"You Take It All" - 1st mix using ARC2 software

Bat,
 
Cool song.    Sounds really good.   I am listening on some nice Altec computer speakers here at work.  Everything is clean and well balanced.  The bonus is that it is also a great song....
 
Appreciate your detail on Arc2 testing and results.  I know there have been some heated discussions on these forums about the use of ARC and whether it is real or snake oil.    I wouldn't call your review scientific proof that Arc is working as you expect, some might say you accidentally stumbled  into the same EQ curve you have previously created.   Personally, I use Arc and believe that it makes a huge difference in mix quality and saves a ton of time as you pointed out.   I used to do the car stereo, work, send to others, etc..   and spent a lot of time doing sanity checks on mixes.  Arc has greatly reduced this effort and for me, even if a placebo effect, makes it well worth the investment and time needed to take your room measurements.  
 
As always, you mix sounds great and glad to hear you are reducing your mix time based on the use of Arc.  Thanks for sharing your result.

Regards

MARKNO999
thanks for listening and commenting...

i'm hoping some of the better ears here, and guys with much nicer systems than i have, will be able to give me some pointers about what is 'pokey' or 'holey'
LOL
i guess i understand why people would bristle at ARC2.
i mean, i needed it a LONG time ago, and just held off.
honestly, i probably would not have bothered with it, except that the holiday deal price was just too good to ignore.
and i'm glad i got it.

there is no argument against room treatment.
in a pro studio, it is something that is just done, period.
plus, the mix room layout is typically governed by the need to utilize the space with mixing in mind.
for my little studio, a converted spare bedroom in a basement setup, i can do so much room treatment before the payback is a wash.
right now, my room is really dead sounding, which is great for close micing and capture...
but not so great for mixing.
plus, because i'm setup at a 45 degree angle out of a corner, with some weird traps going on, i have low end anomalies that i just cannot fix, and this software simply recognizes it, eq's for it, and places that EQ across the outputs to my monitors, to get me back to flat.
and it works.
it's not perfect, and the way it works is unique to EVERY SINGLE set of speakers, rooms, and for that matter, they way you test the room (it pays to be clinical and diligent).
and what you say about the eq curve, etc....
well, i knew i'd have to explain that a little more, and that's ok...
and maybe we're talking apples and apples..

but when i say 'EQ curves', and prior to installing the ARC2, i'm talking about trying to hit PRO release spectrum curves, that are proven good EQ curves, both by studying the sound of pro mixes thru my monitors, AND burning wav files and comparing mine to the pro releases..
what this does, is inform my mind, and my ear, of what i need to change during mixdown, to get to where my final wav file has similar EQ curves...
in other words, i had to teach myself how to eq thru my monitors, to approximate PROPER eq for a given song or track.....
there was no accident to my finding the 'same eq curve'..... it was strict diligence, scientific discovery, many many hours of experimenting, repeating, making myself get good at getting my rig, in my room, to translate.

i was successful.
and it took a long time.

and when i plugged in the ARC2, and did the mix very straightfoward and honestly, and no over eq'ing to compensate, just pure mixing.....
the damn mix just ended up looking exactly like what i was getting before, without going through all that other headache.
end of my story.
LOL
 
 
 

The mix sounds really good Bat. Cool song, well written, great arrangement and well played. I really like the natural sound of all the real instruments. I have been going back and listening to some of the songs that I tracked 8-10 years ago, lately. Though the mixing on my old songs really sucked, I noticed how good the real amps sounded in these old songs.

im no use to you in relation to the arc verification since im on laptop speakers.
 
I just clicked cos I know Ill get a solid, well crafted, melodically pleasing acoustic/rock tune, and so it was!
 
Cian
 
 

Wow. Great work, no matter what tools you used.
Good song, very (VERY) well played and sung, cool arrangement, at times almost has a Supertramp feel only with a little harder edge.
If the goal of ARC is to get a "professional", "radio ready" mix then I'd say it was money well spent. And I mean that in the best possible way. I'm really impressed.
Again, great work, thanks very much for sharing it.
 

speedtom,
thanks for the kind words.
the ARC isn't a factor, accept that it's way easier for me to mix faster, i'm not guessing as much.
 
 
sven
arc is a neat program.
really well treated rooms probably would not need it, and guys who just really know their rooms and knows exactly how their mixes will translate, probably would not need it either.
me, i know i can use it.


makeshift
thanks man..
yep, all just acoustic guitars, cranking electrics thru amps, mics on cabinets.
you should re-mix all your old stuff..
or, better yet, revise them and update them and USE REAL AMPS!!
 
always, real trumps fake
 
it's just more fun!
and if it's more fun, you are going to play better.
 

Looks like you found a great tool. The sound is great as always. Love the song too!

As always, you have given us a gem to listen to.  I'm now interested in this ARC2 software, and see that it's on sale for $150 rather than the usual $300.  However, all in all, the song tends to sound similar to you past recordings, so you have always been doing something right.  If it takes much less time, then this would be a good investment.  Congratulations, Bat!

rimshot
thanks for the report on TWO sound sources..
that's cool.
thanks for listening

whack
thanks cian, when you listen on 'laptops', don't you use headphones or something else?
you can't possibly hear anything off of those tiny little speakers in the case of the laptop...
i often wonder what people mean when they say they are on 'laptops', because i don't have one, and i suppose that everyone uses good headphones.....


the guitar player
glad you liked this one, john.......
the arc DOES work for me.
by flattening the frequency response of my room in relation to my speakers and acoustic situation, it makes it a lot easier to hear the stereo seperation,and to dial in frequency response and interaction between all the tracks...
much faster, much more natural.
i guess, the longer i work with it, and finish mixes, the more i will learn about how the translation is actually occuring.

rscain
thanks for listening and commenting....
the end result i'm looking for, good balanced mixes, full range, is the same whether i use the ARC software or not...
it's just way easier for me to get there, using this arc stuff....
and i wanted to share my experience (for what it's worth) to anyone thinking of wanting to try it.

bapu
thanks for the kind words...
for me, mixing has been a 20 year endevour, at least, and i'm just now starting to get to be where i want to be with it....
the arc, just makes it go a lot quicker.

Great sound and playing!! Loved it!!!

My Sennheisers love the balance in this song...Granted they aren't the high end ones (HD210s) but it sounds real nice on my cans.  VERY well produced.  Would be interested in your setup to get such a clean balanced mix.
 
 

Did you ever get your CDs back from Paul? I had to fight tooth and nail to get mine back.

What a great song and production. Favourite bits - that acoustic intro is sublime, through headphones I got the illusion that the guitars were curved above and around the vocals - beautifully mixed. The key change into the solo - masterful. This is so full of great ideas and touches you could get 3 or 4 songs out of it

The speaker(s) that's built-in the iPhone....a opposed to listening to them with ear buds on a phone.  There's probably no bass below 500 hz, so if your mix gives the illusion of there being a decent amount bass that's pretty darn amazing.

chasmcg
thanks chas
 
 

scotty
hehe, i hear you man..... about the discs...
 
well, i was lucky, in that i sold them all....
but i didn't make that many to begin with.
he did send me a few small checks along the way, but i never broke even on the deal.
either way, it was a fun adventure.
 
 
and now, i'll re-mix the entire album with new parts, new approach, and re-release it on digital download.
all the songs are copyrighted, and i still have the Licensing agreement with Henry Fox agency for the "Bad Moon Rising" cover, so i'm good.