bats brew

hey tom! sorry i missed this post, i had moved onto working on the secrets tune, and just had tunnel vision i guess!! LOL i DID end up working on that kick... i added some oomph at 55hz, and tweaked the beater click range around 2-3 khz to get it to stand out more at lower volumes. at least, that's what i hear at low volume, listening to other stuff... thanks for the input

https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/secrets-mix-2 totally different approach on this one, i left the other one up (which i never do) to a/b the two mixes. this mix was faders down, start from scratch, spent about 45 minutes total on it. the original mix, 6 months worth of half hour increments...! LOL the diff on this one, is mostly where the synths are panned, and where the rhy guitars and solos are panned. all levels are new. i think i could STILL beef up the lows in the kick,and add a bit of meat to the primary synth line on the left. vox too loud?

thanks for listening, T.... the synths are really tricky to mix, i co wrote this with a musician that goes by 'virtualan', he did the synths and programmed the drums, i did the rest, and wrote the lyric. i have 3 tracks of synths, but the main one is the one that carries the tune. i have a lot of guitar ear candy in there, but i mixed it all down, so that the synths rule, and the guitars are meant to draw the listener deeper into the mix, and not be obvious. the story, I got to thinking about aboriginal beats, for some reason.... something in the music that Virtualan (co-writer) offered up, drew me to this.... anyway, i found an aboriginal story, that has a tie-in to telling stories thru songs and dances.... the aboriginal people have this thing they call the dreaming: The Dreaming -- also means to 'see and understand the law' the Aborigines believe that the Ancestor Spirits came to the earth in human form and as they moved through the land, they created the animals, plants, rocks and other forms of the land that we know today. They also created the relationships between groups and individuals to the land, the animals and other people. Once the ancestor spirits had created the world, they changed into trees, the stars, rocks, watering holes or other objects. These are the sacred places of Aboriginal culture and have special properties. Because the ancestors did not disappear at the end of the Dreaming, but remained in these sacred sites, the Dreaming is never-ending, linking the past and the present, the people and the land. one of the most famous of these stories is the "Wagilag Sisters".... The Wagilag Sisters The story goes that the two Wagilag sisters, one of whom was pregnant, were fleeing their home and were being followed by clansmen. On their travels they come across many animals and plants and brought them in to life by naming them. Eventually, the Wagilag sisters set up camp beside a fertile waterhole at Mirarrmina. There, one of the sisters pollutes the waterhole and the pregnant sister gives birth, which causes Wititj the python to wake up angry and pissed off. Wititj creates a storm on emerging from the waterhole and attempts to wash the two Wagilag sisters in to the well with his downpour (the first monsoon). The two Wagilag sisters dance and sing sacred songs in an attempt to diffuse the situation and keep them safe, but when the sisters become too exhausted to continue, the python is able to swallow them up (including child and dog)! However, soon after, Wititj develops stomach pains and groans skywards above the land where he attracts the attention of other great snakes who also rise up in to the sky. The great snakes talk and they discover they all have different names but they wonder why the python is ill. Realizing he made a mistake, Wititj lies about what he has just eaten but the pain becomes so unbearable Wititj falls back to the land and vomits up the sisters who regain their life from the stinging bites of caterpillars. Undeterred, Wititj beats them with clapsticks and eats them again. Later, the Wagilag sister's clansmen, asleep in the hollow left by the python's fall, were visited in their dreams by the sisters who revealed to the clansmen the secrets of the songs and dances which had been performed in an effort to stop the rainstorm. leads to my version of the story: : "the secrets of the songs and dance" 2 sisters, 1 with child runs away to trees and water in the wild birth of a child brings out the snake, and both their lives it will take rain and song to no avail, both are swallowed inside the tail snake does lie about the meal, the caterpillar bites to heal eaten again, and snake is gone, the dreams reveal before the dawn--- the secrets of the songs and dance... secrets of the songs and dance... the secrets of the songs and dance.

another reason i love my RME Babyface Pro... excellent headphone driver.

https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/secrets working on final mix on this one, it's a tricky one, because of the synths. looking for mix issues and translation issues. my short list: 1. vox too loud or too bright. 2. synth needs more meat, or maybe, roll off the high end to make it a bit warmer and bring it up. 3. rhy. guitars too edgy. got any ideas on this one? tnx in advance.

hey freddy! hey, thanks for the words of encouragement... it's lonely out here in space. LOL

hey grem! glad you caught this one, i'm moving quick now... i'm getting consensus on the drum mix being a bit low, tho it's kicking on my system, i'm guessing i've got some bass freqs masking drums. but it's got to be driving on the bass, so that's the area i'll concentrate on. the lyrics are basically about how big pharma, doctors, the fda, and stockholders, are phucking over americans with the prescription drugs. especially the opioids. "it's a cautionary tale..." thanks for listening grem.

this is my last mix on this one, as i wrap up final mixes on 8 new tunes for a new album. looking for how this translates on your playback, particularly, if the kick and bass guitar are coming across good. tnx. https://www.dropbox.com/s/zuks1u56mkke6kv/WILD ANIMALS-5.wav?dl=0

well, i DID post this last thursday... and only got two reviews, so it was time.

ok, took this one down, i'll post a new version a bit later

hey JW, yea, this one isnt really a standard form, which was the idea. thanks for listening

thanks jesse!! i did dig early james gang

one bump on this before i take it down... i'm mixing this again this weekend

thanks a lot guys!! this tune is available on the last album i put out, called "Trouble" https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/batsbrew12

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8vwa9l0mf67f8vz/world's goin down.wav?dl=0 this is the 8th tune i've posted, off of my new album i'm working on. the album will be called "Wild Animals". since this is the first mix, i'd love to get some response on how it's translating on everyone's different playback systems. if you hear any issues, please let me know! thanks. also, how the h3LL would you categorize this tune, if you had to? i don't know what style to call it. LOL

oh yea, man!!~ it's a melange, a brew, a bats brew.

ok, took this one down, it was languishing.

Hi kakku, appreciate the comments... yea, i guess the sounds are intense. they were REALLY intense in the room when i made them!! LOL i had my neighbor's dogs barkin'

thanks for listening lynn! white room, yea, that was out a few years before i was playing, but i did learn that song a few years later with one of my earliest jam bands.

i got mine, some time back, for $149. killer deal, totally worth it, if you need the plugs.

hey tom~~! it's great knowing your a fan, thanks. the wah thing, i'm trying to be cognizant of not over using it, because it's the easiest thing for me to do, that wah thing, because i've been doing it longer than anything else, was my very first effect i ever had, and that was the hendrix influence, i was listening to electric ladyland ALL the time, and just had to have one of those things!! thanks for commenting

https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/middle-of-nowhere this song i posted a while back, and decided to re-track all the guitars and bass. it is an unmastered mix. i'd like some feedback on the way the kick and bass translate. also level of guitars vs levels of vox. stuff like that. i have finished writing all the material for what will be my 4th full length album release. i have a bit of tracking left on only one song. i hope to post final mixes on all the songs before i master it and put it out there.

i don't know anything about garth brooks, so i don't know the original... so, based strictly on it's own merit, it has a nice feel to it overall, the performances and singing, but the strings sound artificial, the guitar is weak in the mix, and the vocals are way too hot. but it's a good performance, i'd just work on the mix more.