bats brew

THANKS GREM!

well thanks for checking it out Nio! the new guitar is a lot of fun to find tones on...

hey grem! yea, i like to work on mixes along with getting feedback from listeners.. usually, when i post something here, it's the first iteration of a few mixes to come... and then when i get them finished, i update the files to the latest greatest.. that's why if you actually purchase a tune (or album) you can keep downloading the different versions (if you care to) and have a 'history' of mix and arrangement changes. but either way, it's fun to keep working on them when i know i can improve them. the trilogy is finished, this was the last of the three. all the songs are posted at bandcamp, but i thought about putting the three together as an "EP", so i need to do that soon. in the order intended: https://batsbrew.bandcamp.com/track/bullet-train-to-monaco https://batsbrew.bandcamp.com/track/silverstone https://batsbrew.bandcamp.com/track/open-wheel-champion

Thanks T !

wow, missed this for a month! i loved the 'sabbath bloody sabbath' album when it came out... played along with all these songs. excellent 'pure' cover. with your voice you could cover almost any sabbath... maybe not 'hole in the sky'....LOL, holy crap, that song. great guitar tones, excellent drum programming, great groove. yea, this would fool most people casually listening, they'd say something like "hey, sabbath remastered their old stuff again! great!"

New mix is up

thank you bapu!

and don't forget to check out the other two songs of the trilogy; bullet train to monaco Silverstone they kinda dovetail into each other

thanks symmetry! for listening and commenting.. i've gotten to where i mix til i think it's good thru my monitors, at high and low volumes... then, i have a session where i just mix in the cans. i make moves, eq's, stuff that i know is right because i vetted it with the monitors first.. then, after i mix in the cans, i go back to the speakers, and make sure that the translation is as close as i can get. so, good to know it's translating in the cans.

howdy ho dream art! i appreciate your comments, thanks

hey thanks ron, for checking out a 'instrumental', the lowest of lows on posts. heheh this new guitar has me inspired. it's giving tones i've not had before, i just have to have enough time to figure out what they are, and how to use them.

yes, i bought that stupid plug right when it came out. i never got it to work for me, the way i mix... i mean, it DOES work, but i never bonded with it, and never use it. i think that folks have been burning files and uploading a certain way for so long now, that the 'newest' methods take a long time to become 'the norm'. seems most folks opt for 1080 as the highest playback anyway, even if there are higher def options... maybe it's just a default setting for most.

HI ANDY! thanks for the kind words... this was an inspired performance, i kinda got lost in it.

Thanks Mark! This is the new mix, new master I got inspired by Ron, and mastered the new one about 2db quieter than the 1st one, Sounds much better to me. Crank it up!

ron, if your loudness meters isn't beefy enough: Waves WLM loudness meter https://www.waves.com/plugins/wlm-loudness-meter#how-to-set-loudness-levels-for-streaming-wlm i watched yours at 1080, just because that's the highest available on the megadeth channel. so i was comparing like to like. i agree with you, the place to really tame levels is on the channel level. i do the same thing. i have all kinds of cool compressors and limiters, and now i use a tube distortion circuit (waves magma bb tubes) and that dials it in even niceer (my RME Babyface pro has super clean preamps, so if i want color, it has to be after the fact. i do have some outboard preamps i could use, but i like the simplicity of the babyface) that's funny how you describe tracking bass, we're very similar that way. i usually track two tracks at once with a mono bass in, i use a sansamp bass di, and my iridium, and focus lows on the sansamp, and mids are run through the strymon iridium with a marshall head thru a ampeg 4x10 cab iR. your true peaks should be no less than -1.0db, or you are losing headroom you don't really need to lose... that said, it sounds good that way. folks way back when, used to create files with that much headroom for vinyl, but i aint doin' vinyl!! so, at -3.8dbTP, you could still push your numbers up to -1.0db, and have plenty of headroom for any codec.

ok, new mix is up.. features the solo tone of the tele a bit more.. changed the snare on the kit.. remixed everything for a better blend.

