bats brew

hey bjorn! appreciate the feedback even if you have old burned out ears!! heheh, mine are the same, so maybe we hear things the same! yea, the didgeridoo was a no brainer, thinking about the story line... heavy metal guitar?! hm, lets listen........................................oh, you mean that little shuffle thing! it's kind of a syncopated rhythm part that wraps around the drum groove...i used a fairly clean crunchy setting on the amp, to get that percussiony pick attack. thanks Pcode! sometimes, when i do vocals, i don't know what i expect either!! LOL, sometimes, you just stand and deliver. i think i had a totally different idea about the vox before i did it, and when i got to the mic, i just couldn't get it out except aggressively. maybe i thought i was gonna croon it! LOL amicus, thanks for listening. i've worked on this for a few years now, off and on, and my perspective of it keeps changing. i think i've dialed it in enough to release on an album. John b, appreciate the feedback. yea, it kinda comes off as progressive, but really, it's just a 4/4 shuffle, with some weird arrangement tricks going on.

heheh, well, i found out recording this one, that i can't hit those notes without digging in, and backing off the mic. i tried an alternate vocal recording today, i'll post that sometime down the road, and get some feedback on which one works the best. as it is, i remixed it today, took off all the delays, used a plate reverb on the vocal buss instead, and took out a bunch of 2-3k and some woofy 800hz, and brought the vox back in the mix, and you still hear them quite clearly, i think that i dialed it in. i also mixed the synths hotter in a bunch of places, and that still works great! hey andy! the great thing about my stuff is, it's not biodegradable!! so it never goes anywhere! LOL thanks for listening and commenting, and any pointer is valid to a listener, you know.

hey kloon, ok yea, it's def a bit psychedelic and prog, that makes sense. hey lynn! thanks for listening, steve miller, i've been on a miller kick lately, listening to his 70's era stuff. interesting you hear it as warm, someone else said it was harsh, 1-3k region. i'm still listening for parts that blend as harsh, if i can find them i'll try to neuter them. hi Joad, thanks so much for checking my stuff out now, i'm still trying to come up with some new sounding stuff, even if it sound rooted in something older. i remember when TKO first came out,pierce was bending some ears for sure. howdy douglas! thanks for the feedback, it helps me narrow down what to work on.

hey spak! i don't know about no money!! but hey, thanks for commenting! great daryl, for the comment and insight, i don't mix synths this intense very often, this is a collab with virtualan, and i may even edit out some of the other backing tracks in a few places to let the synths fly a little more upfront. this was a b!tch to mix! hi wook, thanks for listening and the comments on what works, what doesn't... funny my singing came across as 'screaming', i was actually trying to lay up!! hehehh the synths were done by my friend virtualan, this being a collab similar to the one you and i did, and i'm not sure what he used... there are actually two synth lead tracks, one is a low end track, and a 3rd track that is a synth pad track, that offers up all the nice ear candy throughout... the digireedoo was a 'found' loop, and i just doubled it up and edited it for the fade in/out since the subject matter is about original aborigines, i thought the digiree was a proper nod.

hey kloon! thanks for the feedback, and by the way, what GENRE is this? i haven't a clue

"Secrets (of the songs and dance)" https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/secrets-4 this is my second mix of this new tune.. i posted the first one some months back. i've done many versions of this, mix wise...but this is the closest i've gotten to what i want. questions: how does the bass guitar track translate? does the synth stand out where it should, lay back where it should? are the vox good where they are? more dry, more effects? tnx in advance for any help. this has been a really hard mix for me.

why not? those are all legit sound interfaces. and there were high level pro tape decks long before 4-tracks were available.

sorry pastor, i took this down 5 days ago. when i'm actively working on a mix, i get some ideas from folks, and quickly move on to the next mix. i've finished re-mixing this one already, but have started mixing a new song, which i will post soon...

