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06-03-2015, 09:39 PM
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#81
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rightonthemark
i think i made it worse.
i got the talking part at the end to come thru better but the chorus and bridge vocals are buried now.
sigh...still got work to do.
probably gonna take too long to be part of the mix contest but I wanna take the time to do a good mix.
thanks again
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No reason to give up now! Keep going!
Does anybody think I should go beyond Sunday as the deadline? I don't have a problem with it if you guys would like more time.
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06-04-2015, 04:20 AM
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#82
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Yorkshire, UK
Posts: 2,064
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Hi Jeff,
Yes a little more time would help. I too want to re-balance chorus parts (lead voc can get lost as I said before). I would also want to do some volume automation on various parts to smooth out a few troublesome areas (to my ears of course!).
Does my quick effort sound anything like what you want/expect?
Any ideas what sort of dynamic range you would like? It's all too easy with nice solid guitars to go "overloud", and ruin the overall track dynamics.
If mine is too far away from the mark, do let me know (I won't be offended!), so I can redo things more in line with what you were thinking.
Cheers,
dB
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06-04-2015, 06:50 AM
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#83
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 21,551
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffsounds
No reason to give up now! Keep going!
Does anybody think I should go beyond Sunday as the deadline? I don't have a problem with it if you guys would like more time.
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I'm enjoying the thread and the mixes and the discussions. Thanks.
Observation: I do think, in the spirit of "community", calling it a "contest" is maybe potentially detrimental to the enjoyment of it. When or if some start to view it as a "competition", it may suck some of the fun out of it.
But I'll add a wee bit more bass to mine based on SammyDix's critique and re-submit.
The interesting thing for you, the person who I suppose will be using some of it, is that you could probably pick and choose the stems you like best from all the mixes. Like... take Sammy's vocals stem (with FX) and take a guitar stem from another guy where you liked his guitars best of all (with FX), and so on, and just build a nice collaborative stem mix from it all... like ... "Hey JoeGuitar666. I like your drums, can you give me that as a stem?"
Last edited by Lawrence; 06-04-2015 at 06:57 AM.
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06-04-2015, 02:48 PM
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#84
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Bob
Hi Jeff,
Yes a little more time would help. I too want to re-balance chorus parts (lead voc can get lost as I said before). I would also want to do some volume automation on various parts to smooth out a few troublesome areas (to my ears of course!).
Does my quick effort sound anything like what you want/expect?
Any ideas what sort of dynamic range you would like? It's all too easy with nice solid guitars to go "overloud", and ruin the overall track dynamics.
If mine is too far away from the mark, do let me know (I won't be offended!), so I can redo things more in line with what you were thinking.
Cheers,
dB
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I'll start by saying that I am NOT a fan of the volume wars, but do whatever YOU would normally do. As for the other, I won't give any tips or hints on "what I am looking for" because that is not the point. I'm more interested in what somebody else would/could do with my tracks. How THEY perceive the song. That is what is important here. In the end, I'll give them all a listen and decide which I like best. Hell, if the participants would like, I could put it up to a vote and everybody could vote for their favorite mix and explain why. But in the end, it will be my decision alone as to which will be used.
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06-04-2015, 02:52 PM
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#85
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lawrence
I'm enjoying the thread and the mixes and the discussions. Thanks.
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It is kind of fun, innit?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lawrence
Observation: I do think, in the spirit of "community", calling it a "contest" is maybe potentially detrimental to the enjoyment of it. When or if some start to view it as a "competition", it may suck some of the fun out of it.
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Probably true, but it IS kind of a competition.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lawrence
But I'll add a wee bit more bass to mine based on SammyDix's critique and re-submit.
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Well, if that's what you think, cool! And if more people would like to critique the mixes, have at it! Just do it in a friendly way, please. No attacks, ok? This is supposed to be FUN!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lawrence
The interesting thing for you, the person who I suppose will be using some of it, is that you could probably pick and choose the stems you like best from all the mixes. Like... take Sammy's vocals stem (with FX) and take a guitar stem from another guy where you liked his guitars best of all (with FX), and so on, and just build a nice collaborative stem mix from it all... like ... "Hey JoeGuitar666. I like your drums, can you give me that as a stem?"
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Hmmm... never thought of that. Interesting concept. I think, though, that I'll probably NOT do that for the end result but maybe just for my own "education?"
Cool idea!
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06-04-2015, 02:56 PM
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#86
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 9,090
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Here ya go. If you want the full-sized higher-res wav, let me know. This is a link for an mp3.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qaeico9m5b...ix%29.mp3?dl=0
I went for a solid and full bodied mix. I also did a quick "level optimization" to make the listening level...errr, more competitive to current standards...lol. I may go back to it and fine tune some vocal and slide guitar automation, but for now it sounds very natural and a bit "live" to my ears. Fun times here!
