• Songs
  • a tough mix for me - "Secrets"
2018/09/10 22:00:02
batsbrew
 

https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/secrets-mix3
this is mix #3, i've posted two before this.
 
particularly tough mix for me, as i want the synth to drive the whole thing,
but like most all the other parts as well...

some frequency masking has plagued me along the way, but i've whittle most of it down.
i think i still need to do some low shelving, on both the bass part and the keyboard part.
this is close to done for me, what do you think?
this is the 'hot vocal' mix.
too hot?
 
2018/09/10 22:48:51
Voda La Void
Personally, the lead vocals are a little shrilling to me.  Creatively, that lead vocal is dying to be put through a unique vocal effect.  Everywhere your vocals are wet on this mix they sound great.  Otherwise, the rest sounds bad ass and ready to ship, ha ha.  
2018/09/11 14:28:08
batsbrew
Voda La Void
Personally, the lead vocals are a little shrilling to me.  Creatively, that lead vocal is dying to be put through a unique vocal effect.  Everywhere your vocals are wet on this mix they sound great.  Otherwise, the rest sounds bad ass and ready to ship, ha ha.  


hey la void! 
yea, i hear the shrill too....
and it kinda sucks, because even tho i have eq'd carefully, and deessed, etc, it still has that feel.
 
it's in the original recording of the vocals.
 
for whatever reason, i just had a sharp tone on the mic that day... too close to the mic, not gaining wrong, just maybe wrong choice of mic.
 
i may have to just re-track all the vocals.
 
i could eq it to death,
and maybe it wouldn't matter.
we'll see, i'll F with it some more......
 
i have reverb on all the vocals,
but i haven't considered a special effect on the lead vox,
maybe i'll F with that too!!
 
LOL
2018/09/11 17:18:27
bjornpdx
Well I didn't read the comments until now, but this is what I was going to post which is kind of similar to the above.
 
Your music always blows me away so I never have much to comment on. However I think the vocal here could use some help because it sounds a little thin or something.
2018/09/11 18:23:23
seanmichaelrobinson
Wow, really interesting harmonic structure and really enjoyed the lyrics (and genre fusions!) Going to disagree with the above commentators on the lead vocals. It sounds great to my ears, certainly strained, but, that's how you sang it, right? Really seem to fit the song! If you want to beef it up just a bit, see how it might sound with a slight bump in the 300 hz region. With a wide Q, a little goes a long way.

I think the first 30 seconds or so are where there are improvements to be made to the mix itself. I think the "aah" vocals running in the intro might sound more supportive and...introductory to the song if they were backed off in volume, possibly more spacious (some reverb with some predelay) and might sound really cool as well with a little volume ramp. I.e. automate a slight attack at the top of the note, then back it way down, then crescendo through to the end of the note, as if they're singing a little sting. A little bit of this would go a long way to giving those particular "AAHs" some movement.
 
Similarly, might be nice to have some slow, subtle movement in the synth part in the first 30 seconds or so, and maybe knock back the volume just a bit more before the big kick-in!
 
 
2018/09/11 20:38:30
msmcleod
batsbrew
i could eq it to death,
and maybe it wouldn't matter.
we'll see, i'll F with it some more......

 
The actual quality and performance of the vocals is great, but I do think it is EQ that is the issue here.
 
I tried boosting the "presence" range at around 1.5K, along with a bump at 300Hz as Sean suggested. I also boosted the air at just under 8K to counteract any honkiness caused by the 1.5K boost, and Lo-passed to remove the harshness. Finally, a high pass filter to remove stuff you can't hear anyway.
 
This sounded much more natural to me:
 

 
Note - this is the EQ applied on top of the EQ you've already got, so you could either adjust your existing EQ accordingly, or it may be easier to just send your existing vocal to a new bus and apply this EQ to the new bus.
 
