What Spliff? ;-) Too much bass?

[ckbarlow]

Hey, all you golden ears types:

I'm working on a Tosh-like tune. It's called "What Spliff?" and is on my TAXI page (link in my signature).

In my project studio, as of early this morning, I'm liking the bass level. On other speakers/rooms, not so sure.

My reference track is "Johnny B. Good" by Peter Tosh, which you can easily hear a snippet of by googling Peter Tosh. I'm not trying to sound *exactly* like that because the listing specified it needed to be mellow (no/minimal horns, groove-focused).

Any/all feedback welcome.

Thanks!

CK

[mazz]

The bass sounds right to my ears. In fact, it could use a "shade" more bottom end just to let it rumble a tiny bit more. But that's just personal taste, you've got the high end right so it has the articulation needed for the genre.

The only thing I notice is that the resonant pad is a tiny bit peaky around 400 to 500 hz which seems to take up just a bit too much space in the mix, making it a little cloudy. Don't go giving the whole mix a "smile" curve!! Just the pad needs a little cut in that region, a fairly broad but not very deep cut would make it a bit more "even" when the cutoff sweeps through that region.

Otherwise I think it works. I had to resist going to the frig to look for a Red Stripe!!

[ckbarlow]

Oh, don't resist! Go, mon, go!

[anne]

Hi CK -
I want to suggest a few things -
the bass sounds very good and appropriate, but to me its not sitting in the pocket completely.
I would suggest the following:
1) I agree with Mazz on the bass "a "shade" more bottom end just to let it rumble a tiny bit more" would do the trick on that point
2) Set it back a hair in the mix with a really tight very short reverb or delay, (It doesn't sound like a volume issue to my ears)
3) its barely coming through on my laptop speakers (a new Mac Pro notebook) and what does come through sounds too far back in the mix. When this happens , with the above, it seems to point to an eq issue more than a volume issue, again.

That being said, I agree with mazz about the eq on the pads - so subtle though -
it's an excellent piece - we can play it all the way to santa fe and back....

[eeoo]

Very nice! Nothing much to add, I agree if anything a bit more low end. I could hear a "dubby" section with that accentuated echo on the snare but maybe not what the listing calls for...eo

[ckbarlow]

Hi CK -
I want to suggest a few things -
the bass sounds very good and appropriate, but to me its not sitting in the pocket completely.
I would suggest the following:
1) I agree with Mazz on the bass "a "shade" more bottom end just to let it rumble a tiny bit more" would do the trick on that point
2) Set it back a hair in the mix with a really tight very short reverb or delay, (It doesn't sound like a volume issue to my ears)
3) its barely coming through on my laptop speakers (a new Mac Pro notebook) and what does come through sounds too far back in the mix. When this happens , with the above, it seems to point to an eq issue more than a volume issue, again.

That being said, I agree with mazz about the eq on the pads - so subtle though -
it's an excellent piece - we can play it all the way to santa fe and back....

Um, no we can't, because I've already heard it WAY too many times! LOL....

I'm confused -- #2 says set it back more, and #3 says it's set too far back. Am I not understanding something?
When you say, "in the pocket," do you mean rhythmically (that's how I think of the pocket) or in the mix?

[ckbarlow]

Very nice! Nothing much to add, I agree if anything a bit more low end. I could hear a "dubby" section with that accentuated echo on the snare but maybe not what the listing calls for...eo

I'm itching to get all dubby with it, but yeah, the listing says to keep it mellow. Maybe I should do an alternative Tuff Grrl mix!

[hazineju]

makes me feel like i'm right in the caribbean...oh wait, i am! (i had to at least make some kind of joke about that)

Really dug the track, sounds great to me! Love the overall vibe and the breakdown at the end. The bass was sounding very nice in my headphones. I think it works as is. However, I did listen to Johnny B. right after, and it does sound like the bass is a bit deeper/thumpier/louder by comparison on that one, but not much more so. The only thing that I wasn't sure how I felt about was the synth pad in general. Maybe it's an eq thing as Mazz and Anne suggested, or it sounds a little uncommon to me for reggae. Maybe if it's a little softer in the mix? Overall, though two thumbs up!

ps, funny name

[ckbarlow]

OK, I did the EQ of the synth patch to ease up the 400-500Hz range, and I ever-so-slightly boosted the low end in the overall mix to catch the kick body as well. Anne, I added a tiny, tiny touch of reverb to the bass. It was already in the "house" reverb that most of the instruments are hitting, but I gave it its own that keeps it a little more present (predelay and balance tweaks).

Juliet, I heard synth parts in some Tosh stuff and just went for it, figuring as an accent it works fine, but out of respect for the listing kept it pretty simple -- and definitely less obtrusive than horns. We'll see. My recent lesson has been to go ahead and include it because it's easy to take out -- enough people are asking for alt / minus mixes these days that I decided to just go for it.

Have some dinner at that vege restaurant in Hanapepe for me!

[rnrmachine]

I gather I am listening after your alterations per your post and it sounds pretty good. I checked out Johnny Be Good as well. The only difference I hear is your keys are a little more upfront (louder) but imho that is fine because you don't have any vocals. I liked your take on this a lot, good job. Your tweaks must have been good ones because everything sounds good to me... especially when compared to Tosh.

Rob