07-02-2019, 03:02 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-02-2019, 03:37 PM by Mixinthecloud.)
Good on ya, everyone.
I wonder if this song was ever in consideration for the theme to a TV show?
Sometimes the apparent simplicity of a song can be a trap. The simpler something is the easier it is to screw it up. Finding nuance in something like this can be a real boondoggle and I got caught in the trap.
Doing my normal discovery typically reveals stereo placements and other truths and lies, which I usually follow for coherency. I bucked what I heard for the spread of the horns and put the bari up the middle instead of the discovered placement on the left (stage right). I did this because of the power of the instrument. A minor change but significant. Another thing I typically do, especially when there are multiple mics on kicks, snares and guitars is go in and time-align those sources. Interestingly, that appears to have already been done. This allowed me to pan the guitar mics full left and right without them causing issues in mono. The percussion also was pan-able which gave them bounce, movement and ambience. The amount of native reverb on the guitar was a defining factor for a good portion of the over-all balance and subsequent reverb additions.
The leakage of instruments across the board was widespread. However, most of it was very pleasing and added ambience. My first mixes had very little added reverb owing to this. Of course there was the existing chamber and room mics which were used extensively in this mix. Eventually, I did end up adding reverb to drums and horns to help balance the sound field out. My biggest issue was a sometimes sloppy-footed drummer which made the last break a nightmare to get sounding solid. I used a lot more compression than I normally do on just about everything, especially the kick drum which has compression on each mike and compression on the kick buss. Extensive EQ was also used on the kicks, similarly. The outside mic was used primarily for click with a very high high-pass filter on it. It was otherwise way too floppy sounding. One of the discoveries from the room mics and leakage was the nature of the kick drum sound. It had a very heavy mid-range click to it.
I found it difficult to breathe a lot of excitement into this arrangement. It is solid and steady and powerful with little flare so getting it to spark was a chore. I'm not sure I quite got there, but this is what I've got so far. There is not much automation currently but for the guitar solo. More may be necessary to find more nuance from this very solid band and good recording of them.
Your ears and input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
mITc
PS.: I read Mike's notes regarding the trombone track. Many mixers did not. Oddly enough, the offset of the trombone offers an interesting call and response to the horn section even though you can clearly hear the issue when solo'd.
I wonder if this song was ever in consideration for the theme to a TV show?
Sometimes the apparent simplicity of a song can be a trap. The simpler something is the easier it is to screw it up. Finding nuance in something like this can be a real boondoggle and I got caught in the trap.
Doing my normal discovery typically reveals stereo placements and other truths and lies, which I usually follow for coherency. I bucked what I heard for the spread of the horns and put the bari up the middle instead of the discovered placement on the left (stage right). I did this because of the power of the instrument. A minor change but significant. Another thing I typically do, especially when there are multiple mics on kicks, snares and guitars is go in and time-align those sources. Interestingly, that appears to have already been done. This allowed me to pan the guitar mics full left and right without them causing issues in mono. The percussion also was pan-able which gave them bounce, movement and ambience. The amount of native reverb on the guitar was a defining factor for a good portion of the over-all balance and subsequent reverb additions.
The leakage of instruments across the board was widespread. However, most of it was very pleasing and added ambience. My first mixes had very little added reverb owing to this. Of course there was the existing chamber and room mics which were used extensively in this mix. Eventually, I did end up adding reverb to drums and horns to help balance the sound field out. My biggest issue was a sometimes sloppy-footed drummer which made the last break a nightmare to get sounding solid. I used a lot more compression than I normally do on just about everything, especially the kick drum which has compression on each mike and compression on the kick buss. Extensive EQ was also used on the kicks, similarly. The outside mic was used primarily for click with a very high high-pass filter on it. It was otherwise way too floppy sounding. One of the discoveries from the room mics and leakage was the nature of the kick drum sound. It had a very heavy mid-range click to it.
I found it difficult to breathe a lot of excitement into this arrangement. It is solid and steady and powerful with little flare so getting it to spark was a chore. I'm not sure I quite got there, but this is what I've got so far. There is not much automation currently but for the guitar solo. More may be necessary to find more nuance from this very solid band and good recording of them.
Your ears and input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
mITc
PS.: I read Mike's notes regarding the trombone track. Many mixers did not. Oddly enough, the offset of the trombone offers an interesting call and response to the horn section even though you can clearly hear the issue when solo'd.
PreSonus Studio One DAW
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