50 Songs Challenge Song no. 23: Wilson Pickett - In the Midnight Hour
Well I was going to post this at the midnight hour, but I can’t stay up that late in my old age…
Anyways, we went with H pickup isolation on this one and looked to muddy the tone to give it that old school vibe. I brought the Cali76 compressor pedal back into the mix for this one. (Pedal settings: Dry 50% - Out 50% - In 50% - Ratio 75% - ATT/REL 65% - HPF 50%)
From there we are into the Darkglass Microtubes 500v2 with Microtubes ON and Tone at 25% and Blend at 50%.
XLR Out to Volt 276. Comp OFF. Vintage ON. Gain 55%. Recorded with Garageband and OBS. Finished with iMovie.
I had read the thread on this song and I’m glad I did. The few odd measures had me flubbing the notes when I needed to jump up the neck for that 8-10-10-10-8 and the 0-0-7-0 so I just did my own thing there. Had I not read the thread I might still be trying to hit those bars…
I listened to the isolated bass track thoroughly, never heard those bars being played and can’t hear them when I listen to the song…I am convinced they aren’t actually in the song and are only tabbed as such to give us all a headache
Everyone hated playing that one. I love that song so much and learning it really sucked the fun out of it. Just be glad it’s done, on to the next one!
Nice playing as usual @JerryP
I wasn’t crazy about the tone on this one though, kinda stuck out like a sore thumb a bit for me. A bit too bassy (maybe could have cut back on that or added some mids or bass-mids? or a filter to get out some of the really low end) and seemed a bit high in the mix.
Guess this means you are just going to have to get the Ricky after all!
Thanks John. I know… I don’t know what happened. When I mixed it with Reaper and the Kali monitors, it sounded fine. When I rendered it in DaVinci, it turned out way to hot. No matter what I did, it wouldn’t come out the way I wanted. I’m going to try again today and see if I can fix it.
Never heard the first version but had a listen to the current version @JerryP and the bass is sitting pretty well on my speakers so you may have got it, interested to see what @John_E says if he has a re-listen
Did DaVinci process the audio somehow? I have had issues with video and visualization making where it processes the audio too and my mixes go haywire (I mix down very hot mixes)…I had to bring the video back into logic at the end and overdub my original mix over the visuals to get around it
Very nice bassline and playing @JerryP. I always enjoy your Beatles covers. Sounds like you fixed the mix. I listened to it yesterday, and it was boomy, but sounds nice and clean now. Not that you should let that stop you from getting the Rick if you want one
That’s a great cover @JerryP Your timing and articulation are just right on the money. This is not an easy song the bass lines are kinda all over the place. It’s my favorite kind of music and you just delivered.
I agree with @John_E about the tone, my experience with the stock USA import Aerodyne’s pickups kinda like the tone in the middle or all the way open, it’s a bit thin but clean. Rolling the tone off pass half way it gets a bit loose and muddy. I have a sense that this setup would be great with some sort of drive pedals.
If you want it deeper and tighter with this one let me know. I have/ had 3 of this and have had several set up to the bass.
Thanks a bunch John! I’m still working on the post-production side of things. An easy fix so I may re-upload this.
I love to be able to get moving and groovin during a cover but sometimes my brain doesn’t allow that many processes at once. When a song becomes second nature and the muscle memory takes over it’s much easier but I don’t hit that level as often as I’d like.
yeah that is much much better, sounds a lot sweeter @JerryP
Davinci shouldn’ t mess with your sound unless you have some sort of ‘enhancer’ or other junk turned on. @PamPurrs - you might know better than I, any advice ?
No, Resolve does not arbitrarily mess with the audio. Only you can make audio adjustments in the Fairlight tab of Resolve and whatever adjustments you make are set.
YouTube on the other hand WILL mess with your audio, which is why I advocate getting your LUFS nailed before you upload to YT. You may recall I covered this in the second part (or was it the first part?) of the tutorial that @John_E and I did.
