Short, gets right to the point, FunkyAF.

They’re back !?

Bar, I’m glad to hear you back with your soft and mysterious sounding songs. The distorted vocal is subtle, captures my attention, and is way cool to my ear. Subtle but interesting support from a bassist who isn’t concerned about holding down the “One” and playing straight changes coupled with a…

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Dana, Thank you for detailed response. That was well said, concise, and indicative of some of the gems you spit on the MIXLAB zoom sessions. @-PT

Phoebe,

Your stylistic choice for the slightly distorted and split vocals supports the song better than does a main center vocal as I suggested. That’s a polite way to say the singer sounds appropriately off center. Following that path, I put the M/S EQ across your track and gave just the SIDES a +2 dB high shelf (Baxandall shaped…

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Phoebes,

I’m thinking you have another mix possibility in you for this super-poppy (comin-in-hot-at- (-9LUFS) love song.

I read your critique and then listened. My first impression was that no, you’re not lacking air in the intro KB/ BS/SYNTH line. But then the vocal appears and it can’t compete (frequency bandwidth wise) with the music.…

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Dana,

No, you’re not crazy, and in the words of Waylon Jennings, even if you were it would keep you from going insane. What you accurately heard was a single acoustic guitar pickup feeding both a DI output AND through an SM57 on a guitar amp. Panned them to spread them out but not completely. Had I done that I could have effectively…

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Phoebe,

v2 of my voodoo.

Great job on your loudness level! I had to work to make it nearly as loud.

@-PT

Phoebe,

Welcome.

I agree with my colleague from NY who suggests the vocal is getting a little lost during louder passages. If the spotlight is on the singer, and it should be, let’s keep her prominent and easily accessible for the audience / listeners.

You mention finding a space for the vocal and ask if it needs more FX to make…

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Jesse my man,

You did such an efficient and succinct job describing my technique that I would ask your input on an acronym that failed miserably in my old neighborhood.

L, (left of R) (right of L), R.

It was a trick for panning a signal with delay rather than amplitude. Better for…

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Patrick,

I recall after your first posted piano piece and saying how I reacted. The unbridled joy just bubbling through your playing was contagious.

Now you’re back with an absolutely disarming, tender vocal performance. I’m not sure if this is a fatherly prayer for a kid (like @JLew ‘s recent offering) or perhaps, a dream visit from…

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Joe,

This is a gorgeous gem of oh-so-tasty pickin’. I can’t believe I didn’t comment/praise it earlier.

Your song was stuck in my head yesterday as I took a Memorial Day ride on my scooter. It’s a good toe-tapping riding companion!

-@PT

Once again, a two-track off the console with a little AI mastering assist and a good dose of attitude for your listening pleasure.

From last Tuesday’s guest artists … a most curious finger picking duo.

@-PT

I’m glad it moved you too! Drums are powerful and primal.

I had a blast mixing the show at the time, revisiting the recording 20 years later and then doing some mild mastering voodoo. My peak Samurai sorcery, (TM @dana) took place in a different venue, post-event celebration.

The US Womens’ synchronized swimming team stopped by the club…

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Yea, to me, some of the “octavized” bass sounded off and unneccesarily deep when the second-biggest drums were playing so I just deleted that in sections and held back the oomph for a more dramatic effect when the biggest drums re-entered.

…Commit the processed track to audio, then chop it out where it’s deemed illegal. I suppose automating…

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I extended the low end of the big drums the same way I did for @JLew ‘s acoustic guitar.

ie, send a duplicate channel low passed (100 Hz ish) to a pitch shifter down an octave and feed just that thunder back into the stereo buss with the original. Voila! You create bigger balls than that Bigger Balls DOGE kid.

@-PT

Dear listeners,

I had a delightful time today abusing the limiters in my mastering software today. 🙂

It’s yet another live performance 2-track off a console that I mixed the show on.

Pretty sure it was nothing but Shure 57 and 58 microphones on these drummers.

For me, the magic is in the panning, and pitch shifting.

Who knew plastic…

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Rather than doom-scrolling tonight, I decided to dig into my archives and look for some joy.

Sure enough, I found some!

This 23 year old MP3 (not me) started the day as a live 2 track recording off the console.

It’s another in my “series” of AI-assisted 2-track mastering of shows from my live mixing adventures.

I should age this well.

-@PT

JLew,

What a beautiful composition. And sentiment. That section you create (1:57) when the bass drops in, the horn line descends, and the choir of quasi-falsetto J-Lettes spread their wings and sing like angels is moving.

More J-Lettes! That’s my mix suggestion.

Maybe lose the guitar squeaks too??

She is…

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Dana,

The Spectral Recovery module of iZotope RX11 Advanced is the culprit. The demonstration of it is uncanny. Put in a bandwidth limited telephone-like voice and it spits out upper and lower harmonics that make it sound beIievably naturaL The upgrade from the standard version is $400 ish. Kinda pricey.

@-PT

James,

Much better in stereo! I heard the Meetup replay and it was all glorious mono.

I like bold toms that jump out and yours certainly do that.

That last little bit of a cappella vocals is a nugget of goodness that I wanted to hear earlier somehow.

@-PT a 70-16 y/o

@JLew

Awaiting the phone recorded AC guit to proceed with my Franken guitar experiment. My RX-11 doesn’t have the module I’m needing but I can can grab an advanced version free trial. I’ve heard it ake a bandwidth limited voice and recreate the undertones to make it full bodied. Should be perfect on your high passed beater gt.

@-PT

Dana,

I think I had subscribed earlier but knowing my eye doctor appt conflicted I put the meetup in the no-can-do-pile. The small group appeared to make the meetup more conversational.

