!!!Updated!!! Surrendering to Candlebox

[Mixinthecloud]

This is probably not my best genre as I think I may have missed the mark on the grunge energy so much of Candlebox's catalogue is infused with. I tried but I think it came out too slick and AOR.

I like all the sounds Telefunken provided us with this. I did do a lot of chopping and cleaning up of tracks for noise and bleed and while I tried various gating solutions on the kick and snare, I found none of them were beneficial so there is no gating on the kit. I did chop the toms up and that helped them a lot. Alignment was done for both the kick and snare mics which helped a lot and the room mics were used fully with some CLA Black compression and a minor scoop of the low mids. The kick and snare were grouped and their busses compressed for character and ProEQ from PreSonus added for definition on the snare and an API 550B on the kick with tons of top end. (Typical Candlebox kick drums are metal style with lots of top click but this kick had none of that natively. As it really wasn't there this character pretty much defined the lay of the drums and a lot of the character of the song/mix). The entire drum buss was compressed and M/S eq'd and an Aphex Exciter added for sweetening. A drum/bass specific reverb was added to the kick, snare and over heads.

I had fun with the bass, which included aligning the various mics to the DI. I used all the mics as I liked the character each one added. After alignnment I compressed and pushed saturation for some grit and added some EQ with an API 550. It has some added reverb from the dedicated drum/bass room reverb.

I grouped guitar one and two with sub-groups for each clean set, respectively. Panning was done to enhance the fill of the sound field. There was automation throughout for some minor volume changes and a delay added for the solo to give it a discreet space. The individual guitar busses were sweetened with Pultec type EQs mostly in the high end to add some excitement. CLA Blues were used on the clean guitar busses.

I played heavily with the vocal as is often my want. This included two copies of the track which were pitch shifted up and down respectively and panned for width. There was also a doubler on the first, unshifted track. The orginial track was already compressed but was in need of more plus plenty of volume automation. All three vocal track were bussed and had compression and EQ added. Echo was automated on most choruses and some other opportune moments. Send mutes and return volume automation is also in play. A nice Lexicon Hall patch was added for reverb. A de-esser is on the buss as well. Whew.

Maybe I created a new genre, Smooth Grunge? Seattle Swing???

Candlebox - Surrendering - Master 2
After some good comment by Shul I realized I needed to rebalance the vocals against the ensemble. I have struggled with clarity of the vocals especially in the choruses, and had resolved that by higher volumes, but as was pointed out that was not a great solution. The proper level for the guitar solo was also a sticking point which I had addressed while listening in mono. I abandoned that late in the first mix to the detriment of the mix. That was also addressed.

Anyway, I hope this is enjoyed and worthy of comment.

Thanks,
mITc

[Shul]

The instruments sound pretty solid.. if you were to turn off the vocal track I'm sure you'd have a great music track
The voice for me however is the one that feels disconnected from the track along with that solo in the end.. is really loud in comparison with the rest of the instrumentation.

I too used some light chorus track in my vocals but I killed the low to mid end on it because when the chorus kicks in it muddies up the vocal. I see the same reaction in your track.
Just some things to think about. But you are on the right track!

[Mixinthecloud]

The instruments sound pretty solid.. if you were to turn off the vocal track I'm sure you'd have a great music track
The voice for me however is the one that feels disconnected from the track along with that solo in the end.. is really loud in comparison with the rest of the instrumentation.

I too used some light chorus track in my vocals but I killed the low to mid end on it because when the chorus kicks in it muddies up the vocal. I see the same reaction in your track.
Just some things to think about. But you are on the right track!

In deference to your comments, which in this case are very accurate, I have posted up a new mix. I had been going back and forth from stereo to mono to monitor this mix but towards the end stopped, to the detriment of the final mix.

[Roy]

Sounds good. I like the drums and bass. I'm not a fan of the verb on the kick and I think I hear some low end rumble from it. Or is it from a bass effect? Mostly on the right side but that's probably due to some masking. It definitely jumps out in verse 2. I like the snare tone. Cymbals feel good. I wish they were wider but that just me.

The guitars sound good and blends surprisingly well. I can't get them to play nice together. but it works here. The bridge clean guitar (1?) is a bit loud and gets in the way of the vocal.

The vocals in the verses feel low. Or maybe the guitars feel loud. I don't think so but I'm not sure. I'm not a fan of of the chorus on the vocal does help gel the guitars. I do think it takes away from the presentation of the vocal in the chorus. It feels like it wants to be more 'pure' and raw. The delays on the vocal at the end feel off and it catches my ear but that might just be me.

Other than that it sounds great. It's got a lot of energy.

[Mixinthecloud]

Sounds good. I like the drums and bass. I'm not a fan of the verb on the kick and I think I hear some low end rumble from it. Or is it from a bass effect? Mostly on the right side but that's probably due to some masking. It definitely jumps out in verse 2. I like the snare tone. Cymbals feel good. I wish they were wider but that just me.

The guitars sound good and blends surprisingly well. I can't get them to play nice together. but it works here. The bridge clean guitar (1?) is a bit loud and gets in the way of the vocal.

The vocals in the verses feel low. Or maybe the guitars feel loud. I don't think so but I'm not sure. I'm not a fan of of the chorus on the vocal does help gel the guitars. I do think it takes away from the presentation of the vocal in the chorus. It feels like it wants to be more 'pure' and raw. The delays on the vocal at the end feel off and it catches my ear but that might just be me.

Other than that it sounds great. It's got a lot of energy.

Roy,
Great observations. I did do a bunch of automation of the clean guitars and probably could have dumped their volume more in the place you mentioned. Those phrases were very actively automated for those parts but possibly not enough. The second or maybe it's the third instance of them I did leave louder. I had also toyed with the idea of muting added pitch shifted vocals in the choruses. There is a definite character change there and that may help keep the vocal clarity in that thicker section. As for the kick drum, I actually filtered out some low end on it in the second mix as it was getting floppy. There is reverb on the bass guitar so I wonder if that is the culprit. I did not hear that in my cans or speakers.

[Shul]

The vocal feels connected to the mix now.. not a big fan of that chorus through the whole track but everything is glued together and that solved the issue for me

[Mixinthecloud]

The vocal feels connected to the mix now.. not a big fan of that chorus through the whole track but everything is glued together and that solved the issue for me

I think I agree. After a few days away I find the chorus vocals too much of a good thing so I may go back and focus them without the harmonized doubles.

Thanks for the listen.