Honey Boo Boo vs the Honey Badger Redux

[kernelxsanders]

I decided to kind of start fresh as far as my project templates go. Got rid of the clutter and slapped Waves SSL channel strip on the first insert of each channel (except for any DI tracks). Trying to somehow envision my DAW as an analog board, I applied this to a piece of my work and it really refreshed my workflow. Drums instantly became a little more natural sounding and I was able to hone in on the low end more than I had previously been able to. Even though it was an extra heavy task with cheap midi bass gtr, I was able to practice a little mutiband comp usage and get things sitting right. At least with the speakers I'm using. Although, I did think it sounded phenomenal through the 2x12 in my car as a reference. Also trying the new x50 on the dirty guitars. Vocals are pitched down mildly, as this was a complete lyrical joke about child molestation, and it sounded way better after listening back. Given what it's worth, I think I can finally say I made something fairly solid. I can't wait to track it with a real bass. And for that matter, real drums and real amps

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8017980/HoneyBooBooBvox.mp3

It's been a while since I have posted on here, so I would love some feedback.

Cheers to ye.

 

[kernelxsanders]

bump?

 

[P-E]

Seems like you've been a bit agressive on the master bus compressor and limiter: the clean guitars duck down a bit when the other stuff kicks in. IMO the kick could benefit from being a bit less loud, the vocals from having more ambience and automation (whether it's delay, making some vocals stereo, etc.), the guitars from a bit of notching in the high mids (and maybe some multiband compression in the lower mids to leave some space to the vocals and bass grit) and the subdrop from decreasing in volume. The cymbals could also be a bit louder so the mix would be more balanced as it's really focused in the mids from the guitars and in the lows from the loud kick.

I like the middle widdly-diddly part haha, reminds me of PTH.

 

[kernelxsanders]

Thanks! Although I'm not sure if I understand what you are suggesting. Are you saying the mix could benefit from adding more of those concepts? Or should I go less hard on them? Because I nearly apply everything you mentioned in a really heavy manner (heavy multiband comp on guitars low mids, vocal ambience/panning for accents, subdrop decreasing in volume via automation). Or did you mean bring it (subdrop) down on the fader? Anyways, thanks for the response. It's hard to get those on this forum these days.

As far as the master comp/limiter, I do tend to run them pretty hot, looking for that "in your face" feel but as you can see, I'm sorta a novice at that. But I usually bring the threshold down until I just start seeing some gain reduction. And across 40-50 tracks, that 1-2dB is a lot more than 1-2dB on a single track.

What I find with the kick is if I bring it down slightly, it gets buried in the mix. And if I bring up the cymbals, I lose a lot of the focus on guitars/drums. Does that mean I should hi pass higher? I use SSD 3.5 so I also have "spot mic" control so should I bus those and hi pass those as well? Keep in mind, I am on a set of RCA boombox speakers (lol) but for the record, they aren't half bad; better than most desktop speakers. At any rate, I think this is a case of me having the mix sound balanced on these speakers, but not translating well across monitors. Or maybe just exhaustion from hearing and working with this one track for so long. I'll definitely mess around with the guitars, kick and cymbals though.

Also I think that middle part you are referring to is in fact a "diddly-widdly". Easily confused

 

[P-E]

I meant adding more of those effects/corrections to the mix. As for the subdrop, I meant to lower it down the fader : it doesn't need to be that loud to be felt.

Now as far as the drum sound goes, much of it will be a matter of EQing everything relative to the rest of the mix. Keep it up, and try referencing with headphones you're used to listening to music with: it could help balance out some flaws in your actual monitoring setup.