Fall Back

lbsterner

Member
Hi all,

I hope you don't mind me posting this here, since I'm kind of new to this forum. I need to do a few tweaks to the guitar parts (just flew those in last night) but I'm wondering how you like this mix so far. I am pretty happy with it and it passed the car stereo test this morning. The track isn't mastered yet.

 
I seriously am looking for feedback here. This is the first completed mix I've done since I put together the new home studio, and particularly since I got my reference monitors set up-- I have some others in reference stages right now but they are not ready.

I haven't written and recorded anything new for a long time, my ears are not what they once were, and I'm curious how this sounds to others and how far off the mark I might be.
 
The singer has a nice voice. The recording sounds decent, but has a bit of a cheap conderser sound.

The keyboards are a bit too loud. They're crowding out most everything else. You could probably pull the keys down 3dbs or so. The vocal might then be a bit too loud. But I'd start by pulling down the keys.

Programmed drums sound programmed. :)

Guitar lead sounded decent.
 
Thanks! The singer is myself, so of course that is nice to hear.

The mic on this is an AT 4050, so yes, a mid priced condenser. What are you hearing, exactly? I think I have some high-end hearing loss so I'm curious as to whether the vocals are too bright in the highs or high-mids.

I'll play around with pulling the keys back-- the song was written with that as a starting point so it's kind of front-and-center in my mind's ear, if that makes any sense.

Yes, sadly I do not play drums or have a good setup for recording them yet. My ultimate goal will be to have a drummer go in and play the parts live, but right now I have to live with the programming.

Glad to hear that the guitar tracks mixed well. I thought the middle part of the solo (where I switched takes/tones) might be a little too quiet.

Appreciate the feedback and I'll take another stab at this. One question-- given the hearing loss I have-- how is the overall mix in those terms? Too bright, or okay?
 
Hey there. Those pianos/organs/keyboard?? are eating the song in my opinion. If it were my mix i would bring them down and give them some room ambiance. They are about the only thing "cold" feeling i am hearing. Everything else has that "warm" feeling to it.

Also the vocals are sort of swallowing up the song to in parts with the harmonies.

these are all my ears are hearing. great song man. Alot of work in the arrangement and songwriting. Good job.
 
Nice song. Great little tune, has that easy jazz/Steely Dan feel.

Seems the drum could come up and put some meat on the bones. If you work the keyboards, they should just come down a little.

The vocals could use some clearing up EQ wise. I would cut down in the 250 range to brighten up the lead vocals (small amounts). and maybe give it some air in the 16K range. The whole mix may improve by adding 16K to the song. Try it and see if just vocals or whole mix.

Nice tune. Good job.
 
In my buds.. it feels a little left heavy.. I think its because the vox are center.. and harmonies are left.. keys are left in the balance also.. seems like the drums are wide also (crash).. kinda enhancing the fake of the cymbal sound..

Nice vocals

What drum sampler are you using?
The cymbals are really exposing the fake in the drums. Maybe you can get some good drum midi that is a more natural performance..

Maybe
 
Thanks everyone! Great suggestions, and I'll play around with the mix based on your feedback and see what happens. I really appreciate the critiques.

I'm using Logic Pro X so the drums are a part of that package. It's called "drummer" and they are basically semi-smart pre-programmed drum patterns with parameters you can change within regions, like complexity, loudness, swing, and the types of fills. You can also set them up to follow another midi instrument such as the bass. I can swap out kits to try to get a different vibe on them and can also apply various effects if I want them-- what I can't do (as far as I know) is separate out single drums or instruments to tweak them individually, which is kind of a pain. Right now I have applied minimal processing to them, so I can play with that, maybe tweaking something in the high end will hit the cymbals just right.

There is also a ride cymbal in the solo that is being played on a track by itself-- that one I can tweak, if that's where the main problem is.

Funny about being left-heavy; most of my hearing loss is in the right ear (too many years playing bass next to the high hat on that side) so everything always sounds left-heavy to me and I ignore it for that reason. By the numbers it ought to be balanced but I'll do a little more tweaking to make it less so and see how that works.
 
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Oh, and another thing I can do is remove all the cymbals and hat from the mix, there is a switch to turn those off-- I could possibly play those myself (well, using the keys) and try to get some better sound that way.
 
you could try
Support

They recently just started giving it away..

Its got a nice interface and ... decent sounding kit

It may not be the best kit for this song.. I dont know.. but I think it may be more tweakable for you and give you some better mixing options to try.

You may want to try EZ drummer2 or something like it to get some realism in the drums. The other instruments you have going on justify it..
 
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