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Hi there, been working on this version of Body and Soul, Can you let me know
how it sounds on your end .
Thanks all .

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Comments

RemyRAD Mon, 07/07/2014 - 12:41

I thought you did a lovely job of this classic. There are certainly things that could use improvement. The vocal really need some additional high pass filtering. The brushes on the drums could have a bit of the high end reduced. They are too white noise oriented instead of pink noise, where they should be. And the slap bass could use more articulation and a bit of high pass filtering. But altogether, it's mostly there. I'm just not wild about the sound of her vocal. What microphone was she using?

I can also hear quite a bit of the kickback from likely floor monitors or the PA. Which really does nothing to complement this recording. But then it's not necessarily something you had full control over? Though some of the artifacting could be better dealt with? I think? Which is unusual for me LOL. Thinking that is.

Please include details of this recording?
Mx. Remy Ann David

Smashh Mon, 07/07/2014 - 13:36

Thanks for the feedback Remy.
The vocals were on a rode nt1a into a presonus channel strip. I did go silly on an eq ITB cut some 2 k boosted some 8sh k.
We started out with drums and bass and guide vox together , and then added the guitar, sax and keys ,1 at a time and then the vocals.
thinking the kickback maybe a stereo plug ( probably unnecessary .. lol , got a bit slap happy ) ,or 1 of the reverbs on the vocal .
I put a spring verb plug , a plate verb 1/ 16 pre delay , and a slap verb that has different delay on each side 55 ms and 110 ms ( not in time with the beat ) all ITB

The instruments I put a splash of dark verb and brighter plate .
In general I tryed to get the mix darker as the are usually scratchy sounding here .

I will do another mix because I should have enough control and look at those critiques .
Im guessing the artifacts are from too many reverbs ?

will look up white vs pink noise .

Thankyou ,

Smashh Mon, 07/07/2014 - 13:39

Cheers Kurt , Your right about moving on , will limit this to 10 mins ,,,lol

ok time flies .

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I tried to address those tiny drums and round the vocals a little
and more hi pass on vox and bass .
got to use the boz t box tilt , it seems user and cpu friendly.
Started getting pissed at pro tool crashes over here.

Smashh Mon, 07/07/2014 - 18:15

ok couldnt help but try fix a few things up. I found that slap back was the spring reverb.
Feels like more in control now and in the ball park.[[url=http://[/URL]="http://soundcloud.c…"]soundcloud.com/musicmanash/standard_3[/]="http://soundcloud.c…"]soundcloud.com/musicmanash/standard_3[/]

Yeah this air spring reverb has a yuck harsh thing going on , it is
on the sax now .
Does someone know the air spring verb plug in , is it worth spending time
trying to fix or is it better to just get rid of it ?

anonymous Fri, 07/18/2014 - 06:15

wonderful.

did you do kick this to tape at some point, or did you incorporate the tape hiss after the fact to lend to the authenticity of the period-style production?

I'd love to hear this with the lead vocal performed through a ribbon, (and maybe an EMT plate) ;)

It's lacking a little bit of the warmth you'd hear on a late 40's, early 50's Capitol Records recording, but then again, those cats were using Telefunken ELA's and RCA Ribbons...with their own hi voltage power supplies...and tracking to tape, so considering what you used and were limited to, you did a really nice job on this, Smash. ;)

FWIW, I'd buy this record. In fact, I'd buy an album full of this stuff. Great rainy night music. It's very similar to what I used to hear when I used to hit the after-hours jazz clubs after my own nightclub rock gigs in Cleveland... there were a few back-alley smoky jazz bars downtown, on the near east-side, and in the Flats and Warehouse Districts - tucked away, you really had to look for them or know someone who took you there - these were favorite haunts of club musicians looking to wind down after their own loud gigs... real 3a.m. stuff. Foggy, rainy nights, real Film Noir-ish settings. The kind of place where the bartender knew what you were drinking, the kind of place where you expected Humphrey Bogart to approach your table, call you "Mac" and ask you for a match to light his Lucky Strike...LOL

Man, I loved those clubs, the vibe, and the music that was played at these "joints". And this track you posted is very evocative of the music that was heard at those places.

Of course, these days, there are no more of those after-hours clubs anymore, and certainly none that would allow smoking... and all those little backstreet clubs I used to frequent in the late 70's and early 80's after my own gigs are gone now - turned into parking lots, hi-priced yuppy condos and medical offices mostly, but you've most certainly captured the vibe of those places that I used to frequent. This song would have been right at home, I can assure you. ;)

Hat's off to you, Sir.

Smashh Sun, 07/20/2014 - 13:11

thanks Donny and Dogsoverlava :)

Yup ,there is so many council bylaws that they killed off any interest in starting a club that operates after midnite here. I guess the internet helps to keep us entertained , but I dont envy the younger ones comming up and not
knowing what a smokey bar with a great vibe feels like .
When on u tube , I go back earlier than the eighties to get my fix of music.:cool:

BTW , the ribbon mic seems like a good investment, its on the wish list ,

Im actually starting to have fun doing a mix now , and not trying to make a circle into a square:notworthy:
been blessed to have your guys input here on RO(y)

audiokid Sun, 07/20/2014 - 13:33

My wife and I wanted to do something last night and everything was closed after 1AM. Can't even buy a Pizza on Saturday night here. What a dead town.
I used to play for years in after hour clubs. It was the place you all ended up at the end of the night. Met all the best musicians that way.

We didn't even use autotune lol.