Need help pointing out any flaws because it ain't easy :D

FoulPhil

FoulPhil

Well-known member
I have been spending a lot of time editing, editing and editing some more. I have posted this track before on here in a rougher state and some folks didn't like the drum beat. I didn't make any changes to it because I couldn't figure out anything new. All I did was smooth the whole song out. I'm working on doing all my outlaw country tracks in the same fashion. It's been a MASSIVE amount of work. I'm really just trying to get it to sound as good and smooth as possible. The type of mixing advice I'm looking for is if anything really just pops out as sounding bad. The volume of the instruments and things like that. This way I can correct any issues and then process the rest of the tracks based on the feedback you guys give me for this song. Hope that makes sense. Thanks for any help! :D


 
Hey Phil just listened to your track. Great guitar work man! As far as anything poking out as too loud or too soft:

The rhythm electric guitar got a little loud on the turn around section.....but not over bearing
I felt like I wanted to hear the acoustic guitar lead more
The whistling was a tad piercing to me. Not sure if it's a volume thing or an eq thing

Good job.
 
jeff5x01 said:
Hey Phil just listened to your track. Great guitar work man! As far as anything poking out as too loud or too soft:

The rhythm electric guitar got a little loud on the turn around section.....but not over bearing
I felt like I wanted to hear the acoustic guitar lead more
The whistling was a tad piercing to me. Not sure if it's a volume thing or an eq thing

Good job.
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Thank you for listening and your input. I already put it in my recordings notes/ to do list. I did turn the guitars down a little on the those sections because they were drowning things out, but I think not quite enough. I'll turn them down a little more. I'll bump up the acoustic lead and tone down the whistling as well :D
 
The guitars are fine to me. The only thing bothering me is the kick drum. It has to much attack and that gives the impression that I'm with my ears inside of the kick drum listening only to the beater.

Thats really the only thing that came to my mind, the rest is really fine.
 
The mix sounded good to me, although I'd turn the acoustic lead up a bit and maybe EQ it so it stands out more. The electric lead is really dry - but I'm guessing that's the sound you want, and it does help the lead lines to stand out.
 
Nothing sounds wrong to me, everything sounds good to listen to.

"And your next door neighbor is always drinking
Most of the time he drinks alone
He cranks up the radio and sing along to his favorite song
And for a few minutes his pain is gone"

Damn fine.

The comment about the acoustic is valid as far as level goes, but if you bring it up, you might have to screw with the panning. It's nice to have a clear and present acoustic on tunes like this though. You do this shit so well.
 
I dig the tune. Here's my critique. At around 23 seconds in the drum fill feels a little clumsy (maybe a poor choice of words). The kick has a bit too much Click for my tastes. You can take that with a grain of salt. Again, not a bad tune at all.
 
Hey thanks for responding guys. If you come back and read this let me ask you a question. I used something new on the track that widens the stereo field or something to that effect. To me, it made it sound huge. I thought it was great. I'm wondering if you guys noticed anything weird about the stereo image or if it's ok?



CMolena said:
The guitars are fine to me. The only thing bothering me is the kick drum. It has to much attack and that gives the impression that I'm with my ears inside of the kick drum listening only to the beater.

Thats really the only thing that came to my mind, the rest is really fine.
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I did give a lot of attack to the kick and snare. I might see if I can't get it to sound a little softer. It's in my notes.



jm67 said:
The mix sounded good to me, although I'd turn the acoustic lead up a bit and maybe EQ it so it stands out more. The electric lead is really dry - but I'm guessing that's the sound you want, and it does help the lead lines to stand out.
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I didn't really think about it, but I'll see how it sounds wet lol.



dobro said:
Nothing sounds wrong to me, everything sounds good to listen to.

"And your next door neighbor is always drinking
Most of the time he drinks alone
He cranks up the radio and sing along to his favorite song
And for a few minutes his pain is gone"

Damn fine.

The comment about the acoustic is valid as far as level goes, but if you bring it up, you might have to screw with the panning. It's nice to have a clear and present acoustic on tunes like this though. You do this shit so well.
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Thank you I appreciate it. I'll be making a few adjustments to it.



Track Rat said:
I dig the tune. Here's my critique. At around 23 seconds in the drum fill feels a little clumsy (maybe a poor choice of words). The kick has a bit too much Click for my tastes. You can take that with a grain of salt. Again, not a bad tune at all.
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Thanks for the response. A lot of the same reoccurring suggestions about the kick. So, I'll be experimenting today for sure.







