AA2 - Week 8 - Mixing Techniques 1
The Original Drama Queen
I find it hard to identify what the improvements of NoTools are in this updated version. Sure, the EQ's are cool, but they're just the same as third-party EQ's from 3 years ago. Anyway, my 3 mixes of 'Drama Queen' are quite differing in their style, perhaps as a subconscious attempt to relieve the apathy of the pop music style. I chopped up the vocal track quite severely to try and remove the backing guitar, so if a word fades out before finishing, it was just me making an executive decision to save the rhythm.
~MP3 700KB~Mix 1 is what you might call 'easy listening', with nothing too offensive to the ear. Only acoustic guitar was used, and the drums have a light reverb. I used a plug-in from Audacity called "Matrix Spatialiser" to widen the stereo field, giving the mixdown a fuller sound.
~MP3 696KB~Mix 2 is designated the "Rock Mix", and makes full use of the Amplitube plug-in. The drums have a more surreal reverb than before, and the snare is a little tighter and punchier. Listen out for the gut-busting (sic) guitar solo at the end of the sample.
~MP3 668KB~Speaking of Amplitube, Mix 3 is my tribute to everything not pop. Lovingly called 'THD Mix', this was actually the first mix I made, but it makes more sense when in the context of the previous two. The bass guitar has a meaty distortion with a light wah, and the vocals have a duplicate track with an overdriven counterpart. The snare is also filtered through Amplitube, with overdrive and strategic delay settings giving it the not-so-snarey sound. The kick had some light distortion, which really gave it a punch compared to the last two mixes. If only the vocal track didn't have the guitar strumming- the voice could have been a little more distinguishable.
My ProTools session files are in the dropbox under "Ben Probert AA Week 8".
1. David Grice "Audio Arts Semester 1 Week 8: Mixing Techniques 1." Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, 1st May 2007.
2 comments:
hey ben nice template... maybe you could go for a flying windows gif when you're done with bill...
thought you thd mix had interesting elements; the reverse reverb on the snare sounds cool, gain on the bass beefs it up, wah makes it sound kinda pop.. sounds original. nice work probert.
Cheers big ears. If the bass line was a little more interesting it wouldn't need the wah, but considering it lacked any rhythmic interest I had to do something. You're right though, it is a little cliched.
I see you're commenting on other people's blogs now. Caving in to external pressures, perhaps? ;-)
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