Phil O'Keefe Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 I'd welcome your feedback. Do they sound overly bright to anyone? Too much bass? I'm pretty happy with the mixes when I listen to them here, but I think myspace may be changing their sonics a bit.. also, MP3 conversion, even using a LAME algorithm, isn't ideal either IMHO... Anyway, check it out if you have a few spare minutes. The artist's name is Tony Baby (yes, that's his real name). Lots of effects useage on the tracks - my pedalboards, rack gear, plug-ins - all were used. www.myspace.com/soundsanctuaryrecordingstudio The studio's myspace page has never really been finished... gotta get around to that one of these days. If you'd like to add me, please feel free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PKO Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 Sound's great over my pc speakers.Is this your first PTHD2 mix? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members linwood Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 The mixes sound ok, but....on that second chord...one guy is playing a E triad, the bass is playing the third in the bass, another gtr is doing a Ab triad arp and the E against the Eb bugs me. Then when the vocal comes in, on the chord in question, he sings an A natural against a Ab triad. All that bugs me. He could fix that by putting in a 7th on the Ab. like... LH Ab Gb RH C Eb A(Bbb) or change the chord to a Cdim or something, but the A natural against an Ab triad blows it for me. Now explain that to the artist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PKO Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 The mixes sound ok, but....on that second chord...one guy is playing a E triad, the bass is playing the third in the bass, another gtr is doing a Ab triad arp and the E against the Eb bugs me. Then when the vocal comes in, on the chord in question, he sings an A natural against a Ab triad. All that bugs me. He could fix that by putting in a 7th on the Ab. like... LH Ab Gb RH C Eb A(Bbb) or change the chord to a Cdim or something, but the A natural against an Ab triad blows it for me. Now explain that to the artist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members linwood Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 Well, for me, that's a problem in the mix. Not trying to be difficult, just something I would have tried to have had changed. Of course some will say I'm wrong, others will agree. No biggie, but that's what I hear. maybe I should have said, having the tones in the mix (starting below mid c) E Ab A B C Eb E all hit at the same time, clouds up the middle to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mejondrum Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 Mix sounds good on my pc set up here Phil. I'll check it out in my studio tomorrow. I like the guitar textures and treatments a lot. I personally like the vocal/guitar rubs that are happening in the melodies/chords but then again I love bands like Doves, Rilo Kiley, Red House Painters, Dead Can Dance, and Elliott Smith who all embrace dissonance... okay great job! Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alphajerk Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 not enough deep bass IMO, but i like the THUMP on the kick. bass could use a BIT more definition. guitars sound good. i would play with the "room" on the drums between sections bringing it in and out between parts. maybe with the vox too... there might be a little too much TOP... maybe a multiband on it. though not much that couldnt be sweetened in mastering if needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted January 8, 2008 Moderators Share Posted January 8, 2008 First off... I really dig this. Nice Brian Wilson influences in the vocal arrangement. Nice Maj 7th (?!?!) with a distorted guitar and getting away with it. It's really cool. The loud guitar though... as much as I love the sound, the ideas and performance, is too loud. It's stepping on the vocal and that vocal to me is the star. I think by pulling it back even 3 dB, you're going to open the whole thing up. This guy is a little different and I think you want to hear that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bighud Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 The mixes sound ok, but....on that second chord...one guy is playing a E triad, the bass is playing the third in the bass, another gtr is doing a Ab triad arp and the E against the Eb bugs me. Then when the vocal comes in, on the chord in question, he sings an A natural against a Ab triad. All that bugs me. He could fix that by putting in a 7th on the Ab. like...LH Ab Gb RH C Eb A(Bbb) or change the chord to a Cdim or something, but the A natural against an Ab triad blows it for me. Now explain that to the artist. I hear it. I actually would change the melody over the overall harmony. I feel that the harmony is stronger in context tot he progression than the progression melody. I like the guitar kinda loud like that. It is overpowering or anything so it comes to taste. I think the louder guitar balances out the vocals quite well. I have always been a fan of those who can create a vocal that can be slightly buried(not the loudest in the mix) and still cut through with precision. I think this is a classic example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members leftystratman Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 I would bring the individual snare and toms tracks up and more towards center. right now, the drums sound a little too scattered. I don't think it's trebly, but I would add slight compression to the overheads and lower the level a bit. I really like how the guitar and vox levels are very close, but spacially they seem a little too close. have you thought of adding another similar guitar track and spread them left and right? or offset the guitar a little and add delay on the other side? over all, the mix is really warm yet transparent! great job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mejondrum Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 I would bring the individual snare and toms tracks up and more towards center. right now, the drums sound a little too scattered. I thought it was just my ears. I'm in my studio now, and switching to mono shows how evident the balance is, unless of course, the intention is to spread the drums to the right. Speaking of drums, they stand out a bit too much to me with the almost staccato linear performance approach, spikey snare, and the small cymbals. This isn't really a mix issue to me, and is more about production and performance qualities. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gearmike Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 Second song is definetely much better than the first. Sounds much more more finished, the drums on the first song make it sound like a demo. I can hear too much individuality in the kit, it doesn't sound like a cohesive instrument...too much detail on the hat, the snare doesn't sound as "finished" as the one in the second song. I like that second song, I'm gonna listen to it again... Great vocal sounds... Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Keithrt99 Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 it's hard to judge myspace, but from what i can tell it sounds pretty good to me. the songs aren't bad either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cirrus Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 I love the songs, will definitely add this to my friends list I don't really like going into minutea (sp) with mixes which are this good, because frankly It'll be a long time before I get to this stage! That being said... I'm going through a bit of a phase at the moment of trying to cut back on the volume of cymbals in my mixes, and especially the Hi-hat to me sounds a bit too loud and also for my tastes thick sounding. Did you close mic it? can you tell I'm a drummer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted January 9, 2008 Author Share Posted January 9, 2008 Nope - no close mike on the hat - no hat mic at all. The hat is from the overheads, room mic and bleed into the snare mic. I tend to like "thicker" sounding hats than a lot of people. I hate really thin, twizzy hats most of the time. OTOH, I hate "too much" cymbals and hats too. A lot of time, that's more the drummer's issue to control than the engineer's. We can do some things to cut it back, but if the drummer kills the brass and gently taps the skins (not really so much the case here, but a very, very common problem, especially with drummers with less experience in the studio), it's going to be an issue on the tracks forever... Second song is definetely much better than the first. I agree. There was also about 5X more work put into the second song (by me) than the first. Originally, everyone was really happy with the way the first one was turning out, but less so on the second. I told the artist I thought I could improve it and bring it up to at least the level of quality of the first one, and he agreed to let me have at it. The drums were the same kit, same drummer, signal paths and everything else - recorded on the same day. The differences are in the mixes, and in the edits and processing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gearmike Posted January 9, 2008 Members Share Posted January 9, 2008 Second song is definetely much better than the first. I agree. There was also about 5X more work put into the second song (by me) than the first. Originally, everyone was really happy with the way the first one was turning out, but less so on the second. I told the artist I thought I could improve it and bring it up to at least the level of quality of the first one, and he agreed to let me have at it. The drums were the same kit, same drummer, signal paths and everything else - recorded on the same day. The differences are in the mixes, and in the edits and processing... Yeah, I can definetly hear that difference. the first soung sounds like a great demo...you get a good feel for the song and the playing and everything, but it doesn't sound "Radio-Ready." The second song sounds polished and ready for airplay, if there's still a market for music not made for 13 year old girls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members elsongs Posted January 9, 2008 Members Share Posted January 9, 2008 The drums sound too squashed. They should have a little more punch for my tastes. The guitars sound nicely spread out though in the 2nd song the main guitar is a bit too loud in the mix, the vocals sound a bit buried. And is it just me or does the singer have a bit of a Morrissey-esque ring to it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members claffman Posted January 9, 2008 Members Share Posted January 9, 2008 I don't know how to answer this. It's missing the high end. It doesn't sound live. Or even life like. The sound quality, not the performance. It may be my sound card or head phones. It's missing the "in the room thing." Just my two pennies. I always want to try to be construtive with comments. That media is missing something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted January 9, 2008 Author Share Posted January 9, 2008 I'll see if I can get permission to U/L the actual MP3's I did to my ftp server from Tony so you can hear it "sans myspace". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Synonym Music Posted January 9, 2008 Members Share Posted January 9, 2008 Hmm. Seems the second song has more spatial depth; i.e. a nice drum plate, delayed BG vox, more guitars swimming in the mix. That's the biggest difference I can hear. The rest of these suggestions seem much more contextual to me. Different songs, different mixes; no surprise there! Compositionally I like these... If he has about three more good ones I'd consider buying the album. Do you know when it will be finished? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members birdyyellow Posted January 9, 2008 Members Share Posted January 9, 2008 hey phil great job. listening on berydynamic dt-770s the guitars sound too loud for me, like way to loud to me. the electric parts almost bury the cleaner guitars, but then again it might just be myspace and what it does to the bass which might relate to the guitars. this is for the first song by the way. the second song's guitars seem like the right level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Davepch Posted January 10, 2008 Members Share Posted January 10, 2008 hi, i'm only listening on a pair of crappy yamaha pc speakers (yst-m101), which is what i listen to all "myspace" stuff on and relatively speaking the mix sounds as good as anything else (and better than most) i've heard there. great job, still a ways to go before i reach that standard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitwizz Posted January 22, 2008 Members Share Posted January 22, 2008 I have noticed as of recent, that myspace seems to have some type of compression/level booster thing going on. I have noticed this when u/l-ing files of mine that I know pretty well on 2 systems, and they seem to hammer harder on myspace. Maybe its just my old ears? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted January 22, 2008 Author Share Posted January 22, 2008 I have noticed as of recent, that myspace seems to have some type of compression/level booster thing going on. I have noticed this when u/l-ing files of mine that I know pretty well on 2 systems, and they seem to hammer harder on myspace. Maybe its just my old ears? I don't think so... there definitely seems to be some compression of some sort, or some "leveling" going on... not to mention it sounds like 64 kbps. It's definitely not high fidelity - even by MP3 "standards". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Marshall Jeffer Posted January 22, 2008 Members Share Posted January 22, 2008 Phil, Myspace muddys up mixes horribly, I hope you're wearing a rubber suit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.