10-09-2014, 09:50 PM
These sorts of total conversions are also really time consuming, at least for me, so for 2-3 hours of effort it's a really solid sketch! TheMetallurgist likes to craft really left-field mixes like this too, to test his limits, and it's something I should be doing more of... I tend to be very conservative and could use a bolder sound.
The idea here that's going to be the trickiest to get working is the vocal distortion in the sections where the vocal is very exposed... it almost sounds like you might be using a guitar stomp-box(?) which wouldn't surprise me at all given your admiration of Spike Stent, but I wonder if something more like a saturation style distortion would sound less effecty and help blend the vocal tone in. Although... a quick google shows that Brian Malouf mixed Dolphin's Cry (I don't know the song myself), and he's responsible for a lot of the grungy 90's sounds and I can definitely hear echoes of that sound in your mix. The original mix-work on Pearl Jam's Ten before they remixed it and took out all the reverb to sound more like Nevermind (that was Malouf, right?) is a long-time favorite sound of mine, so I wonder if bigger reverb's like Malouf was using at the time might 1. gel the sound together in the intro, 2. help smooth out the distortion on the vocal so it sounds trashy but not effected, and 3. give you some more wiggle room to fiddle with the ambiance throughout the song and help with that payoff at the end.
You'd know better than me because you're a pro, but that's just what direction my instincts would take me
The idea here that's going to be the trickiest to get working is the vocal distortion in the sections where the vocal is very exposed... it almost sounds like you might be using a guitar stomp-box(?) which wouldn't surprise me at all given your admiration of Spike Stent, but I wonder if something more like a saturation style distortion would sound less effecty and help blend the vocal tone in. Although... a quick google shows that Brian Malouf mixed Dolphin's Cry (I don't know the song myself), and he's responsible for a lot of the grungy 90's sounds and I can definitely hear echoes of that sound in your mix. The original mix-work on Pearl Jam's Ten before they remixed it and took out all the reverb to sound more like Nevermind (that was Malouf, right?) is a long-time favorite sound of mine, so I wonder if bigger reverb's like Malouf was using at the time might 1. gel the sound together in the intro, 2. help smooth out the distortion on the vocal so it sounds trashy but not effected, and 3. give you some more wiggle room to fiddle with the ambiance throughout the song and help with that payoff at the end.
You'd know better than me because you're a pro, but that's just what direction my instincts would take me
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!