Hi,
Nice song. The guitar playing is really good.
I listened to the original mix, Neil Young and Pink Floyd's Us & Them.
My first thought for the mix was a painting. A street band and dancers outside a taverna. This pictured morphed into a more formal ballroom setting, somewhat like the ballroom in The Shining', where the music could increase in impact, rather than drifting into the air. This suggested the music began to engulf the dancers who were initially inside their own bubble.
Musically the positioning of the instruments and vocal interaction were tricky.
Here is the mix:
Wav:
https://soundcloud.com/dwgh/mc048-fese- ... stcoast2-1
Mp3:
https://soundcloud.com/dwgh/mc048-fese- ... westcoast2
Here are some screenshots:
http://homepages.force9.net/infinite/MC48/MC48pic1.png
http://homepages.force9.net/infinite/MC48/MC48pic2.png
Details.
Mixed in Reaper. All plugins are Waves except where stated.
All channels have blue cat's gain for initial gain staging
To begin with each channel had a TDR Nova Eq which was used to sweep for bad frequencies. This was later, in most cases, replaced with ReaEq for notching out specific frequencies.
Vocals:
Individual Vocals: Tune LT, API-2500 compressor and Redd37-51 channel strip.
Vocal: Had an in-line H-Delay at the end of verse 3.
Susan and Backing vocals have a DeEsser.
Vox Verb: reaEQ, IR-L plate and TrueVerb plate.
Bass:
reaEq (notch), VEQ 4, Kramer Tape, waves C1 compressor with sidechain fed from the AD2Kick drum.
Then fed to a Waves Metaflanger (set to chorus)
Drums:
- Drum Grp: TG12345 channel strip.
-- AD2Kick: LinEQ, ReaEq
-- AD2Snare: REQ 6,
-- AD2HiHat: Q4 eq
-- AD2Overhead: TDR Nova eq, C1 Gate (as expander) sidechained by AD2Kick and AD2Snare, Q4 eq.
AD2Room: Q6 eq, TG12345 channel strip.
Tambourine: Reverb
All the below instruments were sent to an Eq'd TrueVerb
Music Box: ReaEq (notch), Q6 eq.
Zebra Bell Piano: NI Solid Eq, C6 Mb compressor
Akordian: ReaEq (notch), Q3 eq
Phospher HiPad: ReaEq (notch), 2Tap Delay
Guitars:
AGuitar Mic: ReaEq (Notch), VEQ4
AGuitar Solo: ReaEq (Notch), VEQ4, 2nd ReaEq to soften the Hi notes. A 2Tap Delay is added on the 2nd Interlude.
EGuitar Grp: No reverb, individual instruments sent to reverb.
- EGuitar DI: ReaEq (notch), Q3 eq
- EGuitar: ReaEq (notch), Q3 eq
EGtr Fin Grp: reverb sent as group.
- EGuitar Finale DI: Q3 eq
- EGuitar Finale: Q3 eq
Automation:
Panning:
After the introduction the centered Akordian is shifted right to make way for the solo guitar.
During the the 3rdVerse and Chorus the Main vocals swap postion. They return to orginal panning after the interlude. (The idea was to simulate dancing)
The musical box moves to the centre towards the end of the finale.
Volume:
Vocals: To raise dropping end of words.
Drums: Volume changes for emphasis applied to snare and overheads.
Guitar: Various volume changes for emphasis.
Zebra Piano & Guitar: Volume changes together when the piano does arpeggios
FX:
Vocal & AGuitar Solo: Switching Delays on and off.
Timing:
Timing Corrections applied to AGuitar Mic during verse 2.
General Comment.
While writing out what had been done I realised that what I thought I had done wasn't what I had actually done. I also spotted a routing error when doing the screen shots.
It can be a chore to do the write up but it can be useful for yourself, and others, in the absence of individual feedback.
Best to all.
west