bats brew

PICKED UP THE SSL G-Master Buss Comp needed a good dedicated master buss comp, been using RennComp, Vcomp and C1 for a long time... we'll see how this one work.

to each, his own.

https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/the-time-is-magic title track from the bats brew album "The Time is Magic' This track features a drum track that was written in Sony Acid, which is a pretty cool program. i used a USACG strat build, playing into a Peavey JSX Mini Colossal, which was a joe satriani design, and has a wonderful direct out with cab filter on it, which i used for all the guitar parts. njoy.

these are what i buy off the wall, pre made, for recording patch cables: https://www.performanceaudio.com/accessories/cables-connectors/cables/mogami.html?cable_type=6916

and i've a/b'd the canare against mogami, there is very little difference on 15' cables.

mesh, i usually know what i want when i go in, and they are very accommodating. you can use that form, yes, it's very simple and straightforward. i like the neutriks. and if it's something they don't have in stock (like, purple mogami) they order it, don't charge me anything to do it, a nominal fee to put it together, i'll go at lunch,, and usually they build it while i wait, but if they're busy, i'll pick it up at end of day. pretty sweet arrangement. now, i use George L's cables for a lot of my connections, board patches, main line from board to amp, and i think they are stellar. use the straight plugs only. scratch that, i have a bunch of 90 degree push in patch cables, and none have ever failed me. if my pedalboard was gigging a lot, i'd have everything soldered. flat head plugs, mogami cables. but i aint gonna do it now! but for TRS and XLR, it's always custom built cables, also, performance has pre-made 'performance' branded cables on the wall, already made, in typical lengths, but i'm always asking for the odd length. i LIKE the neutrik ends, but i only use them in the studio...i think i'd go for something more robust for stage work. i know it's hard to see, but the blue guitar cable has a neutrik on one end (1/4") and a angle that was soldered, with a stress collar on it, attached to the strat... and the purple cable coming off the palmer on top of the roland speaker cab, that's canare with neutrik xlr's on the ends, gping directly to interface... i have 4 of these mic cables made up, all with neutrik, plus a couple of shorter TRS and xlr cables for patching. i like canare for guitar, mogami for mic recording and patching.

i have all of my cables custom made. a vendor called Performance Audio is just .5 mile from my work, their prices are excellent. i usually ask for Mogami or Canare cable, and whatever end i need, typically Neutrik. ends up being just as cheap as the cheaper cables i would buy at GC or sweetwater. https://www.performanceaudio.com/

hey thanks for listening Freyja, those clean chord pulloffs are fun to do, tho a bit unforgiving if you don't nail the shape the minute you place it.

thanks wook... that's a combo of both synth bass and real bass

hey tom! thanks for listening. these things that happen, that inspire certain songs, like this one for instance... most folks don't ever ask me about it, even people who know me. i guess, the ones that know, know... and the ones that don't, aren't really interested. for me, none of that really matters; all the matters to me, is that there is some inspiration, and i can tap into it enough to drive me to write more tunes this song actually started as an instrumental, and i much later, came up with a lyric idea for it. the whole "Stay" album is pretty heavy. i had some stuff to get out.

alright, this one's down, it was time to move on... these are active mixes, so they're almost obsolete a couple of days after posting. these are final mixes, i've been trying to get feedback off of, so they probably wont get posted again, until they're fresh off the new album.

ok, last shot at this one before i take it down

hey T thanks man. ford rentals rock, eh?! LOL

https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/the-wild-animals funny, the soundcloud streaming sounds completely different than the high def file. oh well... this is my last pass at this mix, looking for how well this translates on different playback systems.

you know, i really don't remember if i added more beater to this one or not... everytime i remix the song, i tweak damn near everything! now this drum track, was written in Sony Acid, not superior drummer, which is what i usually use. so it is a single stereo track, and i have no more control over mix elements, only eq. so i might have eq'd a bit of point on the kick, to get it to stand out a bit.

hey tom, glad you dig this one, i've got some play with beater mix on the drums, but not much, it's a single stereo file, so the mix is cooked.

hi steev thanks for listening, appreciate it. this is a unmastered mix, so there will be level adjustments at the mastering stage. i mix with a -2db ceiling and a RMS of about -14, for my 'high def' file levels. that's why you don't see anything near the ceiling you discuss... when i master, i push to rms of about -11 and a ceiling of around -0.7 db. that will be the 'hot one', and will still have about double the dynamic range of the typical pro release.

hey grem thanks for listening! that lead you're talking about, yea, i've re-eq'd that a couple of times now, and have it sitting much better, thanks. yea, mixing with the 'volume' thing is a great trick for finding obvious issues, but can be misleading, unless you plan on mixing for people to listen very quietly... which i never do!! LOL

https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/on-your-way-mix1 looking for any translation issues, mix eq issues, etc. this will be on the upcoming 'The Wild Animals' album. i'm thinking it might be a bit too bright.

thanks gary, for listening and commenting. yep, a LOT of frequencies! LOL, maybe too many... i do a lot of subtractive eq with parametric eq and linear phase eq (depending on the source) this seems to be the best way to even certain tracks out. now, the pink floyd thing, i don't know what to say. i came to pink floyd via dark side of the moon, which from beginning to end, is just a perfect album. then i went all the way back in their catalog (they started in '65), then stayed with them up thru the wall... and they have a certain vibe, a certain chemistry, that is VERY hard to find in other bands of the time, and impossible to find now. but this is all subjective to a point: They ARE one of the most commercially successful and influential groups in popular music history, and by 2013, they had sold more than 250 million records worldwide, with The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall two of the best-selling albums of all time. so, there's that. ?

hi andy! glad you dig this one, thanks for the comments.

hey wookiee! you know, i wonder, if ANYONE uses stratty tones, a vibe, and a fuzz, and plays simple blues riffs, if they would sound like gilmour.......!!! NOPE! heheheh i loved his 1st solo album, i had it on vinyl and cassette. hi daryl, thanks so much for listening to this one, and thanks for the comments.

hey oskald, appreciate the review! i've always liked DT, since the first album.... but i kinda think of this is not really prog, just some spacey blues, really. so, when i mix, i mix into a master bus at K-18. then, out of the master bus, i got to the MAINS, and i output there with a -2db true peak, and an RMS of about -14 LUFS. that becomes my 'high def' file, at 24 bit/48khz. if anyone ever wants a high def file, that's what they get. then when i master for CD, for my own music, i target a DR of no more than 10. typically 11. that is very conservative. if i random poll the most recent pro cd releases, here's what i get: DR= DYNAMIC RANGE Santana Africa Speaks 2019 DR 04 Miley Cyrus She Is Coming [HDTracks 44.1/24] 2019 DR 05 Thom Yorke ANIMA 2019 DR 05 Weezer Weezer (teal album) 2019 DR 05 Megadeth United Abominations (2019 - Remaster) 2019 DR 05 Black Mountain Destroyer 2019 DR 05 Cardi B Invasion Of Privacy 2019 DR 05 It goes on and on and on.....ad nauseum DR 05 seems to be the current target. HALF the dynamic range of my masters. half. LOL i think i'm ok in the loudness wars.

hey grem! i've got two keyboard tracks playing together, i think one is a wurlitzer, and the other is some synth i tweaked from scratch. i'm just getting back into keyboards, so i've got a lot of experimenting to do. the master is just a trial run, i'll get it more dialed in when i go after all 10 songs at once. thanks for listening