I could use your help with this. . . started recording this quite some time ago (in my Studio One DAW) but dropped it because I was having a tough time concentrating.
Finally got back to it and I have 2 specific issues with it.
I'm not sure if maybe my vocals are a wee bit too loud but mostly it's the sound of the kick and bass that I'm struggling with. I've googled my brains out and tried SO many different things but can't quite get the sound right. I'm kind of wondering about re-tracking the bass but the kick is in EZ drummer and there's not too much I can do with it. I did put a separate eq on the kick but there is something weird going on with it, can't quite put my finger on it!
Also, as long as I'm at it, I've returned to Studio One for a couple of reasons, the last time I tried to add a bassline to a song in Reaper, I had major latency issues, nothing I did solved the problem. I also missed some of the plugins I had in Studio One that weren't available in Reaper In a way I wish I could combine elements in both DAWs that I really like, that would make one absolutely perfect DAW!!
Anyway, your input with this song would be greatly appreciated. . .thank you!
Okay, so I took everything off that I had on the kick, including a sidechain with the bass (a video suggested that when I googled the problem). I had it on the drum bus but took it off of that and just did some eq on the kick track. I also replaced the intro section. I'm not TOTALLY pleased with the intro but I think it's better than it was. Let me know what you think.
Let It Rain
Let It Rain
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Last edited by Alison on Mon Mar 25, 2024 4:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
If I knew what I was doing, I'd be dangerous!
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CrowsofFritz
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Re: Let It Rain
Okay, first time I'm actually listening to a song on here with my monitors and headphones in a long time.
GREAT acoustic tones. Vocals are good, too. The cello panned slightly left doesn't really work if there's not something to counterbalance on the left, IMO. But that's more of a personal nit.
I hear what you mean about the kick. There's a lot of low end thuddy muddy stuff going on there. Doesn't feel tight. Can you replace the sample?
GREAT acoustic tones. Vocals are good, too. The cello panned slightly left doesn't really work if there's not something to counterbalance on the left, IMO. But that's more of a personal nit.
I hear what you mean about the kick. There's a lot of low end thuddy muddy stuff going on there. Doesn't feel tight. Can you replace the sample?
“Naaaaaaaaaah man. I ain’t touching that mic. That thing’s expensive!”
Re: Let It Rain
well. I didn't want to bring in the second cello line until later, thus the 'imblance", It's tough when you are trying to "build" a song (add layers).CrowsofFritz wrote: ↑Sun Mar 24, 2024 8:18 pm Okay, first time I'm actually listening to a song on here with my monitors and headphones in a long time.
GREAT acoustic tones. Vocals are good, too. The cello panned slightly left doesn't really work if there's not something to counterbalance on the left, IMO. But that's more of a personal nit.
I hear what you mean about the kick. There's a lot of low end thuddy muddy stuff going on there. Doesn't feel tight. Can you replace the sample?
I cannot add a new kick because I use EZ drummer, I'd have to change the whole drumset and I really like the drums I have used (except for the kick. . . )
Thank you for listening!
If I knew what I was doing, I'd be dangerous!
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CrowsofFritz
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Re: Let It Rain
Totally get that. Panning is one of the last things I do.Alison wrote: ↑Sun Mar 24, 2024 11:19 pmwell. I didn't want to bring in the second cello line until later, thus the 'imblance", It's tough when you are trying to "build" a song (add layers).CrowsofFritz wrote: ↑Sun Mar 24, 2024 8:18 pm Okay, first time I'm actually listening to a song on here with my monitors and headphones in a long time.
GREAT acoustic tones. Vocals are good, too. The cello panned slightly left doesn't really work if there's not something to counterbalance on the left, IMO. But that's more of a personal nit.
I hear what you mean about the kick. There's a lot of low end thuddy muddy stuff going on there. Doesn't feel tight. Can you replace the sample?
I cannot add a new kick because I use EZ drummer, I'd have to change the whole drumset and I really like the drums I have used (except for the kick. . . )
Thank you for listening!