__________________
The Sounds of the Hear and Now.
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06-04-2015, 03:50 PM
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#87
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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Quote:
Originally Posted by richie43
Here ya go. If you want the full-sized higher-res wav, let me know. This is a link for an mp3.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qaeico9m5b...ix%29.mp3?dl=0
I went for a solid and full bodied mix. I also did a quick "level optimization" to make the listening level...errr, more competitive to current standards...lol. I may go back to it and fine tune some vocal and slide guitar automation, but for now it sounds very natural and a bit "live" to my ears. Fun times here!
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Got it, Richie! Thanks for participating!
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06-04-2015, 05:28 PM
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#88
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 3,015
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffsounds
Got it, thanks for participating! What does AW-Mix mean? Just curious...
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nothing special: AW = AudioWorld = name of my studio
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06-04-2015, 10:21 PM
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#89
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SonicAxiom
nothing special: AW = AudioWorld = name of my studio
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I knew that! <doing Fonzie impression>
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06-04-2015, 11:55 PM
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#90
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Sweden
Posts: 2,195
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lawrence
Observation: I do think, in the spirit of "community", calling it a "contest" is maybe potentially detrimental to the enjoyment of it. When or if some start to view it as a "competition", it may suck some of the fun out of it.
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If it started out as a competition, I wouldn't participate.
Another observation is that it is so much easier to mix well done recordings by great musicians, than my mediocer recordings
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06-05-2015, 04:31 AM
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#91
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Yorkshire, UK
Posts: 2,064
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OK Jeff, thanks for the above - I hear you -
... I will stick my ears into the track again and do what I would for my ideas on this genre of music. (Almost a Dire Straits vibe to it ...)
Nice recordings by the way ...
Cheers,
dB
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06-05-2015, 09:38 AM
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#92
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Kalispell
Posts: 14,745
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffsounds
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tod
Jeff, could I take a stab at programming our drums, the SMDrums?
I sort of doubt they'll sound any better then what you've got, I'd just like to see what I can do with the SMDrums.
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The original drums are from a guy in Montreal, REAL drums and a SUPER talent. He plays all his own instruments but is mainly a drummer.
You can try with the SMDrums but I won't guarantee anything. I'd REALLY like to keep his drums.
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Hi Jeff, I did give it a try. Not really to be any part of a contest, it was just a good challenge. Besides, there are other mixes better than the one I did.
I was really curious to see what the SMDrums would sound like with this song, which I like a lot. I don't think the the SMDrums are any better than what you've got, but they do give it a little different sound and texture.
One of the guitars had a rather bad note on the end which sounded pretty grundgy so I fixed that.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8s...ew?usp=sharing
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06-05-2015, 11:40 AM
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#93
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Kalispell
Posts: 14,745
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SMM
Tod,
It is nice to see that you used SM Drums for the project.
The drum track sounds nice. Very enjoyable. Great job !!!
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Thanks old buddy, I thought they turned out pretty good.
I did a mix with the drums up a bit, they may or may not have been a little weak in the first one.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8s...ew?usp=sharing
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06-05-2015, 03:17 PM
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#94
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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OK, due to popular demand, I'll extend the festivities until NEXT Sunday, June 13, 2015 at midnight Eastern. That should give everybody ample time to tweak, fix and submit new mixes as well as anybody new who may want to join in.
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06-05-2015, 03:44 PM
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#95
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Yorkshire, UK
Posts: 2,064
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Hi Jeff,
Here's a different mix ... done some more balancing - but tried to keep it true to what I would like to hear coming off the stage!
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...he_Drain_2.mp3
Enjoy
Rob.
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06-05-2015, 07:25 PM
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#96
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 5,207
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So Jeff did you want .rpp aswell come the 13th?
I used Pro Q 2 but could replace it with ReaEQ no problem.
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06-05-2015, 09:38 PM
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#97
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Bob
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Got it, Doc! Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fergler
So Jeff did you want .rpp aswell come the 13th?
I used Pro Q 2 but could replace it with ReaEQ no problem.
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No RPP will be necessary, Fergler. In the end I'll just want the 24-bit WAV if possible. Unmastered. But I'll only need that from the 2 mixes that I choose to use.
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06-09-2015, 04:06 AM
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#98
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Yorkshire, UK
Posts: 2,064
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OK Jeff,
This version has the BV's adjusted with track duplications, and panning to give them a wider soundstage (they "seemed" a little to one side of the stereo to my 65 yr *old* ears in my prev mix!)
I might try to get the "talky" vocal at the end a bit clearer. Tricky though without losing the nice punch of those guitars.
Anyways - here's this version
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...he_Drain_3.mp3
Enjoy.
