Dear John,
hello comrades and host,
I beg you to listen, and hopefully to enjoy and have fun!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1izIFzi ... sp=sharing -- the mix 48/24
(approx. -2.8 true peak, -18 average, -16 short term)
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing pictures
====================== voluntary correction ======================
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jcCaHc ... sp=sharing 14.2 mp3
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1anQTV- ... sp=sharing 14.2 48000
added:
timing corrections in the drums after solo, and git in the outro
elysia nvelope for punch in the drums, and also for the bass, to reduce sustain
spectral processing in the mixbus with DSM V3, its main task it corrects the basic sound of the drum tracks but glues together everything else too.
lots of automation
fighting some masking in the lower mids
fine-tuning reverbs and snare sound
improve and autotune gang vocals (using nectar elements)
===============================================================
The game allows to those who come later, to know what others have done so far.
Thanks to everyone, it was very inspiring and helpful.
Eventually, I thought, why not take the quest, choose the maximum fun, and bring back the spirit of the Eighties as much as possible?
First, a fast rough mix, to see what's inside, and then start with getting the overall sound right, with comp, exciter, and a couple of EQs in the master bus.
It's not that much, nothing unusual, but it is the basic vibe. These devices have the color that I want.
Why: Because this way, bass, solo git, rooms, overheads, all these do not need any style change at all, we only improve the intensity a little bit.
Then I made a very detailed bus structure, see pictures. (Busses are directly below source trax).
Then I shaped all the sounds, conceived effects, and did the mix.
Then, I took a day for massive automation (see pictures), because the secret of the whole thing is to keep everything vibrant from start to end, give it a flow, enhance energy and personality in the vocals, place gimmicks, and create some dramaturgy to walk though, else it would become boring.
The buses have also the purpose to allow side chaining.
Kick and snare are multed into a SC control bus, that will be used twice.
The bass is ducked with a simple, free Reaper comp, and its SC filter is used to emphasize the kick, and let the snare act on it only a tiny bit.
Then, there is an instrument bus (excluding all drums, vocals, and solo guitar).
The instrument bus has a DIY "trackspacer" using TDR Nova GE. So we can select the frequencies that have to be protected, meaning vocals and solo git.
There is a submix, feeding the sidechain of this trackspacer. It combines vocals and solo.
The instrument bus also has an extra SC comp in its line from the drum/bass ducking system, and so it too reacts a little bit on the drums.
I can do this quite easily with the "rack" wiring system.
The SC system is crucial for the typical 80ies pumping trick with the gated drum reverbs and orchestral sounds.
Caveat, we must be a bit subtle here. But without, it won't fly, at least for me.
SNARE
There is NO sample here, the game changer is iZotope Trash 2 with its multiband saturation curves, IR convolutor, dynamics, and sharp filters. I quickly found a useful preset. What a beast.
Snare is multed into a low-passed body track, and the 80ies gun-shot effect, that also uses an exotic beta reverb with strong modulation.
Toms use another instance of that dense reverb, a little EQ, and a LF mono-maker.
KICK
Actually, there is only a SPL Attacker, and a 4000 G strip, which has a comp that totally shapes the sound for what I need, I'm just wondering because no other compressor did it right.
The 4000 EQ is rather trivial, and not even cranked that much.
But here comes the trick:
There is a kick + snare + tom bus, and here is the massive 80ies dark gated reverb, from a Dragonfly instance, that is highpassed only a bit.
There is also the "coffin" IR pulse involved, which is dark as well, in the SIR settings I use.
Another crucial tool at this level is the mpressor, balancing the whole drum set this way, and it controls the sustain. It make the drums sound a bit "vinyl-ish".
The result is shaped with a 4000 G again, cranked for intensity, while keeping the basic sound intact (which is a strength of this bx strip).
We end up with the dark sounds and the bright sounds together.
Room bus has cymbals, overhead, rooms. It uses an mpressor for a little pumping, and a highpass only at 20, but no EQ! It shows its true face in the guitar solo.
Intro guitar has another instance of Trash 2, which makes it sound much fuller.
You won't guess what is the only effect on the flanger guitar, besides a little transient enhancement at 3.5k, and soft LP/HP.
Keyboards have a ton of exciters, saturation, some EQ, and Neutrino (see pics). The strings attacked too slowly, so there is a transient enhancer.
Verse keys got a mult into higher and lower frequency range, and also there is clip shifting for a few ms up and down. Crucial to the flow.
VOCALS
There is a 3-knob autotuner, but it is very lazy, and does just nothing, when it does not know what to do.
I wanted the pitch quite raw, because it reveals personality, and a little "underground" feeling that I like here.
The sound is shaped strongly at the bus, using Nova GE with intense selective dynamics.
We have 8 "thickener" tracks (+-3,6,9,12 cent) that add a lot to the chorus.
There is a printed coffin IR, automated in and out for changing virtual booth mic position.
TAL-Dub 2 is crucial as a slap delay. Also automated intensely.
There is an automated long delay with a self-made IR pulse, which is also compressed with a strongly colored "thrillseeker".
(The other vocal tracks are mainly used as gang vocals in the far background, but they put some spice into it.)
Timing: Watch out for the drum break after the git solo. I shifted some hits closer to the grid, and killed one kick hit that I found not contributing well.
Thanks, and good luck! Let's push the artist to top ten!
(Hoping for John's guidance to correct some issues that are still lurking inside)
