The Strokes attempt #1. help help!!! Mix advice!!!

[playagibson]

Hey Graham,

Love the song !
I have to agree with Nick regarding the vocals.
Either send the amp sim to a bus and blend or try copying your vocal to an extra track and adding the amp sim to that and blend.
You can also add the slapback delay / reverb to the distorted track and blend with the dry vocal.
You also have more creative play with the vocals when you do this. There are always sections in the bridge etc... when you can just use the distorted track or clean track for effect.
Personally I would like to hear the left rhythm guitar brought up in the mix and panned hard left. It sounds about 9 o'clock.
If you have an effects send on the guitar pan it as well.
It sounds quieter than the right guitar track and the it's a call response line. ( which I love by the way )
The piano stabs do sound a little weak relative to the guitars.
Either follow Nick's advice or try running the piano through an amp sim to give it more bite. ( like the vocal track )

Rich.

[LittleRedChurch]

Here yee Here yee!!!!

Again I stress, DUE TOMORROW!!

If any of you guys make a return visit, Pete and Briand, I changed the rhythm guitar in the chorus. The left one. It's pounding 8ths in the chorus. Does it provide that verse chorus contrast?

Rich, followed your lead - again . Except the piano. I really want a pounding upright, on stage. Ya know? Just to give it a break from all guit. OH!!! Did you want me to pan that left guit ALL the way left? I panned it more and turned it up. (Must say, that really gave the song some punch and space. THANK YOU!!! Mind you I may be ahead of myself here...thoughts?)

Nick

Thanks for diving in! I did several things. Drums, i ended up moving them a touch to the right. Ala the Strokes. It seemed to clear up the voice a bit. I also added volume to a second vocal track, melody, which had more highs. I ADDED some warm distortion to the bass. I REALLY like it but if you come back round, tell me what you think? I replaced the verb on that bridge dramatic howling thing with slight slap and centered it. again, thoughts?

Alright. Now I sit and wait for someone to get back to me...


sit....


sit...

cough ..... tic tic tic tic...

[LittleRedChurch]

Dang

Ya know, as I listen to the bridge I think something is off. maybe i should send that voice back left?? Add the verb again?? It ain't workin... hmmm...

[PeterD]

Hey Graham!

Whatever you did sounds noticeably better. Tough to compare it to the other version from memory though. It does have a slightly "thicker" feel to it. I wish I could say more about it but I need both versions side by side ...

I'd consider all the good advice (50%) and let the other 50% be "your gut"

Don't look at the clock!! haha You figure it out,

[AlpacaRoom]

Hey Graham,

Had a listen to the updated version, sounds good. I'm listening on some bad, bass-heavy earbuds right now, so I can't be too detailed, but the hair on the bass seems to have smoothed out the hard edges, especially when it's playing some of the higher notes, which is really what was irking me about the bass.

I'm sort of ambivalent about the new guitar part in the chorus--the old one was pretty slick, but the new one is just fine, too. I might go with the old one, but I don't feel strongly about it.

The bridge is a tough one, too. It was sort of empty with the vocals hard-left, but it's sort of cluttered now. You could split the difference and send the hard-panned vocal to a mono-to-stereo reverb so the dry signal is hard left, but the reverb fills the hole in the center. That's a trick I use a lot since I do mostly LCR panning.

I still think the vocal gets a little buried when things get thick, though, because of the distortion. I like the amount of fuzz, but you're losing definition that would help it stand out. Also I just noticed that you've got some noise at the end of the track (which I think is coming from the vocal track) that you'll want to clean up.

And this is a random thought that you can take or leave--the bridge builds up so big, and then you launch right into the (loud) lead section. What if you stuck in a one-measure rest there? Build, build, build, crash to a rest at 2:08 ... ROAR back in with the lead.


-Nick

[LittleRedChurch]

Peter my friend

Thanks!!


Nick

Thank you for coming back! (After I invaded your personal space...) I don't know how to pan verb and not the voice...do I? lol

The idea on the one beat break is brilliant. not sure how easy at this point...

I'm going to look into the voice again. I think it might mean cutting some guit from the business.

Thanks. Not done yet...

G

[AlpacaRoom]

I don't know how to pan verb and not the voice...do I? lol

Well, it'll depend on which DAW you're using, but the idea is the same. Your vocal track is on a channel panned hard left. You have a mono aux bus set up with a mono-to-stereo reverb plugin on it (in Logic, this is an option when inserting the plugin; don't know about your DAW). You send some of your vocal channel to the bus, and Bob's yer uncle. Maybe somebody else can shed light on how this is done in other DAWs.


-Nick

[andygabrys]

i think it sounds good. YOu''ve got skillz G.

if you are looking for a total strokes sound alike, the bass drum and bass have to much cut and not enough boom.

but if you are looking for a LRC original......i would say:

bring up solo gtr 1db during solo only. maybe 2, so it sounds like the focus goes to that guitar when you stop singing.
add a db or 2 of 100hz on the bass, and drop the bass level 1-2 db. that aggressive midrange competes with just about everything
add a db or 2 or 3 of resonant freq on the bass drum (65-80hz). also add a db or 3 at 5khz. the kick is masked a little too much by the agressive midrange on the bass.

other than that, some automation on the mix would help it breath as many have suggested. Like both guitars down 0.5db in verse, up in chorus. automate the drum fills so they sound a little more dynamic.

you could think of it this way - this is the Chris Lord-Alge paradigm.

you work with compression and arrangement and mix, and then everything is dynamically even, and you can hear everything. but it then needs some excitement, so you ride faders to get that dynamic excitement back. He advocates listening quietly while doing this, and I agree. then to get something to really hit you in the face, you really have to push the faders. It seems like too much, but after the mix is squashed to death with mastering etc, its doesn't present as a huge level spike, but rather it does present as energy and excitement, like somebody was trying a little harder. I would try that.

[AlpacaRoom]

Oh man, I knew those earbuds lied, but not this bad. This sounds way good on my usual cans. Nice work.

[LittleRedChurch]

Nick

You've been super helpful through this song. Your advice I took and I thank you!! Nay, I OWE you. Any time I can ATTEMPT to help... I will. I could send a thank you card


Andy!!!

Where have you been I thought I had been forgotten...

Alright. What is amazing is I think I get it. the bit about compression equalizing everything and then the mix in need of sparkle, automation, makes such sense... Been a long day but it's going to be a little longer. Unfortunately I can only afford about an hour more... Wife's back at work and it's daughter time!... But I'm going to give this a shot. The initial part should be easy ...ish.

wish me luck...

LRC

So appreciated!