Building a studio computer

[nomiyah]

Aub,Thanks for the excellent comments. They are very helpful and well worth the wait. I can hear everything you mentioned and with your suggestions I'll try to fix them. I never heard of double compression but I'll see what happens. The vocals not laying in the mix was the main thing I couldn't get right. Either they got lost or stood out too much. I'm still trying to figure out what the ratio, gain, etc do in the compression. Thanks a lot for your suggestions.Nomi

[nomiyah]

Quote:[quote author=aubreyz board=nick thread=1149663295 post=1161071215]Okay – here’s some feedback. The quality sounds pretty good. Better than the original – more open and airy - though I like the vocal performance of the original better. Aub,Just curious while you remember the song... What was it about the original vocal performance that you liked better than the rewrite? Was it the tone or emotional feel? Or was it the arrangement?The thing is, in the original, I overlapped the lines with 2 lead vocal tracks. Since every line ends with the same vowel, a long u, each track extended the "oooh" so it overlapped with the other track. It made for a call-and-response feel.In the rewrite, I changed it so there was only one track. I did this primarily for the same reason you criticized the drum kit, that one drummer wouldn't play so much at once (a valid and appreciated point). One singer couldn't sing it with the overlap so I rearranged it.I wonder whether you liked the original arrangement better or if that was even a factor. I can really use feedback from you (and anyone else) since this is a work-in-progress. Thanks!!!!!!Nomi

[aubreyz]

Quote:Quote:[quote author=aubreyz board=nick thread=1149663295 post=1161071215]Okay – here’s some feedback. The quality sounds pretty good. Better than the original – more open and airy - though I like the vocal performance of the original better. Aub,Just curious while you remember the song... What was it about the original vocal performance that you liked better than the rewrite? Was it the tone or emotional feel? Or was it the arrangement?The thing is, in the original, I overlapped the lines with 2 lead vocal tracks. Since every line ends with the same vowel, a long u, each track extended the "oooh" so it overlapped with the other track. It made for a call-and-response feel.In the rewrite, I changed it so there was only one track. I did this primarily for the same reason you criticized the drum kit, that one drummer wouldn't play so much at once (a valid and appreciated point). One singer couldn't sing it with the overlap so I rearranged it.I wonder whether you liked the original arrangement better or if that was even a factor. I can really use feedback from you (and anyone else) since this is a work-in-progress. Thanks!!!!!!NomiAs I recall it was mainly the performance energy - emotion. Though there were a couple of melodic lines in the verse that seemed more interesting in the original.I wouldn't shy away from the call and response thing just because one singer can't do that. There are plenty of examples of a solo artist doing songs like that and doing overdubs to make it happen. As a rule, that should be rare, but I wouldn't rewrite just because of that unless it just doesn't work.As I remember the original did seem a little busy vocally, so that may have been the right choice here.

[horacejesse]

Aub, we are tied at 97 posts apiece. But it is still a long road to senior member, son.

[andreh]

nOObs!

[davewalton]

Quote:I'd love to get some feedback if you get a chance to listen.Quote:I'm not feeling the love... Well, we can't have that. From my end of things you're feeling my disorganization. You've spread out the instruments nicely rather than having everything panned dead center and there's more shimmer to the overall sound. The downside, in my opinion, is that the lead vocal sounds much too far away and as a result is somewhat thinned out. If you were to use the basic sound and mix settings of the lead vocal you had in the first version, then I think this track would be much improved. Feel the love... Dave

[nomiyah]

Thanks Dave!!! I didn't mix the first version but I'm mixing the second. So the only way I can know what he did in the original is to use my ears and A/B it.Sounds like you guys had fun in LA. Wish I could've been there.Nomi

[nomiyah]

Aub and friends,I've been working on the suggestions and can hear exactly what you mentioned. But I realized I don't really understand what to do. You mentioned numbers and when I look on the plug-ins I'm using there are lots of types of numbers: gain, release, threshold, etc. There are compressors, eqs, etc. I can't figure out what numbers you're referring to and I realize it's probably elementary but that's where I'm at, learning to mix. So I'd love if you can give me a bit more info. Here's the numbers I'm talking about:Quote:The bass is a little boomy (try toning down the 200 to 400k range. The vocals could use some more compression and some sparkle. They kind of jump out rather than living in the mix. (though they are not mixed too hot, like in the first sample). Try adding some 10 to 12k eq.I also would try compression on some individual things – like the lead sax, and a little (3db or so) on the overall mix.Thanks,Nomi

[nomiyah]

So far this is what I did. I mostly used presets in the plug-ins. I double-compressed, like Aub suggested. Is it better?Nomihttp://www.nomiyah.com/dashboard/avgalle....y__Rewrite_.mp3

[davewalton]

Quote:So far this is what I did. I mostly used presets in the plug-ins. I double-compressed, like Aub suggested. Is it better?Nomihttp://www.nomiyah.com/dashboard/avgalle....y__Rewrite_.mp3Hi Nomi,FWIW, my main impression is that the lead vocal still sounds like you're singing from the next room. Maybe it's washed in too much reverb which is my guess. Either that or it was recorded too far from the mike. Anyway, the first version of the recording had the lead vocal right I thought, more upfront and clearer than what I'm hearing here. Andre and Aubrey are really good at this kind of stuff so I'd take my impressions with a grain of salt until you hear from the real experts. Dave