The Downstream

Regarding the over-compression of the mastering, I made a couple small changes to the mix and uploaded it to BandLab without using their mastering this time. Definitely less squashed (I updated the version in the player in the first post). And Will, thanks for the comments. I did use a cheap dynamic vocal mic when I redid the vocal for this reworking. I moved 6 months ago, and I stuck my condenser mic in storage and have been too lazy to bring it n and set it up. And I will definitely be re-recording this song at some point with the band I play with now - although it will be less jangly without David's Rickenbacker 12 string.

I had done some basic compression (a master bus preset from Presswerk) and then limiting with Boost 11. I enabled the BandLab website to use its auto mastering when uploading and publishing it there to post here. I'm coming to realize it smashes things a bit. I may switch to the no mastering option.

A sloppy recording from 2012 that started with a practice room first attempt to record drums with a 4 mic Glyn Johns technique mixed into a two channel audio interface. The kick and snare were mixed too low to hold up when any other instruments were overdubbed, and the tempo is all over the place. I've always thought it is one of my better songs, but the original recording wasn't great. I have been using the original stems to test new DAWs over the past month before settling on Cakewalk. Today I had a go at it in Cakewalk, reinforcing the kick and snare by isolating them with eq as best as I could from one of the drum channels and trying out Drum Replacer. I also did a new lead vocal, since I was an even worse singer in 2012. Back then, my friend David played the drums, bass, backing vocals and the three 12 string Rickenbacker parts on this. I was mostly focused on the (poor) engineering while we were recording and just played the acoustic guitar and sang the lead vocal. It is still sloppy and has a live feel to it, but it sounds a lot better than what I did almost 7 years ago. And better than what I have done in Reaper and Mixcraft over the past few weeks. Any suggestions to clean it up more would be appreciated.

I like that a lot, but I do agree with Jamesyoyo above. I would drop the keyboard in the mix and clean up its bottom end. And also bring up the slide guitar. I love slide guitar.

Thanks for the comment - I definitely hear what you are saying listening in headphones - the high strings are a bit distracting. I will tame that and push it a bit towards the center when I get a chance. I've let BandLab do its auto mastering thing, and I think it might have brought some things out more than in the original mix. The song itself certainly doesn't have the hooks I usually try to put in my songs, but I haven't written much this year (this was only the 3rd new song) and I am fairly happy with the result considering, even without a catchy melody or hook to it. It has been a moody December for me, and the chord changes caught the mood turning towards some positivity for the new year. At any rate, getting something done, in a new DAW for me, has me inspired to write some really hooky power pop next. edit: the update went quick, just a few tweaks on the pro channel eq and saturation, and adjusting the panning and level. A small change, but it helps. Although on closer inspection, I am wondering if I did enough...

Thank you Wookiee and Will for the kind words and suggestions. I have updated the mix to drop the right guitar, and also eq'd a bit and fixed a couple bad notes in the vocal (though there are plenty left). I have updated the original post with the update.

Something I wrote this weekend, and my first recording in Cakewalk after learning the ins and outs by remixing some older tunes. So many amazing tools for free, and would not have even found VX-64 if not for this forum. Hopefully this song continues to evolve and I learn to sing it a little better. Sometimes I spend too long polishing demos when I should be making the song and performance better.

I like Bass Professor II from here: https://sonic.supermaailma.net/plugins It's free and tweaking the settings usually allows me to get my DI bass to sit better in a mix.