Rescue Me - My best - Updated

[Mixinthecloud]

Well this had some challenges; lots of leakage which had to be incorporated into the sound of the mix and an odd electric guitar sound. While a challenge, it certainly lent lots of character to the piece.

Here is my first real pass. Please let me know what you think.

Enjoy...
MITC

Amy Helm - Rescue Me - Take 4
11/17/2017

I have commented previously and vehemently about my disdain for the guitar part in this piece, but it is I who needed to come to peace with this. Kind of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em", kind of thing. I had stated in another thread that with all the leakage in this recording there was a glaring omission, that being the bass guitar. Since it was only a DI you had no ambience info for the bass. So you either had to clean up the existing ambience to match the bass (an impracticality) or put the bass in an environment that matches or enhances what the rest of the ensemble is in. But then you have the guitar. So after making this statement it dawned on me that (doink) the only way to present the guitar is to take everything towards the environment it has printed to it. It is the delivery boy of this song and you cannot fight it. And this is the result.

I thank everyone for their patience at my venting in your threads. This piece has created a lively discussion and I am grateful for the opportunity to participate.

Happy mixing,
MITC

Oops. Uploaded the wrong version. fixed now...MITC.

Amy Helm - Rescue Me - Take 5
11/20/2017

Tightened the low end and integrated the guitar better. Cleaned up the vocals by sculpting the mid-side presentation of them and shortened the vocal decay. Refined the mandolin. Considering the mando needs to hold it's own against the enormity of the guitar, I tried hard to get it beefy and dreamy. For me the mando participates significantly in the completion of the melodic phrases of the verse.


Note: The primary reverberant effect throughout the song is the leakage into the vocal mics by the ensemble. The vocals are sub-group by lead and backing and then buss'd together. An in-line IR reverb of a medium hall with stage was used on the overall vocal buss. The mandolin has a dedicated in-line plate in its stereo buss, using only the DI track. There is an FX send for the guitar and one for the bass each going to dedicated reverbs. Spent a good amount of time on the mastering opting for headroom as opposed to shear volume.

I hope this improvement is worthy of comment.

Thanks, MITC