All I Ever... - alternative pop rock

andrushkiwt

Well-known member
Please leave your thoughts/comments on this mix...

Everything is going through a cool, free console plug, called Code Red, for a little saturation and character. I like it. Drums are SD, and a combination of the NY Avatar and Rock Warehouse pieces. Guitars are Amplitube's Soldano and Orange amps, bass is Amplitube's SVT Pro through matching cab. Mic is AT4040 in PreSonus Audiobox.

new mix:




The pressure in my bones,
circles under your eyes -
we're nowhere close to home
or my sunlight...

I've been wronged again.
It's only in my head.
So pull the landmines in.

I see it on your face,
you've counted all their lies.
I'm gone without a trace,
you won't break this time.

I've been wrong again,
and all I ever said
was pull the landmines in.

Save her now,
the night will march right on
to bury hope,
and carry us along...
 
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Damn dude, this is solid! Vocals, drums, guitars all sound great to me. I literally relocated my subwoofer while listening to the song, so I'll be no help with the kick and bass guitar. But I don't hear anything wrong with them, except the kick sounds a little loud. That may be because I spent half the song with my ear right next to the sub :)

This sounds like something in the vein of Death Cab For Cutie and The Hotelier, kind of a modern emo thing. Great job on the vocals.
 
I thought this was very good. The tone on everything is excellent.

The vocal gets slightly covered by the guitars during the choruses.

Cymbals get a little swirly in spots. Probably a SC issue.
 
Good composition and playing as always. I'm hearing a harshness I didn't notice on the earlier mixes. Could be something in the mastering or else that saturation plugin. I'm not really liking the texture of the mix overall--something slightly grainy and lofi, with an harsh edge on some of the louder moments like cymbal crashes, here and there in the vocals. All this became more noticeable as I turned the volume up.
 
Great song dude. Great vocal performance. I like all the sounds. Good palm muted tones as usual. Tasteful levels of distortion. Good bass tones. Nice use of delays on the vocals.

IMO the vocals could be a little more up front. The mix is very dense.

One thing is really jumping out at me - The hats and some of the cymbals are panned pretty hard. It sounds a bit unnatural. There are a few times where the open hats just seem panned too hard and they just really jump out of the mix. Kinda takes away from the one-ness of the performance. It's mostly the left side that I am noticing.

Hope this helps!
 
Good composition and playing as always. I'm hearing a harshness I didn't notice on the earlier mixes. Could be something in the mastering or else that saturation plugin. I'm not really liking the texture of the mix overall--something slightly grainy and lofi, with an harsh edge on some of the louder moments like cymbal crashes, here and there in the vocals. All this became more noticeable as I turned the volume up.

ok, probably a top boost somewhere. I don't remember adding any extra boosts, but perhaps I did somewhere along the lines. I did hear something slightly harsh across the whole thing too. Glad I wasn't the only one who noticed it. Not sure what's causing it. Thanks Ray
 
Good song andrushkiwt. The arrangement and performance are great - I like that little vocal delay at the end of the phrases.

I'm not hearing anything being too loud on the kick - sounds fine to me, though I'm not listening with a subwoofer. I am getting some harshness at higher volumes though. Sounds fine at lower levels.
 
Sounds like a really good mix to me, mate. Its a really thick, dense mix, but that kind of suits what you're after.

One thing that jumped out is that you're doing a beat on a crash that's in my right ear, but the crash seemed pretty quiet, then it switches to and open hat in my left ear. There seems to be a big volume jump here with a quiet crash and loud hi hat. The panning on these is probably accentuated by me listening on headphones.
 
ok, i thought things were too bright in spots and somewhat grainy, like Ray said, so I took a look and sure enough there was a darn boost, not shelf, at 15khz in the mix session that I inadvertently left on. Probably leftover from when I was testing something out. I also turned down the low end (on the Code Red plug) and put the low pass a little further down on the guitars. I compressed the vocals a little harder and turned the annoying hat down a db too. Kick turned down 0.4 and bass 0.2. Left the panning, I don't mind that at all.

New mix in the OP. I'd appreciate anyone that already commented giving it another listen. Thanks!
 
I'm not hearing that harshness any more andrushkiwt. Much smoother at higher volumes now - sounds like that high boost was the issue.
 
