surfy garage / indie pop

studioinaboxnc

New member
Hey Folks, here's a little retro / garage track I'm working on, song is called "Wes Anderson Sets the Scene". I've been going back and forth between headphones and monitors and could use some input.

Thanks!
 

Attachments

  • Wes-Anderson-Sets-the-Scene_2017-11-24_1922.mp3
    6.2 MB · Views: 18
I think the guitar is too up front at the expense of the vocal. I see you're going for a retro vibe but the reverb effect is kinda washing everything out. I prefer crispy dry myself so I can't offer any tips but there may be another reverb option that would suit the material better.
 
Welcome to the MP3Clinic!

The song sounds really good, as do the performances. Very promising. However the mix is all over the place. The reverb makes it sound like it was recorded in a barn, the bass dominates everything else, the lead vocal is too low, and the lyric is unintelligible.

I'd suggest rolling everything back to raw tracks and rebuilding the mix from the ground up. Take off all the reverb. Start by balancing the kick, bass and lead vocal. Make sure the vocal is sitting on top and the lyrics are intelligible. Then add the guitars and the rest of the drum kit. Check to make sure the vocal is still sitting on top and intelligible. Then add the backing vocals, making sure they compliment but don't overwhelm the lead vocal.

Then, add whatever reverb is needed to help the various tracks blend together and to create the surfy effect you want.

Hope this was helpful. I'm looking forward to hearing the remix. Please listen and offer comments on a few of the tunes others have posted at the MP3Clinic. Reciprocity is the basis of the community of musicians and songwriters that we are building here.
 
Sure, definitely going for a kind of washed out tone, but maybe got carried a way a bit....I've tweaked the 'verb, dropped the bass, and upped the vocal, also peeled back the guitar in the left channel and just did some automation around the little solo / interlude.
 

Attachments

  • 2016-03-19-Wes-Anderson-Porta-remix-nov2017_session_2017-11-27_2231.mp3
    6.2 MB · Views: 5
It sounds more balanced than before. The bass now sounds a little low--maybe split the difference between this mix and the previous? Drums are sounding a little washed out. I'm hearing the kick and closed hi-hat sound best of all. Snare and the overheads seem low.

I'm hearing the vocal now much more clearly than before. That's good, but I'm also noticing some things about it that could use work. For one, the sibilance is very pronounced. Usually that's an artifact of compression, and it does sound like the vocal is quite compressed. There's a bit of boxiness to it as well.
 
Hey man, mix 1 is much better. More highs and clarity. Love the Phil Specter meets Matt Demarco vibe. I hate Wes Andersen so much, though.
All mix ones is a slight bump in vocal volume level. If you keep mix one but do whatever you did to the vocal from mix 2, you'll have it.

I love music like this. Great job.
 
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