Barry Seymour

WAV, but he recorded it in Audacity. He sent me an mp3 of all of it and it sounded fine, but when he gave me four tracks of miked drums, it all fell apart. I tried freezing all my tracks to ease the load on my laptop's CPU, but no luck. I'm mystified.

I'm actually getting some weirdness here. My drummer provided four tracks, one from each of his four mics. He sent me an mp3 of him playing along and it sounded fine, but when I drop the four separated tracks into the project they're all over the place - the tempo is not consistent and there is no groove, no pocket. I tried freezing all audio tracks, no improvement. Any ideas what might be happening?

Funny you should mention that, I did start out with the intent to emulate Billy Gibbons. The track was already so busy, something simple was called for. But in the end I found myself sliding into and then outright stealing the lick from "Green River." I added in delay to that part because, well, the title. Thanks for the kind words.

Thanks for the kind words on the bass. I have no beer to steal. As for stealing my girlfriend, don't tell my wife. LOL

The bass *is* live; that's me. My drummer is in Northern California and is getting over a bout of moving gravel. 😄 I hope to have something from him very soon. What 'quotes' are you referring to?

I'm thinking I'll remove the Creedence guitar at the end and replace it with something more in line with the rest of the song. Thoughts?

This is a demo - I hope to have an actual drummer play on this one in a later mix. That said, the song is rather schizophrenic... Let me know what you think, thanks. EDIT: Replaced with the final mix. Thanks everyone for the input!

Very kind, thanks.

Thank you most kindly.

Very kind, thank you.

Sorry for any broken links above. It's time to cut and print. FINAL MIX. Thanks, everyone, for all your input.

Thanks for the input. Yeah, I did turn the strings down; the song is already so busy, I was worried about them cluttering things up. I also wanted them to be felt rather than heard, but whether I achieved that (or whether that was even a good idea) I am not sure. And when I look up these synth VSTs I see screen shots of nothing but dials and knobs. It may take me a while to grasp all that. I have a weekend coming up... more delving to do...

Good points. As mentioned, it's getting hard to mix well with so many instruments / tracks. Will revisit.

Yeah, that keeps happening. Gotta eliminate the surround sound.

I re-recorded the bass, cleaned up some clicks and pops, reviewed the mix. I think this is the one.

This was more than just a remix. I re-recorded the lead guitars and the 'supplementary percusson' track, i.e. the big snare on the choruses. The original guitars were recorded using effects pedals; in listening to the tracks there was a lot of static and garbage there. I re-recorded them using VST / onboard effects and it cleaned things up tremendously. Strings are new, and yes, the rest is remixing. But it's a trick - the more that goes in there, the harder it is to smooth it all out into a coherent whole. I re-recorded the bass - I have more confidence in that area than I did in March - and will have a new mix to upload soon. Thanks!

Anyone? 😉

Here's take 4. I boosted the existing bass, still am considering re-playing it. More mixing. There's a LOT in here.

Thanks. Yes, I wrestled with the idea of redoing the bass, it's utterly rudimentary. The song is already pretty darn crowded, but I think I'll give it a go. What do you mean a poly synth instead of strings? I'm a Seventies kinda guy, don't know much about synths. (I still chuckle hearing about 'vintage' instruments like the TR-505.) Any input would be deeply appreciated. Thanks for the feedback.

Okay everyone, I have a big ask here. LISTEN WITH HEADPHONES. I returned to this, the second song I ever recorded, seven months after I started this journey. This is my second time back and I reworked a LOT. Replaced all the guitars, re-did a secondary percussion track, even added strings at the end. I think it's a VAST improvement. I'm looking for constructive criticism on how I could improve the mix, as this is probably the most complex and involved recording I've ever done. Thanks in advance. EDIT: This is the final mix.

Yeah, there's a story there. I thought, "hey, I'll do some bottleneck slide!" But I searched and searched and could not FIND my slide. Improvising, I tried using a skinny can of Finger Ease, a guitar string lubricant I sometimes refer to as 'guitar deodorant.' But I literally could not get my hands on it; the angle was awkward. I then had the idea of putting my guitar on my lap ala the late, great Jeff Healey and playing slide that way. Well, it sucked. It stank. It was awful. I laughed and laughed at how bad it was. It was, in fact, so completely and utterly bad it was *good.* At that point the lightning struck. I'D LEAVE IT IN. It was so lousy, so clumsy that it perfectly portrayed the alcoholic aesthetic I was aiming for! I still crack up listening to it.

I'm getting it too, now. Download works, but stuck on "Installing..." for 30 minutes. EDIT: I found the installer that was downloaded by Bandlab Assistant. It was called Cakewalk_by_BandLab_Update_Setup_26.09.0.006.exe. I closed Bandlab Assistant, ran the installer manually.

It's a start. 😄

Thanks for the kind words. Surprisingly, getting a little drunk before writing helps lower the inhibitions. DO NOT TAKE MY ADVICE. Ha ha.

I'm calling this the final mix!