Who's up for a drink?

T

TheNightman77

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We've all been there before right? You lose control of your vehicle in outer space and crash land in the desert on Mars. You get out and survey the damage, it's going to be awhile before you can get the parts to fix your ship. Might as well grab a cold one at the local watering hole right? Here's Drinkin' on Mars.

I'm having some trouble getting the vocals to sit right in the mix, the singer has a very dynamic range and this was my first experiment with parallel compression...I'm not sure if I'm doing more damage than good at this point. You'll notice some words have far less power than others and can tend to get buried in the mix. The drums could likely use some work too. Any compression and EQ tips (or otherwise) that you guys could give me on how to better this mix would be great! Looking forward to the feedback. https://soundcloud.com/thenightman77/drinkin-on-mars-oct-3
 

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  • Drinkin on Mars Oct 3 .mp3
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Haha, this is pretty sweet. Where did you use the parallel compression? I feel like there are parts that I can hear the kick sucking the sound right out of the guitars. I don't think that the automation or w/e is subtle enough, as in when things like the vocals get louder, it seems as if all of the rest of the track loses volume. In general though I think they sit pretty well. It seems to have a 'pumping' sound with the kick like you would hear in house music.

I think the performance is rock solid and I like the song. I wish I could give more direction in mixing. And I could totally go for a drink on mars, I wonder what their specialty is this time of year
 
Fun track. I like the vocals and guitar tones. The mix is somewhat uneven. There are thing poking out and disappearing all the way through. For the vocal, you might have to manually automate the volume do smooth down the high bits. Or if you're lazy you could compress it harder. The snare is also a bit variable in volume. Parallel compression of the drums would help, or again manual volume envelope adjustments.
 
Good vibe to the song. The distorted guitar sounded cool. Singer has a good voice. Like how you used doubling. things are well performed.

Agree on the vocal unevenness. Words here and there pop out. Automating the vocal would probably work best.

I thought both the snare and kick need work. Both are a little distant and muffled. Snare is missing that high-mid range that defines the attack. Kick is a little woofy. Too much low-midrange.
 
Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated!

Agreed on the uneven levels of the vocals. I tried to clean that up first with bite gain adjustments, compression, and then parallel compression but didn't really get the results I wanted. Hopefully automating will fix the issue. There's actually no automation on the track right now since I was hoping I could fix it all through compression....no dice. I also used parallel compression on the bass to even out some of the finger picking attacks but it's a little low in the mix right now, I'll increase the volume a bit on that. Bulls Hit, when you mention manual envelope adjustments, is that just automation you are referring to?

Agreed on the kick drum, definitely sounds too muffled right now, and I'll take the compression off of the snare (and current EQ settings) for now and parallel compress the kit.

I'm going to take all of these points into account and give another stab at the mix after work over the weekend, and I'll post the updated mix. Thanks again for the advice, and glad you liked the song!!!
 
TheNightman77 said:
Bulls Hit, when you mention manual envelope adjustments, is that just automation you are referring to?
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I think he means using a volume envelope on the lead vocal. I know that's what I meant when I agreed with him. Most DAWs use the concept of envelope to implement automation.
 
This sounds great. Rolling through the thread comments, it seems you reach for parallel compression for lotsa mix situations. I reach for it when there are lots and lots of low volume notes that need to be brought up. I use automation when there aren't so many (especially on vocals), and especially on the loudest notes to bring 'em down. Combine the automation for bringing down the loudest peaks and the parallel comp for bringing up the quietest stuff, and the net result is something with a narrower dynamic range that's easier to control. But don't overdo it. :D
 
Thanks dobro, that's helpful information. This is the first time I've ever experimented with parallel compression, but I did use it on vocals (extremely dynamic, tough to get everything to similar levels but I used both parallel compression and automation), bass (only a little bit of parallel comp) and drums (which seems to be a pretty standard process). Does it sound like I overdid it in the mix?
 
Nah, I like the sound of this a lot. Bass: I've tried parallel compression on bass, but it wasn't as effective as just squashing it with a compressor.
 
asshat said:
Man this vocalist needs some work!! Where did you find him....!? Living above Kyle's appartmen!?
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yo cuzz, Scotty wants to know if u can get yer uncles beemah for tha weekend, I'm done wit finals and we were gonna get a keg and go ride around down da piah! shoot me a text -yo I got a new fubu jacket lol!
 
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