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Beatles Cover - Baby's In Black


Bapu

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(C) Lennon-McCartney

Covered by:
James Griffiths - Lead Guitar
Ron Houle - Drums
Daryl Greenway - Piano, Organ, Tambourine, Acoustic Guitar, Lead Vocal
Ed Kocol - Bass, Lead Vocal

Production notes: All recorded in CbB, SONAR and Studio One. Mixed and mastered in Studio One.

Edited by Bapu
Removed BandLab verison
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I love this song, but this mix isn't working for me.  I'm listening at low volume because it's very loud, as if the limiter is close to being maxed out to the point of having no dynamics.  I would merely back off on the gain of the limiter or compressor that was used, and/or try a different ratio so that this song can breathe.  I must admit, this is very rare for one of your productions, which are usually text book examples of mastering.  Finally, I would boost the vocals so that they can sit above the instruments rather than be at the same level.  Hope this helps, though, I love your choice of songs.

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I suspect part of the issue might be some Bandlab downsampling in the uploading / streaming of it. I dunno, the hi hats have a flangey quality that I associate with lo-res mp3. Or were you shooting for a 1959 recording homage?  I have not experienced the Bandlab ecosystem so I dunno.

 

The toms have a limited, crunched feel to them at times.

 

OK, good stuff? Vocals are great! The whole arrangement swings properly. The audience sways left and right to this one! And you dug up a nifty early Beatles classic for a renaissance . ..  nice choice. And, the lead guitar, fabulous retro phasey tone, very well played!

 

cheers,

-Tom

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On 2/10/2019 at 10:22 AM, Lynn said:

I love this song, but this mix isn't working for me.  I'm listening at low volume because it's very loud, as if the limiter is close to being maxed out to the point of having no dynamics.  I would merely back off on the gain of the limiter or compressor that was used, and/or try a different ratio so that this song can breathe.  I must admit, this is very rare for one of your productions, which are usually text book examples of mastering.  Finally, I would boost the vocals so that they can sit above the instruments rather than be at the same level.  Hope this helps, though, I love your choice of songs.

 

On 2/10/2019 at 10:31 AM, emeraldsoul said:

I suspect part of the issue might be some Bandlab downsampling in the uploading / streaming of it. I dunno, the hi hats have a flangey quality that I associate with lo-res mp3. Or were you shooting for a 1959 recording homage?  I have not experienced the Bandlab ecosystem so I dunno.

 

The toms have a limited, crunched feel to them at times.

 

OK, good stuff? Vocals are great! The whole arrangement swings properly. The audience sways left and right to this one! And you dug up a nifty early Beatles classic for a renaissance . ..  nice choice. And, the lead guitar, fabulous retro phasey tone, very well played!

 

cheers,

-Tom

Can you gents please confirm that the Soundcloud version is "better"? I used the same .wav file on both platforms but maybe I screwed up on the BL upload. I thought I chose no mastering. But.... who knows.

 

 

Edited by Bapu
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Hey, Ed, Great to see you posting on the new forum, buddy!?

I'm not sure if this is still the version of the mix that people were commenting on earlier, but I tried volume matching and comparing both tracks, and I think the SC version seems to sound much fuller and have more low end than the BL file.  I'm not familiar with the BL upload and rendering process, so maybe Lynn and Tom are on to something with the sampling/conversion process.

Either way, really cool cover, and I can't believe that after all these years I finally came across a Beatles song that I wasn't familiar with.  You got me, Bapsi!?

Everybody did a great job performing their parts, as always with you, James, Daryl and Ron, but for some reason the mix seems to be kind of cluttered in the high mids.  I never heard the original, but you might also want to try either cutting some highs or adding a little thickening to James' electric parts and the tasty solo, unless maybe you were actually trying for a vintage style mix.  Your last three or four mixes on the old forum were fantastic, so I'm sure with a few minor tweaks, you'll get this exactly where you want it to be!

By the way, you and Daryl did an excellent job on the vocals and harmonies, and the bass, keys, guitars and drums were all really well played.?

I just had a crazy thought, Ed, I had a mix a while back with a similar type of weirdness in the mids, and it turned out that I had accidentally rendered the mix without turning ARC 2 off!  Probably not the case here, but it wouldn't hurt to check and re-render the wav just for the heck of it.

Anyway, great job guys, I know you'll get it straightened out!

Have a good one!
Bob

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46 minutes ago, daryl1968 said:

just had chance to listen to the two side by side and, even with a cold (ya wanker Ed), the difference is night and day - the Bandlab thingy completely mashed it up  - sounds horrible compared to the SC version

Yep ... Totally agree! The SC version is like the mix has been pulled out of the plastic bag that Bandlab kept it in ... trouble is now I think James's guitar sounds a little hot ...what does finicky mean .....

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9 hours ago, Wookiee said:

@Bapu listened to both Ed and the SC sounds clearer and more defined than the BL version which I suspect got a touch of their mastering which I have yet to try which probably translates to never.    

The first iteration (at 10:10AM) I posted did (unintentionally) had mastering turned on. Then I reposted the song to BL (at 1:00PM) with no mastering. So I'll assume you listened to that verison. Which tells me I'll not be posting finished songs that I've "mastered" to BL anymore.

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