Nice work, Andru. I'm not hearing anything off with the mix.
I'm away from my good headphones right now, though, and only have Apple earbuds, but it seems to translate to those.
 
It is smoother. The harshness is gone. I do think I'm hearing your saturation plugin. The texture of this mix feels a little different than previous songs. I'm still reaching for adjectives like grainy and lofi to describe it. Matter of taste. I'm not crazy about it, but if you like it that's what matters.
 
It is smoother. The harshness is gone. I do think I'm hearing your saturation plugin. The texture of this mix feels a little different than previous songs. I'm still reaching for adjectives like grainy and lofi to describe it. Matter of taste. I'm not crazy about it, but if you like it that's what matters.

it's the guitars. that plug was on the earlier ones i sent you, but the guitars I ran through different amps here. i do know what you mean.
 
Finally I have a chance to listen to this loud and comment. Sorry it's taken so long. It sounds great, as usual. I really wonder if it's your amp sims or how you mix them that makes them sound so much better than mine. I really need to look into Amplitube.

My only criticism should be taken with a grain of salt, because I have turned my brain inside out trying to tweak these exact things in my mixes and therefore may not be capable of hearing/processing/judging them accurately. The bass, low mids, somewhere down in that area, it seems dense and... not muddy exactly, but something like that. Maybe that's what you want. It was those things that I fixed on a song using your advice, but that was a completely different style of song. So maybe this is exactly the way it should be, but if it were me mixing this song I'd probably be going for a little less "WHOOMF" in the lows. Just a little, mind you, without taking away the thump. Also, the vocal seems just a bit dark to me. It seems like it could use just a little sparkle, if you can do that without harshness or any of that nastiness. That's the other thing I end up tweaking endlessly.

Is it the Code Red plugin that's giving it that weight? I used it last night to finish off Dirty Games. Just a tiny bass boost, and that was it. Seemed to round everything out nicely, but extremely subtly. I'm about to open it up and see if it still sounds good to me. I almost didn't try it because I already have a TG12345 on the master, so the Code Red seemed a little redundant with the Abbey Road emulations on the master. But if it works, it works. Thanks for that one too!

The things I mentioned are minor things, and like I said I may just not have good ears right now because I'm so inside what I'm mixing right now. Regardless, another enjoyable song and mix, my friend.
 
Headphone warning. The crash cymbals are toppy and fizzy. And I can't hear above 14K. Vocals are great. Amazing that everything is done in the box. Sounds solid and real. Nice job
 
I wanna like this but can't 100%
I've listened to it over and over on various systems.
It's definitely a dense mix, theres some cool stuff going on but...

High end/ cymbals swish, swish, swish.
Bottom end, boomy
All the stuff going on behind the vocals in the chorus turns to mush. Loses all defenition.

Now this 'could' be a perfect mix for the Iphone/iTunes listener.

On jvc earbuds it sounds fine, and due to the lack of bass in the buds, the boominess isnt apparent. High end is still real swishy.

On Apple earbuds it has a bit more bottom end and it sounds pretty good.

On the laptop it sounds pretty good.

Here's the but....
As soon as I put it in my Hi Fi, that swish, the boom and mush in the choruses reared up.
Also it sounds very compressed (sguashed) to the point of hearing it pump.


It's not my stereo system because other mixes of yours have sounded stellar through it.

But overall, and for the modern listener, it sounds good. Some if the swish and mush may be soundcloud induced.

:thumbs up:
 
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Good song. Everything sounds good to me. I've got a sub and the kick and bass aren't too much. Just the right amount of punch.

enjoyed the listen. :)
 
Good song. Everything sounds good to me. I've got a sub and the kick and bass aren't too much. Just the right amount of punch.

enjoyed the listen. :)

Ok. Cool on the punch. I spent a good amount of time dialing in the MB comp. 2:1 with med attack and release.
 
Great song. Like the ethereal crystal sound at the top end.
Man the tones are ALL killer. Great sounding drums, guitars. Killer bass tone, and your vocals are always stellar. Well, except the first line. There's a pop in there like you switched tracks without crossfading or possibly something glitched. Mix does sound a little odd in the lower end, like there's something extra your mixes you don't normally have. I've just learned to give up on good sounding cymbals from SC...:)
 
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