I'd really like some constructive criticism please. Either on the remix or the sound quality.

I have been trying out a new way to master, and honestly I don't know if it sounds good on all systems.

Be as brutal as you like. I can take it. All I ask it you don't just say it's shyte, without explaining why as that doesn't help me at all.

Many thanks for listening:-

Take 2 is here:-

Final take is here:- Please listen FROM 1.24 onwards as I was more concerned with the body of the mix.

Thanks again for everyone's help

 

Last edited: Nov 13, 2024 at 12:06 PM

A little too many highs, the whole thing is pretty noisy, try to ensure that each instrument has its own space and is easy to hear, the voice in particular needs to be a little more forward, the bass and the saxophone need to be brought out better.

Here is the original for comparison, so that the listener knows what it is about.

Supertramp - Give a Little Bit [HQ]

 

i think the lead synth is too present, upfront or it takes to much highs. It feels like everything is stacked one over the other without real blending. I like the beat n bass ideas

 

Points noted..Thank you both.

 

Cool, that's an interesting take!

Couple notes:

Much of the time, I'm having trouble hearing anything over the synth. I'd really want to hear more of the other elements. The bits you kept from the original sound very vintage, the things you added sound very hifi in comparison. Maybe bring those two more in line with each other and take the hifi elements' brightness down a notch?

The synth reminds me of C64 rapid arps. I'd lean even more into that sound and add some C64-like movement maybe (PWM, drift). The synth sounds a bit static overall.

 

What are your gears? Are you using studio monitors or headphones? It sounds a bit mingled in mid but the low is pretty good. I liked it.

 

Noted.. Thanks

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Thank you @Thotu
What are your gears? Are you using studio monitors or headphones?

I'm using several instances of Uhe Zebra / M50x Headphones/ Drum samples.

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I am making some changes to add a bit more life to the main synth also as we speak.

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I'm currently working on a take 2 and will upload it shortly.

Thanks everyone. Great feedback..I really appreciate it.

 

Last edited: Nov 12, 2024 at 2:31 PM

Pretty much concur with what has already been said. On my JBL 6inch monitors the synth is a bit overpowering and a bit grating highs at times. Bass sounds great though. Maybe the mids are a bit muddy ??? Vocal could be a bit louder in parts or lower the synth. Stereo panning sounds nice. Overall though i liked and enjoyed your take on the song. Dont think it would take much to make a final great version.

(All above obviously personal viewpoint not necessarily correct )

 

Cheers @Aidene. I'll be uploading version 2 in a few mins

 

Thanks guys.. Take 2 is added above.

As before, all thoughts are welcome.

 

Hello @Sylenth.Will.Fall is busy again. I think the singing voice needs to be more in the foreground.

 

Cheers buddy. The problem is, I have isolated the vocals through eq as best I can but as I started with the original mp3 of the track, it's difficult to isolate them any more, and by making the vocal louder I'm making the original instruments louder too, which I really wanted to do away with.

 

Try spectralayers or uvr for vocal separation

 

What filter plugin are you using on the intro synth part?

When you want to get something a lot louder in your mix, but making it "louder enough" is just making the bad parts stand out more, or adding distortion, whatever; what usually comes to mind as an easy possible solution? NY/Parallel Compression. Duplicate of the track eq'd and maybe compressed, stacked together and compressed again. You can get pretty heavy-handed eq'ing out the frequencies you don't want and add a lot more of what you do want. Add Acon Digital Remix to the second copy even.

Nothing like that is "against the rules", but you started with an mp3. Those are already out the window anyway, even if it was.

 

Last edited: Nov 12, 2024 at 6:19 PM

It's certainly a pretty cool idea... maybe it would work better simply as a straight-up cover as opposed to trying to incorporate any of the original stems into it just a thought

 

3 instances of Ableton's Stock Auto Filter

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@Legotron. That is my next step (Ripx) but yes.. *thanks for the idea

@Smeghead IF I could get hold of the Accapella I would absolutely try that, because It would be so much easier to mix.



Thank you to everyone for your feedback.. it has helped enormously.

 

Try RipX, it is slow but you get very good quality rips. That is because it does not require good GPU. That said, a good way of finding pre-ripped vocals is to use Youtube. You put the name of the song, or band, and then after it add "vocals isolated", or "isolated vocals" as part of your search string. Like this: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=supertramp+vocals+isolated. People also post tons of these on Soundcloud.

I did not roll through all the results, but the one you need is likely on there. Then if you have a program for it, you can download an mp3 or m4a file directly from YT without the video. Depending on the resulting wave file, I might even stick that back through RipX. Or I will use Acon Remix on the channel to clean it up. Since you are running a duplicate(s) and mixing it back, you get a ton of control. You can even treat those rip tracks as their own bus/group, and insert all your nice Plugin Alliance mixbus plugins there. RX, whatever. With a track like yours, you are not shooting for a perfect rip sound anyway, so any imperfections are buried.

 

Last edited: Nov 13, 2024 at 11:45 AM

That's some great info there.. cheers buddy.

I have one final iteration of this mix am just uploading now.. I've been following the advice Ive received and I think it's improved..

 

Here's the lazy version :p. Took the flac version of the track on Soulseek, passed it through this : https://vocalremover.org/
And here's the result. Not perfect of course but already not too shaby! Would be worth working a bit more on it with RX or other software/vst, re-EQ, select the interesting bits etc

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/x1pm...ey=vtgm3pp2652jov37xjsmcc6bx&st=4lcm6v30&dl=0

 

Thank you @aschnt, for your version of the singer and your work. I just listened to it and am amazed at how "Roger Hodgson", the Supertramp singer, sounds now. You can feel that the era back then has nothing to do with today's era. I think they were very creative and still made a great version of it. Keep it up...