Aerodeliria - ready for release?

[Steve R]

Originally Posted by Steve R

dug dog, I will take a look at the effects chain. I'll send you info on the mic, plug-ins, interface, etc. I'm always trying get a good vocal sound, but I find it elusive, so I'm glad you like it so much!

OK here you go:

1. Mic is this:

https://www.m-audio.com/legacy/sputnik.html

2. Interface is this:

https://www.behringer.com/product.ht...lCode=0805-AAN

3. First plug-in is this:

The "Molot" compresser by Vladislov Goncharov (I love this VST). Preset is "vocal(ins 1)". Threshold is set so that you see it compress to about -5dB.

4. Second plug-in is ReaDelay(cockos) set to 2 1/8 notes. I set the tempo to the song's tempo (126) Wet is -14.6dB. Dry is 0dB. Feegack is -14.8dB.

5. Third plug-in. I use the SIR2 (by Knifinke) plug in for reverb. The preset is "Large Hall" and Dry is 0dB. Wet is -19dB.
That's it!

[Steve R]

Originally Posted by Karl R

I think it has to be processing on the track itself, or in the actual recording - since volume during that guitar part isn't loud (i.e. it's like -6dbFS max, so it can't be hitting a limiter or whatever on master bus). Hopefully it's not baked-in to the recording, but on the other hand, it's not terribly noticeable. It's like something someone might notice on a 3rd or 4th close listening, but I doubt anyone would notice on a first casual listen. Would depend on listening media - very noticeable with my crispy Sundara headphones, barely noticeable on my HD6xx.

edit: these are what I hear and the appx. times:
pop 0:03.697
slight crackle at ~0:16
slight crackle at ~0:19, this one's the worst.

I just isolated that part and, sadly, it is "baked in". Not much to do at this point, since I don't want to attempt it again. You may be the only one, Karl R, who cringes when you hear it. Thanks for pointing this out!

[dug dog]

Originally Posted by Steve R

That's it!

Thanks, Steve. I guess that some of what I was interpreting as vocal processing is actually coming from other spatial effects in the mix.

Big fan of the Tokyo Dawn Stuff here, btw, and the newer version Molot GE is very impressive.

[Steve R]

Originally Posted by dug dog

Thanks, Steve. I guess that some of what I was interpreting as vocal processing is actually coming from other spatial effects in the mix.

Big fan of the Tokyo Dawn Stuff here, btw, and the newer version Molot GE is very impressive.

I should have also mentioned that the vocals are doubled and panned somewhat to right and left. That adds a lot to the spatial effect.

[dug dog]

LOL. Yes, that probably is an important detail.

[Steve R]

Originally Posted by dug dog

LOL. Yes, that probably is an important detail.

I tried to get away from doubling for a while, then realized that I love it so much, I've pretty much gone back to it on most things.

Also, you probably noticed, when I do my background "ahhs", I always double and then hard pan.

[Karl R]

I messed around with your mix a little and have a couple versions I could post if you want. I think they're probably a little better in some ways, but in general they simply illustrate a different take, a different direction, that the overall tonality and space could go. They seem a little more focused, maybe laid-back, less busy, less detail...

I think the main question I wanted to answer is whether the overall frequency spectrum of your mix might be skewed to mainly high mids and highs. I think it probably is. I generally added bass, cut low mids and a bit of high mids and highs, narrowed stereo image.

[Steve R]

Originally Posted by Karl R

I messed around with your mix a little and have a couple versions I could post if you want. I think they're probably a little better in some ways, but in general they simply illustrate a different take, a different direction, that the overall tonality and space could go. They seem a little more focused, maybe laid-back, less busy, less detail...

I think the main question I wanted to answer is whether the overall frequency spectrum of your mix might be skewed to mainly high mids and highs. I think it probably is. I generally added bass, cut low mids and a bit of high mids and highs, narrowed stereo image.

Yes! Please post them! Thank you!

