Many thanks for the comments:
What I really liked about this track is that it asks a number of questions up front: on the arrangement (to leave intact, as I did, or to move parts around, as others have done very effectively); how acoustic vs. electric to make it; and what genre to aim for. It leaves open options to mix for country, rock or a more acoustic feel.
I usually take my lead from the content of the lyrics. In this case, my feeling was that the vocal sets the mood, and it's not a "polite" song. I particularly liked the call-and-response aspect to the backing vocals—hence why I consider them a co-lead.
I use the vocal treatments to suggest something more to the country & western side of the house (there’s a fair bit of automation there both in, and out, of the distortion chain to get the right phrases to hit), but then there is the question of what do do about the band...
I went more for a “sum of all parts” rather than highlighting any one instrument too much: so it’s more vocal + band, as distinct to vocal + drums + bass + guitars + banjo + rhodes. There’s no question that is a stylistic choice, but it does track a little back to the chosen genre — where vocal (with a fair bit of plate reverbs and tape slap) have historically dominated the sound, then the band builds in the color behind. (The exception, perhaps, the rather obvious acoustic strums and the chorus electric -- #3 from memory -- that does create a bit of chaos with the ping-pong delay.)
A few technical notes:
a) There’s a fair amount of reverb in there, but it’s probably more the length of the pre-delays and timing (it’s not 1/4 or 1/8 synced) that’s creating the sense of a “wet mix". I was looking for the 15ips tape slap feel, with some vintage plates, and even longer pre-delays sitting in mono on certain things (most notably the lead vocal).
b) There’s a distorted copy of Guitar 1 placed behind the verses (with an excessive amount of sustain). No question this dirties up the mix, and slightly defocuses the soundstage. However, that’s by design. Might be that, more than reverb or delays, which gives the feel of a slightly cluttered (or, as I would say, dirty) mix.
My hope was to split this across three different genres: Western, Alt Country and Rock; in a way that shouldn’t be too offensive to a listener from any of the three. But perhaps challenge a few assumptions in each case. (One of the recent great mixes, from a different genre, was "Uptown Funk" which, although entirely modern in mix styles/tastes, still manages to convey its roots.)
Noted the comment on the vocals (I consider it as two leads, rather than lead and BV). In my case, I tend to hear them more as “above and below”. (Some, like me, tend to hear higher frequencies as more of an arch, so cymbals are higher than, say, kick drum; for others, I understand it’s all on the one X plane).
I also wondered a bit about the drums and base, and how punchy to make those. Tried a few approaches, but settled on having those a little more muted and letting the bass speak. Otherwise, it rather clearly crossed the line to rock-n’-roll rather than country (to my ears at least).
I do like that some of the decisions on depth placement (for example the acoustic strums forward of the vocal) came through—although, I defer to others on whether they are good or bad decisions, arrangement-wise—but, it’s nice to see that the EQ/delay/reverb placements were convincing as to where the instruments sat!
I very much like a number of the other mixes. Dangerous' one in particular.
It has been great both to tackle this track and to see the variety of treatments and approaches.
My thanks to Mike/Joe for arranging this, and of course, to Diesel13 for the most important part.
Cheers, Jeff
What I really liked about this track is that it asks a number of questions up front: on the arrangement (to leave intact, as I did, or to move parts around, as others have done very effectively); how acoustic vs. electric to make it; and what genre to aim for. It leaves open options to mix for country, rock or a more acoustic feel.
I usually take my lead from the content of the lyrics. In this case, my feeling was that the vocal sets the mood, and it's not a "polite" song. I particularly liked the call-and-response aspect to the backing vocals—hence why I consider them a co-lead.
I use the vocal treatments to suggest something more to the country & western side of the house (there’s a fair bit of automation there both in, and out, of the distortion chain to get the right phrases to hit), but then there is the question of what do do about the band...
I went more for a “sum of all parts” rather than highlighting any one instrument too much: so it’s more vocal + band, as distinct to vocal + drums + bass + guitars + banjo + rhodes. There’s no question that is a stylistic choice, but it does track a little back to the chosen genre — where vocal (with a fair bit of plate reverbs and tape slap) have historically dominated the sound, then the band builds in the color behind. (The exception, perhaps, the rather obvious acoustic strums and the chorus electric -- #3 from memory -- that does create a bit of chaos with the ping-pong delay.)
A few technical notes:
a) There’s a fair amount of reverb in there, but it’s probably more the length of the pre-delays and timing (it’s not 1/4 or 1/8 synced) that’s creating the sense of a “wet mix". I was looking for the 15ips tape slap feel, with some vintage plates, and even longer pre-delays sitting in mono on certain things (most notably the lead vocal).
b) There’s a distorted copy of Guitar 1 placed behind the verses (with an excessive amount of sustain). No question this dirties up the mix, and slightly defocuses the soundstage. However, that’s by design. Might be that, more than reverb or delays, which gives the feel of a slightly cluttered (or, as I would say, dirty) mix.
My hope was to split this across three different genres: Western, Alt Country and Rock; in a way that shouldn’t be too offensive to a listener from any of the three. But perhaps challenge a few assumptions in each case. (One of the recent great mixes, from a different genre, was "Uptown Funk" which, although entirely modern in mix styles/tastes, still manages to convey its roots.)
Noted the comment on the vocals (I consider it as two leads, rather than lead and BV). In my case, I tend to hear them more as “above and below”. (Some, like me, tend to hear higher frequencies as more of an arch, so cymbals are higher than, say, kick drum; for others, I understand it’s all on the one X plane).
I also wondered a bit about the drums and base, and how punchy to make those. Tried a few approaches, but settled on having those a little more muted and letting the bass speak. Otherwise, it rather clearly crossed the line to rock-n’-roll rather than country (to my ears at least).
I do like that some of the decisions on depth placement (for example the acoustic strums forward of the vocal) came through—although, I defer to others on whether they are good or bad decisions, arrangement-wise—but, it’s nice to see that the EQ/delay/reverb placements were convincing as to where the instruments sat!
I very much like a number of the other mixes. Dangerous' one in particular.
It has been great both to tackle this track and to see the variety of treatments and approaches.
My thanks to Mike/Joe for arranging this, and of course, to Diesel13 for the most important part.
Cheers, Jeff
All sound is a distortion of silence / soundcloud.com/jeffd42