i dig that you are looking to help me improve the mix, and i'm looking for some 'warmth' that i missed on some of the tracks... i HAVE found some freqs on certain parts, that i can add some richness into, without adding mud. sometimes the choices of thinner tracks is in the overall clarity of a track, but it's good to get different perspectives all the same.

wow, hadn't thought about wishbone ash in a long time....i used to have a couple of albums by them, good band thanks nigel vocals more present, check! i was worried about sibilance , from adding that aggressive limiting amplifier effect.. the lead is mono, but i have 6-8 harmony parts that are all panned hard left and right, so there SHOULD be a strong stereo mix effect on the backups.. thanks so much john b, appreciate it

grem, this particular drum track was created using Sony Acid. typically, i use Superior Drummer 3 for all my current drum tracks. i use a live drummer whenever i can

thanks for the comments myriad.... vintage is good to my ears. i tend to write groups of songs intended to be listened to continuously, album style, and the modern approach is a bit fatiguing. i'm looking at the curve, above, and not seeing where the freqs are the really need thickening in the low mids, already looks pretty balanced. i might go back and beef up invidual tracks, and see if that collectively does the trick. hi Kloon, thanks for listening...... vocals level up, check! there are some spots where that can happen and not step on anything, i'll do some more tweaking. hey wookiee! thanks for the kind words man, appreciate it.

TEAC X10 then this: then this: then my first digital interface: the beginning of the descent down the rabbit hole.

thanks grem! the drums were definitely programmed, but using a very loose loop, and i typically do stuff to drums, to push them faster or make them slower at certain change-ups of the song, just the way i would direct a live drummer to do, to make the song breathe.

haha, tom, better singer.... i like geddy! wifey can't stand him... lead vocals were recorded very straightfoward, shure ksm44 into a RME babyface pro. very conservative with the levels, i think i register about -18 rms, and maybe -8db on the peaks. everything else added after. i run the vocal thru a parametric EQ, and high pass the low end around 150hz, and tweak freqs for clarity and mud, and then hit a 1176 emulation pretty hard (waves cla-76). i think this lead vox has slapback delay, but no verb? and yes, the lead vox was doubled on this one, and is blended in barely under it, and not on every line.

hey lynn! so glad you dig this stuff, that's really what i'm trying to do with this group of songs, uplift. and it's good to know the mix is translating on your playback, so thanks for that

here it is easier to see.

hey steve! thanks for listening eq thin? hm, not sure how/where to correct that, or even what freqs to look at. now, the guitars , especially during the first part, use a 'thin' tone to start with, without a lot of drive, that is by choice... maybe eq'ing the vox could thicken things a bit? here's the curve of the song: song curve

hey steve! thanks for listening eq thin? hm, not sure how/where to correct that, or even what freqs to look at. now, the guitars , especially during the first part, use a 'thin' tone to start with, without a lot of drive, that is by choice... maybe eq'ing the vox could thicken things a bit?

https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/on-your-way-2 this is the 2nd mix i've posted, I am close to wrapping up 6 tunes, this is one of them. i know i need to tweak the vox levels in a few places, seems too loud in spots, too soft in spots. questions: 1. is the bass too loud? 2. how is the EQ translation overall?

i'm not convinced this is anything i need.

oh yea, i moved on. took it down tuesday morning. i've already re-mixed it, and i'm waiting for head to clear on it. i'm doing final mixes on the 5 other tunes i have finished now, then i'll post those, come back to this one. see, when i post stuff, i'm working on them. i don't dwell on it, i just get busy. doesn't make sense to leave obsolete mixes up.

heheh, me neither!

tired furry ears can be problematic...........! LOL yes, in the first half, i think the vox are too loud. in the 2nd half, maybe just right, maybe too low a few spots. i might just delete the vol envelope i have now, and start over! sometimes, that new perspective is better than painting into the corner. thanks wookiee

my instincts!! LOL well, yes, i'll try. and yes, SD3 on this one... someone else on another board said they sounded fake and plasticy... and of course, they are 24 bit samples of pro sets played by a pro player, so, hm. i was even considering changing the set...