need to spice it up!, anybody got Chilli???

[Sugamen]

Hello there,

I just signed up for the forum cause | have a question about getting some more spice in to a album I have to mix.
The songs are pretty ok but It was recorded on a Sound-blaster Pro card and a Windows XP machine (sorry goes out to you users!) not that
it does not fit the material cause it is a pretty low-fi sound we are working with.
I know that the album should stay Demo-ish but why mix it??? But since it is my job to do the mixing I thought the forum could be a place to shop for advice on this one!

My question is if there is anybody around that has experience with getting audio from a MP-3 like vibe (cause its all synths and fruity-loops) to a next level
so that mixing it would make a big difference?

The audio was recorded in 16 bit 44.1 kHz and it does not really have depth and dynamics. Cause all the synth sounds and drums are stiff on compression.
Would it make sense to bounce the tracks to tape and push the limits of the tape? Or would I only be adding "ppphhhhffffffff" to the original?
When pushing the limits of tape it would that be the same as a big compressor to round of the edges???? I'm from the Protools generation so I don't know?
I know that pushing it trough a BIG mixer would make a difference but I'm working on a little Protools rig with plug-ins and a set of PMC monitors.
Is there anybody that can make a suggestion on what could be a trick to try?
Would it make sense to push it out of my protools rig in to a mixer and back it to protools .......? Or is that "ppphhhhffffffff"again??????


Thanx and grts

Suga

[Kiwiburger]

Budget?

There are so many things that you can do - at all budget levels. If it's been created totally with soft synths, something that can add a lot of spice is to reamp some tracks.

Assuming this is a strict budget - stuff you could try:

Burn a solo track onto a CD - playing it on your stereo, and mic it up with whatever you have. Can be surprising. If nothing else, it might make an interesting reverb sound.

Burn a track to an iPod, and play that through a guitar amp and re-record.

Record a track to a cassette player and re-record.

All these things are lofi ways to distress a sound. So not a brilliant idea over the whole mix, just selected tracks.

A little bit of a real room sound goes a long way in a virtual mix.

If you want to seriously process 'outside the box' you would need some good quality converters and good analog gear to make it worthwhile.

Basically just experiment with whatever you have. It's the only way to learn.

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by Sugamen

It was recorded on a Sound-blaster Pro card

This probably isn't what you want to hear but I would start again from scratch if i were in your situation.

[Sugamen]

Originally Posted by richmondjames

This probably isn't what you want to hear but I would start again from scratch if i were in your situation.

You are right! That's not what I want to hear but you are not the first to say!Apart from the paranoia and drama that comes with re-recording this album, I think I have to start with guitars and vocals and then he will see that a good mic, a good pre can make a difference.

Thanx for your time

grtz Suga

[allencollins]

Originally Posted by richmondjames

This probably isn't what you want to hear but I would start again from scratch if i were in your situation.

sounds kinda negative don't you think?? I love my sound blaster Live platinum
It's the carpenter not the hammer. Do ad/da rebut this old rule???

So they are a little noisy and have high latency. But they work