Mixes of Two New CREASE Songs

[Charles Dye]

For those of you who followed along with the Hard Disk Life column, you'll be familiar with the band Crease. In HDL we mixed one of their songs Live to Be In Love over a series of seven columns. That song is about as mellow as the guys get. These two new songs from their forthcoming Only Human CD which I produced, mixed + recorded are a bit heavier:

• Wrapped Around You
  
  Transparent

Check them out + tell me what you think. If you have any questions I'd be glad to answer them.

Thanks.

[krid]

Some people say you can't mix rock ITB ... check those songs !
AWESOME Mix Charles : you rock
I really like the songs and the production.
I love the catchy production and mix of the song "wrapped", there is also a good progression from the verse to the chorus.
The song "transparent" is more in your face, heavier but still catchy and modern sounding.

Highlights of the Mix (in my opinion) :
- The guitar tones
- Lead Vocal and BG Vocals
- Punchy rythm section (drums and bass)
- The modern sound thanks to the effects
- The stereo and width of your mix
- The ambiences you created
- The mix serves the song and the production
- You catch the attention of the listener throughout the songs

Did you use the same plugins, settings for the guitar tones / lead vocal and BG vocals than in "Live to be in love" ?
I like the way you used effects, specially on guitars and vocals.
Same question for the stereo bus processing ?
What about the sound of the kick and the bass (punchy, dynamic, tight low end) : plugins, settings and approach you used ? I love how they work together in your mix

I listened again the songs with headphones : very good width and stereo !
I guess you used Duy Wide ?

I compared the mp3 (128 kbps) of "Live to be in love", you posted on digizine, with the newer mp3 songs (192 kbps) : did I missed something ?
The new songs are way louder, bigger and better sounding than "Live to be in love" : those new mp3s are the mastered version ?

Thanks

[xyz]

Awesome! I would love to hear about the vocal production on Transparent, especially the verses. Kind of Rob Zombie-esque/ Powerman 5000. How many vocal tracks and what type of effects?

[Shan]

I think it's great stuff and I'm a big HDL fan. Was anything new on your mix bus(The Record Button) for these two new tracks? Also, since DUY hasnt ported its' plugs over to the XP platform yet, can you give us the equivalent of the DUY settings using Waves S1 stereo imager? A screen shot would work if you have this plug. Have the new tracks been mastered yet? If so, can you give us some details regarding it? Have your verb plug-ins changed compared to 'Live to be in Love'? Thanks.

Love the new mixes.

Shane

[Charles Dye]

Just want to thank all of you for your very nice comments. Can't answer your questions right this second, but I'll be back as soon as I finish the mix I'm working on.

Thanks.

[AUDIOSFX]

The guitar tones are great and I have tons of questions about it. Mixes are great loud and kickin.. good job Charles..was the whole record tracked in the box?

-ws

[Charles Dye]

AUDIOSFX,

Thanks for the compliments. To answer your question, we tracked all the songs to PT|HD @ Outline Studios, and mixed them all ITB (no OBG) on PT|HD @ The Gate. Both studios are in Miami.

Thanks.

[AUDIOSFX]

I have been having great result tracking to hd myself and I am very pleased...

Beside mic placement rigs and guitars..what plugs are in your guitar chain for a heavier sound and aux bus etc....

also do you strap say waves L2 and linear phase eq on the master?

and have you used pheonix yet...?

pheonix is amazing.. thanks jules...

[1nation]

Check them out + tell me what you think. If you have any questions I'd be glad to answer them.

I'm listening to "Wrapped around you" as I type... Cool mix

I do mostly R&B so the singer's voice is really hurtin me... does his voice bother you too? You still did some really cool stuff with it.

The guitar sounds and placement were great! I want all the details that you feel led to share. I'm feelin the tremelo track.


P.S. Watching this guy as you listen really adds another dimention to the experience

[Mike Jasper]

Wrapped Around You

What's the opening? Tom and snare hit together? That's what I think I'm hearing. Love that kind of opening. It's like the musical equivalent of saying, "Listen!"

