Wall - another rocker updated 3-19-18

mjbphotos

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Latest mix 3-19-18:
Wall 3-18-18 by MikeBirch | Mike Birch | Free Listening on SoundCloud

Taking the old mixes down.

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Worked on the drums per advice, a few other minor tweaks.

Wall 3-7-18 by MikeBirch | Mike Birch | Free Listening on SoundCloud




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As usual, the electric guitar-heavy mixes are where I struggle, but this one seems to be getting closer. Found that when I pushed the master limiter on the mix up a bit, it helped it, but still not crushing it.

Wall 3-4-18 by MikeBirch | Mike Birch | Free Listening on SoundCloud
 
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Lead is pretty distant and quiet between the verses.

Drums and rhythm instruments sound pretty balanced. Kick and snare are cutting through. Bass is clear without dominating.

The lyric underwhelmed me a bit. AABBCC... isn't a great rhyme scheme to use for an entire song. I found myself accurately predicting about half of the rhymes. I like the sentiment, and the melody is fine. The actual lyrics just seemed a touch basic.

Are the drums canned or live? I'm hearing good variation in the kick right at the beginning, but the ride patterns towards the end start to sound a little mechanical.
 
Level-wise I think you're doing well here. Your vocal is very clear and up-front. Guitars, keyboards and bass are all in a good place, level-wise and panning-wise.

One suggestion: The drum part in your chorus is fighting against the groove. That's a point in the song where the drums should be playing in the pocket to emphasize the driving rhythm. But instead you switch to this eighth note pattern on the snare that seems frenetic and not groovy.
 
I like the crunch guitar on the left.

When the chorus hits :41 the low end goes away for a few bars. The bass stops playing. I also think there should be a bass playing through the bridge. It's really noticeable when it drops out.

I think you could raise the level of the guitar solo. Otherwise, like Robus said, the levels are good. OK maybe the harmony vocals could come up a nudge.

The snare kind of sounds like an 80's hair metal band. I might go with a dryer sample.
 
Steve - I usually do try to vary the rhyme scheme in a song, for whatever reason this ended up as it was - the chorus is XAXAXBXB (at least the way I wrote it out!) I boosted all the guitar leads a bit. EZDrummer 2 with a lot of tweaking.

Robus - I redid the ride, and also fixed the later part of the chorus drums, where it got off beat a bit. Not sure if its any better or not. Hard for me to hear the ride well with my ears today.

TripleM - good catch on the bass in the first chorus, flubbed the note when playing, so it was low in the mix. Fixed. There was bass in the bridge, just low, so pulled up a few dB.

Thanks for the listens and suggestions.

New mix:
Wall 3-7-18 by MikeBirch | Mike Birch | Free Listening on SoundCloud
 
Impressions as I listen.

Lead vox reminds me of Metalica.

Snare could use something to brighten up the shell, I mean to me there is too much like a pop.

Is it way compressed?

Some pitchyness in the lead vocals like in the word peace at 00:13.
Again at the word safe at 1:23

Harmonies sound good.

Nice lead work.
 
The drums are EZD2, however they record/compress, I don't add anything. The snare is a 70s Slingerland.
I think I've got Reatune on the vocal, maybe its not catching those ones, it can only do so much with my vocals!
 
I like it.
It has some good bottom end and power. I think the mix is pretty good. I like the lead tones....nice playing there too.
I can't really offer anything to imporve this.
Cool tune mjb!
 
Thanks JS.
How many little retweaks are too many? Still doing little things to this. I didn't have ReaTune on the vocal because it jumped keys, so just added all the notes to the autotuner, so probably helped a little.
 
For the lead solo, try panning to one side, then use a Haas effect to make appear a bit on the other side. Then bring up a bit.
 
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