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4 Piece Band, Live Instrumental Track
Hi MP – I have a recording to share, would love any feedback on the mix. This was recorded live in the studio with a 4 piece combo a few years ago, and I am finally getting around to finishing it. The session was filmed so i’ll be editing the video next. You might notice it is mixed by a guitar player 😅 because the guitar is pretty loud. But it’s carrying the melody.
Any feedback is appreciated – thank you!
Joe Robinson -
15 Replies
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Joe!
I remember this track from before (is that possible?) beautiful!
Yeah guitar a bit loud and maybe a bit bright midrange-y (could just be loudness)
try bass gtr up
distortion on guitar catches my ear – seems a bit agro for the vibe of the song (a darker gtr EQ might smooth this out. AND, it’s fine as-is – it just caught my ear a few times so I thought I’d mention)
snare – maybe try a darker sound with more fat bottom, dark n gut-punchy. try giving that snare a huge 60 or 100hz Pultec boost (medium to narrow bandwidth). ⚡️
You’ve really achieved all the clarity and brightness one could want (love it! Great job! That’s no easy feat). Now, my curiosity would be to warm it all up per the song’s feeling .. more like a “hug”, kinda similar comment as my reply to @jlew‘s recent post. See what it’s like to make all the tones rich and deep as you can without losing too, too much of your nice top end.
Here are a few Nir Felder tracks that come to mind from the albums I mixed for him, which have a similar chill brushes vibe, in case they spark any mix inspiration for ya:
- Longest Star (“III” album)
- Sea of Miracles (“III”)
- coronation (from “II” album)
After my own listening to those references just now, and then listening to your mix again, I think the main thing I’d focus on is the snare sound – getting it fatter, and maybe more depth to the bass guitar. The bass sounds good already, but due to the key and voicing on the bass, higher on the fretboard, sometimes I have to work extra hard to get that deep “root note” feeling to help round out a higher-voiced arrangement. Does that make any sense? 😂
Amazing playing, writing, arranging, man!! Love this!
🎚️🤘
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Thank you so much Dana!!! This is incredibly helpful. I love the Nir Felder tracks and am now hearing that this piece could really use the ‘warm hug’ treatment.
The guitar was recorded live and I was using a 5w champ – it was blowing up a little too much. I did boost the top end a ton with some Trident EQ because it was a Coles mic on the amp and quite dark. Hopefully I can bring some of the warmth back and get it to sit much better!!
I’m going to have way too much fun Pultec’ing that snare 😅
I did post a solo acoustic recording of this song couple of weeks ago. I’m planning on putting out songs every 3 weeks or so next year, will be fun to share a couple of versions of this piece.
Thanks so much again for the feedback,
Joe
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Thanks again for the great feedback, Dana! I re-worked this mix and think it is feeling a lot better. Attached is the new version, based on these suggestions – thank you again!
Joe
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Dude! Listening on my MBP speakers and it sounds beefy and warm and hug-tastic! Fantastic work, man. Looking fwd to giving a listen on the big speakers tomorrow when back in the studio.
Only thing that stood out were a few of the tom fills feel perhaps a bit too loud or too “modern rock” sounding for the track. 2:11 is a good example where they feel maybe a bit too loud and/or could use a hefty 2k-3k reduction for my taste. Don’t get me wrong – the toms sound awesome! And I boost 2k-3k all day long on toms for that scoop-y snappy modern tom sound. But for this track I feel like a more chill, warm, jazz tone on the toms would be nice. Sometimes close-mic’ed brushes on toms will accentuate that midrange “attack-y-ness”, and if it’s a jazzier tune I might roll off some of the top or mids to make them sound a little more natural as if the listener were farther away from the kit in the room. Just a thought! And a super duper minor one at that!
Really awesome, Joe!!
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Thank you so much Dana!!! Your comments really improved this recording a ton – thank you!! Such a good observation about the Tom’s! Listening with fresh ears I hear exactly what you mean, and I think I will tweak the guitar volume rides a little. The hug-treatment really glued it all together. Thanks so much again!
Joe
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Hey Joe!
More gorgeous music! Love it!
A few quick comments after my first listen through – the lead guitar definitely seems quite loud as you noted, particularly starting around 2:50 seconds and onward it it seems to jump up a lot in volume. I agree with Dana on the guitar distortion thing. To me, it actually sounds a bit more like digital clipping than a nice warm saturation? I think it might be more effective with a slightly cleaner tone? Is that distortion baked in to the sound? Or maybe you have the option to re-amp it? If it’s still possible, it might be worthwhile to see what it would sound like? My gut tells me it might feel a bit smoother and fit the song a bit better without the distortion… But if it is baked in, you may be able to achieve a similar effect using some sort of EQ filter.
Another thing I noticed is that the background guitar (is it a lap steel?) is quite similar in frequency response to the lead guitar and I wonder if you treated it with a slightly different EQ curve, or different reverb, or even pan it differently, if it might find its own spot in the mix a bit more?
I agree with Dana about the snare drum as well.
These are just ideas to maybe think about… but you’re playing is so strong that I think most people will immediately be focused on the performance, which is insanely good!
I’ll be very excited to hear how this one progresses!
Best,
Jesse
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Thanks Jesse!! Great suggestions and I appreciate it! That’s a great point with the second guitar competing a little – i’ll experiment with the placement of it.
The overdrive is baked in because I was using a 5-watt champ and a borrowed Les Paul, which is not the kind of guitar I’m used to. It was blowing up a little too much. But I boosted the top end a lot and I think that is contributing to the harshness.
I had considered re-recording the guitar part, but decided not to because the ordinal take was recorded on video and the footage looks pretty cool.
It’s so helpful being able to share songs here, thank you so much for the feedback and for taking the time to listen!!
Joe
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Wanted to share that I finished this track and it is now out! Thanks so much for the help and suggestions!!
I created a video for it, too!
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Joe – this is AWESOME man!!! ❤️❤️❤️
Best,
Jesse
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Thanks so much, Jesse!!
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HOLY MOLY!! A+++ @joerobinson – Bravo!
Such a treat to hear and watch u all play. Such burning cats you all are! And that is some high level video production and lighting too, to top it all off!! 👏👏🤘
Absolutely incredible, homey!!
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Just added to the MP Playlist, too!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2Hur30TN833YNBj6auawtf?si=55cb5f0103af457f
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Thank you so much, Dana!!! I really appreciated your help with this track!!! Giving it the warm-hug treatment really brought it together. Thank you!!
Joe
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😂🎯
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