I am in the process of doing my first solo cd ever (after doing numerous albums for other artists and playing in diverse “whorebands”) and this is the second song I’ve done for that cd. The first was “Altered State” from some months back.
Get it here: http://chaptereight.bandcamp.com/track/sinking-2011-rc-1
I am posting this to get some input on the mix.
I’ll do some more “whizbang” on vocals later (melodyne, delay efx etc)
Vocal dist at 5.15 thanks to my cheap Behringer mixer LOL.
The mic/preamp/tube tech compressor is not distorting neither is the signal going out from the behringer mixer, the max signal coming into Cubase was -1 db so here we have a classic example of the mixing board saying “I’ve had enough it’s too hot even though it isn’t” hehe
As I said this is a release candidate and it was a hard one to do for Håkon.
John Reggs from NY did the 2003 original and he is a tough man to beat to say the least.
But I think Håkon pulled it off just fine adding a lot of himself to the song.
We will fix a couple of vocal lines manually (it means redoing it for real, hehe) the rest I’ll fix in melodyne. So… no vocal fix at all on this version, just the best takes glued together.
Equipment used: Vocals: Neumann U67 to Behringer Ultravoice to Tubetech lca2b.
Frog if this does not sound good nothing does, hehe
Guitars: Fender USA hss (humbucker, single coil, single coil) strat+ (ash body and all the trimmings, hehe) going into amplifikation crème plugin
All overdrive sounds from this plugin, the clean guitar on the verses from amplitube fender.
Bass: Trilogy on the verses, the rest is me on a real bass through At3
Drums: Superior Drummer 2 Allaire kit with one extra tom and two extra cymbals. Synths: Hypersonic 2
Please, let me know what you think of the sound so far….
You are definately one of my favourites around here.
This song really has a bit of whitesnakes slip of the tongue elements, really oldskool rock, Love it!!
I could put this song between my rockclassics and nobody would even notice I think.
Maybe the vocals in the beginning are a bit ‘bassy’ is that the right term.
You also made a song wish I sung some lines to, is that also a song you want to use for that CD?
I promised to work on that more and all of a sudden life got in the way, and now it’s so long ago, I was a bit scared to contact you about it.
Next month I finnaly have the new rode mike, so my offer still stands, if it’s not too late.
To my ears the music mix is great/superior . Sounds like the vocals are too out front from the start and not “married” to the music. The vocals and their mix with the music seem to be the only issue
Not keen on the snare sound Kim, sounds too verby to me. Band sounds great as always.
I think Hakon could be a bit thicker sounding and less reliant on reverb. Just some initial thoughts.
Great track, guitars sound as powerful as Rammstein
Sounds really good.
I think the panning of the kit is a bit distracting, with the hats panned hard right
and some crashes hard left - it felt a bit odd, especially at first, to have the kit so wide.
I like the lead solo - but you should consider putting it a bit prouder in the mix.
I like Hakon’s delivery. When he sings that high note on ‘I used to have a life’, it’s a nice part,
but I wish he didn’t pause after the high note, and you might want to double or delay that high note,
cuz he nailed the note - but it’s a little thin sounding.
Looking forward to hearing more of the Grusom album!
Your drums and guitar are first class as always. It might just be me, but I thought the solo should have come earlier; I felt like I was waiting for the singing to stop. Good stuff; looking forward to the album.
I agree about looking forward to the album (and Lenny’s too).
In the beginning I thought the drums sounded repetitive. During the opening of the first verse I would have switched to 16ths on the hi-hat instead of the straight 4ths they started with just to break up the monotony.
I agree with Lenny’s comment about “I used to have a life” and I’ll reiterate it for the phrase before the guitar solo. Both phrases need more umph in them.
Still, this is one helluva song and I’m already planning on listening to it lots.
Good sound overall, imo.
If I’m allowed to be honest, I have to say that the lyrics doesn’t stand up to the quality of the sound/music. The track is so good that I think it deserves new lyrics. The singer is better than the lyrics, and does a pretty ok job.
Sorry! Just my personal view oh course.
Good stuff, but do something with the hat at the right channel, because it’s annoying. It appears at the very begining and goes throughout the whole song. it makes the song static. IMHO of course.