Rob (aka dB)
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06-09-2015, 01:59 PM
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#99
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2015
Location: São Paulo, Brazil
Posts: 189
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Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the files. For the sake of clarity -- as a newbie hobbyist in audio/music -- loading all the stems in a brand new project in REAPER sounded already pretty good mixed to me.
Nonetheless I was particularly interested in the voice stems, as to date I still couldn't ground my own references for recording vocals in my apartment. The main vocal stem had a decent gain (-6dBFS peak) with some leakage and noise in the background (only noticeable when turning up the volume). It was very good to learn how this unwanted pieces of sound were diluted in the whole mix.
I've listened to a few versions of the folks here as well. Liked them all.
Again, I've used these only for my own learning process. Good stuff!
Cheers.
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06-09-2015, 03:06 PM
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#100
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Jerusalem, Israel
Posts: 659
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Hey Jeff, didn't have time to listen to your materials, but reading alone was quite enjoyable. Probably I'll give it a go for my own practice some time later. I'm mostly into classical music recording, so this would be useful, especially since there are other mixes to compare to. Any chance you keep the tracks online after the contest?
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06-09-2015, 09:13 PM
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#101
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Bob
OK Jeff,
This version has the BV's adjusted with track duplications, and panning to give them a wider soundstage (they "seemed" a little to one side of the stereo to my 65 yr *old* ears in my prev mix!)
I might try to get the "talky" vocal at the end a bit clearer. Tricky though without losing the nice punch of those guitars.
Anyways - here's this version
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...he_Drain_3.mp3
Enjoy.
Rob (aka dB)
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Got it, Doc! Thanks!
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06-09-2015, 09:14 PM
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#102
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frkasper
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the files. For the sake of clarity -- as a newbie hobbyist in audio/music -- loading all the stems in a brand new project in REAPER sounded already pretty good mixed to me.
Nonetheless I was particularly interested in the voice stems, as to date I still couldn't ground my own references for recording vocals in my apartment. The main vocal stem had a decent gain (-6dBFS peak) with some leakage and noise in the background (only noticeable when turning up the volume). It was very good to learn how this unwanted pieces of sound were diluted in the whole mix.
I've listened to a few versions of the folks here as well. Liked them all.
Again, I've used these only for my own learning process. Good stuff!
Cheers.
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Glad you like it! Are you going to try a mix?
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06-09-2015, 09:15 PM
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#103
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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Quote:
Originally Posted by innuendo
Hey Jeff, didn't have time to listen to your materials, but reading alone was quite enjoyable. Probably I'll give it a go for my own practice some time later. I'm mostly into classical music recording, so this would be useful, especially since there are other mixes to compare to. Any chance you keep the tracks online after the contest?
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Oh, I don't know... maybe... Sure you can't grab the files now and keep them for later?
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06-10-2015, 12:23 AM
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#104
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Jerusalem, Israel
Posts: 659
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffsounds
Oh, I don't know... maybe... Sure you can't grab the files now and keep them for later?
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Cool, will do, thanks :-)
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06-10-2015, 04:53 AM
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#105
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Yorkshire, UK
Posts: 2,064
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Hey (yet again)
This mix has some kick isolated and boosted into the mix (rather than any drum replacement as I know you did say you'd like to keep the drums if possible).
In the talky section I have volume automated the bass and guitars down a little bit, AND also automated the EQ a little on the voice to take some lower freqs out so it cuts through a bit better (well, I think it does - up to you if you like the slight change of timbre to your voice! The vocal timbre here is already a bit different - did you add that later?).
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...he_Drain_5.mp3
Dynamic Range is now 11 - so not squashed and smashed to the limit!
Enjoy,
Rob.
PS Oh yes, I also added a little tiny weeny bit of metallic flange to the delay vox!
PPS You may also hear a little bit of movement in the slide guitar verbs (subtle, but it seems to work - again of course, to my ears!)
Last edited by Dr Bob; 06-10-2015 at 07:48 AM.
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06-10-2015, 09:22 PM
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#106
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Bob
Hey (yet again)
This mix has some kick isolated and boosted into the mix (rather than any drum replacement as I know you did say you'd like to keep the drums if possible).
In the talky section I have volume automated the bass and guitars down a little bit, AND also automated the EQ a little on the voice to take some lower freqs out so it cuts through a bit better (well, I think it does - up to you if you like the slight change of timbre to your voice! The vocal timbre here is already a bit different - did you add that later?).
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...he_Drain_5.mp3
Dynamic Range is now 11 - so not squashed and smashed to the limit!
Enjoy,
Rob.
PS Oh yes, I also added a little tiny weeny bit of metallic flange to the delay vox!
PPS You may also hear a little bit of movement in the slide guitar verbs (subtle, but it seems to work - again of course, to my ears!)
