Bash, I beg you: Head In The Sand

Thank you Patrick

Thanks Adrian! Above and beyond the call once againā€¦ really helps to make that direct comparison.

Firing up Mixcraftā€¦!

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Definitely more clarity in your version AJ but I find it too bright, almost harsh. Whatever mud youā€™ve removed, I think you went too farā€¦ I miss some now. :laughing:
I think it would suit this song better to be more gritty and even (:flushed:) have a healthy dose of mudā€¦

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I think this is an artifact of Adrian having only the rendered mp3 to work with. Iā€™m sure after I have a go at it, there wonā€™t be that much bright/harsh in it, having control over all the elements in a way that isnā€™t possible with just the 2-track.

Still very useful to illustrate the point. :slight_smile:

I love your new versionā€™s vocals Dave, great improvement there, much more convincing! :beerbang:

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Thank you sir! Although I didnā€™t go get into a bar fight, I did read the news for about half an hour first, and that sure raised my gorgeā€¦! :fearful:

Itā€™s just the limiter accentuating the top end Patrick, Iā€™ve actually taken some 2kHz out. The main thing is the mud.

Also Dave, Iā€™ve sussed what Iā€™m hearing on the snare - thereā€™s too much 4kHz fizz after the initial thwack - which actually sounds ok. Itā€™s ok in the first couole of bars when the snare is exposed, but with the rest of the instrumentation all you can really hear is the fizz.

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Still, I wonā€™t go too far in the other direction, keep it gritty and real! At least thatā€™s how I like to hear itā€¦ most likely a taste related thing at this point.

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Thanks guys!!

You know, this reminds me of some times when I was a grad student, giving science presentations to the department. The best thing ever was to get two of the profs debating one another over some point I was trying to make. Half the time theyā€™d end up going down some rabbit hole and completely forget about whatever it was they were critiquing me aboutā€¦! :laughing:

Itā€™s also possibly just me liking everything dark nowadays. A mood thing?
ATM I hear everything being too airy and bright and I find it fatiguing.
I think I hate some modern mixes for this, what theyā€™ve perhaps gained in clarity, theyā€™ve lost in roundness (I donā€™t dare using the w@rm word yet!)

Aw cā€™mon man, you can do it! Warm warm warm warm warm warm warm warm warm. Warrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrm.

Do it. You know you want to. :grinning:

OK, V4 now in the OP. I have had a go at some EQ in the low and low-mid area across the proverbial board. Examined all elements, and the worst offenders for unwanted (as opposed to wanted-- @ptalbot ) mud were in the reverb and slapback sends, as it turns out. Each element got some adjustment in those areas but those were where the biggest improvements came IMO.

I think Iā€™ve hit a happy medium between reducing mud and not having it come out overly bright. After doing some EQ cuts I was able to raise levels on some things too, and in a/b this new mix does sound a lot better to me. I havenā€™t induced as much in the sub range and @AJ113 did with his stab at the 2-track, but itā€™s better than in V3, which I have to admit was a bit anemic there.

And I did nothing at all to the snare here, because I suspect from Adrianā€™s comments that improving the other elements of the mix would have a positive follow-on effect for that, as is often the case. So do please pipe up if it still needs some attention. It sounds good to me, but of courseā€¦ :nerd:

Thanks again guys, sure is great to have all yā€™all in here bashing my stuff! :vulcan: :ok_hand:

Canā€™t see it in the OP Dave.

Hi!

Cool song! Got a coiple of comments (V4)

I feel the drums and instruments are out of synch sometimes (mostly at the beginning)
The drums can be a bit louder and the snare more spacey or wider (taste thing)
The solo could be a bit louder.I miss having it up front.

Nice job!

/Lukas

What about now Adrian? I see it and it plays, and clearly Lukas could too given his comments on V4 a short while agoā€¦ perhaps it was a browser-refresh thing. Lemme know if you still have issuesā€¦

@ProudMusicStudios Lukas, thanks for the bash! I know itā€™s a long thread and you may not have read all 50+ comments, but that ā€œloosenessā€ in the feel is very deliberate, part of the vibe Iā€™m trying to get across. It was even rougher at the beginning in the first two versions, and I tidied it up some already.

Snare and lead sounds are in the taste zone, youā€™re right about thatā€¦ I do want to see what Adrian (AJ) has to say about V4 because he had some snare-specific comments on V3. On the lead, itā€™s already pretty piercing as is (in fact I have backed that off too from initial versions, again it was even more pronounced before), so I donā€™t think I want it to be any more prominentā€¦

Cheers! :beers:

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V4 sounds pretty good to me. I think youā€™ve found the goldilocks zone between muddy and overly bright.
Good job! :slight_smile:

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[quote=ā€œChordwainer, post:1, topic:655ā€]
As always, thanks for listening!
[/quote]I see three versions:

As always, thanks for listening!

V2 addressing some comments from @rjwillow Rich and @venuestudios Kent and @Jon-Jon .

V3: retracked vocal, timing fixes, high-freq eq changes.

Thatā€™s weird. I definitely see 4 versions, like this:

Sometimes music player acts funny with mozilla.

I am listening on laptop, so maybe not the most reliable criticism, but one thing i can say with certainity: V4 mix has made a big leap forward since V1. Good song, and well performed!

@AJ113 Adrian, I am at a lossā€¦ nobody else seems to be having any probs, so I can only surmise it is on your end for some weird reason. Have you tried a different browser to see if you get the same results? I wish I could help!

Meanwhile, here is a link to version 4 on my Mediafire account (which also generates an inline player on this site, kinda nifty), maybe that will work for you:

Thank you @Arber87!

Yay! Glad you think so Patrick. :hibiscus:

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