thanks so much for the response ron... you're stuff sounds so good, at the lower volume. i don't mind moving a volume fader! usually, i'm turning stuff down! utoob is a bit confusing... all over the web, folks talk about LUFS targets, that this is what utoob (and other streamers and congregators) use as 'target' levels for streaming... and as a matter of fact, all the free streamers sound like crap to me!! the HD settings on utoob sound about the best of all. so when i upload files to utoob, i always use 24 bit 48k. now, when mastering, i typically split the difference between cd release levels (OMG, the pros are hitting a DR of 5 with true peak overs all over the place, and nobody seems to care!) and usually i mix at K18, which means, usually, i have peaks at about -4db (headroom for mastering) and rms levels of about -18. then, mastering, i try to goose the levels up to about -0.8 true peak, and rms of about -10. but i always feel that it sounds 'congested' compared to my pure mix. so i've tried to develop techniques to gently push the RMS and LUFS up, using a bit of eq, a bit of SSL compression at 2:1 and maybe 2db of reduction and makeup, and a limiter to catch only about -1bd peaks, then another multiband limiter (i use Waves L3) to finish, and between all that, i can get to about -10 or -11 LUFS without it getting ridiculous... but your tune here, which feels/sounds like it's closer to the UTOOB target of no louder than 0DB at -14 LUFS... and tho it's lower in volume, compared to other hard rock streamings, it SOUNDS better to me ears. so, i'm thinking about backing off trying to push LOUD mastered 2-track files, and bring it back closer to what my actual mixes are. ok, not trying to derail this thread... but this is relevent to your post, and i'm being influenced by it. LOL so, latest megadeth on utoob: Killing Time: Chapter V (which is a cool tune) at 1080p: (if you right click on the screen to get to the "stats for nerds", this is what utoob is doing to the file with the volume at 100%) Volume / Normalized 100% / 83% (content loudness 1.7dB) your file: at 1080p (apples and apples) Volume / Normalized 100% / 100% (content loudness -1.5dB) the way i read this difference, is that the megadeth tune is being reduced by 83%, and they are 1.7db louder than -14. which would mean, they uploaded their file a bit hotter than -14, at @12.3. yours is -1.5 below the target, meaning maybe your file is at 15.5 rms? (just a guess) theoretically, you could push your master up another 1.5db, and still just hit the target. but targets aren't really imporant, i dont think, it's how the mastering changes the dynamics. now a lot of modern rock are not relying on 'dynamics' for the excitement, they're using 'arrangements', meaning, lots of track movement, tracks in and out, left and right, etc. and all of this seems to back up exactly what you said you did, very light mastering, to leave it as close to the original sound of the mix as possible. no doubt, pro masterers could get your levels up to pro release level without ruining your mix... but i can't!! LOL, and i've spent years trying to figure out where the best 'compromise' is between loud masters that compete with pro, but don't ruin my own mixes. for cd's, you gotta go loud, for folks that rip singles and throw them into 'mix tapes'.... but other than that, i'm starting to back off my levels, and keep them closer to my original mixes, because i'm not skilled enough to get mega level that doesn't ruin dynamics and fatigues my ears. now, in theory, my guess is your mix is around k18 (just guessing) and if that's the case, you could take whatever headroom you have (say, your peaks are at -3db), and you could NORMALIZE your final MIX, and simply take it up another 2db (leave a true peak of -1db for all streaming) without changing anything. (yes, there are arguments to this, not going there) and that's before mastering. so you'd be at -16db LUFS/rms. just 2db off the utoob target upload levels. then you could squeeze another 2 db at least with very light limiting. that much would almost not be apparent, but would raise your rms levels. now, you would be at approx -14db LUFS, and utoob would not be fukin with your file at all. does that make sense?

thanks bd!

pretty cool cover man! lovingly done, with super aggressive tones that don't get out of hand. i think dave would be pleased. and he's NEVER pleased!! LOL question about the mastering... i notice in the NERD stats...it looks like the audio was barely normalized... with the volume up all the way on the utoob player, its sounds best, and is much quieter than any other vids i'm watching at the same time, what was your mastering target?

nice big power ballad. i need to listen to this in my studio (headphones right now) but i like atmospheric part in the middle the best. but yea, outro solo is pretty rocking. this is a nice smooth mix.

nice driving tune! could be a F1 theme song. for me, the drum track is too obviously drum machiny, with the really quick stuff, if you edited down some of the repeating kicks, for example, it wouldn't take your focus away from the groove as much as it does when it sounds robotic. i'd try some key modulation so you're not stuck in a repeating loop, it would make the music move even more. your ear gets stuck in the one key, and it can get, not monotonous, but less effective if the music bed was constantly moving. nice tones and mix on everything

well, i never hear the original, but this sounds clean and tight. it's funny how sometimes the plugs can be just rabbit holes. this reminds me a little bit of some of the stuff that Brand X did (check Manifest Destiny) i wished the arrangements changed keys more often, it's like just jamming to a loop... if there were more transitions (modulations) it would be that much better! it's hard to tell what's programmed, and what's really played, but that doesnt really matter, it's a vibe and a space to be in. i dig it.

thanks andrew! you saved my thread from total obscurity! yes, this Fralin P-92 model is quite unique, it's two 3-pole coils, separated, one high, one low, and this is how he gets it to be noiseless... a humbucking p-90!

i really like the sound of the Fralin's on this. it's mostly bridge on the rhythms, but you can hear the neck come into play now and then during the solo... i kinda want to arrange the solo with harmony sections, and really write it out, to specifically use the neck (P-92) to stand out against the more treble bridge tones on the rhythms. the tele is so fun to play... it's so light, and so comfortable.

Its a new week