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Got it, Doc. Thanks! Am I missing one? Not that it matters but I have 1, 2, 3 and 5. Is there a 4 or did you blow right by it?
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06-11-2015, 01:06 PM
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#107
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Yorkshire, UK
Posts: 2,064
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Hey Jeff, no you are not missing it - 4 was sort of an interim render and I was not so happy with the way it finally panned out.
This last one is nearer what I feel happy with - the others are too slammed and not as well balanced etc.
Hoping you are finding my "progression" of mixes interesting ...
Cheers from the old timer,
Rob.
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06-11-2015, 02:31 PM
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#108
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Bob
Hey Jeff, no you are not missing it - 4 was sort of an interim render and I was not so happy with the way it finally panned out.
This last one is nearer what I feel happy with - the others are too slammed and not as well balanced etc.
Hoping you are finding my "progression" of mixes interesting ...
Cheers from the old timer,
Rob.
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Ok, cool! Wanted to make sure. And I am THOROUGHLY enjoying this!!!
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06-12-2015, 03:52 PM
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#109
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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OK, only a few more days left. Everybody got their FINAL mixes in?
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06-12-2015, 09:52 PM
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#110
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Sweden
Posts: 2,195
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There will never be a final mix, always some tweaks to be made
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06-13-2015, 12:38 PM
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#111
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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Quote:
Originally Posted by msundh
There will never be a final mix, always some tweaks to be made
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haha, as I posted elsewhere, Mike Portnoy once said, "Songs are never finished, they are simply abandoned."
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06-14-2015, 08:31 AM
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#112
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 3,015
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you might find this free A/B comparison tool useful to find your favourite version:
http://lacinato.com/cm/software/othersoft/abx
Just load all candidates at once, click on "Start shootout" and then toggle candidates on the fly by clicking on their "play" button. Each time you hit "choose" your favourite track gets another vote. Finally, click "show results" to reveal your favoutite track.
ABX is a great tool to accomplish this kind of shootout and other useful (blind) comparison tasks.
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06-14-2015, 10:45 AM
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#113
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 5,207
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You should also loudness normalize them and choose your favourite at low volume, then take a 2-3 hour break, and choose your favourite at high volume and see if they are the same.
If not that would be the time for some corrective mastering on the favourite between the two mixes to get it to play well at both quiet and loud volumes.
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06-14-2015, 11:04 AM
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#114
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SonicAxiom
you might find this free A/B comparison tool useful to find your favourite version:
http://lacinato.com/cm/software/othersoft/abx
Just load all candidates at once, click on "Start shootout" and then toggle candidates on the fly by clicking on their "play" button. Each time you hit "choose" your favourite track gets another vote. Finally, click "show results" to reveal your favoutite track.
ABX is a great tool to accomplish this kind of shootout and other useful (blind) comparison tasks.
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Cool! I'll check it out. Thanks, Sonic!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fergler
You should also loudness normalize them and choose your favourite at low volume, then take a 2-3 hour break, and choose your favourite at high volume and see if they are the same.
If not that would be the time for some corrective mastering on the favourite between the two mixes to get it to play well at both quiet and loud volumes.
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Great idea, Fergler. Will do.
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06-14-2015, 10:36 PM
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#116
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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OK, submissions are now closed! Thank you to everyone who participated. Give me a few days to listen to them all and I will post back here with the 'winner' and 2nd place.
Again, thank you all! VERY much appreciate your participation!
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06-14-2015, 10:37 PM
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#117
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tod
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Got it, Tod! Thanks!!!!!
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06-15-2015, 09:31 AM
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#118
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Yorkshire, UK
Posts: 2,064
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Jeff,
Would you like a version of my last mix - i.e. mix #5, with the MASTER FX chain switched off apart from the final EQ? No other changes ...
It might help when reviewing/listening given the above comments.
Let me know - it will only take a few minutes to do and post up.
dB
PS It's here if you want/accept it ... really really no changes but dropping the compression and limiting on the masterFX.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...noMasterFX.mp3
Last edited by Dr Bob; 06-15-2015 at 10:00 AM.
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06-22-2015, 09:08 PM
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#119
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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Just to let you all know I'm having a devil of a time trying to choose! I have narrowed it down to 5 that I like most but trying to narrow that down is not easy!
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06-23-2015, 04:09 AM
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#120
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Yorkshire, UK
Posts: 2,064
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Keep at it! You have the most difficult task compared to those of us who dropped things on you!
Looking forward to hearing the top mix - well the one which satisfies your ears (and feelings) the best.
I can only imagine what it must be like when you send off a track to be mastered by a "guru" and it comes back crap (to your ears) - what do you say??? I'm sure it happens.
Keep enjoying ...
dB
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