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Steinberg Lounge
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Edit: The Boogie is out of here. Sounds like dogs&#t when I heard it now. The basic jam will be back in the form of “Brain Pain” whenever I finish the lyrics and can find the right time to record some vocals. My current living situation isn’t exactly “Singing Friendly” :unamused: .

I finally created an online music account. Here’s a simple little jam I’ve been playing around with. I’m mainly interested in how the mix translates on other systems. I don’t have much mixing experience (only started dabbling in computer related music making about a year and a half ago) so any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance if you end up taking a listen,
Scott


Edit for new link: …

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Pretty good Scott, what’s happening around 1:09 or so, the timing’s gone there.
Mix sounds fine to me :sunglasses:
Cheers
Phil

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Yeah, that slide part is all over the place when the drums change. First take making it up as I went kind of thing. My keyboard bass skills are lacking pretty badly, too. I’m going to try to record a “real” bass track today and also try to come up with a more focused direction for the slide. I’ll post the results when I get to that point.

Thanks, Phil. The bass is what I’m having the hardest time judging. On my powered monitors (KRK Rokit 5) it sounds full, but with phones (AKG K271 MkII) or small computer speakers it drops quite a bit. I guess I’ll just have to train my ears. :wink:

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listening now… mix sounds balanced to me. Bass sounds loud enough on my headphones.

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Good to know, Early. I’m starting over on this one. I layed down a bass part with my acoustic/electric and came up with a drum part that’s a little less “busy” and more structured. Hopefully I’ll have some vocals ready eventually. Next step is a raunchy rhythm guitar. Also thinking more drive on the slide tone and a back and forth deal with a screaming picked lead. Starting to feel more rock ‘n’ roll than country blues.

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Have you run the slide through an auto-tuner? You don’t need to worry about the individual notes since they will (theoretically) be in tune relative to each other. Being able to adjust where your slides end up will help spruce this up a bit.

Good tune. The bass is a tad too staccato for my taste, but if you’re doing this on a keyboard then it’s understandable. I completely agree with the comments that the timing issues in the song (e.g. 1:09, 3:07, etc.) are distracting to the listener.

As far as the mix goes, I’m listening to this at work through earbuds and the mix sounds fine. If anything, I would nudge up the cymbals just a tad (but not much). I get that the playing style emulates a drummer that’s trying to not take over the sound, but they are a bit too far back in the mix for my taste.

If you want a “real” bass let me know via PM and we can work out the details.

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Thanks for the input, Larry. I hope to have a new version done this weekend, minus vocals. I was really just playing around with a couple things on this one. Nothing funky going on with processing on the slide, just “plug and play”. I need a proper solidbody electric bass for some solid thump. Probably my next musical purchase. Only so much I can do with the acoustic/electric that I have, but I’m trying to make it work. I hate keyboard bass, but thought I’d try it just to see how it sounded. So, anyway, I have a new drum and bass done. Going to try to mic some real amps this weekend instead of going direct and rock it out a little more. I’ll post back when I get it done.

BTW, how’s that fretless going for you? That was you if I remember right, wasn’t it?

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Yeah, that was me.

There’s nothing wrong with going direct as long as you have a pre-amp, preferably tube-based. I never use a real amp for recording any more in spite of the fact that I have a decent Marshall and good mics.

As far as the fretless goes, I love it! Haven’t played it much lately because I’ve been working on 2 other pieces - one that was released (Grad Student Blues) and another piece that is only missing the vocals (but Glyn is hoping to have those done this coming Friday). Both were done on the fretted bass.

When I have used the fretless, I have run it through Melodyne for the same reason why I suggested it to you: it helps with proper tune on the end point of any glissandos as well as the notes in general. I’m not terribly accurate with the fretless (not yet at least) so this helps immensely.

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Hi Scab,

With stuff like this I listen to the vibe more than technical bits and bobs with mix technique. There are one or two insecure bits on the slide, but other than that a fine effort. Maybe a bit more dramatic variety needed? It all seems “on a level” after a while. I’d maybe have the slide a bit more “in your face”?

Cheers

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Dear Scott,

yes, this is how it appears to me, too. I enjoy it a lot though I`d prefer less guitar notes & more space for the rhythm & bass which are so wonderfully driving in that kind of style.

Not sure, if this song by Moebius & Plank is something you can relate to.
It just nicely demonstrates what I mean.

Have a good day!

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Thanks for the replies, Dave & Joan. Yes, too many notes can take away from the groove for sure…

Here’s the link to the latest version:

…

I left the first one up for comparison.

@foolomon, I tried your suggestion on the pitch correction and was pretty satisfied with the built-in Studio 5 preset I used. I figured it would sound all wobbly or something, but it worked fairly well (although it still feels like cheating).

