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Blades

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Blades

Blades

Posted
Posted

This song was posted on the old forum.  I'm still looking for some additional feedback and final thoughts before I nail this one up in its last mix.  My wife says that there are a still a few things that could be improved on the vocal parts of the mix. What she described is the ever elusive sound that seems to come from a combination of better-than-I-have mics and more-than-I-have talent, but I'd like some other recordists/mixers around here for what else might need to be done before I clamp down on a final mix.

My initial thoughts are that I'm going to re-record the first part of the first verse, as it seems a little unsteady and I this is partly what is making it stand out negatively - my first recording of the morning and all that...

As mentioned in the blog post, this is my first recording with this soundcard (Presonus Studio 1824) and with my Pearl Mimic Pro drum kit.  While it was recorded outside of CbB, I still look forward to any opinions you might have.
https://www.blades.technology/music/songs/anything

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James G

James G

Posted
Posted (edited)

I think it's pretty good overall, I agree the first part of verse one is a little shaky but you get more confident-sounding after that. One thing I thought was that the choruses could use some more 'weight', the backing vocals are very nice, how about double tracking the lead? Nice key change into the solo.

Edited by jamesg1213
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msmcleod

msmcleod

Posted
Posted

I pretty much agree with everything James has said here. 

As an alternative to double tracking the lead vocal in the chorus, you could try adding a touch of tight delay or slight reverb - but only slight, otherwise it may push the vocals "back" in the mix. The drier vocals in the verse work well, and the backing vocals are excellent.

 

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Will

Will

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Posted

I think it sounds great just the way it is. You sound a lot like PFR's vocalist too.

I could never see why anyone would try to make a recording just like somebody else's. Seems kind of pointless without your own arrangement. But whatever floats your cork.

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PhonoBrainer

PhonoBrainer

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Posted

Very interesting tune! Vocally, you've got a flanger or microtune on it? Maybe? One danger of that kind of processing is that it can leave things thin. Can you EQ some mids back in? Particularly on the chorus?

Do you have a "tape" simulator? A good one of these can add a nice weight to things.

Other than that, I like the mix and the instrumental performances. And the vocals are just fine - (were they mic'd with a condenser-type mic?) . . . but it does feel like the vocals are struggling to keep up with the weight of the instruments, which are mixed well. Double-tracking the vocal with a different mic that adds more weight (like a good dynamic mic) might be a help!

Interested to see where you take it.

 

cheers,

-Tom

 

 

 

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chuckebaby

chuckebaby

Posted
Posted

Good tune blades,

I learned to respect you a little more today xD.

Seriously though, This song is cut in the same vein as one of my favorite bands..it has strong Beatles influences.

Doesn't sound like any of their songs... just has influences, and good ones.

 

The only thing I could see helping this song is cutting down its length. 3:46 is up there. I thought everything flowed amazingly, the chorus only 25 seconds.. the solo only 15 seconds then after that it dragged just a bit and I believe it was because you doubled up the chorus which equals a staggering 50 seconds. That one double chorus equals 1/4 of the whole song length. The outro solo was very tasteful, I loved it. To be honest I really loved all the guitar work.

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Blades

Blades

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Posted

@Will Hackett I like to  do cover tunes.  I am not a particularly good songwriter and I find it entertaining to try to learn a tune as close to the original as I can, sometimes moveing in a different direction.  It's a lot about pushing myself to be able to play the parts - to hear them all and play them well enough to get away with it.  It's also because I like to mix things and I need material to mix, so I work out these cover tunes.  I also typically really like the song and/or the artist.

@emeraldsoul The lead vocal has a chorus (fx) on it.  When I get back in and make some more changes, as referenced, one of the things I'm likely to do is to pull that chorus (fx) down just a hair and to double-track the choruses to thicken the vocals there.  The mic used was a Rode NT1 going into the Presonus Studio 1824 with processing coming from the Fat Channel in Studio One.

@Chuck E Baby I WISH this were my tune.  It's a song by PFR from the album Them.  Here's what it really sounds like:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGy3_g4ICBI .The arrangement is how it is on their album.  I tried not to change much about it and tried to match things as well as I could.  I am certain that some of the chords are not exactly right, as there was no music for this, just by ear.  I used a Variax 500 for the Acoustic Guitar parts and my new Epiphone Traditional Pro-II Les Paul for the electrics.  All of the Guitar effects were done with the Line6 PodFarm.  I played these parts a LOT of times to get them right.  Glad you liked them.

It's funny that my main instrument - Drums, at which I'm most proficient (recorded with my Mimic Pro, where my previous tunes were done with Roland Td10 or TD20 modules), is the thing that people comment on the least - or at all.  Not on the playing, the recording, the mixing, or anything.  I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing! 

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Blades

Blades

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Posted (edited)

Ok - after much listening, getting feedback, and messing with this mix, I've done a few other things to hopefully improve it.  I think I'm done making changes at this point, so I'd love to hear your opinions on this.  I only have the most recent version posted.  If you happened to have listed before, here's what I've changed since the last version:

1. I re-recorded the first few lines of the first verse to give them better strength
2. I have doubled the lead vocal on the Choruses
3. I have fixed a line that had a wrong lyric (oops)
4. I have change the chorus fx plugin that I was using to a different one and turned the Mix on that plugin way down, so there isn't much of it there.
5. I have tweaked the EQ on the acoustic guitar a bit to put a little high end back in it to brighten it up some.
6. I have fixed the guitar solo levels to be a little bit hotter, as in the last mix I pulled them a bit too far down, I think
7. I added a phaser plugin to the wash of distorted guitar during the choruses and raised the level a bit from where it was before.   I think this helped fill out the chorus a bit.
8. I changed the reverb used on the vocals from a room (Presonus) to a Plate (T-Racks).

So, here's the page.  I sure would appreciate any further thoughts you might have on this!
https://www.blades.technology/music/songs/anything
 

Edited by Blades
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SPAK

SPAK

Posted
Posted

Having listened to both, I think you've nailed the mix but the vocal still struggles in parts, I'm wondering if double up on the vox track then pan the new tracks just shy of center until they become more visible. Great work though and as always it depends on personal preference ...

Steve 

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