Jangly Pop Song For Review

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cominginsecond

Decentralized Media Mogul
Hi everyone,

I'm pretty happy with this little ditty, but I thought I'd solicit your guys' opinions on this mix:



Are the vocals at the right level? Are there any obvious problems with it?

thanks in advance for your help,

Jeremy
 
LOL...... my vote for MP3 Clinic theme song!

Good mix... good song.... good vocals. Great lyrics.
 
Re: Re: Jangly Pop Song For Review

kjam22 said:
LOL...... my vote for MP3 Clinic theme song!

Good mix... good song.... good vocals. Great lyrics.

Thanks! I almost forgot there's some recording-related lyrics in there.
 
I really liked the song. Real catchy tune. Cool guitar parts. Some good lines in there. Some "clunky" ones too, but overall real good. Made me smile.

Didn't care for the strings in the middle break. I would opt for a "jangly" guitar solo.

The background "ahs" were kind of "throaty." I think they'd sound better if they were more "breathy." Sorry can't come up with better words to describe what I'm thinking.

Something weird with the lead vox. Some strange panning. Were they doubled? They sounded odd on headphones.

The vocals need to come forward a bit. Probably compressed heavier too.

Hope I helped maybe make it a better song. I enjoyed it.
 
What if you keep the synth instrumental for 8 measures.....then do the jangley guitar thing for the next 8?
 
Actually those were real violins coupled with synth. The synth is barely audible though. The violins are my favorite part, so I'm keeping them the whole way through. Thanks for the suggestions though.

The panning kicks in when the doubled vocal comes in. I've never noticed anything weird about it (even on headphones) but I'll give it another listen.

Maybe the vocals do need to come up. I was thinking that myself, but I was going back and forth about it. Maybe I'll push them up a db or so.

Thanks for your input! I really appreciate it. This song is my baby.
 
Yeah, I'd say half a db up on the vox. Everything else sounds good to me.

Neat song. I liked it. No other complaints.

Nice!

Chris
 
Cool pop song. I liked the vocals and bg vocals, but the reverb on them sounded a bit out of place -- imho -- They sound like they need to be more up front.

I really liked the violins on here. They added another color to the overall sound and really brightened it up.

Nice job!

:D
 
boydrj said:
Cool pop song. I liked the vocals and bg vocals, but the reverb on them sounded a bit out of place -- imho -- They sound like they need to be more up front.:D
Hmmm, that gives me something to think about. I'll mess around with that when I get home.

Thanks for your feedback, and for the kind words!
 
I really like this song. Overall, I like the feeling.

The primary peeve I have, about 80% of the 'songs' I listen to on this board is that they lyric is not intelligible. And you have excellent pronunciation, and I speak four different languages, and can sing in any language ... so what's wrong ?

I literally cannot understand the lyric ... on the first listening.

You know the lyrics, we don't. You could mix this song with the vocal fader on -INF, and still 'hear they lyrics'.

You may be convinced you have mixed 'your' vocal well but 9 times out of 10 the vocal is buried in either sibilance caused by an overuse of EQ on the highs and mids of the vocal, or an overuse of reverb and effects in general. Or the vocal is just plain buried.

This song is a 'lyrically driven pop song' and will not survive if the listener has to struggle for 'an instant' to understand any one of the words. Don't fool yourself and don't cheat us out of the words and your vocal.

The violins are much, much, much louder than the vocal. That's absurd, and I'm a violinist !

If your listener feels for a 'second' that they will encounter a struggle at any point in the song ... for an instant ... a struggle to understand the words ... they will listen to something else.

This is a very 'listenable' song, very REMish ...

You are too good of a singer to hide your vocal in all this machinery, software and trash.

It has been my GREAT PLEASURE to hear many participants on this board 'come out of thier vocal shells' and blossom, and that does not necessarily mean 'start to sing better', it means 'vocal mixed appropriately'.

You have no headroom in the song for the vocal.

The reason this is such a big peeve of mine is the vocals in this song are of very good quality and it really pisses me off that you believe that the instruments, the drums, the guitars, the violins are anywhere near as important as the vocal. Look at the meters. If the meters for the electric guitar and the vocals are the same ... which one is much, much louder in actuality ?

Drums are dime a dozen, violins are worth a nickel, violas ... worthless ... cellos ... garbage ... when compared to a well sung, hook laden vocal with GOLDEN harmony vocals.

The vocal is 'the star' in this tune, the violin is a 'prop'.

Don't cheat us of the very fine harmony vocals in this tune.

A record executive will not listen a second time to understand your lyrics because ... they don't have time, we are very, very special listeners on this board, we 'really' listen.

Don't cheat us on the lyrics, don't cheat yourself.

Take the instrument levels DOWN ... DO NOT bring the vocal levels up. CREATE HEADROOM for the vocal, and then normalize.

If you will mix the vocal much more dry, and mix it way, way, way out on top and out front, the violin would be much more enjoyable, as it is, it's a nuisance, it steals the show.

I hear and just jammed with your tune a really neat viola and then violin line that fills on the vocal 'melody' not the words, just the melody, because I"m not going to kick myself in the ass to understand the words.

This tune is really ripe for a full treating throughout the entire song for live strings ... very REM ...

