harsh frequencies? rogue resonances?

Recording Techniques, People Skills, Gear, Recording Spaces, Computers, and DIY

Moderators: drumsound, tomb

User avatar
floid
buyin' a studio
Posts: 983
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2006 1:39 pm
Location: in exile

Re: harsh frequencies? rogue resonances?

Post by floid » Fri Apr 09, 2021 8:46 am

gravitychapters wrote:
Thu Apr 08, 2021 7:09 pm
The simple suggestion about headphones turned out to be instructive: the part sounds much more even in cans than through my monitors.
Have you also tried the suggestion of watching the meter on a compressor, to see if its behavior matches what you're hearing in the room?
Village Idiot.

Magnetic Services
suffering 'studio suck'
Posts: 444
Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2012 11:21 pm

Re: harsh frequencies? rogue resonances?

Post by Magnetic Services » Fri Apr 09, 2021 9:26 am

There are several ways to solve this problem, so I suggest trying them all and seeing what works best! You'll learn a ton, no matter what.

User avatar
joninc
dead but not forgotten
Posts: 2099
Joined: Mon Jun 09, 2003 5:02 pm
Location: canada
Contact:

Re: harsh frequencies? rogue resonances?

Post by joninc » Fri Apr 09, 2021 11:57 am

I use the Waves F6 dynamic eq a lot for stuff like this - but as mentioned - you have to be able to trust what you're hearing in the room. Once the room treatment is sorted though, it's helpful to have a RTA to see what's happening in the freq realms and where things are spiking a bit - i love being able to tame major resonances with something that only responds to a certain amount of level and not eq'ing it out of the source when it isn't a problem for large portions of a song. ie: it only reacts when the specific register hits a designated level and when it's soft, it does nothing.

The other helpful plug in tool i highly recommend is SOOTHE2 - great for working on problematic registers in a voice or instrument and dynamically interacting with it. Of course they can be overdone and you don't want to be too heavy handed, but it is great at taming harshness in a vocal or a stringed instrument - or some muddiness in an acoustic instrument etc.
the new rules : there are no rules

gravitychapters
alignin' 24-trk
Posts: 62
Joined: Sat Dec 26, 2020 11:55 pm
Location: Seattle
Contact:

Re: harsh frequencies? rogue resonances?

Post by gravitychapters » Fri Apr 09, 2021 3:12 pm

You are all brilliant and wonderful. I'm going through your suggestions one by one.

One note: I sprung for Soothe specifically for this problem (and de-essing). So far, I'm not really that blown away. Plus, it just destroys my CPU.

Is there anywhere I can post a mix? Does that still happen on here? I'd kill for some professional assessments.

User avatar
A.David.MacKinnon
ears didn't survive the freeze
Posts: 3819
Joined: Wed May 07, 2003 5:57 am
Location: Toronto
Contact:

Re: harsh frequencies? rogue resonances?

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Fri Apr 09, 2021 3:44 pm

I think the easiest way to post a mix is to put it on Soundcloud marked private and then post a link.

User avatar
joninc
dead but not forgotten
Posts: 2099
Joined: Mon Jun 09, 2003 5:02 pm
Location: canada
Contact:

Re: harsh frequencies? rogue resonances?

Post by joninc » Fri Apr 09, 2021 4:48 pm

you can also share a link to a dropbox file
the new rules : there are no rules

gravitychapters
alignin' 24-trk
Posts: 62
Joined: Sat Dec 26, 2020 11:55 pm
Location: Seattle
Contact:

Re: harsh frequencies? rogue resonances?

Post by gravitychapters » Sat Apr 10, 2021 6:45 am

Current version of song is here: https://soundcloud.com/auntalice/phanto ... -040921aif.

Grateful for any input.

User avatar
vvv
zen recordist
Posts: 10139
Joined: Tue May 13, 2003 8:08 am
Location: Chi
Contact:

Re: harsh frequencies? rogue resonances?

Post by vvv » Sat Apr 10, 2021 9:24 am

Aminds me some of Cracker and The Church and wilco - what I like lots.

Gotta be honest, sounds great to me! I might just ride the bass up a dB or two under the solo parts, and then again, I might not.

Edit at 2:32-2:33 is a little short? 5:04 seems in time, but guitars cut off abrupt enuff that I re-listened to check - I might let the arp'd guitar's reverb tail carry on just a RHCH ...

Cool tune.
bandcamp;
blog.
I mix with olive juice.

User avatar
losthighway
resurrected
Posts: 2347
Joined: Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:02 pm
Contact:

Re: harsh frequencies? rogue resonances?

Post by losthighway » Sat Apr 10, 2021 2:01 pm

I also really enjoyed this tune.

There's a Beck meets Stephen Malkmus presence on the vocals that I dig.

Your tones are all great. I love the fuzzy guitar, the snare sounds perfect, that acoustic sits in just right. I confess I didn't listen on speakers that have any real low end so I can't tell you about the bass problem.

MoreSpaceEcho
zen recordist
Posts: 6671
Joined: Wed May 07, 2003 11:15 am

Re: harsh frequencies? rogue resonances?

Post by MoreSpaceEcho » Sat Apr 10, 2021 2:03 pm

Agreed, cool tune, sounds good. That edit at 2:33 is weird. I'm on a laptop so I also can't tell you about the bass but I'll listen on my office speakers later.

gravitychapters
alignin' 24-trk
Posts: 62
Joined: Sat Dec 26, 2020 11:55 pm
Location: Seattle
Contact:

Re: harsh frequencies? rogue resonances?

Post by gravitychapters » Sat Apr 10, 2021 6:57 pm

That edit at 2:32 is going to be the death of me.

Thank you so much for listening! Getting mentioned in the same sentence as The Church means I can die happy.

Not sure what to make of everyone saying the bass is totally fine. But maybe I'll leave this one alone for now.

Thanks again.

User avatar
vvv
zen recordist
Posts: 10139
Joined: Tue May 13, 2003 8:08 am
Location: Chi
Contact:

Re: harsh frequencies? rogue resonances?

Post by vvv » Sat Apr 10, 2021 7:16 pm

FWIW, my trick on that kinda edit issue is to listen w/ my eyes closed and hit the marker (called that in my DAW), then move the edit to that.
bandcamp;
blog.
I mix with olive juice.

gravitychapters
alignin' 24-trk
Posts: 62
Joined: Sat Dec 26, 2020 11:55 pm
Location: Seattle
Contact:

Re: harsh frequencies? rogue resonances?

Post by gravitychapters » Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:04 pm

Makes sense. I'm still new enough to DAW recording that edits are kind of mystifying to me.
vvv wrote:
Sat Apr 10, 2021 7:16 pm
FWIW, my trick on that kinda edit issue is to listen w/ my eyes closed and hit the marker (called that in my DAW), then move the edit to that.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 76 guests