This isn’t really supposed to have a lead guitar line all the way through, but I figure until I get some lyrics finished this is the state it will rest in for a period of time.

@DaveKeir, I’d like to do some more with the drums as far as not so much repetition, but this is more of a live jam kind of tune so I think I’ll leave that up to a real drummer to figure out. I would prefer more dynamics for sure.

The drums, bass, and electric rhythm are going to stay I think (except for maybe trying some different drum samples), but I can see the slide and lead guitar parts changing quite a bit.

This is my first try at making one part out of many. The bass and rhythm guitar are one takers but the slide and lead guitar parts I assembled from four or five takes each. I’m really just recently starting to feel like I’m getting somewhere with this software. I’ve spent the last year and a half picking away at things and finally feel like I can start being productive instead of learning the basics. Studio 5 is my first DAW (other than LE4 that came with my Tascam US144MkII). I didn’t even own a computer until I bought a laptop about 2 years ago. I quickly realized that setup wasn’t going to cut it so I built a desktop DAW machine last fall with no help (thank you, internet videos). Between that and investing in a solid interface (Focusrite Saffire PRO 40) I think I’ll be set for a little while. The best way to learn, I feel, is diving in head first.

I do need a good vocal mic but that’s another thing…

Anyway…

I appreciate the feedback and hopefully I’ll have something more substantial to present to you all in the future.

Comments on the new mix are welcome.

Scott

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Much better mix now, though I’m not loving the specific wah-distortion combo that you’re using. It makes it sound too reedy.

The slide is much better now. You need to remember that even though you are using it from the perspective of individual notes that the program is simply doing pitch-shifting of an entire audio blob with notes being a reference point. The point is that you may have worried about it screwing up your slide (or giving it the T-Pain sound) but as long as you ensure that the endpoints are pitch-correct then the rest of the blob (glissando) will get shifted by a corresponding amount.

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Thanks for listening again, Larry.

No wah on that guitar. PRS Custom 22 > Fulltone OCD > Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail plus > Fender Bassman reissue > Beta 57 > Focusrite PRO 40.

That OCD gets some pretty strange tones. In a good way, I think. I know what your saying about the “reedy” tone. I might, at some point, go back and try something different. I think I’m about done with this one for now, though.

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This is the reason why I record direct in now. My signal chain is: guitar > tube pre > audio interface.

The pre-amp has LPF, HPF, MF, and compression as well. I use Blue Cat Audio’s Freq Analyst to ensure that the frequency distribution is relatively even for the range of the instrument (i.e. I look over a different range for the bass than I do for the guitar). Then I use Kuassa’s VST’s to provide any distortion needed for the guitar (and not for the bass).

The nice thing is that I can easily swap the overdrive / distortion since it’s a VST. And the resulting sound is quite good: listen to my last release - Grad Student Blues - for an example.

My point is that I can relate to your “I’m pretty much done with this” feeling. I get burnt out too. But if it’s easy to make changes that fundamentally alter the sound then you’ll be less burnt out. :slight_smile:

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It’s always interesting to hear about different approaches to recording. I would love to have a good tube pre. Right now I use a Digitech GNX3 floor multi FX for recording electric guitar direct but it sounds pretty sterile. And, like you point out, I’m stuck with the original tone. I’ll have to experiment a bit with adding effects post recording.

I meant to tell you I did have a listen to “Grad Student Blues” a couple days ago and enjoyed it very much. Maybe in another year or two I’ll be able to pull off some more polished sounding mixes. Right now I’m still in the learning something new every day phase. Of course with the seemingly endless world of the DAW I could be in that phase for quite a long time.

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Heh. My approach to recording is far from difficult. In fact, if it were difficult my mixes would still suck. I’ll create a thread in the Lounge to describe what I do.

In the meantime, my pre is the EnVoice MKII made by Mindprint. Sam Ash lists a single channel (which I have) unit at USD$549, which is much less than the $650 I paid when I bought it (at Sam Ash). I use this for everything: guitar, bass, vocals, etc. though I have not yet tried using it as an insert off of the mixing board (i.e. via Export to Audio with option to import the result as a new audio track then use a TRS cable off the aux send/return on my Mackie board).

(Edit: the process thread is done and can be found in the Lounge.)

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I guess I just can’t leave it alone. I was using this as a test subject to try out some different things with the mix. This version has a little bit more of the lower end punch I was looking for, I think. No rhythm guitar. Individual parts seem to be clearer. No pitch correction on the slide anymore after soloing the track and hearing some funky stuff going on. New one taker lead guitar through Digitech GNX3. Last version, for real this time, until lyrics, a name, a new life. :slight_smile:

…

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Nice jam, Scott! Sounds good.

And yeah, it could do with some gritty, bluesy vox. :sunglasses:

Cheers,
Wim