I wish you'd mix the vocal properly and let me have a go at collaborating with you on this one.
 
great recording!

i agree that the vocals should be boosted a bit. but i can understand the lyrics (and i too speak a few languages).

strings sound cool.

try a different reverb for the vocals.
 
boydrj said:
Cool pop song. I liked the vocals and bg vocals, but the reverb on them sounded a bit out of place -- imho -- They sound like they need to be more up front.

I agree it is a very good pop song. It totally reminds me of someone. I know everyone hates these comparisons. "The Ocean Blue". Do you know/remember them? I may have even said the same thing on your last song posted. I'm having a deja vu moment.

Anyhow, I agree with boydrj. I am not convinced the whole problem is the vocal level. I mean I did understand the words. Something (verb, compression, etc.) is setting them back in a strange way. They don't have the punch they need. The violin on the other hand has mega punch. Not saying it needs to come down a ton, but the vocal should be at least as punchy.

Great song and the rest of the mix sounded really good to me!

Nice work!
 
I think the vocals could be louder... but I also know that there have been a LOT of hit songs that had the vocals mixed in as if they were another instrument. And there have been a lot of hit songs that people had to listen to more than once to understand the vocals. (I can think of a few that I never did understand until I bought the album and read the insert).

I was, however, able to understand the lyrics on this song.
 
Nice tune!

I agree with the suggestion about adding a jangly guitar solo - 12-string Rick, maybe?

Can you post some specifics as to instruments, mics, recording techniques, etc.? I'd love to know. This style is right up my alley, and as I'm still learning quite a bit (and have a long way to go) I think I could learn from you.

Thanks!

Fab
 
studioviols said:
I really like this song. Overall, I like the feeling.

The primary peeve I have, about 80% of the 'songs' I listen to on this board is that they lyric is not intelligible...

Wow, that's a lot of response for a short pop song. Thanks for your thoughts.

As far as head room goes, when I send this song to be mastered, I am turning the levels way down. They'll be plenty of headroom.

The consensus seems to be "Vocal up, Violin Down, Less 'Verb on the Background vocal." I will play with all these things in the near future and post a new mix soon.

Thanks for the offer to collaborate, studioviols, but this thing is going on my album in two weeks. Not only do I not have time to, I'm just not familiar enough with your musical style to make an informed decision. I'd be more than willing to ship you a disk with my source files for you to play around with. We could do a collaboration as an MP3 for my website after the record is out maybe. Thanks again.
 
Fab4ever said:
Can you post some specifics as to instruments, mics, recording techniques, etc.? I'd love to know. This style is right up my alley, and as I'm still learning quite a bit (and have a long way to go) I think I could learn from you.

Thanks! I didn't do anything too special for this song.

Drums

I borrowed a really nice drum kit, got a good drummer to play it. My overheads were MXL 603s. I had a 57 on the snare, and an AT PRO 25 on kick. The overheads were spaced apart over the kit about three feet apart, pointing straight down. (I don't remember the technical name for that. It isn't X/Y. What is it?!)

Bass

I used a Rhodes patch on my Gigasampler for the bass and EQ'd it and ran it through a "tube" limiting/overdrive effect (Silverspike's Ruby Tube. Get it, it's free!).

Acoustic Guitar

I have a $500 Washburn acoustic (don't remember the model number) that I mic'd with a Rode NTK at about the 10th fret about 8 inches away. I doubled that track and panned them about 50 percent Left and Right.

Electric Guitar

I did all the electric tracks through my Fender Princeton 112 amp mic'd with a 57 dead in the middle of the speaker cone. My guitar is a Mexican Fender Stratocaster with a Mexican Fender Telecaster neck.

Vocals

Rode NTK, about 6 inches away.

Violins

Earthworks SR77 (borrowed) about 2 feet above the violin, pointed at the bridge.

Effects

Waves Renaissance Compressor, Waves Renaissance Reverb, Waves Renaissance Vox Compressor, Waves Renaissance EQ, Waves Renaissance Bass on the kick drum.

Mic Preamps

Focusrite Penta on most tracks. JoeMeek MQ3 on snare. M-Audio DMP3 on overheads. I rely heavily on the Penta's compressor on the way into my computer.

I use Sonar 2.0 as my main recording software.

Thanks for the kind words. Good luck with your stuff.
 
very nice arrangement, performance and capture on the instruments, as well as vocal. I do think a visit on the levels and eq would benefit this mix a bit. There`s a rythymn guitar that bounces out at you periodicaly. The vocals have several instruments bleeding into the its eq range with very close amplitudes and it gets a bit cloudy and definition gets smeared a tad. The kick is sounding good, but the melodic bassline is a bit muddy as it passes it going up and down the melody. Id brighten the bass and bring it up a little more, and the kick. The snare needs a little more meat on it for me. Strings, yep, pretty hot and could fast fade in and not be quite as abrupt. Maybe pan them a little more and back some so it sounds more like sky and wrap around the rest. Bright and bouncy tune, I really like this.
 
Hi guys.

I tried a lot of these suggestions, and I didn't end up using a lot of them. I guess I liked my song they way it was. I ended up upping the vocal by .5 db and brightening the bass.

Thanks for all your suggestions!

Jeremy
 
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