The Bus That Couldn't Slow Down (new album and what not)

Love this version, love the original version.

Heh, don't worry about it, CM song posts are usually ghosttowns so this is a welcome change, gyms: yeah, it totally makes sense to hand it off to someone else for mastering, but I wouldn't want to pay for mastering or impose on anyone, and the last thing this album needs is more things to delay it's release.  Don't worry about voicing your opinion, I appreciate that kind of criticism, I wouldn't want anyone to bite their tongue.

@gyms - I don't mind unsolicited, thoughtful advice.  One thing I like about the chip community is that you can get some honest criticism and advice.  I did not know about running a highpass filter--I'll have to try that.  Trying different strings is a good idea.  Like I said, I tried a banjo sat in the mix better--I think the acoustic guitar was competing for a lot of the same sonic space as the gameboy.  Anyway, thanks for the advice.
(And sorry J.A.K., for accidentally hijacking this fine song's comment thread!)

aw dang, i took too long to write that, haha! two new responses before i finished...

@J.AK, to my ears, there are some very minor spots up in the trebles at times that make things a bit harsh for a master. There's really nothing wrong with the track, it sounds absolutely gorgeous and pristine, I'm just being picky. It's a common practice, especially when the mixes are sounding as good as this, to hand it off to a separate engineer who doesn't already have an attachment to the material. That way, it's completely objective in perfecting the audio. Which is why I brought up cTrix, since he's mastered quite a few albums within the community. Sorry if I'm getting up in your grill with nonsense; not to tread on your hard work. Looking forward to the release!

@roboctopus, I know your Q wasn't directed at me, but I just wanted to throw some thoughts at you. Generally to avoid a muddy mix, use a highpass filter on every, single track you are mixing and adjust to cut out the bass frequencies you can't hear and that don't contribute to the character you are trying to deliver. Keep in mind that the higher and brighter and instrument is, and the less important it is, the further away from the center you should pan it to give way to the bass and featured instruments to live in the middle. Reverb is also notorious for muddying a mix, mainly because it is used incorrectly. You should, 99% of the time, use reverb as a send effect on a separate return track so you can EQ and compress the instrument and the reverb separately. THE MOST IMPORTANT THANG!!-> Arrangement is the prerequisite to recording, which is the prerequisite to mixing!! Pick your sounds/instruments carefully and intelligently. For example, you have a gameboy with guitar, but have a hard time hearing both parts; it's muddy. Why not try nylon strings since they are more transparent? Or why not use some open chords or chord inversions to open up the sound?

sorry to be all,

I think lack of space in the arrangement is my current problem.  I was trying to add guitar to a very full arrangement, which was detracting from other parts.  I listened to Pamplemousse yesterday and thought that if I could hear just the chip parts, they would sound kind of sparse.  Thanks for the advice!

Thanks Roboctopus, I've never really had much trouble mixing guitar and chip stuff, I think it has more to do with the arrangement of the gameboy/whatever part than anything, leaving room for the guitar and giving it a solid foundation, and yeah, the ukulele was two separately recorded tracks playing the same part panned to either side.

It sounds good to me.  (But I'm no master of mastering.)  I've been listening to your stuff the last couple of days actually trying to figure out how to get my guitar to sit in the mix better with my gameboy.  You hit the sweet spot.  When I throw a guitar and a glockenspiel on my track and suddenly things seem too muddy or cluttery.  I had good luck with a banjo today though, so I may go with that instead of guitar.  Out of curiosity, did you record two tracks with the uke and pan them, or use a stereo reverb/delay?

Thanks, heh, no, as far as I know he hasn't, though I'm actually pretty satisfied with how it sounds as it is, does the sound of it jump out as being "unmastered"?  I did master it, but I'll admit I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to mastering.

RESPEKT! for the amazing arrangement and production! Sounds like a lot of sweat, blood and beers went into the mix. I know how painful it can be to get a mix sounding like this when you do it in the box, and you did some fine work; it's a great step forward from Pamplemousse.

Has Ctrix offered to master the album for you by chance?

AFFIRMATIVE

YES