[Dana Nielsen]

GOOD LORDT, @Nate, this is utterly gorgeous!!!! Wow, man. Stunning piece of music. I’m only listening on my Macbook Pro speakers at the moment (and will listen again on the studio speakers Sun night or Monday), but even on the MBP speaks it sounds phenomenal. And, I mean, musically too, it’s just fantastic. U should be super proud, man. The low end on the laptop sounded excellent – kick and synth bass coming through nicely. Felt very balanced, and I’m stoked to crank this on the ATC45s when back in the studio!

FWIW, here are two songs that came to mind while I was listening. Both are songs/records I love, and sharing here cause you might dig them too, and perhaps they’ll also be useful as references for your piece (not that u need them tho – more just sharing for love of music and style similarities).

[Dana Nielsen]

This one for the fabulous middle section bridge / instrumental / beach-boys-esque orchestration. I love this song and the way it blends hip hop/trap and 60’s era pop arranging (for lack of a better description). Like from 2:40 till the end it takes such an incredible unexpected turn, genre-wise and production-wise. And the video is amazing too. Moves me every time – just super creative, genre-bending, surreal storytelling. Enjoy!

https://open.spotify.com/track/3PPAFAhNAvJYs74JnujgGq?si=f6d7ad1416354a3c

https://youtu.be/yeW1cCw3-Hc

[Dana Nielsen]

This one for general vibe and especially the descending synth bass tone and melodies

https://open.spotify.com/track/2aDVymoLLpxVmITtdK0yiD?si=2c8ca6d34c6d453c

[Dana Nielsen]

Awesome work, @smoothygroove! I just gave a quick listen on my laptop (MBP) speakers and it’s definitely dynamic and love all the sync/editor-friendly builds, breakdowns, fills, and transitions 🤘. I’ll listen for real on the big speakers Sun eve or Mon when back in the studio, but until then wanted to say wudup(!) and thanks so much for sharing — looking forward to what others here have to add, too.

One thing I can offer, even on the laptop speakers — arrangement/production-wise — is at the very last chorus section after the big snare fill I was hoping that big fat 80’s-ish snare sample u used for the fill/transition would stay in through to the end of the song! I was wanting that final chorus to be a real “kitchen sink” of an arrangement, incorporating all the fabulous elements you developed throughout the piece for a real maximalist badass-imalist ending section. Could be fun! But either way, great work, man!!

[Dana Nielsen]

Hey, @lucastlee! What an excellent question. I’ll respond briefly here with my practical “take” on EQ differences rather than diving deep into a technical answer. I’m also going to assume you’re referring to EQ plug-ins rather than analog hardware EQ units.

Here are a few possible reasons as to WHY:

1. Physical model: When plug-in manufacturers attempt to capture the sound of, say, a vintage Pultec EQP-1A (one of my favorite musical EQs), the resulting plug-in’s “sound” is derived from a specific hardware unit; and hardware units can vary in tone (and electronic components) from year to year, model to model, and serial number to serial number, especially as they age. This is one explanation for why a Waves Puig-tech might sound different from an Avid or UAD Pultec, even when they’re all EQP-1A models.

2. Algorithms, processing, and math: Each manufacturer will employ different means by which they recreate a familiar analog sound or circuit into a digital plug-in, which can also create sonic differences for the end-user to notice and compare.

Here is my philosophy and WHAT I do about it:

1. “huh … interesting.” I notice these differences all the time.

2. Move on. 😂 I, long ago, took a decidedly “meh” approach to gear paranoia and elitism with regard to hardware and software. Arguing over 1176 revs is so not my style and utterly pointless to me. You won’t find that kind of attitude here on Mix Protégé. There’s already plenty of that whining on Gearspace (see below).

3. I’ve got LOTS of options to choose from in my plug-in EQ collection. Several versions of the EQP-1A by different brands, several Neve and SSL recreations that are identical by model number but differentiated by plug-in manufacturer. I try them ALL, and honestly for the most part I LOVE them all! But choosing my “favorites” will come down to a few simple considerations:

• It sounds great and operates as expected
• It loads fast in my DAW and isn’t a processing-power-hog (bonus points if it’s available in AAX DSP, since I’m on a Pro Tools HDX system)
• It has some extra features that make my life easier and/or routing more flexible, especially for dynamics processors — like a mix/blend knob, key input, input/output control, sidechain filter. Even when those features are not true to the vintage analog version, they sure make my life easier and are welcome additions in a plug-in emulation.