Obviously this was applied to the whole track, and although I tried to ignore the other instruments, they no doubt coloured my ears/judgement here... so your version of the EQ might well be less drastic.
 
2018/09/12 02:08:52
eph221
In the end of days men will be as god.  :D:D  Love the topic of the song.  Your lyrics are always expansive and filled with consideration.
2018/09/12 03:38:01
batsbrew
this is a collab with a net mate of mine, who wrote the synth parts....
i got to thinking about aboriginal beats, for some reason....
something in the music that alan offered up, drew me to this....

anyway, i found an aboriginal story, that has a tie-in to telling stories thru songs and dances....

the aboriginal people have this thing they call the dreaming:
 
The Dreaming-- also means to 'see and understand the law'
they believe that the Ancestor Spirits came to the earth in human form and as they moved through the land,
they created the animals, plants, rocks and other forms of the land that we know today.
They also created the relationships between groups and individuals to the land, the animals and other people.
Once the ancestor spirits had created the world, they changed into trees, the stars, rocks, watering holes or other objects.
These are the sacred places of Aboriginal culture and have special properties.
Because the ancestors did not disappear at the end of the Dreaming, but remained in these sacred sites, the Dreaming is never-ending, linking the past and the present, the people and the land.

one of the most famous of these stories is the wagilag sisters....

The Wagilag Sisters
The story goes that the two Wagilag sisters, one of whom was pregmant, were fleeing their home and were being followed by clansmen. On their travels they come across many animals and plants and brought them in to life by naming them. Eventually, the Wagilag sisters set up camp beside a fertile waterhole at Mirarrmina. There, one of the sisters pollutes the waterhole and the pregnant sister gives birth, which causes Wititj the python to wake up angry and insensed. Wititj creates a storm on emerging from the waterhole and attempts to wash the two Wagilag sisters in to the well with his downpour (the first monsoon). The two Wagilag sisters dance and sing sacred songs in an attempt to diffuse the situation and keep them safe, but when the sisters become too exhausted to continue, the python is able to swallow them up (including child and dog)! However, soon after, Wititj develops stomach pains and groans skywards above the land where he attracts the attention of other great snakes who also rise up in to the sky. The great snakes talk and they discover they all have different names but they wonder why the python is ill. Realizing he made a mistake, Wititj lies about what he has just eaten but the pain becomes so unbearable Wititj falls back to the land and vomits up the sisters who regain their life from the stinging bites of caterpillars. Undeterred, Wititj beats them with clapsticks and eats them again. Later, the Wagilag sister's clansmen, asleep in the hollow left by the python's fall, were visited in their dreams by the sisters who revealed to the clansmen the secrets of the songs and dances which had been performed in an effort to stop the rainstorm.

which all leads to this:
"the secrets of the songs and dance"
 
2 sisters, 1 with child
runs away to trees and water in the wild
birth of a child brings out the snake,
and both their lives it will take
rain and song to no avail, both are swallowed inside the tail
snake does lie about the meal, the caterpillar bites to heal
eaten again, and snake is gone,
the dreams reveal before the dawn---
the secrets of the songs and dance...
secrets of the songs and dance...
the secrets of the songs and dance.
2018/09/12 04:26:30
eph221
well...at least I gnu it had to do with some kind of belief system! :D:D
2018/09/12 14:30:30
markno999
Bat,
 
Very cool song..  I think as far as the mix is concerned, some EQ on the Synth parts will clean it up immensely.   There is too much going on in the lower mid range (IMHO), you can either EQ them or just play with the filter on the Synth parts (if you have the MIDI and VST Instrument)   Sometimes it works out better to tweak the synth settings in the mix rather and then print them rather than EQ them after the fact. 
 
Other than that, you have a really solid song/mix.    Once you get the synths dialed in, the bass may or may not need a little EQ to pull a little lower mid as well.   I suspect if you mute the synths, the mix sounds pretty good so a little cleanup should work wonders.
 
Regards
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