Ishtar Mixdowns

[dragonorchid]

Here are some very tasty numbers from Ishtar. These are works in progress - the first mixdown - pre-band comments... These were recorded at Platform Studios Auckland, with me at the helm, a few weeks ago. (simon, do you have any photos?)

I have to say, Mels vocals in Pendal hill are very beautiful, and in Secret love, those high notes are amazingly clear. I added some bells, delays (perhaps to many) and strings to Pendal hill. They can be removed if unwanted.

http://www.michelleklaessens.com/Ishtar_PendalHill_Mixdown_A.mp3 (link disabled - see further down for more recent mix)

http://www.michelleklaessens.com/Ishtar_SecretLove_Mixdown_A.mp3 (link disabled - see further down for more recent mix)

[simon_ishtar]

Sent email to the other guys, am currently listening.
 
Pendle hill.
Acoustic section- keys work beautifully, bells especially. Love the delays.
Guitars sounding good.
Drums good. Bass sounds fine.
Distorted guitars- Can they be fattened up a little? possibly I'm trying to say just a tiny bit more prominent in mix?
Keys and lead bits maybe down a tiny bit in the distorted bits more a vibe in the background?Might take care of previous??
Is there a whispering voice of some kind as goes back to acoustics? possibly delay ringing out last phrase? sounds cool.

Mels vocals need a bit more fattening up, both tracks. could they be double tracked, maybe have second voice around 10ms behind first?
Andrew Buckton got quite a big sound from Mel by doing something though not sure what.
 perhaps a bit more compression? Not sure how to get it there but think I'll know when it is there
 "The bells have rung they ring no more" needs a boost sounds lost in mix.

Secret love sounds really good. Think vocals need to be a little bigger sounding. Also not sure bout chorus BV. The cascading "secret love" bits at end really cool

.. guitars sound good and big. Bass and drums are really good
Solo is good in mix am starting to wish I'd composed that part a little not just ad libbed...

Am really happy with mix so far

[simon_ishtar]

on listen back possibly a bit hasty with lead thingies in Pendle Hill, possibly also distortion section keys. Am listening too close, need to step back and listen to big pic for a while I think.
 Will also be listening to it on a few steryos.
 Will also chase Dave up for the pics he took though I think all he got was a pic of the drums and me on a cello

[Geetadave]

sounding mean    For vocals, doubling them up with a much quieter one in the mix set with a lot of reverb/compression/delay (experiment) can help, and i'm talking quite a lot of reverb!  so long as the 2 vocal tracks are very similar..

guitar solo in secret love needs to be cranked up a bit!  

pendal hill is mean, very epic stuff i love the acoustic part very nicely produced michelle, maybey distorted guitars are a little dry for this song a little more reverb or sumtn? theres probably a lot on there but i think ambience really would work for this one!  and yes definately go balls out on the keys (strings etc.) on it!   nice work ishtar!

just my 2 cents worth!

[dragonorchid]

cheers guys, Dave, I think you may be right about the dryness of the distorted gats. I forgot to add any reverb to them, that might just fatten it up the way you want them Simon :-)

[Geetadave]

cool  

i thought there was some as i heard some delay right at the end of the track, but nope!  groovy  

[simon_ishtar]

Thanks for comments Dave,   think you and Michelle are right Keys work beautifully in there and guitars pretty dry.
 Just had a listen to cd on a top range denon system and sounds mint, better than on the $60 sub & 2 speaker thing I've got plugged into my computer.
 Yeah though vocals and dist guitars on pendle need to put on weight. Mix is otherwise fantastic.

 

[Geetadave]

yeah i'm loving the latest mixes, not much between those and most commercial CD's (well not the big multi million dollar studio type, but very good when compared to quite a few EP's that go around), been loving the new Killt track, even thou it's not finished it still sounds really good  

and definately keep those keys in there bro

[dragonorchid]

okay - done some work on these... Simon, because it is late at night so I could not turn things up... so I'm not sure these are mastered very well - let me know if anything niggles at ya.

http://www.michelleklaessens.com/Ishtar_PendleHill_Mixdown_C.mp3

http://www.michelleklaessens.com/Ishtar_SecretLove_Mixdown_B.mp3

[simon_ishtar]

Hey Michelle, just having a listen to Pendle Hill while Secret love is downloading. Really need to listen through a steryo but is sounding good. First thing that strikes me, for that bit of extra clarity a little warmth is lost, most noticable on the distorted guitars. Personally I can live with that, track sounds better overall. Am tempted to say bring the lead bits up in the mix a little, they seem same approx volume as on the first mix but somehow a little less prominent. Will get back to you with some proper feedback later.
 Is sounding really good though.

[dragonorchid]

PRELIM mixes for Simon so you can get an idea of where they are at.

I have already spoted quite i few things i wanna change...

http://www.michelleklaessens.com/Ishtar_SouthOfSanity_Mixdown_A.mp3 (disabled - see http://www.therockfactory.net under "recent projects" for more recent mix)
hmm overheads need to come down...

http://www.michelleklaessens.com/Ishtar_TempleofIshtar_Mixdown_A.mp3 (disabled - see http://www.therockfactory.net under "recent projects" for more recent mix)
yep, The guitars in the chorus are way too loud and drowning out the singing.

[simon_ishtar]

Really like how South of Sanity is coming along. The 'Lo-Fi' bit at the start is really cool. The phrasing at the end of the fist lead break phrase is still bugging me (sounds a little clumsy) but engineering-wise sounds great. I like the way you have the regeneration on the delay? winding up alongside where the solo goes real stacatto.
 Mel's vocal sounds great, drums and bass sound real good to me too.
Temple, still listening first time through, is sounding good. Am thinking maybe the palm muted track in the distorted bit needs to come up in the mix a little relative to the other guitar bit? divebomb mid solo is a nice touch... need more time to sit back and listen but is sounding really good to me.

[Geetadave]

production is nice michelle, your drum sounds are really improving! still i think some levels are a bit up and down which i'm sure you've picked..  south of sanity the rhythm gats seem buried i think they gota come up, the lead is cranked up, but theres not much rhythm there backing it, bass is very loud compared to it too.  some drumming seems a little choppy here and there which is a bit off putting.

just thought i'd put in my 2 cents worth seeing your releaseing it on an ep  

[simon_ishtar]

+1 .   Mate all comments are all good. I'm typically listening too close to the guitars in any case so really not capable of being objective on the big picture in any case.
 I defiitely agree re: drum sound though- They sound great.

[Warlock]

Thats one big sound man  

[simon_ishtar]

Thanks man, no huge amps there just Michelle's engineering, a VS102R and
http://www.bossus.com/index.asp?pg=1&tmp=114

[Warlock]

I reckon its meen coz the drums and bass sound really 'together' if you get what  i mean. That way, the guitar is really pounding away with a good ryhthym section behind it  

[simon_ishtar]

Cool, yeah it makes a difference when Andrew and Dave have it together. The first couple of songs we did Andrew's bass is really hard to pick out, on these two its much easier to hear.
in no small part due to...............
http://www.bossus.com/index.asp?pg=1&tmp=133




Am thinking Boss should give me an endorsement?  

[simon_ishtar]

Out of curiosity will writing html codes here work?

Loop Station Pedal

edit: guess not.

http://www.bossus.com/index.asp?pg=1&tmp=158

Looks cool. A single pedal version of the loop station.

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