I have used Ardour on and off for a couple of years, but only just recently started learning it somewhat well, but I still consider myself a newbie both in regards to mixing and mastering, and have used the trial-and-error method over the years with - well - mixed results [drumroll].
Either way, I am very grateful for the effort of all the people who have been putting down a lot of hard work and ingenuity into the software I have been using.
I have recorded songs in Ardour before, but never really gotten around to mastering anything properly, so this is the result of an attempt to make something that sounded reasonably goodā¦ I poured through the forums and searched online and considered using Jamin, but in the end I settled for a multiband EQ and a Dyson compressor to vamp up the punch a bit - maybe too much.
This is recorded with a Hydrogen drum track, three takes with a Fender Telecaster for the guitar parts directly into the mixer board (but with a couple of Tone Stack plugins added afterwards), one vocal take and the rest is ZynAddSubFX played manually. Everything is run in Gentoo Linux from the official repository (so, no pro-audio overlay).
Any constructive feedback is appreciated, as I am curious and willing to learn.
Feinorgh, this is awesome! Great cover. I have a few suggestions for you, but keep in mind, these suggestions of mine are just about what I think would sound goodā¦I have no expert opinion to offer.
EQ/Mastering: Iām taking at the JAMin spectrum after listening a few times. You should definetely lower the gain on 5k-8k area, but only by a few db. Depending on what you think sounds good, I would significantly raise the gain on bass frequencies in the EQ (everything under 250Hz) or even better, raise the gain on the bass track significantly and on the kick drum slightly in the ardour mix. I think it would sound better. The bass sounds are important in this song.
Vocals: They need a bit more reverb. This track sounds great when the vocals are not necessarily at the forefront of the mix, but seeped into the depths of it, with a dreamy sound. So Iād lower the gain on some of the higher frequencies that come out of the vocalsā¦get rid of the sharp S sounds, etc. Iād even consider playing with a bandpass filter centered around 900Hz, with some quiet LV2 distortion (MDA Bandisto probably)ā¦just for fun to see how it sounds.
Great cover though. I love the zynaddsubfx synths you used for it!
Thanks for your suggestions! I upped the gain on the bass frequencies and somewhat lowered the overall compression somewhat on the mix. I lowered the gain in the 5k - 8k Hz area just as you suggested. And I also put some more reverb on the vocals, but to me it seems as if it drowns a bit against the pad, so Iām not sure what result became - maybe my ears are a little tired at the moment.
I tried the Glame Bandpass Filter for the vocals, but I had to make it quite broad, I still havenāt decided what I like best though
The distortion sounded interesting (i tried the MDA Bandisto), but in the end it may not have added that much to the final mix, maybe it needs more punch, but at least to me the vocals now sound a bit more buried in the mix.
I put the āSmeeferā mix up too, for comparison
Sounds like you headed in the right direction with the vocals, but separating them a bit with EQ can help (the Multiband EQ plugin is pretty nice, even to use as a filter). The reverb - if youāre using CALF reverb, try putting decay time at 1s, bass cut at 700Hz, treble cut at 6000Hz, room size medium or small. Might make it sound less muddy.
Bass frequency gains - iād limit the gain to 3db max on everything under 250Hz.
The vocals not much more loud than any other instrument, but distinguished/emphasized through a unique sounds, perhaps EQ. Thatās what iād go for.
If you wanna send me the original tracks, flac or wav, packed into a tarball then I wouldnāt mind giving it a try. Fun times!
Unpacks into folder āIām On Fireā, (350 MB) compressed.
You may find the effects and the mixer settings horribly misplaced, but in that case Iād be willing to produce a blog post or equivalent to add to the documentation about best-practice and things-to-avoid and link it here.
And if you feel like doing a total remix (Iāve checked some of the other stuff that youāve made out and have been rightly impressed) - feel free! Any help is very much appreciated.
Hey DonF. I donāt mind at all, I think itās an excellent mix. I really like what you did with the vocal track. And someone said āgo easy on the synthsā, which you did really well. I think it sounds really nice, and you managed to make my sloppy guitar playing sound good
What effects did you use on the vocals?
I got the project files and I will make my own mix. This might take me awhile because iām working on a lot of other projects at the time. But iāll get around to it as soon as possible. Thanks for sharing.
@feinorgh - I havenāt forgot about thisā¦still going to do my own mix of your track, just getting a bunch of other projects done first (stopmotion & synfig studio work takes forever haha).
