Sound Clip - Suhr Classic J (Oly White)

Now that my studio is properly configured to run @ 24-bit instead of 16-bit, I decided to bust out a quick sound clip of something just to give the new arrangements a ride. So I looped a quick I-IV chord progression and funked out a little on this Suhr Classic J (Olympic White).



Here's are the clips:
Suhr Funk
Suhr Funk (Bass Only)

The bass line was done with the pickup blend centered and a smidge of bass boost. The chords were all bridge pickup with a bit more bass boost and a little flanger added in Sonar.

The signal chain was my usual:
Alembic F1X preamp -> Lexicon Alpha USB Interface -> PC/SONAR

I'm pretty knocked out by the level of separation I'm getting now. Even when listening to the entire mix version, I feel like I can lock in on the bass and hear it perfectly clearly. That's what I've been after!!

I had a lead part I'd written that I thought sounded too repetitive (I played the part once, then digitally copied it over and over to make a longer clip). But now I realize the clip I posted sounds pretty pointless without it. Whatcha gonna do?!?

Try this on for size...
Suhr Funk w/ Lead Line

The bass line makes more sense now as it bobs and weaves with the melody, and some of the fills at the end sound MUCH better against the melody.

Thanks, guys!

Joe reminds me of my favorite Les Paul story. Les was on a gig, and a guy comes up and says "Gee, Les, your guitar sounds great!". Les sets the guitar in a stand and asks "How's it sound now?".

Oh, you're too kind, Ray!

The playing is what it is on this clip, just something quick and dirty to help me get to my real goal of upping my game on the production side of things. This is just a big experiment to see how much better I can make my recordings sound in my new 24-bit environment.

I had a few hours to myself last night, so I decided to remix this one last time with an eye towards making each individual track pop as clearly as I could make it. I've had a sneaking suspicion that I haven't been panning as hard as I should be. Each track in Sonar can go 100% Left, 100% Right, or anywhere in between. I typically stay between the 50% mark in either direction for all tracks, and the bass and drums are usually coming right up the middle between 10% L and 10% R. It turns out I've been wasting at least half of the friggin' stereo spectrum! :scowl:

So last night I decided to take it to extremes compared to how I usually mix. Here's the panning I ended up with in the following clips:

Chords: 70% Left
Bass: 30% Left
Drums: 30% Right
Lead: 70% Right

To my ears, I can hear every little part of every track MUCH better now. It's so good, I even took off all compression. I don't need to squash things anymore to make them more prominent. Of course, that just makes everything sound more lively. I'm pretty happy!!

Suhr Classic J Funk (Entire Mix)
Suhr Classic J Funk (Rhythm Section)
Suhr Classic J Funk (Bass Only) NOTE: I centered the bass for this clip

I'd be interested to hear from any of you guys with studio ears. Is this sort of wide panning common practice? Do any of these parts sound like they're off in left field (literally) to you?

Some interesting articles on panning (if you're into that sort of thing)...

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http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1227284/mixing_tips_how_to_pan_rock_music_in.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/433932/how_to_properly_mix_home_recordings.html?cat=33
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Hah! Thanks, Dennis. Steal away!

I just listened to the "Rhythm Section" version again. It is a little fonky, innit?! Lots of stuttering with muted notes, and I really like the contrast when I straighten it up (fill at 0:23), too. Mixolydian is your friend on this one, with a healthy dose of chromaticism. The chords are just G7 to C7 ad nauseum.

Thanks, Jerry!

Yeah, the production value is ALMOST to the point where I feel like I could say it's of a quality that you'd hear on a big name CD. I'm hoping my soon-to-be USB interface (that M-Audio FastTrack ultra 8R thingy) will give me another nudge in that direction.

After reading some of the panning articles that I posted earlier, I decided to remix one last time with an eye towards achieving a more balanced mix that still displays each part with extreme clarity. One of the tricks I read about sounded really interesting - it gave me the idea to clone the chord track and then pan one copy hard left and the other copy hard right. I also added a pitch shifter to the right track that detuned it just a hair. The net effect is a lovely, natural chorus. And it fills the entire spectrum without cluttering it - it's lush, but it's out of the way. So here are the new pan settings that I arrived at:

Chords: L 100%
Bass: L 25%
Drums: R 8%
Lead: R 25%
Chords: R 100% (and detuned slightly)

Try this mix on for size
Suhr Classic J Funk

^^ More like a sucker for punishment.

I figure this is about as easy a project as any to try to mix really well (there's only four basic tracks: drums, bass, chords & "vocal"). I might as well advance my understanding of some particular thing (like panning in this case) in this minimalist setting.

I see in my near term future 24-track live mixes that will have all kinds of bleed from one track to the next. I want to have my panning strategies worked out before I try mixing something as hellacious as that...

Darkstrike said:

Wise indeed, makes sense to tackle these, and get experience before swingin' at the big one, and it seems to be paying off!

I'm doing the same thing, just with photoshopping, using a mockup of a cretain bass guitar as my project...

Click to expand...

Speaking of which, Mr. Gadow owes me a quote. Let me go check on that for you!!

VroomVroom said:

Absolutely fantastic. Everything sounds terrific. I am just loving the character of that bass.

Click to expand...

Yeah, it's a nice one for sure. I want one, I want that tone... :scowl::scowl::scowl:

What I'm really digging now is that I've been able to pull off EVERYTHING in terms of effects, compression, etc. You're pretty much hearing the straight bass (as colored by the F1X to whatever degree it does anything).

The only "effects" that are now present in Sonar are on the stereo master. I've got a stereo multiband compressor followed by the WAVS L2 sonic maximizer sort of thing. And that's it! The compressor very mildly tames the overall mix in 5 different frequency bands, and the L2 miraculously makes everything louder.

The stripped down, almost pure project settings really make for a lively mix, and you can hear the true character of the instrument so much better. I LOVE IT!