Critique Please! Remy, Dave, anybody...

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 3:58 pm

Hey, everybody. I haven't been on here in a while, but I wanted your opinion(s) on my latest mix.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=847827
It's the first (and currently only) song on the page.
Thanks, people.

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 4:34 pm

Nice song
Nice vocal
Nice guitars

I am normally a full tilt drum guy, but I thought the drums overshadowed the vocal.

I would say all around good effort!

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 7:26 pm

I just sat down to catch up on e-mail and came across your request.

I must say, it's a solid recording. Nice guitar & vocal with just the right touch of reverb. A favorite sound of mine.

I like big drums and I liked the way the drums came in. POWERFUL. A nice ambient drum room with life & punch! Although I did feel the cymbals were too splashy, somewhat overbearing and over accentuated. If you can keep that drum mix while lightening up on the cymbals by perhaps both lowering & pulling out some of the brassiness between 4-7kHz it will be even more listenable. I really enjoyed your work. The vocals and guitars were impeccable.

Would love to know more specifics?
Ms. Remy Ann David

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 9:00 pm

Thanks for all the kind words! I followed your advice and posted the new mix as "Saddles02." The original is still there, too, as "Saddles01." Lemme know what you think. I was afraid I'd go too drastic with the changes, so I might have over-corrected and gone too subtle, but this is the version that we sent to be mastered.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=847827

As far as specifics, we recorded mostly in my living room.

Kick - D112
Snare - Senn. 421 on top & SM57 bottom
no rack tom in the song
Floor tom - Senn. 421
My awesomely cheap Samson C01's (SDC) for overhead
And Samson C02 (LDC) for a room mic
Bass - DI
Acoustic Guitar - Samson C02
Lead Guitar - either 57 or 421 (can't remember - I think 57) on the cab and C02 in the bathroom
Organ - I think 421
Tambourine - C01 in the bathroom (the first time I've actually liked my tamb.)
Vocals - C02

Remy, I don't know if you remember, but last time I posted a mix (long time ago - probably a couple years), you kinda ripped me a new one and convinced me that I needed some real monitors; I was mixing on consumer Bose speakers - so I got some KRK's and that has made a huge difference. So thank you for that!

-George

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 9:24 pm

Big fan of this song, would love to hear more! I hear a lot of Jeff Buckley, what are some of your other influences?

Something about your acoustic guitar sound rubbed me the wrong way, I would have used a different mic (in my theoretical world where I own more than three Very Happy

)

I LOVED the lead guitar sound, the ambiance you got from that mic in the bathroom really brought it to a good place.

LOVED the organ sound, nice and warm.

Your awesomely cheap Samson C01's left me cringing a bit with the hihat and cymbal sounds.. a tad brash. Personally I would have approached the drums with more compression, but to each their own. Drums have never been my forte.

When do we get to hear more?

Cool

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 10:15 pm

Thanks, the song is by my friend Charles, whose "stage name" is Saddles. http://myspace.com/saddlesgotsoul
I'm just recording/producing and playing some instruments.
And yeah, I would love to own some nicer condenser mics, but my wife is not quite as excited by that idea. Haha.

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 5:22 am

Yes, yes, that's second mix is much friendlier. Yes, my only thought was the hat sounded a little rough & dirty. Chalk it up to Chinese condenser microphones. But hey! Nice job with what you had to work with. Certainly not overhyped like most others. Your mastering engineer will like working with this.

LOL! You've come a long way baby! Yup, I especially like the KRK sound. They've really become my favorites to mix with. I recently picked up a pair of V6's and sold my RP5's and still mix on a pair of V88's with a sub at a friend's studio. I still have my original pair of RoKit's in the bedroom system. It's amazing how good an engineer you can become when you start with good references. Really changes your perspective on things doesn't it? Now you're spoiled like the rest of us. Of course they're not Alan Sides' monitors.

Average rock-and-roll speakers for average rock-and-roll
Ms. Remy Ann David

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