EDIT:

I've tried to find some suitable way to make adjustments to the sound of the kick drum. It's really just not working out. Is it so horribly bad sounding that it completely ruins the song or is it something that you could simply ignore or get use to?
 
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Phil, of course is not horrible souding. That is a very subjective deal...I happen to like more "loose" sounding kick drums...as in early Led Zeppelin records and stuff like that, but thats is my opinion.

I think you cant fix it because of the way you miked the kick drum. How have you done it?
 
FoulPhil said:
EDIT:

I've tried to find some suitable way to make adjustments to the sound of the kick drum. It's really just not working out. Is it so horribly bad sounding that it completely ruins the song or is it something that you could simply ignore or get use to?
Click to expand...

Now that you mention it, the kick could have way more bottom. It doesn't sound bad the way it is now, but it's all click. It could have way more bottom. I mean, these days, when I record, I've traded in my shaker click for a kick click because I like the bottom that a kick provides. This tune can have way more bottom.

I've said 'way more' three times.
 
dobro said:
Now that you mention it, the kick could have way more bottom. It doesn't sound bad the way it is now, but it's all click. It could have way more bottom. I mean, these days, when I record, I've traded in my shaker click for a kick click because I like the bottom that a kick provides. This tune can have way more bottom.

I've said 'way more' three times.
Click to expand...

I think I have something for that. I'll try it out :p

edit:

So far it's been a matter of having it super tight and clear. Then once I start adding in that low in it changes the volume and dynamics. Then when I bypass it and hear how it's change the over all sound it frustrates the crap out of me lol, because I can't tell if it's helping it to sound better or not lol... Damn it...
 
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Add more bottom to the kick and turn it down a touch to compensate for level. Post it here, and we'll tell you it's wrong. :D Repeat till you're done.
 
Enjoyed it. I probably wouldn't have noticed anything about the kick on a casual listen, but of course after reading the comments...yeah, it's clicky...which just seems a bit off for the genre. It's not a deal-breaker at all.

Nice tune, man.
 
Thought I'd throw in my two cents....that's about all my opinion goes for these days....anyway, I like the song and the mix in general but I feel as if the kick is too "clicky" as well... and the acoustic guitar maybe needs to come down a hair. But I've got to tell you, I've spent time drinking in a few places (a long, long time ago) and listened to a lot of "outlaw" music, and when I was listening to your song, I could smell the cigarette smoke, the stale beer, and old vomit....good times, my friend....good times.
 
fireflyva said:
Thought I'd throw in my two cents....that's about all my opinion goes for these days....anyway, I like the song and the mix in general but I feel as if the kick is too "clicky" as well... and the acoustic guitar maybe needs to come down a hair. But I've got to tell you, I've spent time drinking in a few places (a long, long time ago) and listened to a lot of "outlaw" music, and when I was listening to your song, I could smell the cigarette smoke, the stale beer, and old vomit....good times, my friend....good times.
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Thank you that's one of the most flattering comments I've gotten so far lol
 
Sounds good Phil. My critique: The lead guitar over the verse could use another take. The changes feel loose. Sliding some clips left or right could pay off.
 
Robus said:
Sounds good Phil. My critique: The lead guitar over the verse could use another take. The changes feel loose. Sliding some clips left or right could pay off.
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I don't know. I sort of like it like that. I haven't really made much progress on the kick either. I've just been skipping between songs trying to get them to the same place. And once I'm done with all the editing and things like that I'll be doing track to track comparisons to get the consistency as close as possible. I still have a long way to go :thumbs up:
 
great songwriting phil!
It's very Coelike..which is a good thing. As for the arrangement, I love the whistling and I like the bluesy sounding fills...very outlaw country. I think the bass guitar line is too busy though. The tune calls for more of a "bump bump" country bass instead of the walking bass in my opinion...of course thats really subjective and I realize you've commited to the walking bass part as this point in the process. As far as the mix goes, I really like it. Its raw like the mid 70's outlaw country was....those mixes sounded a lot different than the main stream did. One thing that jumped out at me though is the guitar on the right side, that is doubling the bass line, is a wee bit too loud and a tad too distorted. IMO cleaning it up and bringing it down a hair would make the bass and guitar mesh a lot better.

I have listened to a hundred tons of outlaw country in my time and i think you do a fine job on this style of song. When I first started listening it kind of reminded me of the Coe song "Another pretty country song". I dont know if you are familiar with that one but its one of my favs!
Anyway, great tune phil!
 
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