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Tom McKenzie - Directions (Robert's Mix)
#1
Another really enjoyable mix. This one came together pretty quickly and I'll re-visit to refine this one in due course. All coments most welcome.


.mp3    Directions (Robert\'s Mix).mp3 --  (Download: 6.55 MB)


.mp3    Directions (Robert\'s 2nd mix).mp3 --  (Download: 6.56 MB)


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#2
(24-03-2013, 05:58 AM)Robert Wrote: Another really enjoyable mix. This one came together pretty quickly and I'll re-visit to refine this one in due course. All coments most welcome.

Blimey -- that was quick! Smile
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#3
Yes it was pretty quick :o) You know what it's like, Mike..... before you realise it, the hours have flown by and the mix is basically done. The tracks were pretty good and I think that should help the less experienced guys / girls get the soundbalance sorted out fairly quickly. Did you see a slight DC offset on any of the tracks, btw ?
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#4
Hi Robert

I really like the subtle ambiance you have on the guitar and vocals at the start of the song. What did you use as your effect?
(I haven't grabbed the multitracks yet so it could all be from a room mic for all I know) Wink

Not sure what is happening at 1:24 to 1:40 or so (and again at 2:20 to 2:37) but there's another bassy instrument that kicks in which seems to clutter up the low end of things a little bit. Could just be my headphones but the low end in these sections seems to overpower the otherwise very nice blend of instruments you have created!

Dags

So many songs, so little time!
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#5
(24-03-2013, 08:56 PM)Robert Wrote: The tracks were pretty good and I think that should help the less experience guys / girls get the soundbalance sorted out fairly quickly.

Agreed.

Quote:Did you see a slight DC offset on any of the tracks, btw ?

It's not something I spotted directly, given that I usually high-pass-filter most things as a matter of course. Which tracks is it on?

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#6
(24-03-2013, 10:57 PM)Dags Wrote: Hi Robert

I really like the subtle ambiance you have on the guitar and vocals at the start of the song. What did you use as your effect?
(I haven't grabbed the multitracks yet so it could all be from a room mic for all I know) Wink

Not sure what is happening at 1:24 to 1:40 or so (and again at 2:20 to 2:37) but there's another bassy instrument that kicks in which seems to clutter up the low end of things a little bit. Could just be my headphones but the low end in these sections seems to overpower the otherwise very nice blend of instruments you have created!

Dags

Thanks, Dags. I'll take another look at what's happening at 1:24 to 1:40 and 2:20 to 2:37. I've probably goofed something somewhere. Do me a favour and download the mix to see if it plays back better that way. I tend to do that now because I prefer not to make any judgements from listening to the streamed playback.

Starting with standard 7 band EQ; I followed that on all acoustic guitars with EMI RS124 compressor (Abbey Road Plugins) on Gtrs 1 & 2 and the EMI TG12413 compressor (Abbey Road Plugins) on Gtrs 3 & 4 and 5 & 6. The compression is very gentle just to get a bit colour. There's no reverb on the acoustic guitars. The vocal chain is UA Precision de-esser followed by EQ - followed by UA LA2 compression. The vocal reverb is the UA's EMT 250 I'm running Pro Tools and using the UAD2 platform.

I'll come back with my findings on the problems you spotted. Thanks again Smile

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#7
(25-03-2013, 08:04 AM)Mike Senior Wrote:
(24-03-2013, 08:56 PM)Robert Wrote: The tracks were pretty good and I think that should help the less experience guys / girls get the soundbalance sorted out fairly quickly.

Agreed.

Quote:Did you see a slight DC offset on any of the tracks, btw ?

It's not something I spotted directly, given that I usually high-pass-filter most things as a matter of course. Which tracks is it on?

Hi, Mike.

I see just a smidge on the lead vocal track (going slightly more +ve) and again on the shakers track. Not sure if this is just a Pro Tools conversion thing. I'll take a look at the "raw" tracks prior to importing. Should be interesting.
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#8
(25-03-2013, 10:07 AM)Robert Wrote: Do me a favour and download the mix to see if it plays back better that way. I tend to do that now because I prefer not to make any judgements from listening to the streamed playback.
Yep - its still there. It sounds like a guitar playing the same notes as the bass only an octave higher. It could be that the bass plays up the register for so much of the song then drops down for the chorus part which then gets added to by that guitar which suddenly changes the frequency balance of the song for those parts. There's probably not much that can be done as it's an arrangement choice by the band.

Quote:Starting with standard 7 band EQ; I followed that on all acoustic guitars with EMI RS124 compressor (Abbey Road Plugins) on Gtrs 1 & 2 and the EMI TG12413 compressor (Abbey Road Plugins) on Gtrs 3 & 4 and 5 & 6. The compression is very gentle just to get a bit colour. There's no reverb on the acoustic guitars. The vocal chain is UA Precision de-esser followed by EQ - followed by UA LA2 compression. The vocal reverb is the UA's EMT 250 I'm running Pro Tools and using the UAD2 platform.

[insert 'cry' emoticon here]
So many lovely plugins. I'm using Logic's stock ones and a couple of low end Waves plugs I bought two or three years ago. *sigh*
Anyone want to buy a kidney?

Dags
So many songs, so little time!
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#9
(25-03-2013, 10:58 AM)Dags Wrote: So many lovely plugins. I'm using Logic's stock ones and a couple of low end Waves plugs I bought two or three years ago. *sigh*

There are impulse responses of the UAD 140 and 250 plug-ins available for free from Echochamber. There's a link to that site (and a bunch of other decent reverb freeware) here. The freeware Sonimus SonEQ plug-in's lovely-sounding too (amongst the links here). There are plenty of affordable 'character' compressors as well, such as the ones from Stillwell/Schwa and Eareckon.

In short, the UAD stuff is lovely, but I wouldn't get too down in the mouth without it, as plenty of joy to be had with less pricey native stuff.
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#10
Absolutely right what Mike's saying, Dags. Even if you're on a budget, you can achieve lots with free plugins. It's just a matter of taking your time and figuring out which ones deliver the results your after. There really are some gems out there. Mikes list is a great place to start.
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