Lastly, FWIW, here’s ….

My process for any EQ -digital or analog- and any other effect. Err, scratch that, this is pretty much my process for MIXING ANYTHING:

1. Have desired sound in brain/imagination
2. Pick tool that will get me there quickest (with zero F$%#s given about the brand name of the tool)
3. Experiment with tool until the sound in my brain is coming out of the speakers
4. Repeat steps 1-3

Hope this helps you (and anyone else reading), and sorry, I guess it wasn’t so “brief” after all! 🤓

[Dana Nielsen]

My man! Ok, so listening on real speakers now … so amazing, @JLEW – great work! Here a few thoughts:

• the whole first section is so cool – bass synth so deep and the music building in such an intriguing way that makes me excited to hear what comes next!
• once it hits the loud section, mixwise, I feel like the snare is perhaps too loud and the kick not nearly loud or deep enough … me wants more sub-y punchy kick-y-ness!
• there’s a sizzly sound effect in the left speaker occasionally that sounds out of phase. Try inverting the polarity of the L or R side of that stereo sound effect and see if it feels more in focus (in phase)
• the acoustic guitar on the right side during the softer section feels very compressed. Might be fine as-is but caught my ear. Maybe turn down the ratio and/or increase the threshold for a more breathable natural sound, if you want

I just love hearing what you’re cooking up in your studio, homey!! Keep it comin, and keep up the incredible work — musically and technically/engineering-ly! 🤩

[Dana Nielsen]

OMG, Jesse, this is so freaking badass! I love it! Just listened on my laptop speakers and can’t wait to hear it on the studio speakers! Will circle back tomorrow once I’ve given this awesome piece a proper “spin” on the ol’ “hi fi”! ⚡️🔥❤️‍🔥

[Dana Nielsen]

Right?? Same, man. So glad you dig!

[Dana Nielsen]

Sure thang!! 🙏🏻

[Dana Nielsen]

My pleasure, man!

[Dana Nielsen]

Heck yeah homey! You are crushing it. 💪 And … nuthin wrong with a loud-ass snare if you’re feelin it. If it were to stay as loud as it is now, I might just try taming the top end on it a bit and making sure the kick has equal impact and power as the snare so that it doesn’t feel overly represented in the snare department and “wah-waaaah” in the kick department [insert sad clown face here]

[Dana Nielsen]

DUDE – u are set!! Very exciting!

[Dana Nielsen]

Hahah, what a great informative hilarious reply @Jon_Plett 😂 – and very true, there are lots of really good interface options on the market these days! I would also even add the Focusrite stuff! All of my system sounds and most of my voiceover for video/zoom etc all is done on a Focusrite Scarlet 6i6 and I’ve got no complaints whatsoever about that thing!

@KNGGRG the preamps in the UAD are amazing – probably one of their strongest attributes! I love the UAD interfaces. They do, however, tend to be some of the most expensive when compared to other brands with similar number of inputs and outputs. This is due to the built-in processors used to run their proprietary UAD plugins. UAD make very high quality plugins and they’re very popular, but they’re not “mandatory” haha. There are lots of other brands of interfaces on the market, as mentioned by Jon, that will perform well if you find you’re not satisfied with the UAD.

[Dana Nielsen]

Sweet!! Congrats on your new awesome gear, man!! That’s super exciting.

Definitely will need an XLR cable to connect the mic to the interface. That said, it seems odd that there’s no thunderbolt or USB-C cable included with the UAD interface … hmmm. Always good to have extras of all that stuff anyway, so I would pick up some cables from Amazon or your local store. Other things you’ll likely need:

• Mic stand with boom arm
• pop filter
• headphones

[Dana Nielsen]

Oh interesting u didn’t get a notification … huh. Lemme know if u get this one!