New Version of Are You Gonna Be Around

Posted on Feb 06, 2010 10:35 pm
olddog
Member Since: Jul 02, 2003

I just finished a complete redo of Are You Gonna Be Around, and I'd like to get opinions on the mix and the overall song now.

It's the first song in my profile www.homerecordingconnecti...usic&id=707

Thanks much,

Dan

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Tadpui
I am not a crook's head
Member
Since: Mar 14, 2003

Feb 09, 2010 11:32 pm

Hey OD how's it going? I didn't want your post to sit here so lonely looking :-D

I'm working my butt off right now but I wanted to at least bump this so some of the other regulars might see it and comment. the last few times I've come here I've spent all of my time writing novels about recording guitar so I haven't done much listening!

Sorry to comment and not critique, but I'll listen when I get time. I've always liked this song. What, is this the 4th official remix?

olddog
Member
Since: Jul 02, 2003

Feb 10, 2010 08:54 pm

Goin' pretty well Tad. :) Thanks for bumping it, I know how busy things can get, if/when you have time is fine.

I think this about the 4th time (at least) for this one, people are probably pretty tired of it by now. :D

Dan

Tadpui
I am not a crook's head
Member
Since: Mar 14, 2003

Feb 10, 2010 10:44 pm

OK I finally got a chance to sit and listen to this over my 5.1 computer sound system.

There are so many things I like more about this mix than any of the previous ones. First off is the improvement in overall balance of frequency. Whatever you're using for the final compression, EQ, and whatever else you're doing to it during your mastering phase (I'm kinda scared to use the "mastering" word around here anymore but you get what I mean, right? lol). The bass is solid but not squished.

The mids and upper mids are right in line with the rest of the mix and they really fit perfectly. I mention this because you and I have always ended up with different interpretations of the amount of upper mids in a final mix. You end up with more upper mids than I would. But this is just right by my ears, for what that's worth hahaha.

Please tell me that these guitars aren't recorded direct. Because that Boss GT unit you have keeps making me eat more and more of my words about how fake modelled guitars sound. I can kind of tell that the lead guitar and the crunch/clean-ish guitar are modelled but not for the tone at all. The tone is superb on both. It's something about the "air", for lack of a better term. Probably it's me being used to recording electric guitar in untreated rooms with terrible acoustics and I miss it when I don't hear it now :-)

The bass guitar is nice and tight, well performed and it sits just right on my 5.1 system. Sounds like its right in the pocket with the drum part. Somebody's been practicing bass I see :-)

The drums are the only place that I have much of an actual critique. The drum sounds are really quite amazing. If they're still your electric kit or a sequencer, then you've struck gold with the sample library that you're using. If they're an acoustic kit, then great job micing up the kit. And your drumming has gotten much more confident since the first mix of this song.

But I have trouble hearing the "boom" of the kick next to the bass at times. I can hear the "clack" of the beater just fine though. It's like the kick sound is just right but needs a little hole cut out for it down in that 80 Hz range (or wherever the big bottom end of your kick sits), and maybe given some compression that would let the initial attack of the "boom" come through before clamping down.

I think you can come down on the reverb on the snare a bit. Either the wet/dry mix or the length of the tail could come down. It sounds like the snare is at church while the rest of the kit stayed home hehehe.

And I'm not sure that I ilke so many breaks in the hi-hat's beat throughout the song. A lot of times I like it when the drummer varies the 8th note hi-hat part. But I'm not convinced that I like it here (yet).

I love the distorted guitar fills and the tone you used for them. They fit so well, just like the solo does. They fit not only in content, but in the mix as well. In the solo you could bring down either the wet/dry mix of the reverb or maybe shorten the tail. Not by much, certainly not as much as what I'd take off of the snare.

Reverbs aren't my forte, so maybe I'm giving bad advice here when I say to turn down the reverb on the snare and solo guitar (wouldn't be the first time I've given bad advice!). Maybe turning it down isn't the solution...maybe a different reverb, or a different predelay or some other factor...I don't know because I have such a terrible time with VST reverbs myself.

Are the guitars using the reverb from your Boss GT? Have you tried using that as an aux send effect? Like leave the PC, route through the GT and back to the PC. I just did that with my G-Sharp (for the sake of proving to myself that i could) and it actually worked. So I have access to hardware reverbs that are higher quality than the freebies that I use, and they don't require CPU usage. It's an idea at least, and its free to try. And its a way to spend 4 or 6 very frustrated hours in your studio trying to figure out how the hell its supposed to work!

Anyways, this is a great mix, and I mean it. This is without a doubt the best incarnation of this song yet. Each one has gotten better than the last. It's the combination of the intact dynamics of this mix (it's not squished and loud all the time) and the great harmonic balance of the mix. It's honestly a great balance of lows, mids, and highs.

olddog
Member
Since: Jul 02, 2003

Feb 11, 2010 03:22 am

Thank you for the very detailed comments on this Tadpui!

[quote]You end up with more upper mids than I would. But this is just right by my ears, for what that's worth hahaha.
[/quote]

I think you're idea of what the mid's hi-mid's should be is probably closer than what I usually end with. When I go back and listen to song's I've done a month later I almost always think to myself 'Man there's alot of hi's in there' LOL That or man that sure is muddy. :) So I'm thinking I may have hit it about right this time if you think they're right because I've always liked the the balance you've had in your recordings.

Quote:
Please tell me that these guitars aren't recorded direct. Because that Boss GT...

I'm almost afraid to tell you what they actually are. ;) The guitars in this version are direct with Guitar Rig 3/4 and Amplitube 2. I also used Amplitube on the bass. I think I'm finally figuring out what these software amp sims need to sound decent. I know exactly what you mean on the 'air' thing I notice it missing in the sims as well, I know it's there I've heard guys that can get it, but I just haven't quite figured that part out yet. :)

Quote:
The drums are the only place that I have much of an actual critique.

The drums are Jamstix 2, with the Bonzo Pack which is the kit I'm using. This plugin has come along way since I last looked at it. The Kick is my fault I totally killed it in the mix and the mix I'm working on I've brought the low end back. The hats bugged me as well, so I went and did some tweaking to the brain in JS and finally got it too do 1/8 hat's consistently and I cut the reverb a bit on the snare, good call on that. I need to do another song or 2 with it to see how well it works out on different styles, but I think I'm going to sell my TD6 kit, JS can do a much better job than I can with the limited practicing I can do on drumming, and nothing hurts when I'm done. LOL

Quote:
Reverbs aren't my forte, so maybe I'm giving bad advice ... Are the guitars using the reverb from your Boss GT?

I'm using VST reverbs on eveything except the solo guitars which is Guitar Rig 3 with a pretty wet patch, I think you're right about taming the wetness just a bit on it. I have the same problem as you with VST reverbs, I can never really get them sounding the way I want. I have a Yamaha SPX90 from the 80's that has great reverbs, but I tried hooking it up awhile back and it's got a bad hum, but I'd love to be able to use it if I can fix the hum. The BossGT has decent reverb I may have to dust it off and try your suggestion using it for reverbs.

On the "mastering", I really went minimal this time around with just slight EQ, and maximizer in Ozone4 to bring it up in volume. Usually I try and fix everything with Ozone instead of fixing the mix, this time I made the mix sound as good as I could by itself and then just used Ozone to bring the volume up, no Imager, Exciter, MultiBand Compression.

Thanks again, and I hope to hear some new song's from you soon with that new guitar, I need some new stuff to add to my Tad folder in WMP. :)

Dan