New MP3: "Stars Collide"

New MP3: "Stars Collide"

Posted on Tue, Jan 27, 2009

I dusted off the 12-string to record this new tune. It's a bit cheerier than the rest of the new batch of tunes, musically at least. Enjoy!

Production Notes:

I'm going to try listing out the tracks this time, to give a better idea what's there. The mic is listed in parentheses after the track name. Let me know if you're a production geek and this is useful to you.

1. Lead Vocal (414): Melodyne > De-Esser > REq (150hz high-pass and a 5dB bump at 1khz) > RVox compression (moderate) > Delay (my usual settings, 6% mix) > Doubler (two doubles, panned almost center, mixed -15dB).
2. Background Vocals (414): Melodyne > De-Esser > EQ (same) > RVox (same)
3. 12-String Acoustic (Stereo 414s): RComp (aggressive threshold in louder parts, 3.5:1 ratio, 16ms attack) > Stereo imager (60% width) > REq (125 high-pass and 4dB boost at 1.8khz). Recorded in the live room instead of the usual dry control room.
4. Akoustik Piano (Bechstein in concert hall): RComp (catches peaks of louder notes, 3:1 ratio, 22ms attack). Panned 25% right.
5. Glockenspiel (Stereo 414s): RComp (Aggressive threshold, 2.25:1 ratio, 25ms attack) > REq (340hz high-pass, +11db at 1.9khz). Panned 27% left.
6. Shakers (Stereo 414s): Straight, panned 33% left.
7. Tambourine (Stereo 414s): Straight, panned 37% right.
8. Hand claps (Stereo 414s): 7 takes at different points in the stereo spectrum, frozen into a single track.
9. EZDrummer (Pop/Rock Kit): For the cymbal rolls only. I don't have any marshmallow mallets to do that myself. :-(

The non-vocal tracks are mixed to a bus as usual, but I didn't use any compression like I normally would. The reverb is TrueVerb's Studio A preset with a decay time of 1.5s. The master bus has an L3 with a gentle threshold.