Original pop punk song (need mix feedback)

How would you rate this mix?

  • Very good

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Bad

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Very bad

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    5

Big Thier

Member
Hi, here is another song I would greatly appreciate feedback on.

I produced it, wrote the lyrics/vocal melody, recorded and sang the vocals, and mixed it. It's not mastered yet.

Here is the Bandcamp link. Streaming is 128 kbps, but you can download it in lossless format:
Straight To The End (demo) | Eve Of Spring

Thank you!
 
Is there a bass guitar in it, or are you using a keyboard or MIDI for bass? Couldn't really hear any defined bass line, but the kick was coming through pretty loud. Guitars were good and vocal balanced well with them.
 
A poll-how fun. I voted good, the recording and mix sound well done-everything is balanced-good tones on the guitars, nice drum track-vocals sound good and well performed. The only reason i didn't vote your highest was i think the mix could be polished some more. Maybe it's just a matter of a bit of eq and volume on what you have, since the balance sounds right. All the sounds are there it just needs to kick a little more butt as a whole imo. Nice work-i like the intro.
 
I've got a lot of nits on this one.

Your guitar tone is pretty good, but every other major element needs some work.
Bass - as MJB said, it's basically inaudible.
Drums - the kick is good, but the snare seems a little dry. There's no sense of power from it.
Vocals - for pop-punk, they're pretty quiet. Plus, I'm hearing a LOT of what sounds like auto-tune artifacts.

It's got potential, but that last 10% is going to be a bit of a slog.
 
Thank you for your comments.

Yeah, the bass is a VST. I will try to get a live bass for the song.

Which frequencies do you think the snare is lacking? I agree it sounds too thin right now.

I’ll try to add some saturation to the vocals, and maybe compress a bit more. And they’re definitely tuned to death, I’m really not that good of a singer.
 
I agree with the bass comments. I like this song a bit more than the other one, but there's just a couple parts where it seems to drift apart a tiny bit, as in not really locked in the pocket straight through. I could be imagining it, or maybe it's the lack of bass anchoring everything...

It's not really a vocal piece, but they could have just a little more of a spot to fit in. I wasn't bothered by the tuning too much but it never hurts to work on that so you're only tuning a few of the notes.
 
Echo what VomitHatSteve said. Subtle tuning on the vocals--okay, I get it. But there is no reason why it should leave any audible trace unless you are doing it wrong or you are aiming for an effect. Either way, not good IMO. You have a good voice, why mess it up?

Something odd about the crash cymbals on the left, like they are in a different space from the rest of the kit.
 
I thought the rhythm guitars sounded good when they were chugging. When the got to playing chords, they kind of went fizzy.

Singer is great IMO. I really liked his voice and performance. I think the mix is a bit dominated by the rhythm guitars. The mix should be dominated by the singer. Double tracked vocals would be awesome on a song like this.

The kick is a little bit woofy and lacking a little attack. I might suggest some cuts between 300hz and 600hz and a boost somewhere between 2500hz and 6000hz - where ever you get come attack. If you're compressing, give it a long attack - like 100ms - 120ms. It's also dominating the bass.

Snare sounds good. OH's are good too. Narrow. Were they recorded mono? Sounds like it.
 
I took into consideration everybody's comments. Thanks a lot guys.

I'm still working on it. I will get a live bass by tomorrow.
 
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Cool song :thumbs up:

The mix sounds very small and thin.

The bass droning makes the production sound even more home-brewed than it already does.

I would delete all plugins and start over. Parallel compression everywhere to bring up the RMS. Widen the drums and guitars. Kill the droning bass and make it sound like a bass thumping away right down the center. To get it loud and huge, print this thing hot through a decent A/D converter, like a Lavry Blue. They're only $1500... ;)

This sounds like a real song, and with the right production it would be incredible. Scrape up some $ and hire Tom Lord-Alge, or Tchad Blake, or someone of that ilk. Erik Reichers and Bob Horn over at Echo Bar Studios would probably get this beyond all expectations.
 
Ok guys, I updated a new version on Bandcamp with a live bass. I'm still in the early stages of mixing it, but I'd like feedback anyway. Thanks.
 
Really? Yeah, it's the same link. The bass basically follows the rhythm guitars, maybe that's why it doesn't stand out much.
 
I really like your staccato guitar.. and the two vocals overlapping. Good driving rhythm - allows for many vocal pattern variations.

Good work :listeningmusic:
 
Does the bass "basically" follow the guitars or is it 100% quantized to match them?

I can hear hints of bass tone underlying things, but I don't think I ever heard a bass note attack.
(To be fair, that is absolutely a stylistic decision that you can make with this mix. If bass is just there for tone, we don't need to hear it specifically)
 
It basically follows it, but it's not quantized, and it does have its own notes on a couple occasions. I made the bass very sub heavy, so on smaller monitors or earphones you might not hear it all that much.
 
I think it's the bass guitar that's "too bassy" - like I'm hearing it through the wall from my neighbor's apartment during a party. In the intro, the drums sound a bit muffled, especially the snare, but they seem too work well when the vocals come in. Guitars and vocals are great.
 
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