[Karl R]

Here's links:
tweaks1: https://drive.proton.me/urls/MGWSWKZRF4#9fYZEc5u4FJQ
tweaks2: https://drive.proton.me/urls/XPS1R15BBG#cUbAY0KlCeh8

I think tweaks1 is probably better than 2, 2 is probably getting too pinched-sounding, constrained. But they both illustrate a direction, where 2 is a more extreme version of 1, and 1 is a certain direction away from the original (your 3rd version, the 'rock master' one). I think they're both a little quieter than orig, so you may want to loudness-match if just judging mix quality. But if we're thinking in terms of mastered finals, then I don't think we would loudness match, they are what they are...

IF I had tracks I'd probably be doing stuff at track level. For instance, I think the guitars at sides lose a little too much presence; there's probably a lot of tweaking I did just to try to get the lead vox/s more focused, but at the expense of other elements; etc. I wanted more bass, and there is more bass, but it's also not very defined, the original I think has more clarity/definition in the kick and bass, it's just not very strong. These are things that aren't easy to do on a stereo file. I'm hoping you get the gist of the 'direction' and ask yourself whether something in that direction might be better, try not to get distracted by some loss in detail.

[dug dog]

There's definitely something to be said for narrowing the width of the bass guitar's low frequencies, as in Tweak 1. Much more definition and impact.

[Steve R]

Originally Posted by Karl R

Here's links:
tweaks1: https://drive.proton.me/urls/MGWSWKZRF4#9fYZEc5u4FJQ
tweaks2: https://drive.proton.me/urls/XPS1R15BBG#cUbAY0KlCeh8

I think tweaks1 is probably better than 2, 2 is probably getting too pinched-sounding, constrained. But they both illustrate a direction, where 2 is a more extreme version of 1, and 1 is a certain direction away from the original (your 3rd version, the 'rock master' one). I think they're both a little quieter than orig, so you may want to loudness-match if just judging mix quality. But if we're thinking in terms of mastered finals, then I don't think we would loudness match, they are what they are...

IF I had tracks I'd probably be doing stuff at track level. For instance, I think the guitars at sides lose a little too much presence; there's probably a lot of tweaking I did just to try to get the lead vox/s more focused, but at the expense of other elements; etc. I wanted more bass, and there is more bass, but it's also not very defined, the original I think has more clarity/definition in the kick and bass, it's just not very strong. These are things that aren't easy to do on a stereo file. I'm hoping you get the gist of the 'direction' and ask yourself whether something in that direction might be better, try not to get distracted by some loss in detail.

Karl R, these are great! What exactly did you do to the bass?

[Karl R]

Originally Posted by Steve R

What exactly did you do to the bass?

I can post the fx chains if you want, that'd probably explain what I did better than me trying to explain what I did...

For tweaks1, the main 'bass enhancing' features would probably be:
-an eq bump at about 80Hz, and pretty drastic cuts everywhere else except 1200Hz,
-I cut about 12db around 325Hz - huge gash there. That makes the low bass stand out more.
-reducing stereo width below 300Hz to only 5%.

For tweaks2 the eq curve is similar, but I boosted 57Hz and 124Hz (tweaks1 was just a bump at 80Hz, I cut at 50 and around 120). I made stereo width below 280Hz wide... Tweaks1 was below 300Hz 5%, above 300Hz 63% - this is with JS stereo enhancer. Tweaks2 is 60% below 280Hz, 25% above 280. So I narrowed the stereo image overall in both cases, but tweaks1 has narrow bass, tweaks2 wide bass. Note that I mess with mid-side levels too, so although I'm narrowing the stereo image, I also increase the level of sides - I did +6db on tweaks2, for instance (this is with Voxengo's free mid-side plugin thing, 'MSED').

I think that's the gist of it.

I used stock js/stillwell event horizon limiter/clipper at end of chains, pushing everything up as much as I can before getting too much distortion - so bass has to be hitting that pretty hard...