Maybe play around with a gate. The thing I dont like about it is that it sounds like it’s a loose, flappy drum head.
“Naaaaaaaaaah man. I ain’t touching that mic. That thing’s expensive!”
Re: Let It Rain
Can you shape the kick drum a bit using EQ?
Don't they allow you any parameter manipulation at all in EZ Drummer?
If not there's a thing called JS: Transient Shaper in Reaper in the plug in section which will allow you to split your kick drum into two - one half the attack and the other the sustain - that might give you a way to dial down the part you don't like and dial up the part you do like. It'll work or it won't but it'll only take you 5 minutes to see...
I can't actually listen to the track at the moment, so I haven't heard the offending kick, so the advice is pretty general. Here's a video on how Transient Controller works - it's on a snare, but you'll get the principle.
Kick drums are just there - you should be able to bring out/supress various qualities considering your style of music to get a more satisfactory sound using common tools.
Don't they allow you any parameter manipulation at all in EZ Drummer?
If not there's a thing called JS: Transient Shaper in Reaper in the plug in section which will allow you to split your kick drum into two - one half the attack and the other the sustain - that might give you a way to dial down the part you don't like and dial up the part you do like. It'll work or it won't but it'll only take you 5 minutes to see...
I can't actually listen to the track at the moment, so I haven't heard the offending kick, so the advice is pretty general. Here's a video on how Transient Controller works - it's on a snare, but you'll get the principle.
Kick drums are just there - you should be able to bring out/supress various qualities considering your style of music to get a more satisfactory sound using common tools.
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vomitHatSteve
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Re: Let It Rain
Yeah, the kick is the first thing leaping out at me. It's almost all sub-bass frequencies and very little definition.
Is this the cocktail kit then?
You can do pretty much anything you want with EZ-D, but you might have to dive pretty deep and often bypass a lot of the parts that make it "EZ"
At bare minimum, each kit should have one or two alternate kicks that you can sub in by clicking on the arrow next to the drum in the GUI.
If you're on EZD3, you can replace the built-in instruments with your own sample.
And, you can do a lot of mixing and EQing inside the plugin itself.
But if you want full control - to use it as a trigger for a different sample, to use Reaper's FX instead of theirs, etc. - you'd want to route the drums to individual tracks.
Is this the cocktail kit then?
You can do pretty much anything you want with EZ-D, but you might have to dive pretty deep and often bypass a lot of the parts that make it "EZ"
At bare minimum, each kit should have one or two alternate kicks that you can sub in by clicking on the arrow next to the drum in the GUI.
If you're on EZD3, you can replace the built-in instruments with your own sample.
And, you can do a lot of mixing and EQing inside the plugin itself.
But if you want full control - to use it as a trigger for a different sample, to use Reaper's FX instead of theirs, etc. - you'd want to route the drums to individual tracks.
Re: Let It Rain
@Armistice thank you for that info, I will check out the video a bit later today. I've split tracks in Studio One before, I'll check to see if I can split the kick. I appreciate the input!
@vomitHatSteve I can't remember what kit I used on this as I started recording it quite a while ago. I have all the drum tracks rendered as audio tracks and I'm not sure if I can just replace the kick sound without starting all over again with the drums but I will do some looking into that. Honestly, I just now found out about picking sounds from whatever drum set I've chosen. . .takes me a while, lol!
As I mentioned before, if I could combine the good stuff in Reaper with what I like in Studio One, I'd have the perfect DAW. Thanks for listening and for the suggestions, I really appreciate it!
@vomitHatSteve I can't remember what kit I used on this as I started recording it quite a while ago. I have all the drum tracks rendered as audio tracks and I'm not sure if I can just replace the kick sound without starting all over again with the drums but I will do some looking into that. Honestly, I just now found out about picking sounds from whatever drum set I've chosen. . .takes me a while, lol!
As I mentioned before, if I could combine the good stuff in Reaper with what I like in Studio One, I'd have the perfect DAW. Thanks for listening and for the suggestions, I really appreciate it!
