If I had your voice quality and range in the 70's, I would have been a Golden God! Good song, but interesting choices on how much overdrive you use on guitars (which isn't much) which one might say is admirable (some players hide behind hi-gain guitars), and others might say it could go ballsier - I'm in the latter camp. Your guitar tones lean toward Alex Lifesonish (RUSH), though, which is cool.

CrazyLuke, post: 417398, member: 48048 wrote: If I had your voice quality and range in the 70's, I would have been a Golden God! Good song, but interesting choices on how much overdrive you use on guitars (which isn't much) which one might say is admirable (some players hide behind hi-gain guitars), and others might say it could go ballsier - I'm in the latter camp. Your guitar tones lean toward Alex Lifesonish (RUSH), though, which is cool.

Thanks Luke! I just finished up the seventh tune for the album this afternoon. I play all of the underlying rhythm guitar on this. The instrumental break and lead guitar(s) are played by the same person as "The Road to Nowhere" ... and again ... I couldn't change the tone if I wanted to. There are limitations and challenges peculiar to online collaboration.

well you know I love your work and voice.
For future consideration. You will get a way bigger mix if you get the phasing tighter, find out whats creating it all and you will be doing cartwheels.

i certainly can hear the snare and the vocals ... and unfortunately i can also hear that horrid guitar. no kick, no bass ... ????

i really don't care for it.

audiokid, post: 417435, member: 1 wrote: well you know I love your work and voice.
For future consideration. You will get a way bigger mix if you get the phasing tighter, find out whats creating it all and you will be doing cartwheels.

It may be an artifact of the stereo tracking on the guitars? I played two tracks and then panned one left/one right ... and that technique comes with associated challenges.

Kurt Foster, post: 417436, member: 7836 wrote: i certainly can hear the snare and the vocals ... and unfortunately i can also hear that horrid guitar. no kick, no bass ... ????

i really don't care for it.

That's odd, Kurt. I just played the tune and did the "around the corner" trick to check the bass levels. They didn't sound all that off to me. I could hear the kick and bass fine. Sorry about the guitar. My bad.

i suspect there's a lot of bass down below 100 but nothing much above ... give it a narrow boost with a couple of dB at 220. let the kick have that room below 100. attenuate the guitar in the mids. always mix in order of kick / snare (the rest of the drums)/ bass / guitars - keys /pads and then vocals last. bring up the vocals until you almost can't hear them and then bring it back up a couple of dB. never eq in solo, listen to how the track blends with everything up when you tweak the eq. push up all the faders! around the corner doesn't work if all you have on the bass is uber lows ... the music's in the mids.

"...give it a narrow boost with a couple of dB at 220..."

I have come to refer to this as "The Foster Method". ;)
( and no I'm not kidding). ;)

Kurt's approach in mixing for those who are potentially listening on PC/Desktop speakers is a valid one. And considering that these types of speakers are very popular with your average, run-of-the-mill listeners, mostly, I agree with him.

I don't reach for it every time, because kick ( and bass) sounds can vary so widely - as do song styles - but for the most part, I find it to be a valid EQ process.

FWIW

d/

Kurt Foster, post: 417649, member: 7836 wrote: i suspect there's a lot of bass down below 100 but nothing much above ... give it a narrow boost with a couple of dB at 220. let the kick have that room below 100. attenuate the guitar in the mids. always mix in order of kick / snare (the rest of the drums)/ bass / guitars - keys /pads and then vocals last. bring up the vocals until you almost can't hear them and then bring it back up a couple of dB. never eq in solo, listen to how the track blends with everything up when you tweak the eq. push up all the faders! around the corner doesn't work if all you have on the bass is uber lows ... the music's in the mids.

I'll do that, Kurt. I generally build my mixes like a house ... from the foundation up. I start with drums and then bring in the bass ... trying to get the bass and kick to lock. The slight difference I make is I add the vocal earlier and then mix the other elements in and around it. The vocal, I feel, is so essential ... it is the feature to be most protected in the mix.

Thanks for the thoughts! I'll go back and rework things a bit in the manner you suggest. I'll post up when the new mix is complete.

DonnyThompson, post: 417663, member: 46114 wrote: "...give it a narrow boost with a couple of dB at 220..."

I have come to refer to this as "The Foster Method". ;)
( and no I'm not kidding). ;)

Kurt's approach in mixing for those who are potentially listening on PC/Desktop speakers is a valid one. And considering that these types of speakers are very popular with your average, run-of-the-mill listeners, mostly, I agree with him.

I don't reach for it every time, because kick ( and bass) sounds can vary so widely - as do song styles - but for the most part, I find it to be a valid EQ process.

FWIW

d/

As part of my "mix check", I listen to the mix on earbuds through a laptop ... for just the reason you cite. Thanks D!

and therein lies the problem. earbuds give you full bass ... listen on a system that rolls off at 70 to 100 Hz. get some ns10's ....

Kurt Foster, post: 417677, member: 7836 wrote: and therein lies the problem. earbuds give you full bass ... listen on a system that rolls off at 70 to 100 Hz. get some ns10's ....

I was not aware of that, Kurt. The buds are only a reference. On recommendation of my cousin, a nationally known producer (Think "Stacey's Mom has got it going on" -- that's him) my main mixing references are Realistic Minimus 7s ... 3.5" speaker.

I try to get the mix right on those ... and reference/compare on several others to check bass levels etc ...

Like the NS10s, they are rather unforgiving.

New mix up top. Bass fixed?

If you are at some point looking to upgrade your monitors, Neumann KH120 are choice

Avatones are really helpful for dialing in mids and finding that bass sweet spot that Kurt is talking about. I find they help me clean up the mids thus, making room for tighter bottom

Event Opals , a fuller range. are amazing monitors. I wish I had a second pair like an abscesses eccentric lover a shoes.

My secondary references are Event 20/20 P ... the powered version. I like them ... but they're FAR more forgiving than the Minimus 7s ... which I believe was the Realistic branded version of a product I used to sell back when I was an Electrovoice rep for New England. It wasn't an EV product ... I want to say it was Audio One ... but my memory is fuzzy on whether that was it.

I also send the mixes through a Sony boombox ... which has a hyped low end. I hope I corrected the freq balance. I did pop the bass at the frequency mentioned to give it more meat.