Weathervane Multitracks - Filthybird

[manuke]

Dustin - thanks for taking the time to critique the mixes, much appreciated, think you're right about the snare level too. I like your mix btw, nice and fat and natural sounding, good stuff.

Bugscoe - thanks for listening all the way through, plenty of people won't!

fretsounds - thanks, hope you don't mind me butchering your great song like that, just a bit of fun.

[mikebeck]

Thank you very much for this series. Lots of fun trying out different sounds and mixing techniques.

[bdmctear]

Hey Andy,

If you watch the technical videos from past episodes you'll see explanations of the vocal craziness. I believe it's well explained in the the Snowmine episode. Basically we run a mono signal out our Creation Audio Lab MW-1 through a Roland Space Echo, then split the output to a Memory Man and a Poly Chorus (both heavily chorused or phased), each sending to a guitar amp with the reverbs cranked. Swap out various guitar pedals each time we do this and that's basically our process.

To some, it's quite irresponsible, but I assure you no one was harmed.

B

Originally Posted by andystates

This song is great! Brian, could you enlighten us on the production techniques for the vocals? It looks like you reamped them along with effect pedals based on the track sheet. In the final mix are the lead vocals were hearing all reamped? Did you reamp the doubled voices through the effects on the tracking sheet together or separate. The end result is beautiful. Another job well done from weathervane.

[bdmctear]

Originally Posted by manuke

I'm sorry....

YES.... Manuke, you did it again! I think that is quite brilliant. A "non-dance" dance remix. Great work!

B

[fretsounds]

Love to hear more out-and-kraut mixes. I bet someone could get kinda Geoff Barrows with it too...

[Beatman]

Here be my effort. Not too sure about the bass content. I have the worst possible room with vibrating walls and rubbish acoustic treatment so any feedback would be much appreciated.

This is a fantastic way to get better at mixing. One thing i've learned from this is how easy it is to make a decent mix when the tracks have been recorded well. Great song and a pleasure to work on. Many thanks!

Filthybird - I' Like To Know by Beater Man on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

[bdmctear]

Originally Posted by fretsounds

Love to hear more out-and-kraut mixes. I bet someone could get kinda Geoff Barrows with it too...

I second that, B.

[Wlouch]

Mine thus far...

[BlackFandango]

I had to mix this on a pair of cheap headphones, since unfortunately that's what I'm saddled with. This must have taken me at least a dozen mixes to get right, obsessing over every small detail; I knew what I wanted it to sound like, it just took a lot of trial and error to get it right. I like this mix, though - I like its big sound!

I'd Like to Know.mp3

[spiggit]

Here's my mix, thanks so much brian for giving us these things to practice on. I'm really new to mixing so any tips/criticism would be much appreciated... things can only get better.

http://soundcloud.com/king-shoey/filthybird-id-like-to-know-mix

[Storyville]

Hi folks. I'm trying to really step up my rock-mixing game, so I did two mixes here. The first one I made (called dirty compression) is supposed to emulate what I think that west coast rock sounds like. There's tons of compression all over the mix. The second (called non-ref) doesn't use a stylistic reference, I just mixed it to how I liked it.

Interested to hear your thoughts.

[kevinastokes]

This was a fun song to mix. So many different sounds coming from the guitars. I took a 90's pop stance on this one and just ran with it. The harmonies reminded me of some Barenaked Ladies track I've heard before... interesting!

Any advice is more than welcome.


http://soundcloud.com/kevinastokley/...ow-filthy-bird

[Storyville]

Originally Posted by kevinastokes

This was a fun song to mix. So many different sounds coming from the guitars. I took a 90's pop stance on this one and just ran with it. The harmonies reminded me of some Barenaked Ladies track I've heard before... interesting!

Any advice is more than welcome.


I'd Like To Know - Filthy Bird by kevinastokley on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

Not sure which 90s pop was referenced, but as a general balancing note it seems to lean toward the treble - which does give it a nice pop, but also leaves it sounding a little anemic. Acoustic guitar gets a little stringy, cymbals get a little distracting at times (although sound really good at other times).

[Storyville]

Originally Posted by spiggit

Here's my mix, thanks so much brian for giving us these things to practice on. I'm really new to mixing so any tips/criticism would be much appreciated... things can only get better.

http://soundcloud.com/king-shoey/filthybird-id-like-to-know-mix

I think your balances sound spot on. Watch your compression settings on the 2-buss. If your mix isn't designed to be loud, don't make it loud! It's indie rock, the loudness police aren't watching! Your compressor is swallowing your snare, and the release is too fast - the guitars are starting to pump - which in turn is pushing the vocals back a bit. But, if you back off the compression by about 3db you'll find that your mix actually sounds pretty durn good.

[Storyville]

Originally Posted by Wlouch

Mine thus far...

I like it - very "British" inspired vocal sound, and true to a hipstery-indie rock type of mix. I like your acoustic guitar a lot, I feel like I hear the details of the strings very clearly but without the guitar being very bright. I also like that there's an emotion to the mix, it's very relaxed sounding.

[Storyville]

Originally Posted by mikebeck

Thank you very much for this series. Lots of fun trying out different sounds and mixing techniques.

Another good mix - I think you can take it further. If you're going to be experimental and do a kind of psychadelic thing to the vocals, might as well build the whole mix in the same mentality. Kind of sounds like a more traditional mix but with less traditional vocals. Have fun with everything, give the listener a little more of your creativity. I'd personally like to hear what you could come up with if you cut loose a little more, I think there's a good sense of enjoyment in what you did.