If I knew what I was doing, I'd be dangerous!
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CrowsofFritz
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Re: Let It Rain
You can replace the sound with a sampler. I just got into work so I can’t really explain, but if you have the kick track all by itself and it’s completely clean (I imagine it is), sidechaining a gate into sampler will work. I’ll have to see what Studio One has as far as that goes.Alison wrote: ↑Mon Mar 25, 2024 2:37 pm @Armistice thank you for that info, I will check out the video a bit later today. I've split tracks in Studio One before, I'll check to see if I can split the kick. I appreciate the input!
@vomitHatSteve I can't remember what kit I used on this as I started recording it quite a while ago. I have all the drum tracks rendered as audio tracks and I'm not sure if I can just replace the kick sound without starting all over again with the drums but I will do some looking into that. Honestly, I just now found out about picking sounds from whatever drum set I've chosen. . .takes me a while, lol!
As I mentioned before, if I could combine the good stuff in Reaper with what I like in Studio One, I'd have the perfect DAW. Thanks for listening and for the suggestions, I really appreciate it!
“Naaaaaaaaaah man. I ain’t touching that mic. That thing’s expensive!”
Re: Let It Rain
Thank you @CrowsofFritz, I THINK I solved the problem. . .new mix in the OP!
If I knew what I was doing, I'd be dangerous!
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CrowsofFritz
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Re: Let It Rain
Definitely less flabby. I think it works. Can’t really tell too well as I’m using cheaper headphones at work, but can still notice the improvement.
“Naaaaaaaaaah man. I ain’t touching that mic. That thing’s expensive!”
Re: Let It Rain
I really like the song. I'm listening to the second mix as the first one won't play for some reason.
There appears to be a random Snare hit/timing issue at 1:06 and another that sounds like a glitch in the matrix around 1:21 and again at 2:18. The kick could possibly come up a notch. It's a little low in the mix but not bad for that chilled sound of the song.
Nice to hear something from you again. Welcome back.
There appears to be a random Snare hit/timing issue at 1:06 and another that sounds like a glitch in the matrix around 1:21 and again at 2:18. The kick could possibly come up a notch. It's a little low in the mix but not bad for that chilled sound of the song.
Nice to hear something from you again. Welcome back.
Cheap Gear - In A Square Room! Getting the job done!
Re: Let It Rain
Mix two is fine.
I like the panning in relation to the arrangement build.
I hear the snare hits Mr Clean mentions...they aren't egregious but sound like a drummer trying to insert more when it's not necessary.
I like the panning in relation to the arrangement build.
I hear the snare hits Mr Clean mentions...they aren't egregious but sound like a drummer trying to insert more when it's not necessary.
Cheers
rayc
rayc
Re: Let It Rain
nice as always .... vocals are excellent .... the bottom end is pretty mushed all together but that's fine for this song.
I was just listening to some Beatles stuff and remarked to my wife how the rhythm section was all mushed so you didn't really hear the guitars as separate entities.
This is like that .... the important parts are the cello/violin and the vocals .... the rest is just there to create a platform for them.
Great song ......
I was just listening to some Beatles stuff and remarked to my wife how the rhythm section was all mushed so you didn't really hear the guitars as separate entities.
This is like that .... the important parts are the cello/violin and the vocals .... the rest is just there to create a platform for them.
Great song ......
Re: Let It Rain
Thanks guys! I'll look into that snare issue Mr. Clean mentioned. I had a lot of issues with this but I think it's mostly due to the fact that I haven't been recording lately. . .gotta get my ears back!
Really appreciate the input on this, thank you!
Really appreciate the input on this, thank you!
If I knew what I was doing, I'd be dangerous!
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vomitHatSteve
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Re: Let It Rain
Yeah, that's improved the kick a fair bit.
I'd probably like even more punch to it, but you'd probably get quickly into the place where my taste is at odds with yours!
I'd probably like even more punch to it, but you'd probably get quickly into the place where my taste is at odds with yours!