Songwriter Forum > Recording

Mix it up - different instruments refresher

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cowparsleyman:
Using different guitars on a song to give tonal contrast is well known, even humbuckers for lead and single coils for rythmn, but I like to do the same for the bass and drums, very often I'll have one bass playing the verses and a different one playing the middle 8, in "Don't listen" there is a fretless in the quiet bit, and a 1960's P Bass in the Verses.

Drums can be harder to do, I tend to use contrasting Kicks or snares, gentel differences, such as a piccolo snare 14" and something a little deeper rather than EQ'ing / Compressing differently... a Pork Pie kick is a good choice, with a lovely live studio emulation, (but not too much, only a smidge), if an acoustic trio  I might use a super floppy kick skin, such as Jack Johnson in "Losing Hope" or "Brush Fire Fairytales" from Brushfire Fairytales.

Listeners might notice, but did you on "Don't Listen"? It's not meant to be obvious, just subtly different.

Happy playing

CorkingCrackBand:
That's interesting, thanks @cowparsleyman

  I have done this exact thing before but I always felt I was cheating which is daft, as I know that modern production long threw out such stupid notions - if it ever had them to begin with. I agree it's a great way of just giving something a slightly fresh sound and differentiate sections. Maybe I'll remember to use this cool idea in the future.

CCB

rightly:
Yes that's an interesting idea
I'd like to try out

Strange,  the closer you look into production the bigger it gets.

cowparsleyman:
@rightly @CorkingCrackBand - Unlike pro studios, We are lucky to be able to faff about with experimentation like this, no other band is waiting to come to the studio to do their latest album...so We are lucky indeed.

It does however make the mixing more tricky, utilising more submix busses/VCA's to get the right vibe, which may well be unlike anything you've done before, so allow more time to get it right, especially in the mixing phase, and be brave, chuck out what might have seemed a good idea at the time, but the song and your vision for the song is everything, nothing else matters.

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