A Case Of Mistaken Non-Entity

[7String]

Since I'm new here I thought I'd post something for review. This is a rocking instrumental I did a few years ago that's still in the mixing stage. I'm in no hurry. So if you have any suggestions I'd be most appreciative. Drums are EZD, everything else played by me so if it sucks, it's my fault.

A Case Of Mistaken Non-Entity

A Case Of Mistaken Non-Entity REMIX SHORT DRUMS

[rayc]

The tapping snare in the intro is pretty weird - way back & thin.
There's a def Deep Purple vibe due to the early organ sound. The synth reminds me of Starcastle.
Generally the snare & hi-hat need work. They fit the full mix better than when starkly presented but they're thin n stiff. the toms are overly loud too.
Interesting track - very 70s but that's cool.

[JD01]

The guitar in the intro sounds well piezoish - can you mic it instead.
The electric that comes in in my left ear feels in a different space to everything else that comes in.

I agree with Ray that the toms are a bit weird - I don't think its just that they're too loud - they don't sit right either, almost like there's an extra drummer there for fills! actually - the drum fill at 3 minutes is way loud!!!

Here's a weird combo - sounds like Emerson Lake and Palmer crossed with Deep Purple!

[Greg_L]

I think the most overwhelming problem with this mix is the crazy ass drum fills. The drums themselves are bland and canned and robotic, and then you go dork-metal crazy with ridiculous out of place typewriter sounding speed fills. It makes the whole thing seem very amateurish and bush league. When you use every drum in the program and fill every MIDI block in the editor, it's just not good. Try to think like a drummer, try to program like a drummer would play, and then make the sounds sound real.

So besides the crazy drums, the rest is not bad. It just sounds unfinished, which is fine, but it does sound raw and isolated and unfinished. This mix needs one of the most tired cliches of all time - glue. It needs to be glued together. It's too disjointed. How yu glue it together is up to you. It can be compression, reverb, simply better mixing, etc. Whatever. But it needs to gel. The good news is your source tracks seem to be quite usable and decent, so it just takes usual mixing tweaks to get it all together.

[7String]

The tapping snare in the intro is pretty weird - way back & thin.
There's a def Deep Purple vibe due to the early organ sound. The synth reminds me of Starcastle.
Generally the snare & hi-hat need work. They fit the full mix better than when starkly presented but they're thin n stiff. the toms are overly loud too.
Interesting track - very 70s but that's cool.

What you are hearing in the intro is the hi-hat foot pedal. I'll definitely give that another listen if it sounds like a snare! The toms SHOULD only be a bit louder on the last big roll going into the rideout. I wanted them to be bigger than the other sections. I'll give them all a listen though. Maybe things got away from me a bit. Thanks, Ray! Appreciate the comments.

The guitar in the intro sounds well piezoish - can you mic it instead.
The electric that comes in in my left ear feels in a different space to everything else that comes in.

I agree with Ray that the toms are a bit weird - I don't think its just that they're too loud - they don't sit right either, almost like there's an extra drummer there for fills! actually - the drum fill at 3 minutes is way loud!!!

Here's a weird combo - sounds like Emerson Lake and Palmer crossed with Deep Purple!

There are 3 or 4 acoustic tracks mixed together and only one of them was direct. I thought I had turned that one down but no, I fixed it a bit so that it's way lower than the rest but still heard. The drums at 3 minutes were intentional. I wanted them to be a bit bigger than the others. I may have overdone it. Thanks for the comments!

Can you explain what you mean by the guitar being in a different space to everything else?

I think the most overwhelming problem with this mix is the crazy ass drum fills. The drums themselves are bland and canned and robotic, and then you go dork-metal crazy with ridiculous out of place typewriter sounding speed fills. It makes the whole thing seem very amateurish and bush league. When you use every drum in the program and fill every MIDI block in the editor, it's just not good. Try to think like a drummer, try to program like a drummer would play, and then make the sounds sound real.

So besides the crazy drums, the rest is not bad. It just sounds unfinished, which is fine, but it does sound raw and isolated and unfinished. This mix needs one of the most tired cliches of all time - glue. It needs to be glued together. It's too disjointed. How yu glue it together is up to you. It can be compression, reverb, simply better mixing, etc. Whatever. But it needs to gel. The good news is your source tracks seem to be quite usable and decent, so it just takes usual mixing tweaks to get it all together.

I always thought those drums might be a bit much. But in my head I saw a fast car going from zero to 120 in about 3 seconds with the drum rolls being the burnout. haha I've since wanted to cut out parts here and there but never got around to it. It's back to the drawing board for this one at least for now.

Thanks, guys! Much appreciated.

[7String]

Man, I am trying to make some changes to this song but it is fighting me every step of the way! I tried to change the drums and shorten some of the rolls but when I do the whole song goes out of time. I'm absolutely sure that when removing the drum parts I am also removing the exact same amount of all the other instrumentation, which is very little. It's lined up to the grid and everything is right but on playback the drums are right on the click but suddenly the other instruments are all just a tad behind.

WTF?????

[JD01]

Man, I am trying to make some changes to this song but it is fighting me every step of the way! I tried to change the drums and shorten some of the rolls but when I do the whole song goes out of time. I'm absolutely sure that when removing the drum parts I am also removing the exact same amount of all the other instrumentation, which is very little. It's lined up to the grid and everything is right but on playback the drums are right on the click but suddenly the other instruments are all just a tad behind.

WTF?????

Just count in 4s in your head along with the metronome for the song and literally tap the drum rolls out on your thighs. Try and think like a drummer. Work out how many drum hits are within each beat.

[rammer24]

HA! Man, that's some serious Animal drumming at times. I can see what you want, but I'm not sure if it works with programmed drums.

Love the tune, though. Like someone said, it's like ELP with Deep Purple's balls. Cool little breaks. Guitars and bass sound very good. I remember you saying, years ago, that you had trouble getting a good bass sound. I don't think you have that problem any more. Nice thump.

[7String]

Just count in 4s in your head along with the metronome for the song and literally tap the drum rolls out on your thighs. Try and think like a drummer. Work out how many drum hits are within each beat.

The tempo of the song is lined up with the grid perfectly. What I cut out is about 4 seconds of a drum roll and there is NOTHING else going on, just empty space in all the other tracks so it should, with ripple enabled, jump right where it's supposed to. It's something weird happening in Reaper that I just can't figure.

HA! Man, that's some serious Animal drumming at times. I can see what you want, but I'm not sure if it works with programmed drums.

Love the tune, though. Like someone said, it's like ELP with Deep Purple's balls. Cool little breaks. Guitars and bass sound very good. I remember you saying, years ago, that you had trouble getting a good bass sound. I don't think you have that problem any more. Nice thump.

I was thinking, "What would Rami do?" when I wrote this. I'll get it figured but give me a day or two. Tomorrow is a busy day for me so won't be able to mess with it. I did post something on the Reaper forum though so hopefully I can get some help there. It's just that I'm having a hard time explaining exactly what is happening here...

[7String]

Okay, finally got things working the way they are supposed to. I won't EVEN go into all the crap that was happening but there was definitely some voodoo going on in Reaper! After getting the main problem figured out another one popped up. Then another. It was exhausting!

Anyhoo, new mix is up in the 1st post and I'll put it here as well. I shortened one of the drum fills, changed a few others completely so they weren't so machine gun like and remixed. How does it sound now? Better? Worse? Oh, and I changed the snare and I'm not sure I like it yet.

Sorry it took so long!

A Case Of Mistaken Non-Entity REMIX SHORT DRUMS