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I have been a lurker on this forum for a while, and got some great info from the forum, so thank for that. This is my first post.

I am a musician and volunteered to track and mix down a demo for a band i play bass in, and would like some feedback on the tracking part...

I have rough mixed a track, recorded live at home. Before I mix down all the tracks I would appreciate some feedback on this, as well as suggested approaches to the mix.. I am looking for a live sound that captures the band essence...

[MEDIA=soundcloud]id=https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fthebluesouls%2Fhip-shake-demo-rough-mix%2Fs-eHiXy;secret_token=s-eHiXy;track_id=159076642[/MEDIA]
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Feedback welcome..

Rob

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Comments

anonymous Fri, 07/18/2014 - 04:20

Not bad at all... you've managed to capture a live sounding performance, you're not really looking for "smooth studio polished" in a track like this anyway.

a few suggestions...

consider either drawing a volume envelope on the lead vocal - or maybe some compression, as the vocal jumps out quite a bit at some points, particularity around the 3 minute mark. Don't overuse the compression though..this is a dynamic track and you don't want everything squeezed to the point of losing the live vibe...

Can you tell us how you mic'd the drums? They sound a bit empty, a little "distant" for a three piece band...

The band obviously has a ZZ Top / La Grange vibe happening here, maybe you could take a listen to that track, in particular, the drums. It may help you determine how you want them to sit in the mix.

I'm not gonna comment on the low end at this point because I've been running into problems recently in my own room in that regard.... and until I get that adjusted, it's best that I don't comment on possible issues in that frequency range right now. ;)

FWIW:

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Josh Conley Fri, 07/18/2014 - 08:07

man ill bet that was a fun ass session! I dig this.

here's what I'm hearing. That singer could have a vocal like soft salty taffy. she needs a touch of LA2A. I would hit the vocal track with just a few db (3 max) of gain reduction. the la2a just does something to put that kind of vocal right into "butter" mode. anyhow. there are 2 parts where she jumps in level, is she getting excited and leaning in? Maybe do a quick ride on the GR knob in those spots?

Other than that, you have too much bass when the kick drum kicks in. difficult to say why, but I would suggest that on this type of groovy bass guitar driven mix, that you give the kick drum a nice HPF at 60-70 Hz to take the boom out of it. nothing crazy, just take the kaboom out of it. imo, for this track you want to more hear the beater side you can still hear it hitting.

that is what zz top did. use that song for a reference.
matter of fact, they have a bit more high end presence on the guitar track and it cuts through just a bit more than yours. check it out.

Rascasse as Sat, 07/26/2014 - 03:26

Thanks for the feedback.. I have now remixed the track, taking into account the points on the vocals, and the kick/bass...
Would appreciate further feedback..
Here is the link

[MEDIA=soundcloud]id=https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fthebluesouls%2Fhip-shake-draft-mix%2Fs-yXdLl;secret_token=s-yXdLl;track_id=160360536
[[url=http://[/URL]="https://soundcloud…"]View: https://soundcloud…]="https://soundcloud…"]View: https://soundcloud…]

Rob

RemyRAD Tue, 07/29/2014 - 14:53

That was bad ass! Some pretty cool delta rock boogie, from Aussies. Way to go man!

I really liked the wide stereo vocal and the very Mono centric electric geeetar, sounded. The only place and the only way I felt, it didn't quite work? Was that the drum set was a bit left lopsided. And when the organ came in, it should have been over there right of center and not center. So it left me a bit off balance. Make that small change and you'll have it down. That mono guitar thing can be the only mono thing. That's the signature. And the vocal most definitely speaks... for itself.

It was all very cool. As I guess it's midwinter down your way? We like it hot and sticky. Yeah baby. And crawdads. And moms.
Mx. Remy Ann David

anonymous Wed, 07/30/2014 - 06:22

I understand what Josh is saying in regard to the guitar on the orginal version lacking presence, but on this latest mix, the guitar sounds thin to me. ( Also, LOL, a bit noisy, but that's not really a deal-breaker for this type of song).

I'd like to hear a bit more "body" to the guitar, without it crowding out the bass, because you have good definition right now, but... the guitar is lacking, well, for lack of a better term, "balls".

Did you use any GR on anything, or across the 2-bus?