Mixing some live stuff....

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Mixing some live stuff....

Postby kevin shephard » Wed Jun 20, 2012 1:22 pm

Hey guys,

Back in April, we had a benefit for my Dad at KV Billiards with Big Easy, Bigg Medicine and McKrazy taking the stage. Kevin Legault recorded the show directly from the board into his Mac, multi-tracked. He was gracious enough to provide me with all of the tracks. Needless to say, I've been having a ball playing with them, and it has helped me keep my mind busy over the last difficult month and a half. Thanks again, Kev!

Anyways, just wondering what ya'll thought. Here's one of the tunes I mixed and attempted to do some sort of mastering on. It's been a great learning experience, for sure.

http://soundcloud.com/kevin-shephard/dirty-deeds-big-easy-live-at/s-NBX78

Thanks!

Kevin
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby Christian LeBlanc » Wed Jun 20, 2012 2:00 pm

Thanks for sharing! I'll take a listen to this later on and give what feedback I can.
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby Malcolm Boyce » Wed Jun 20, 2012 2:11 pm

Kev... You uploaded a VBR mp3 correct? I'm just investigating how Sound Cloud works. The big playback display on their site seems to involve a compressed, encoded version of anything you upload, and the "download" feature gives the original file back. This means that if you upload a lossy compressed version of your mix, it's getting doubly compressed for playback on their site.

Upload a .wav next time, and hear the difference!
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby kevin shephard » Wed Jun 20, 2012 2:33 pm

Yeah, I did upload a VBR mp3. I'll upload the .wav when I get on a faster network. :) Mom's still on regular high speed.
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby Malcolm Boyce » Wed Jun 20, 2012 2:39 pm

kevin shephard wrote:Yeah, I did upload a VBR mp3. I'll upload the .wav when I get on a faster network. :) Mom's still on regular high speed.
:lol:
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby kevin shephard » Wed Jun 20, 2012 3:34 pm

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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby Malcolm Boyce » Wed Jun 20, 2012 5:33 pm

I could use a touch more bass drum, although to me it sounds like something maybe was lost in the "mastering" to take out the LF transient that might have been there.

There's also something weird going on with the vocal reverb(s). Things sound really mono with them, and they're panned center. The BVox that are hard panned would sound cooler to me if the reverb was mono and with them in the panning. I especially hear it with whoever is panned left in the first chorus. If it wants to be that heavy reverb mix, try it hard left with the vocal.

Mono reverbs are underrated, and underused.
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby Malcolm Boyce » Wed Jun 20, 2012 5:42 pm

Hopefully not completely derailing this thread, everyone should take note of the differences between the "download" version of each of these two tracks, and the "playback" version on the site itself. Very ear opening.

Anyone using Sound Cloud and caring about the sound quality should be uploading lossless, or minimum high fixed rate mp3s. I have found with trials that if you are going to end up converting to a lossy format, from an originally lossy file, variable bit rate mp3s seem to have a bigger problem than fixed. Most sites like this are going to convert your file to a fixed bit rate mp3 or m4a.

I don't know the Sound Cloud thing, but I wonder if you knew what file format they were going to convert it to, and uploaded it as that already, if it would skip the step and both versions would be identical.

Anyone have any answers?
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby Malcolm Boyce » Thu Jun 28, 2012 5:35 pm

So Kev has found out the dangers of checking out your mixes in a car that's too sub heavy... :-P

I eagerly await a remix with an audible bass drum. ;-)
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby kevin shephard » Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:19 pm

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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby Malcolm Boyce » Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:51 pm

kevin shephard wrote:http://soundcloud.com/kevin-shephard/mckrazy-always-on-the-run-rbs/s-nLl2p
Is that snare buzz fading up in the intro...? :-D

I like the balances and I really like the direction you took the drum sounds. You've gotten away from your old defaults and have discovered some new ways of doing it.
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby kevin shephard » Mon Jul 09, 2012 2:12 pm

Thanks Malcolm. I tried some different things. I am pretty happy with the drum sounds now....not bad for a $200 APEX drum mic kit. I really like the overheads, especially after I figured out how to pan them correctly, in relation to how they were set up when recording. :roll:

And, yes, you are right, that was snare buzz + other ambient stage noises fading in at the beginning. Funny what a second pair of ears can hear. Not easy to cut out all of that stage crap when mixing live stuff, eh?