Like the BG vocals doubling the second four bars of the lead, then being replaced by a second lead guitar in the last bar. And those dual guitars are reprised again after the first chorus.

1Nation writes about a tremolo track. Nice. Sounds chorused as well.

Like other's, I'm impressed with the guitar tones, as well as the T-Rex-like (Cars-like?) honky rhythm.

The big buildup of the vocals at the end works great.

Transparent

Good Transparent sound (had to be the first to say it).

I like the Satanic voices creeping in at the right toward the end of the intro. (Although that could be the voices in my head, I guess.) Also like the synth wail of the wind at the intro.

Love the wah sound in the lead break.

For a song called Transparent, it's pretty dark. Even some Goth elements during the slower part with that -- I don't know how to describe it -- gong-like drum in the background (down the center, too, just where you told us in another thread that you put the parts that are more felt than heard). Is the fuzzy effect from the bass or is it a keyboard doubling the bass?

Excellent mixes. Obviously.

[Jax]

Can't seem to get them playing back. My pc saves them as .mpga although they say they'll be mp3 files when I scroll over them before d-loading.

Any ideas?

[Shan]

Originally posted by Jax
Can't seem to get them playing back. My pc saves them as .mpga although they say they'll be mp3 files when I scroll over them before d-loading.

Any ideas?

Try renaming the extension to .mp3 Or right click an select 'save link to disk'

Shane

[Jax]

Saved to disk the first time... can't remove the mpga extension...

This mp3 is the first one I haven't been able to play.

???

[RichT]

The mixes sound great Charles.

I heard 'Wrapped' and instantly thought of the production on Bon Jovi's later albums.

I think it's true that everyone has a 'sound' in their mixing, even from band to band.

Cheers,
Rich

[Jax]

Got 'em playing. Needed to d-load quicktime for my pc and click the files, which then streamed.

Impressive, very commercial mixes! Should move a few units!

[Jose Mrochek]

Mixes are Great. The type that as hard as you try to look for dislikes you just cant find them. I think the breakdown in the song "Trasparent" is just phenomenal, I would buy the record just to hear that part over and over again. EXCELLENT! Great guitar work from start to finish, what can I say... it got me doing the "air guitar" thing with my hands

[Charles Dye]

Everyone,

Thanks for all of your extremely kind compliments! I want to answer all of your questions. That's why I put these mixes here in the first place—so we could talk about them. I just can't answer too many right at the moment, but I'll get started.

To begin with krid's questions:

Guitars—Insert Plugs

Between the HDL mix of Live to Be In Love and the mixing of the album we ended up going for a more modern, edgy sound. So, I did make changes in the approach to the guitars. On Live as I recall I used Valve + Tape on many of the gtrs. For these mixes I wanted less warmth and more edge, so I stayed with the basic sound on disk (which was recorded with vintage mics + pre's anyway) and usually just used RenComp + EQ (maybe a little Valve + Tape here or there if something felt thin or needed some extra dirt).


Guitars—FX Sends

I used similar settings as HDL, but with a different Reverb. I've programmed ReverbOne equivalents to replace my missing LexiVerb Vocal Plate + Snare Plate, as well as for my TC|MegaVerb Room + Lg Hall.

For the guitars I usually would use a bit (-19 dB) of the Split Harmonizer (see HDL: Keeping Your Mix Fresh—With Bass + Guitars). Maybe some MetaFlange. Not a preset. I made a patch similar to TC|Chorus' Hi-Trash Flanger, my favorite flange setting, very warm and sparkly.

And for ambience on the gtr, depending on where I was placing it in the mix:

• Upfront: Either no delay or verb, or just a touch of the Room or an 1/8 note delay w/ HPF @ 4k or so and then Room + Split Harmonizer on the return to soften it up.
  
  Middle: Maybe a little more Room or 1/8 note delay, or a bit of one of the two plates (Drum-shorter or Vocal-longer).
  
  In the Back: Vocal Plate or maybe even Lg Hall depending on how far back I want it. And maybe a 1/4 note delay depending on if it worked with the guitar part.

A Stereo Buss Teaser

There's so much more to say and I'm still just on krid's post. I will come back later and discuss the stereo buss in more detail, which I am in at least one regard approaching completely differently than I did in HDL (more later).

