Hop Along With Kane - Guru - New and Updated

[Mixinthecloud]

This is a fun one. A great groove with some great players recorded well makes this a pretty easy get for a straight-up blues, funk boogie. At least, that's what I'm telling myself.

Did some mid-side processing on the drum buss with no environment on them other than the room and over heads. Added some presence delay on the vocals which then fed a medium hall room reverb with plenty of early reflections. This same reverb had some direct feeds from the bass and keys. Very little EQ was needed on most tracks but for some slight sweetening and added presence on the guitars. The bass buss was pretty heavily compressed using a Klanghelm simple compressor. Individual vocals had some mid-band de-essing and modest compression sent to a buss with some more compression to enhance dynamics. No two-buss compression was used in the making of this mix. Mastering was through an Presonus stock Pro EQ to hold on to as much energy as possible and then passed through the Waves Abbey Road TG Mastering Chain. Gain was added here as well as with the final stock PreSonus limiter. Final LUFS was 13.5. there's plenty of room to crank this up.

West End Blend - Kane Guru - Mix 3
Well with some prodding from listeners and in an effort to find more excitement as this great groove machine churns forward, I've done some punching up and some tuning up to slake the excitement junkies out there. Not sure this will find a following but it is what has become. Enjoy.

West End Blend - Kane Guru - Mix 4
I went a little crazy (for me) on this approach.
Reintroduced the horns through the entire arrangement; split, boosted and effected the keys for better control of the voicings and panning in verses and choruses; added more automation. Kept and improved the artificial whole step modulation, re-voiced the drums and re-gained the busses to the two bus and added a buss compressor. Final levels are -15.5 LUFS. Crank it up! Sounds great LOUD.

I hope you enjoy this. Feedback is greatly cherished and very welcome. I look forward to listening to many other mixes.

Thanks,
mITc

[javierpg84]

Nicely balanced, punchy on the dry side (like funky music has been always). Great drum sound and wide mix. Really good. I will put some saturation or bring lead vocal just a notch up to thick it up. great job.

[Mixinthecloud]

Nicely balanced, punchy on the dry side (like funky music has been always). Great drum sound and wide mix. Really good. I will put some saturation or bring lead vocal just a notch up to thick it up. great job.

Cool. Thanks.

[Roy]

It sounds good and it is well balanced as javier said. Though I'll say it feels a little restrained. Maybe it's from bus compression. I'm not sure. It just strikes me as an odd song and the mix isn't reflecting that. It's technically very good and professional but it's too 'safe' and doesn't full support the irreverence of the lyrics. Now, you can't go too far with a song like this. Weird, over the top, effects won't fly in this genre and will get in the way of the musicianship. So you have to go with dynamics. How? I don't have the slightest clue (as one could tell from my mix) but I do know it needs that bit of life and a bit of "Commedia dell'arte". That might be the biggest bullshit I've ever written but, I stand by it. Dancing about architecture and all that. I dunno. I'm overthinking it.

Again, it's a very good mix. Don't misunderstand. I'll use it as a reference. But I think it could just push and excite the listener more.

[Mixinthecloud]

It sounds good and it is well balanced as javier said. Though I'll say it feels a little restrained. Maybe it's from bus compression. I'm not sure. It just strikes me as an odd song and the mix isn't reflecting that. It's technically very good and professional but it's too 'safe' and doesn't full support the irreverence of the lyrics. Now, you can't go too far with a song like this. Weird, over the top, effects won't fly in this genre and will get in the way of the musicianship. So you have to go with dynamics. How? I don't have the slightest clue (as one could tell from my mix) but I do know it needs that bit of life and a bit of "Commedia dell'arte". That might be the biggest bullshit I've ever written but, I stand by it. Dancing about architecture and all that. I dunno. I'm overthinking it.

Again, it's a very good mix. Don't misunderstand. I'll use it as a reference. But I think it could just push and excite the listener more.

I agree with you. The song begins to drag towards the end. The odd trombone fills don't really cut it for me and being a trombonist, I don't usually disparage my brothers/sisters. If I was producing this I think I would have introduced a modulation and sax to liven up the end of the song. I tried using the synth line to try to add that excitement but it quits after the break leaving only the organ, which is a bit light on the excitement. Maybe a didgeridoo? LOL

Thanks for your thoughts. They are quite insightful.

[Roy]

I din't know you were a tromboner! I kid. It's a difficult instrument to play/record/mix. I've never been happy in any of my dealings with them. The players are fine, don't misunderstand. I've just never been happy with the results I've gotten from them. And I had to record a lot of ska back in the day....

Anyway, yeah I have some issues with this song. It's a cool, funky, and amusing song. I'm just not sure if the tempo or arrangement fully do it justice. It's hard to keep it interesting all the way through. But that's kinda the fun part of mixing it. The basic elements come together pretty quickly but...then what?

I've already started on a new mix of this one. I wasn't happy with it. That said, I've certainly heard some good versions so it's inspiring to work on it more.

Sorry to rant. (I'm starting to sound like and Slipperman posts...I need to dig those up again. They were fun)

Cheers.

[Mixinthecloud]

I din't know you were a tromboner!
Yeah, yeah. Very funny!!!

The basic elements come together pretty quickly but...then what?

Exactly. The groove sets in quickly and establishes a cool bounce, but yes...then what??? I think it is too long. It needs to make a statement then go away. It is like a joke which has gone on too long or a friend who has overstayed a welcome.

Cheers.

[Roy]

Between you and me, this is a Zappa song and I need the excuse to dive back into his catalog for inspiration...

[Mixinthecloud]

Between you and me, this is a Zappa song and I need the excuse to dive back into his catalog for inspiration...

OK. I'll give you that. Looking forward to hearing what a Zappa inspired take on this would be.

[Roy]

Between you and me, this is a Zappa song and I need the excuse to dive back into his catalog for inspiration...

OK. I'll give you that. Looking forward to hearing what a Zappa inspired take on this would be.

Ha well, no pressure...