[Storyville]

Originally Posted by svealey

Hey guys this is my first post ever on gearslutz! Check out my mix and let me know what you think!

I'd Like To Know-Filthybird by svealey on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

I think it's a good mix, but there is one thing that bugs me. The mix seems to tire my ear out a little faster than some of the other mixes I've been hearing. I'm not sure if it's a frequency thing, or a compression thing, but I suspect it's a combination of both. Maybe back off the compressor just a hair and reinspect your midrange boosts on the guitars and vocals.

[Storyville]

Originally Posted by yazoo

Filthy Bird 01_23 by bennypersson on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

here is my mix.
really like feedback!

cheers
benny

OK - you did a frickin' awesome mix... of the wrong type of song! This song is not that aggressive - totally blew my face off. If you took this same approach to a hard rock tune, yeah, totally, but here it's just over the top.

It also doesn't help that there seems to be a weird distortion in your mix as well as svealey's. It's something I've noticed with soundcloud. It streams back in a poor mp3 encoding, and I think even if you upload an mp3 - it still encodes it that way for streaming (makes an mp3 from your mp3).

[mikebeck]

Originally Posted by Storyville

Another good mix - I think you can take it further. If you're going to be experimental and do a kind of psychadelic thing to the vocals, might as well build the whole mix in the same mentality. Kind of sounds like a more traditional mix but with less traditional vocals. Have fun with everything, give the listener a little more of your creativity. I'd personally like to hear what you could come up with if you cut loose a little more, I think there's a good sense of enjoyment in what you did.

Thank you for the comments! I agree with everything you said. I'm also glad you could tell I was having some fun. You might have just inspired me to take another look at this in deeper detail, which deserves another thank you.

[Wlouch]

Originally Posted by Storyville

I like it - very "British" inspired vocal sound, and true to a hipstery-indie rock type of mix. I like your acoustic guitar a lot, I feel like I hear the details of the strings very clearly but without the guitar being very bright. I also like that there's an emotion to the mix, it's very relaxed sounding.

Thanks for the feedback. I should get around to finishing it off really.

Cheers to Brian again for making these available

[kamikase]

Here goes my mix.
Little late...

I was at vacations.

[once a roadie]

here is a quick one...

[once a roadie]

Hi -

Worked on it a bit more...guitars, etc...

...hope it is better!

[Moonwrist]

http://soundcloud.com/moonwrist/master-mix-120218

[Storyville]

Originally Posted by once a roadie

Hi -

Worked on it a bit more...guitars, etc...

...hope it is better!

Of the two, I do believe I prefer the second. There's obviously some trade-offs. The first is much louder, but it's a little thin comparatively, and the kick and snare don't have quite the meat that the second one has. Second one I kind of miss the cymbals a little bit, but I'm getting that bass groove a lot, and I dig that! I prefer the guitar tones in the second. I also prefer the way the vocal sits with the double in the second - first one sounds a little too effecty.

I think the second mix could still be touched up a little. It seems that the awareness of your process was very inside the mix, rather than outside of it. Meaning you're working out guitar balances and drum articulation, but kind of skipping over the song itself. Kind of what my mixes lack a bit as well. Awareness of the song.

[Storyville]

Originally Posted by Moonwrist

http://soundcloud.com/moonwrist/master-mix-120218

I like the guitars here, especially the California-surfer influenced hi-passed grungy guitar. Adds a nice texture. I like that your ambiance is smoothing out the vocals. I don't like that the delay is waaayyyy behind the beat. A little pocket can be a good thing, but your echo is creating an unrelated rhythm that leaves it feeling disconnected. On the drums there's a lot of squelchy compression. I think too much. Or rather that while the release time is timed well (you can hear it in the cymbals), the attack is perhaps too quick.

[MortenDK]

Ok I did mix of this today!
Thx for uploading. Great recording nicely done.

Hope you like it

[always_ending]

Put some skin in the game here.... tried to leave it "natural" as I really dug the song and arrangement that the band & Brian worked on.


Filthybird - "I'd Like to Know" by always_ending on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free


Can someone enlighten me how you get the soundcloud widget on here? thanks.

[LonDonsen]

Originally Posted by Storyville

Hi folks. I'm trying to really step up my rock-mixing game, so I did two mixes here. The first one I made (called dirty compression) is supposed to emulate what I think that west coast rock sounds like. There's tons of compression all over the mix. The second (called non-ref) doesn't use a stylistic reference, I just mixed it to how I liked it.

Interested to hear your thoughts.

The best mix so far (the first upper one), what compressors did you use, plug-ins or hardware stuff?

[always_ending]

Originally Posted by Storyville

Hi folks. I'm trying to really step up my rock-mixing game, so I did two mixes here. The first one I made (called dirty compression) is supposed to emulate what I think that west coast rock sounds like. There's tons of compression all over the mix. The second (called non-ref) doesn't use a stylistic reference, I just mixed it to how I liked it.

Interested to hear your thoughts.

Mix sounds great on all instruments.

My only "problem" is that I like the vox in this track to be a good bit "wetter" than what you have here, any 'verb or delay you have is mixed far back.... I bet you could bring those up a few db's and it would be right where I personally like.

Balance of the song is quite good tho, and I agree w/ you that I do like your low end freqs in the 2nd mix better.