New acoustic singer/songwriter feedback

Brian Miller

Brian Miller

New member
Hey guys,

I've got this new song I've been writing for my girlfriend. We've been together for a long time. The first song I ever wrote for her is on an upcoming commercial release of mine, and she's been telling me ever since how much she would love it if I wrote another one. Anyway, she's got no idea I wrote another, let alone already recorded it.

Any mix/master feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Brian

UPDATE: New version 4.1 a few posts down, attached.
 

Attachments

  • New Song master v3.1.mp3
    8.3 MB · Views: 51
Last edited:
Is this your first submission? It's about time. :)

Nicely done. Nice singing voice. I like the little electric guitar part on the left side. Nice part and nice tone. Oh then there is again on the right side.

I'd pick a completely different reverb for the vocal. Way too big for this song.

There is a low frequency on the acoustic guitar that is a little too strong. Other than that, I thought it sounded nice.

The drums sound nice. Except for all that reverb on the snare.

No complaints on the bass. Good level and low end is pretty controlled.

When the electric guitars break into a more crunch sound, I didn't like the tone as much. I'd like a little more distortion and a little less low-mid energy. Personal taste thing there.

Overall very nice.
 
I like it Brian! Everything seems to be separated nicely. Personally I like the reverb on the vocal until the vocal is heard without a musical background. There was one part near the beginning. Great job!
 
TripleM said:
Is this your first submission? It's about time. :)

Nicely done. Nice singing voice. I like the little electric guitar part on the left side. Nice part and nice tone. Oh then there is again on the right side.

I'd pick a completely different reverb for the vocal. Way too big for this song.

There is a low frequency on the acoustic guitar that is a little too strong. Other than that, I thought it sounded nice.

The drums sound nice. Except for all that reverb on the snare.

No complaints on the bass. Good level and low end is pretty controlled.

When the electric guitars break into a more crunch sound, I didn't like the tone as much. I'd like a little more distortion and a little less low-mid energy. Personal taste thing there.

Overall very nice.
Click to expand...

No, I've submitted things here and there. You must have missed them :) Thanks for your feedback. Regarding the verb on the vocals, I usually air on the side of drier vocals, but the bigger verb sound from the 90s seemed a better fit to my ear, on this song.

I'll check out the acoustic for low frequency build up, and the snare verb. Doesn't sound too much to my ear, but this is why we have other people listen to mixes. Tunnel vision sets in!

I may chalk up the tone of the crunch electric guitars to personal taste unless lots of others don't like it either.

Bruthish said:
I like it Brian! Everything seems to be separated nicely. Personally I like the reverb on the vocal until the vocal is heard without a musical background. There was one part near the beginning. Great job!
Click to expand...

Thanks for your feedback! When you say, "until the vocal is heard without a musical background" could you point me more specifically to which spot you're talking about? A 0:00 would help for accuracy.
 
Have some time while she's out of the house, so here's a new version having taken some of the advice into consideration.

-A little less verb on the vox in the sparse sections, and automated the send level to back off when the instruments drop out. Much less verb during busy sections once the song picks up.

-Notched a bit of the low out of the acoustic, but not too much. Don't want to thin it out.

-Also significantly less verb on snare drum. Took a little of the low mids out of the guitars when they get heavier late in the song.
 

Attachments

  • New Song master v4.1.mp3
    8.3 MB · Views: 30
Sorry I should have been more specific on the time...it was around 0:53 but it sounds better in your second version that you posted! Sounds really good, I think she will like it!
 
I think your GF is very lucky to get something like this written for her. No obvious big red flags for arrangement, mix, performance. I did feel that this is low in your range, vocally, some weak notes, but nothing to cringe over.

I agree with the comment on the tone of the crunch guitar. Not knocking me out. I'd like to hear it with more gain.

Very nice mix. I think everything is in its own space, great separation, tonally and arrangement. I like that you took some low mids out on the v4 and I like that you pulled the reverb back.

excellent job.
 
Appreciate the feedback Chili. The verses are in my low register for sure, but I left the key alone because I liked the somber, reflective feel.
 
I really like the way the song builds up especially the point when the drums kick in. I like the panning style along with the drums but I felt like the panning was pretty extreme before the drums kicked in. It still works the way you have it. I would just be curious to see how it sounds not as separated. The dynamics are awesome and intact throughout and you can feel the energy which is awesome.

My favorite part is the bass guitar. Feels thick, creamy, and clear. Way to go :)
 
When the first electric guitar starts with a few notes on the left, I'd like it to be more defined, sounds like the player was still trying to figure out what to do! Later on, after the little break when the bass and acoustic are playing there's another part where the electric on the left plays just a little lick. It's disconcerting to me as it only appears at that one place, rather than little licks between the phrases.
Mix-wise, the rest all works well.
 
Listened to the remix.

The acoustic guitar is completely fixed. :) You addressed my complaint just right - boominess is gone, but it's not thinned out.

The reverb on the vocal is better. But I'm a "small reverb" kind of guy. So I'd go in a different direction. I'd go with a ambiance or medium room type of reverb.

I'd do the same sort of thing with the snare reverb too.

I like the crunch guitar better than yesterday. I don't know if it's due to the changes you made, or I'm just not as cranky today. Anyway, I liked them today.

And I didn't say this yesterday, but it's a beautiful melody.
 
No crits, really - unless, perhaps, the guitars giving the vocal too much of a kicking when they come in loud. :D I would back off those guitars a little, there. Very nice indeed. You're out-REM-ing REM in places. :D
 
Nice tune Brian, I listened through a few times and the melody got well implanted in my head.

Good playing and arrangement throughout. The mix is well balanced and modern sounding - you got a nicely controlled low end. The acoustic sounds much better in the updated version too.

There was something in the processing of the vocals that bugged me and took a while to put my finger on. It's the autotune - I think it's too prominent, colours the sound too much and gives it an artificial edge that the rest of the mix doesn't have. If you feel that you need it on your vocals, then I'd try and dial it back to a happy medium where it corrects the issues without being too noticeable. Other than that, really good job :thumbs up:
 
Rob - thanks for your comments. There's no AutoTune on the vocals. In fact I've never used AutoTune, so what is it that you're hearing?

UPDATE: I had the project file open as I was reading this comment, and I think it was too much gain on the saturation plugin. Dialed it back a bit and I think it took care of what you might have heard. Will have a new version with some other changes posted in a few minutes.
 
Brian Miller said:
Rob - thanks for your comments. There's no AutoTune on the vocals. In fact I've never used AutoTune, so what is it that you're hearing?
Click to expand...

How odd - what the hell am I hearing then? I ummed and ahhed for a while about what it was and eventually settled on it being autotune. The other thing I thought it could have been was slightly overboosted mids and a saturation plug. I know that I've done this before in the past and suddenly thought my vocal sounded autotuned. That sound any more plausible to you?
 
Okay guys, thanks for all your kind remarks and feedback. Here's one more updated version:

-Rhythm guitars backed off in heavy sections to give vocals more room
-Extra drive added to rhythm guitars in the heaviest section for impact
-Saturation backed off on lead vocal to eliminate "sounds like AutoTune" problem
-Some delay added to vox during heavier sections (just trying it out)
 

Attachments

  • New Song master v5(2).mp3
    8.3 MB · Views: 14
Listening on headphones now, cuz it's late and I just got shut down for loud monitors. The vocal in the loud section needs to come down just a taste (or maybe consider a louder guitar?).

It's good.
 
Yeah, I think the vocals are sounding more natural on that latest update and so fitting the arrangement better. Nice work :)
 
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