This thread is dedicated to the process we are going through to remix our New World stuff. I am streaming the old New World recordings, recorded on ADAT on a Tascam DA-38, into Sonar 6. The process is fairly labourious as I stream two tracks at a time, then line them up within Sonar. Absolute seemed a good contender to start with, as it is the song where we (well at least me!) were most unhappy with the mix. The drums were weedy and too loud and the instruments seemed to have no presence. Anyway, this is what Teresa and I have done to Absolute:
1. Used V-Vocal to correct pitch in accuracies on the vocal part - V-vcoal is a stunning piece of software.
2. Rolled off the bottom end of the vocals, so remove the 'honk'.
3. Reverb and delay plus VC-64 using 'hard vocals preset', plus a touch of chorus on lead vocals
3. Same again for the backing vocals except much more chorus to fill them out
4. Drums - used the VC-64 (amazing piece of software)plus rolled off a little of the top end to remove harshness
5. Same again for Bass, plus put it through the NI Guitar Rig
6. Used VC-64 acoustic guitar preset on acoustic guitar to brighten the sound and give it more presence
7. Rolled off the bottom end of the pad as it was interfering with the other instruments
8. Used VC-64 master mix preset on entire mix
9. Added a touch of reverb on the entire mix to add a bit of sparkle
10. We didn't fade out at the end
We sent rough mp3 mix to Gav for comments.
picturethoughts
This mix sounds fantastic. The drums sound much tighter, and the vocals are great. So much better than the original mix. Acoustic guitar is obviously louder, but
I think this sounds good - gives it a more rhythmic quality. I think there is some scope for removing the acoustic guitar in some places - I noticed one of
final verses is quieter, and it might be worth removing, or bringing the guitar down in that final verse and letting synth carry the verse for even more contrast. Bass sounded a bit quiet, but that might be the speakers I'm using, and I don't think its necessarily a bad thing. The radio bits sound good louder in the intro. I noticed a funny synth note in the quiet verse -
just after the word gravity.
Have noticed that the vocals are very slightly out now - I think they are coming in very slightly late.
I also love the ending - going right to the end rather than fading out. I love the noise at the end - not sure what it is , I think me just being a bit noisy with the guitar. There may be scope in removing some guitar from the ending - maybe fading the guitar out earlier than the rest and leaving the synths to end the song in a meandering way.
But overall I think it has given the song new life. It is so tempting to go in there and start messing with the actual substance of the song, but I think we should probably resist meddling too much unless it is for a really good reason. Plenty more songs to ne re-mixed I guess. How do you feel about changing musical content of some of these now we have such a greater range of great sounds?