[FP] Give Life Back to Adventure (Coldplay x Daft Punk)

[Happy Cat Disco]

The pairing is great.

I agree with Smash. The vocals need to be EQ'd. The are muffled in the low mids and the also need some high-end added for clarity. I also noticed the instrumental is low-fi compared to the original. The "air" is not present as if you are using a low quality mp3 as your source. I recommend purchasing the track from itunes for a clean and more dynamic version.

[Drazile]

Time for version 4!

*added an extra note to the end of the guitar riff with reverb to help smooth the transition
*eq'd and adjusted the volume of the acapella

Also, funny you say that, HCD, because I am using the .aiff from iTunes. Some parts of the guitar riff are stretched to half the speed in some parts, though, which causes the relatively poor quality. It's only for a few notes, though, so it doesn't worry me.

[warezio]

Time for version 4!

I'm loving it: the small changes make a big difference. Also my tween focus group (who love *all* things coldplay) digs this big time.

[Happy Cat Disco]

Version 4 vocals are still underwater in the EQ. Can you add some High-end into them to fix the lack of sibilants? There is also a pressure issue with the vocal EQ somewhere around 500-800 Hz that needs some subtractive Eq'ing.

If you are using the Itunes instrumental version then the issue is happening on your mastering. I hear a limiter or some type of compression being pumped pretty hard in the intro so this could be the issue. What does your output look like, what is your plugin chain on your master channel?

Something is causing a loss of clarity. We should figure out what it is and correct it.

[Drazile]

version 5!
*adjusted EQ on vocals
*adjusted limiter

I hear a limiter or some type of compression being pumped pretty hard in the intro so this could be the issue. What does your output look like, what is your plugin chain on your master channel?

Well spotted; it turns out that when I first started making this I must have put a limiter on the main channel and forgotten about it. I had the gain turned up just to make everything louder, but I didn't increase the ceiling, causing that limiter effect. I have adjusted it now.

[Happy Cat Disco]

Version 5 player isn't playing for me.

[Drazile]

Version 5 player isn't playing for me.

Oh, whoops. Fixed now.

[MashGyver]

V5 is the first one I’ve heard. The intro sounds well-balanced to me. The DIY-ness of the acapella is the only real blemish for me, more specifically, the muffled-ness is the blemish, not any artifacts. The problem might be that it just lacks any and all high-end because of the filtering process. So, even something like FabFilter may not work. Can you check the spectrum and see if it cuts off below like 4kHz? If there is anything there I would crank it way up to add some clarity to the vocals. And maybe turn them up a bit in the mix if it doesn’t bring out artifacts.

[Drazile]

The problem might be that it just lacks any and all high-end because of the filtering process. So, even something like FabFilter may not work. Can you check the spectrum and see if it cuts off below like 4kHz? If there is anything there I would crank it way up to add some clarity to the vocals. And maybe turn them up a bit in the mix if it doesn’t bring out artifacts.

I have EQ'd a lot of the high end out after around 7k to hide some high hats, which can be heard throughout most of the DIY acapella.

[warezio]

I have EQ'd a lot of the high end out after around 7k to hide some high hats, which can be heard throughout most of the DIY acapella.

I had this problem with "Clouds are Burning". Instead of EQ-ing the high end to death, you can try a spectral limiter on the high end, which hopefully will mitigate the plosive-y cymbals without totally killing the vocal presence.

Also I'm hearing a timing issue for the first time: "oh you make me feel" at circa 2:05 sounds a bit ahead of the beat.