Peeder Mixes UBK

[peeder]

So in a somewhat infamous thread ubk (Gregoire) wrote and recorded a song to serve as a demo of a new AD converter and posted it here on Gearslutz, along with all the individual tracks. A few people have tried their hand at mixing the tune, and since I desperately need practice mixing with all this new ITB stuff I thought I'd post my own take on it.

This mix is 100% ITB and uses about 90% UAD plugins. In this mix I've used parallel compression on both the drum bus (UAD Fairchild in lat/vert) and the 2 bus (SSL Duende Bus Compressor). The parallel returns are mixed in a few db lower than the direct signal, and everything is latency compensated by hand as is needed still in PTLE 7.4.

The vocal was processed with the Precision Multiband and frozen that way, then run through a UAD 1073. It and the bacgkrounds have some Massey TD5, TL Space is used as the overall reverb. The backgrounds are processed with Tritone Phasetone as well as UAD 1073 and UAD LA2A. The Bass has UAD LA3A and Pultec, the Acoustic has UAD 1081 and 33609SE. The electric and the prophet were run through Amplitube 2 (ac30) and both electric and acoustic have Waves supertaps with an analog-style multitap. The drums were sent through UAD 88rs and Massey Tapehead was used to try to add some beef to a rather papery and lamely hit snare. The Massey L2007 was used for final limiting after a 30Hz HPF from Epure (ITB you have to watch out for DC buildup).

UBK got his drums sounding really good, I didn't figure out how to do that with these, there were only four mics and lots of bleed including a fairly nasty hihat section that I had to fight. No sounds were added, no timing was fixed, and no tuning was done (in the first background section there's a bad note, but the backgrounds are summed to mono, so I didn't bother fighting it.)

Thanks for your advices (don't hold back, I want to know how and where I suck!) and you are of course welcome to try your hand at a mix of these tracks too. And a big thank you to ubk for providing the tracks so we can play with them. Hopefully I haven't mangled them excessively.

[George Necola]

the drum is in the wrong room compared to the rest.

the snare sounds only splashy with no sound. I actually like the Live (==> the band) guitarsound.

the rest sounds ok. like a demo should sound. with a littlebit more training I will like singer maybe.. sometime ;)

so do we make a proof here if GOD exists or is it something other supernatural?




sidenote:
"I CAN HEAR THE BURL working! GOD DAMNED THAT IS THE BEST RECORD RECORD I'VE HEARD IN A LONG TIME!"

sorry.. mentally sick

[peeder]

Originally Posted by George Necola

the drum is in the wrong room compared to the rest.

the snare sounds only splashy with no sound. I actually like the Live (==> the band) guitarsound.

the rest sounds ok. like a demo should sound.

...Thanks George, uh...trying to read these tea leaves.

The drums are run through the same reverb as everything else. I guess I put too little reverb on them for you. The kick was sounding kinda crappy through the reverb. Or maybe since the other things have delays on them I ought to put some delay...?

In order to get some isolation and tone out of the snare I had to gate it pretty harshly...the hihat was bleeding into it quite obnoxiously and since the snare was being hit too lightly I had to try to EQ it. So I think you're complaining that it isn't ringing enough...maybe I can try to open the gate longer but really the snare sound was lame to start with and I would have just sample replaced it. But that's against the rules of my practice mixes where I can't cheat.

Oh you think the guitar sounds like "Live" the band. I will have to check that out.

Thanks for your comments!

[beats workin']

Peeder,
stop listening in SOLO

the snare sound was chosen specifically for that song. to work with the kit as a whole.

there were only 4 drum tracks to begin with

why are you gating a funk/old school tune?

do you mean "the snare was hit too lightly" to trigger your gate or from a playing perspective?

I tend to approach mixing a song by asking it what IT wants.

have fun

[norman_nomad]

Peeder,

I definitely like some of the ideas you put together here. Especially the spatial stuff with the guitars. It's cool that you got a bit creative with it. The vox are nice too - A little "upfront" for the song, but a good balanced sound. Overall I like the EQ choices ...although there may be a bit too much compression going on for this type of tune.

The drums, as others have mentioned, sound a bit awkward. The snare gate gives each snare hit a tambourine-like sound as the compressed hi-hat sneaks in. I agree that with only 4 mics... best to leave them all open and make them work together. The hats in the bridge are out of place in the song... I just ducked the whole drum kit during that section in my mix and brought up the hand drum... they still ended up a little splashy in my mix.

Overall nice work.

[peeder]

Thanks norman and beats for your thoughtful replies.

Listening back I'm most concerned with the sound I got on the kick...I over-eq'ed it and left it too dry. The bass also is too ghosted and the analog taps on the guitars is displacing it wrongly.

My monitors were a few inches too far apart which made me push the center too hot, good that I learned that. Plus I'm shy in the upper mids and above. Both of those would have been fixed a bit in mastering but I shouldn't make such obvious errors. Posting here is embarassing me into shaping all this up for my rig!

Obviously I was going for a dark and somewhat spooky 70's vibe...note the Lennon-esque slap echo on the voice, and the fat snare with a Kotex maxipad taped to the head. The tambourine effect is noted but was sort of a bonus in that sense. I kind of like how in the bridge the gate on the hihat makes the hihat sound start center and fade right. All contributes to a murky swirly thing that I aimed for. It's a burled wood table right? With Scotch stains and filthy ashtrays?

I worked it until I more or less got what I wanted out of this track and it was good practice. I brought up the parallel compression faders until I felt it...I really couldn't go lower and still have the gooey 70's tape and vinyl thing happening, but updated with clear digital transients on top and no hiss.

[Hazer]

I'm feeling a completely different drum sound for the track...roomy, fat, long decay. Otherwise, I thought it sounded great.

[hanuman]

Peeder, do not take this as an insult; I like your mixes regardless of the music. They are relaxing for eveything to me is at ease! That is relaxing. Congratz!

[choinga]

man, you rock...i thought i had a decent mix of this until i just A/B'd it with yours...mine sounds teenie...

Back to work...

[mr jkn]

Sunday, had nothing to do.. whatever. Here you go (maybe it sucks, I dunno):

[pikapikapi]

what was your vocal chain?

[Chrisc_o]

Peeder: I like the drum sound, and I am feeling the vibe you are going for. I agree that the snare may be a bit too gated, and I get the whole HH leakage/tambourine effect thing, but I would have to give the mix a shot myself to see just what would be possible.

What bothered me most is the tubby/honky sound in general. It is not a huge thing, but I personally am not a fan of the honky tone of the main guitar, and I find the kick and bass a bit muddy, but the mix is still all there so this is clearly a question of personal taste.

The song sounds cool like this so nice job.

edit: listening to it a second time and the tone is growing on me.

[choinga]

Originally Posted by mr jkn

Sunday, had nothing to do.. whatever. Here you go (maybe it sucks, I dunno):

I like the tones but slowing it down makes it sound like #$%& to me. Just my .02...

[mr jkn]

Originally Posted by choinga

I like the tones but slowing it down makes it sound like #$%& to me. Just my .02...

First and foremost: sorry Peeder for hi-jacking your thread!

Choinga: I did not slow it down. Or did I?

Edit: I guess I did! Messed up the samplerates, ha-ha. I quite like it this way, though. :)