But krid, a resounding YES, I still use the amazing DUY Wide across my stereo bus.

To everyone: IF YOU DON'T HAVE THIS PLUG + YOU MIX ITB — GET IT NOW!!!

I can't say enough about this very cool plug. DUY Wide is no different than the outboard stereo wideners that are used all the time on analog consoles. Why should you limit yourself + not have the same tools others would use in the analog mixing world? Nuff said—it's a great plug.


Mastering?

These new mixes are not mastered for real, but we did do what I call test mastering. Waves Linear Multi Band into L2 and tweak until it seems to sound sorta like the competition, just so we can see how the mixes may sound post mastering. These two could be a bit too loud. But when we actually go to master we won't be squishing the crap out of them. We want to keep some of the dynamics. And the mp3 you have of Live was just the mix straight off the stereo buss—no mastering plugs used. That's why the new mixes are louder.

Thanks for all of your interest. You guys have great ears and have heard a lot of the stuff that was really tucked in the mixes. I'm both impressed + happy that it was worth the time putting them there.

You know, I really did sit down to type a very short post... oh well.

(I guess I just like the sound of my own keyboard.)

Thanks.

[1nation]

Maybe some MetaFlange. Not a preset. I made a patch similar to TC|Chorus' Hi-Trash Flanger, my favorite flange setting, very warm and sparkly.

Can I see a screen shot or have a detailed list of the parameters that you use for this setting. Thanks, Paul.

I used similar settings as HDL, but with a different Reverb. I've programmed ReverbOne equivalents to replace my missing LexiVerb Vocal Plate + Snare Plate, as well as for my TC|MegaVerb Room + Lg Hall.

Do you ever use Ren verb? I only own Rverb, tru verb, and Dverb, and I really don't like the last two. I'd like to see if I can get some equivalents going on in Rverb, any help would be appreciated.


P.S. I hope I didn't come off as a jerk about this guys voice... I really dig what you're doing.

[krid]

Thanks a lot Charles for your detailed answer on the guitars + FX sound.
I prefer the modern guitar sound of these 2 new songs : the guitars arise of the mix and they really give a color to the mix.
Everything breathe better.

In my opinion, there are some great improvements on your mixes since "Live to be in love" even if it's a bit hard to compare due to the mastering plugs.

I am really impressed by the Lead Vocal and BG Vocals on the new songs.
I also love your Kick and Bass sound : tight and punchy.
When you will have the time, if you could post infos on these subjects ... (thanks by advance)

I would have to try again those "Wide" plugs because I didn't got very good result with them, specially Waves Stereo Imager : I lose a bit of dynamic and it colors a bit the sound.

I am sure that your Stereo Bus is for something in the sound improvement of your mix : I can't wait to read your new approach.

I don't know for how much the mastering plugs (Waves Linear Multiband and L2) are for something in the final sound but the result is : a very good dynamic, frequency well balanced, a wide stereo and loud enough to compete with the current productions.
The mastering engineer will not have a lot of work to do ...
I am very impressed by the final result, it shows that whatever you use (ITB vs outboard gear) you can achieve awesome things.

Thanks

[lukas]

Originally posted by Charles Dye
Everyone,

I used similar settings as HDL, but with a different Reverb. I've programmed ReverbOne equivalents to replace my missing LexiVerb Vocal Plate + Snare Plate, as well as for my TC|MegaVerb Room + Lg Hall.


Thanks.

wow! would you mind maybe sharing one or two of your settings?

[Shan]

Post some of your custom presets

Shane

[jbuntz]

I haven't had much luck with multiband compression on the 2 Buss with the exception of sort of de-essing the top/cymbals etc or changing the kick/bass balance. Any tips?

[jeronimo]

I think it's not cool to judge mixes via MP3... but since everyone is doing...
I liked the guitar tone and that's pretty much it. I thought the mix was kinda crowded on the heavier song, to much guitars and vox, drums not punchy at all...
I like what's going on w/ the vocals... wide and clear... like the tone too.
That's just my opinions...