic tone and recording of all the instruments (and the vocals) are good. The problem seems to be in the final mix. I realize that in the genre of this song, most mixes are kept pretty dry, but a touch of reverb or delay on the vocals just to give them a little presence, and a little 'verb and stereo spread on the drums would liven things up quite a bit.

Here is my favorite trick for this. Take a rhythm guitar track (or any kind of track; snare, lead vocals, but not bass or kick). Run it dry and as a mono track, add compression and eq (or maybe some mono chorus) to taste, but no verb or delay. Pan it to, say, 9 or 10 o'clock. Create a clone of the track on another separate track (with no effects except for maybe necessary eq or compression). Put a delay on it, real short (90-115 ms), and a little decay (not more than 1 second). Set the delay plugin so that it is at or near 100% wet output and very, very little dry output. Pan this track to about 1 or 2 o'clock and bring the fader up slowly, probably to less than half of the level or the original track on the left.

Hear that? Instant ambiance. Not a reverb, but it puts the track in a "space". Experiment with different levels and delays on the two tracks, then maybe experiment with a little reverb last. Then do the same with the other guitar on the other side.......

Hope this helps. I just gave you my best trick!!!! ;)
The Axeman (##(===> Cuts From My New Blues CD
6
Wow, you guys are really helpfull. Axeman I will try your recomendations!!
With this song I had to do some tricks with the drums because the recording was really bad - full of glitches and crackles - I had to cut and fix a lot. I will try to do some tweaking for the stereo image (I forgot about it because of the other problems)

thanks again, I love this forum

Mark
7
TMB I really like this tune man, it's really catchy. Good Work.

Axeman, I have a small but very important question regarding your trick. I think I understand what you mean with the delayed "clone" track, makes it seem like 2 guitars playing the same thing. My only question is, how far is 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, and so on. Forgive me if this question sounds ignorant, I've pretty much taught myself the mixing process and Im really only familiar with 0-100 panning.

Thank you,


Mike.
8

Quote: TMB I really like this tune man, it's really catchy. Good Work.

Axeman, I have a small but very important question regarding your trick. I think I understand what you mean with the delayed "clone" track, makes it seem like 2 guitars playing the same thing. My only question is, how far is 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, and so on. Forgive me if this question sounds ignorant, I've pretty much taught myself the mixing process and Im really only familiar with 0-100 panning.

Thank you,


Mike.



Wow, Mikey! I officially feel like an old fart......... :shock:

The "clock" designations are derived from the pan pot (knob) on a mixing board. 12 o'clock is straight up, both on the knob and in the mix. If your speakers are hooked up right, as you move the knob slowly through 11, 10, 9 o clock to the far left, you'll hear the sound pan to the left, too.

To compare with 0-100 panning (or 0-128 as Cakewalk does it) 0 is hard left, 100 is hard right, 50 is dead center.

BTW- the object of the pan trick is not to have two guitars playing the same thing (although you could use it for that if you set the delay long enough), it's to use a real short dealy on the clone to set up a virtual "space" or ambiance or "room" that the primary sound appears to live in. Play with it, you'll see what I mean. 8)
The Axeman (##(===> Cuts From My New Blues CD
9
hey, thanks