I'll upload some more tracks when I have a few mins.
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby Mathieu Benoit » Mon Jul 09, 2012 3:40 pm

kevin shephard wrote: ...I really like the overheads, especially after I figured out how to pan them correctly...


Drummer's perspective, of course.
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby kevin shephard » Mon Jul 09, 2012 8:49 pm

Interestingly enough, I found I could get a better snare drum sound with everything panned from the audience perspective. I'd rather have it from my perspective, of course. How the OH mics were set up, perhaps? Or does that even make sense?
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby Malcolm Boyce » Mon Jul 09, 2012 8:57 pm

I've heard too may epic conversations about audience vs players perspective... If it sounds good, it is. Having OH situated correctly with any panning you might do of close mics is paramount but as far as which perspective it matches... Meh...

I heard so many guys go on about how important it is, without even considering the possibility of a left handed or other non traditional setup.
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby kevin shephard » Mon Jul 09, 2012 9:07 pm

Funny, I was going to add that the mixes would be from your perspective. :-)
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby Malcolm Boyce » Mon Jul 09, 2012 9:08 pm

kevin shephard wrote:Funny, I was going to add that the mixes would be from your perspective. :-)
;-)
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby macrae11 » Tue Jul 10, 2012 6:38 am

For live stuff I always prefer monitor engineers perspective. Kick drum panned hard left.
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby kevin shephard » Tue Jul 10, 2012 11:07 am

macrae11 wrote:For live stuff I always prefer monitor engineers perspective. Kick drum panned hard left.


:lol:

Superstition

http://soundcloud.com/kevin-shephard/mc ... bs/s-HH2uQ
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby Malcolm Boyce » Tue Jul 10, 2012 1:08 pm

macrae11 wrote:For live stuff I always prefer monitor engineers perspective. Kick drum panned hard left.
You just blew my mind... 8-)
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby Mathieu Benoit » Wed Jul 11, 2012 12:31 am

Left handed drummers and bass playing horn players should never be allowed to pan drums.
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby RoadDog » Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:20 am

Mathieu Benoit wrote:Left handed drummers and bass playing horn players should never be allowed to pan drums.

What he said !
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby macrae11 » Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:18 am

Mathieu Benoit wrote:Left handed drummers and bass playing horn players should never be allowed to pan drums.

Yes but if that bass playing hornist happens to also be the engineer, and you're just the lowly right handed drummer than you're pretty much SOL. :twisted:
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby Mathieu Benoit » Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:37 am

macrae11 wrote:
Mathieu Benoit wrote:Left handed drummers and bass playing horn players should never be allowed to pan drums.

Yes but if that bass playing hornist happens to also be the engineer, and you're just the lowly right handed drummer than you're pretty much SOL. :twisted:


Oh yeah... when it's your stuff that you are producing / engineering I could care less what mistakes you make in regards to panning. It's not usually the end of the world anyways since you are a drum bigot by nature. So it's not like the drums won't get turned down anyways. :roll:
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Re: Mixing some live stuff....

Postby macrae11 » Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:11 am

Mathieu Benoit wrote:
macrae11 wrote:
Mathieu Benoit wrote:Left handed drummers and bass playing horn players should never be allowed to pan drums.

Yes but if that bass playing hornist happens to also be the engineer, and you're just the lowly right handed drummer than you're pretty much SOL. :twisted:


Oh yeah... when it's your stuff that you are producing / engineering I could care less what mistakes you make in regards to panning. It's not usually the end of the world anyways since you are a drum bigot by nature. So it's not like the drums won't get turned down anyways. :roll:

Or just replaced/played right by a drum machine... :shock:
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