Such fine people

[SonicTramp]

First attempt. Comments welcomed. Thanks for the listen.



Just a note to those who still not aware there are phase problems in this song on the e-guitar and the basses. This is the first time I hear it, so I just want to share it with you. Truth be told, phase is like my gf, mysterious, unpredictable, moody, and impossible to...control . I could never hear it or recognize it. Pros try to teach but I never understood it. the most I ever did was flipped that polarity and if it sounded good I just left it there. I learned nothing by doing that. I learn better with actual sounds. They say they can hear phase problem "a mile" away. I was like, no way man, no one can hear that. But they do, so what is the real secret here? Well, the "secret" is in knowing what to look for and actually hear it. That's it. Fixing it is another story altogether. This note is for the benefit of those who still don't know.

How to find it in this song: put the basses up, amped and DI, just themselves. Listen (it takes a few tries) to the wobbling uneven sound sometimes thicker sometimes thinner, I sometimes even hear weird stuffs. That is the sound of phase. Pay attention to the lower end first, then the mid, and finally the hi. It happens more on the lower end bc of the wavelength being longer. Try to commit that sound to your memory. It'll help you catch it quicker next time around. First try to flip the polarity. I did. Nothing happened. Then I try to do it by eyes (very painful) by zooming in and try to line them up. Took some time but the results are well worth it. Then repeat the process with the e-guitars. You'll hear it.

I was able to pan the guitar wider, and it sound more powerful with the low mid where the E & A strings on guitar live. I did exactly the same with the bass (I used both). Once that is done, it was easier to work with EQ and compression bc the bass is stabilized. I still have to work to get it sound nice but I work without worrying about anything. And yeah, it's annoying when phase happens.

I am no expert so that's all I know. If anyone feels they can add to it, you are more than welcome to add and share your experience. Thanks for reading.

Btw, I added another version. Man, the song is just so good. The more I listen to it the more I want to mix it better. So...yeah!

[BKM]

Hey man! Original engineer here. First of all - cool mix, snare and kick are nice and punchy. However, I feel (and I'm of course extremely biased in this case) that the vocals are a bit dry and the entire mix is fairly narrow. That's a taste thing tho, I know some people don't like the LCR thing of making things super wide.

Regarding the phase issues: I've heard several mixes now where people tried blending both DI and reamped signals so I'm thinking that I might have failed to properly communicate what the intention was. Essentially, I included the guitar and bass DI so that in case you were unhappy with the reamped sounds I chose, you could throw them out and build tones for yourself. I did not expect that folks would try to blend them in, so I did not phase-align the signals before preparing the multitracks. But apparently this gave you a chance to practice some critical listening re: phase issues, so maybe it wasn't all bad

I can very much recommend Waves InPhase to fix issues like that. It gives you a toolkit to align the phase as well as a nice visual indicator of how in phase the signals are without having to resort to zooming into the actual waveform (which of course works as well). I typically do that if I blend different amps for guitars and on multi-mic'd sources (stereo piano, stereo overheads, kick in / out, snare top / bot, etc.) and it really help to get more clarity and punch from your mics before you even start mixing.

[SonicTramp]

Hey man! Original engineer here. First of all - cool mix, snare and kick are nice and punchy. However, I feel (and I'm of course extremely biased in this case) that the vocals are a bit dry and the entire mix is fairly narrow. That's a taste thing tho, I know some people don't like the LCR thing of making things super wide.

Regarding the phase issues: I've heard several mixes now where people tried blending both DI and reamped signals so I'm thinking that I might have failed to properly communicate what the intention was. Essentially, I included the guitar and bass DI so that in case you were unhappy with the reamped sounds I chose, you could throw them out and build tones for yourself. I did not expect that folks would try to blend them in, so I did not phase-align the signals before preparing the multitracks. But apparently this gave you a chance to practice some critical listening re: phase issues, so maybe it wasn't all bad

I can very much recommend Waves InPhase to fix issues like that. It gives you a toolkit to align the phase as well as a nice visual indicator of how in phase the signals are without having to resort to zooming into the actual waveform (which of course works as well). I typically do that if I blend different amps for guitars and on multi-mic'd sources (stereo piano, stereo overheads, kick in / out, snare top / bot, etc.) and it really help to get more clarity and punch from your mics before you even start mixing.



***Thanks for leaving a comment, BKM. And thanks for reminding me of this song. I forgot when I uploaded this song, but I know for a fact that I was using a pair of cheap PC speakers as 'monitor' system. I have "real" monitors now . I've been having them for about a month now. So I dragged this song back out and gave it another try.

About the phase thing, yeah, I heard of the in-phase from Waves. But right now I cannot use any new plug ins at all. Yep, they got me blocked in, Waves, Avid, and the likes etc. You see I am still hanging out with iOS 10.8.5 and Pro Tools 11, not exactly current, you know. The new plugs just simply don't work with my versions. So yeah, I just have to make do with whatever I got. They say, "If there is a will there is a way." I say, "I got the will, but where is the way?" .

About the DIs. To tell you the truth, man, if I hear sounds, any sounds, I'd just try my hardest to fit it in the mix. I only discard them when it absolutely destroys my mix and nothing but trouble. I am not sure that's a good way to mix, but I know that it helps me with listening skill.

Yeah, thanks for taking the time out to write. Please tell the songwriter(s) that I love this song, catchy, very melodic and complex, full of energy. I hope I do the song some justice . Thanks.