PT

I’m sorry I missed the meetup today. That looked like and sounded like much more fun than I was having at the time.

PT

I like that you interpreted the splash as a UFO falling from the sky. I was going for the comedic moment and that was a royalty-free goose related sound effect I found. You wrote the ending better than I did. Gracias.

PT

Yowza. that’s just gorgeous.

PT

Jesse,

I ditched the AI and took another swing at your piece. This time it was all from inside my head.

PT

Thanks fellas,

When Jesse made that observation that it sounds like a real band he nailed it. There’s no layering of other instruments going on, no tambo on the second chorus to lift the party mood as Dana will reply. Pretty basic stuff but a catchy little riff. He’s learning to think and hear beyond the now, as the band plays, into what…

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Dear MP participants.

Proud Papa here showing off my son’s good work. He’s an aspiring LA drummer, one of the voices in the BGVs, roughs mixer and “producer.” The band (Arcane Grace) voted in a blind test to use my master for Spotify etc.

I’m thankful for this community that doesn’t argue with me when my suggestions are good for…

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Jeremy,

Cool. I am always happy when suggestions I conjure up get adopted. It’s good training to figure out what the writer’s intent seems to be and then support it with something fitting. Thanks for letting me in the sandbox.

@-PT

You’ve created a very vibey invocation of sorts. You effectively take the listener on a journey. The use of or amount of verb on the voice is immaterial. There’s a valid experience either way. Different rules apply, it’s not a pop song.
👏 👏

@-PT

I didn’t even listen to the new version before this reply to say that you just set a new standard in replying. I think the format you used, quoting the listeners’ comments and then addressing them one by one is superb.

PT

Yes, it is mind expanding and free of the potential jail time.

I’m thinking I can impart the characteristics of the smooth jazzy electric guitar onto the bones of the acoustic. We lose the thinness that exist.

I could use wav files of the nice sounding electric, A stereo stem of whatever makes up that sound, including multiple mics and verb…

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GesseBear,

Snowday would be the perfect song to utilize this guitar magic and push it even further.

Yes, the acoustic is thin sounding but in the context of the creation of your song, indispensable. I didn’t hear it as a big issue. Are my standards low? I don’t think so. Some men would look at a freckle-faced woman and say “splotchy…

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Jesse,

Sorry to say that the geese did not survive the AI separation process. The new software is so smart ass now that the error message said something about killing two birds with one keystroke.

I love the whole process of this piece. A little snow, grab the beater guitar, improvisation in nature, and then bring it back inside and expand upon it. The muse visits you and we get to here it.

You had me when I heard the overhead geese. Twice a year we get a delightful goose parade on their way to or from Montezuma Wildlife refuge. In…

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Jesse,

Good ear! That little rhythmic hiccup at 2:11 appears to be friction between the bass guitar and the marching snare drum playing parts that compete with each other.

Too many peeps vying to fill that little space??

@-PT

JLew,

For the visual learners, this may help to understand the process.

The white and green tracks in the session are my live 2 track mix off the console and the guitar stem separation created in RipX. I then duplicated the green guitar separation in my DAW and changed its color to red. Despite all the verbiage, I’m only working on 3…

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Jesse,

This timely guitar article showed up in my mail today. Passing it on…

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Drew,

I might be the first to say it but I’d bet anyone who reads your question will wonder what “pulling down the vocal in the mix” sounds like. A before and after would help me hear exactly what your symptom is and what problem might be. How might you be using the delay? As a plugin on a channel? How much time are you using? Enough to…

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Jesse,

Usually I’m good with words, apparently that explanation was not my usual.

Allow me to go about it differently so that the math does its mathing more clearly.

I only used four channels on my console for the live performance. One vocal mic, one DI for her acoustic guitar, and two channels for the stereo vocal reverb return. Vocal…

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This is the second offering from a live singer songwriter performance I recorded earlier in January. I took my post production process one step further on this one by creating 2 guitar-only stem separations from the original 2 track, adding some high passed EQ and 20 ish mSec width to one of the newly created guitar dupes and then processed…

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Jeremy,
Of course I had to try the shorter intro …. I have free time at this point in life to pursue more interests so you benefit. If I could just hybridize my curioslty about recording and the aliens 👽… we could make some damn history around here.
You’re not the only one apparently being unable to playback some of the posted…

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🤠 The girl can definitely sang.

The first show of the year at my little theater happened the other day and it got me thinking. I love it most when it’s not about the gear. One 58 and a DI for her guitar into an M32. That’s a discontinued low end digi mixer at this point in time. It doesn’t get in the way, especially when the performer has the feels.

I got to capture some…

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Me too.!Not that kind

Jeremy,

I took the liberty of editing the intro of THIS CLOUD and pretty much accomplished what I was aiming for. The intro is softer and more intriguing to my ear now. Kinda gets to the point more quickly. How’s it hit you?

@-PT

Jeremy,

This is good stuff! I’m digging this “crooner-like” vibe on this song. Compared to other offerings you’ve served up that had some good banging, this one has a softer, more reserved milieu. It’s another flavor tasted in your musical world. I like it.

You asked the very question I was thinking after listening the first…

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Michael,

The more I listen the more I love this pop gem. It led me to this even newer interpretation.

The BGV and Ooh loh ohs were so stereo in the vocal stem separation I derived that I could separate the middle from the sides and grab a hold of them and make ’em a little louder where I thought they could shine. Mid side processing with a +4…

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Michael,

My handiwork is just above Blisters to MP.

Stem separations into all vocals, all bass guit, all drums/perc and all others instruments lumped together.That gives me some degree of flexibility to rethink arrangements.

PT