Some pointers pls

seeking

Member
Hi.
As I dont trust my studio, home stereo, car or my ears, and the fact that i practically know next to nothing regarding mixing, some good advice on how to maybe improve this mix would be much appreciated. If u could also explain the advice to a happy amateur, I might have a chance to apply it to the mix ;-)

Heres my mix:

Box
 
Sounds pretty good, actually. Good job on the synth programming (or was it played?)

Once the full band kicks in, the vocal gets kind of lost. Parallel compression might help, or the rear-bus trick, but I think it just simply needs to be turned up about 2db there.

Seems like the mix could be wider as well, not sure where without seeing the tracks in front of me. How wide are the guitars panned? Drums, hats, etc?

Pleasant song, has a nice vibe, peaceful, happy. I like it. It just needs to breathe a little more. It's like it has an energy that's hiding in the closet waiting to come out. A wider spread, a more in-your-face pop vocal (once the music hits, intro seemed fine) should do the trick, or at least be on the right path.

Nice job, my friend. See what others say.
 
Cool jam. I liked all the sections and the melodies are great. The mix balance is pretty good, just pay some attention to the vocal level once the drums start. You can still hear the melody but the lyrics are getting covered by the rest of the action. Good job
 
Thanks. I will certainly take your advice. I agree on the voice being a bit buried. I will also take a look at widening the mix. again, thanks.
-einar-
 
Sounds promising. The lyrics, what I understood of them, could be developed further. There were some too-obvious rhymes. Here are some mixing issues that I noticed. First, it sounds like you have the vocals set at one level throughout the song. It's loud enough, if not too loud, during the quiet part of the song. But once the songs starts rocking more, the vocal gets buried. You'll need to raise it during the louder parts of the song and lower it during the quieter parts. You can do that with automation, with manual adjustments to gain, or by splitting the vocal off to multiple tracks for different parts of the song.

Second suggestion, drums need to come up during the rocking parts of the song. They should be driving it. Finally, have a look at your sibilants (the esses). They are pretty prominent in places. Oddly, I'm also hearing what sounds like lisping, which you can get from de-essing too much. Did you do any de-essing?

Hope this helps. I hope you'll take time to listen and critique things others have posted. Reciprocity makes the MP3Clinic work.
 
Hi.
Thanks for good input. I will certainly work with the volume on main voice. Maybe try a splitt on voice when the drums kick in.(with some effect). Text vice i pretty done. English is not my strongest suits.;-). I do have a de esser on the voice. Will look at that too. I`ll try to raise the drums a db or two....

cheers
-einar-
 
Jesus... Robus/JohnnyAmato/etc hear things I wouldn't hear in a hundred listens. I'll chime in and agree that the vocals fall back a little too much once the music gets going. I can't really comment on the lyrics -- I didn't understand most of them. I know you said English isn't your strong point -- and there are a lot of songs I love that I can't understand half of the lyrics to, so that isn't a problem for me. If this mix doesn't sound good enough for some of these people, mine are going to get HAMMERED. LOL! I really like the guitar work and the composition of the song. Other than having some more "in your face" vox, this sounds really good to me. Well done.
 
I liked the song when it kicked in. I didn't care for the synth stuff in the intro. It was kind of a "sissy sound" - it didn't match the guitars when it kicked in.

Doubled vocal parts would be an improvement. Harmony vocals too. Or at least more than "oooo's".

Bass is a little indistinct. One note blends into the next.

I like the sound of the guitar solo.

The reverb you're using adds a ton of sibalance. S's are pretty nasty. I'd choose a different reverb. And I wouldn't make it so wet.

The cymbal samples are pretty hissy. Don't know if that's because of the way they sound or the MP3 player you're using.

Kick and snare are back in the mix. For a song like this, I'd want that snare cracking.
 
NervBag: thanks. I sure appreciate the feedback and as all other comments, I will look into the main voice.

-einar-
 
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I liked the song when it kicked in. I didn't care for the synth stuff in the intro. It was kind of a "sissy sound" - it didn't match the guitars when it kicked in.

Doubled vocal parts would be an improvement. Harmony vocals too. Or at least more than "oooo's".

Bass is a little indistinct. One note blends into the next.

I like the sound of the guitar solo.

The reverb you're using adds a ton of sibalance. S's are pretty nasty. I'd choose a different reverb. And I wouldn't make it so wet.

The cymbal samples are pretty hissy. Don't know if that's because of the way they sound or the MP3 player you're using.

Kick and snare are back in the mix. For a song like this, I'd want that snare cracking.

Hi and thanks for the review.
Im going to try the doubling of voice, or other stuff to "beef" up the main voice.
Iknow the cymbals are a bit harsh, its Steven slate drums 4. Iv already reduced the volume quite a bit but its still a bit hard. Will look into it and also raise the sharp a bit.
I think the s problem is the recordings and some overuse of a de-esser.

anyway, thaks again.
-einar-
 
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