remix of something everyone here ignored, please listen

[kylosius]

i posted this song already, but this is a remix, besides nobody even bothered to reply to the last one.. i was practicing a song with a few friends up here. theres 2 guitar and one really low electric bass. this was done live. this was my first time micing multiple guitars, vocals, and bass at the same time, and i was wondering if this is a decent mix. since this was a first run through there are some timing and lyrical mis-pronunciations. let me know how this sounds. www.nowhereradio.com/emopunker/singles the song is called "Down in AC (atlantic city)". i wrote these lyrics in the way alot of south jersey people speak (i lived in south jersey until i was 15 BTW. there's nothing too vulgar though). this was kind of inspired by bob dylan, bruce springsteen, and shane macgowan.

equipment used
yamaha mt400 4 track (used as a mixer)
2 no name acoustics
1 dean bass
1 crate amp (on the bass)
sm 58 (guitar)
behringer xm8500 (guitar)
shure 575S (early 70's mic, used on vocals)
shure pg 48 (used on amp)
cool edit pro (used for recording)

[Moonrider]

Listening on the monitors. The tune has potential, but the mix has a lot of flaws.

1) The bass is effectively inaudible. It needs to be heard in the mix, probably brought up a little, but mainly you might think of bringing the guitars and vocals down.

2) Were both guitars playing the same part? If not, then one was simply overwhelming the other. It sounded like one guitar playing. If so, you may want to arrange a second guitar part to add some variety and fullness to the mix.

3) Lose whatever effect you were using on the vocals. It makes them sound like they were done in a shower stall.

Hope this helps...

[FIRESOLE]

I have to agree with all 3 points moonrider made.
Try not to swallow away the words so much.

[mawtangent]

Hey...I listened to this lo-fi version through headphones while a television was on in the same room, I assume I was getting a mono mix...with that in mind is the following:

I think this song has potential, there is obviously some talent, work, and practice that went into it, I could imagine hearing a refined version on a poplular groups' CD...this song made me think of the Clash, to me it had a British feel...It sounded like one vocalist singing along with one guitar...I liked the "feel" of the guitar (I think you could build some good songs around the guitar-strumming sound you are getting)...the vocals seemed to be a little shaky and a bit buried by the strumming of the guitar. The "A.C." words just don't hit me but I guess I could be nit-picking on this (since that is the name of the song)

I would suggest, before you present a song for critique, that you have a version with "no obvious mistakes"...What I mean is that you can have a lot of things happen in a song (someone's voice go momentarily out of key, for example) which can arguably be attributed to "artistic license"...but if you have conspicuous mistakes (like "out-of-time" incidents) these can really stick out and keep the listener from taking in the whole song (once they hear the obvious mistake they may not really continue to listen to the rest of the song)

[kylosius]

thanks for the responses. i was wondering if the vocals were halfway decent. there was no effect on the vocals (aside some reverb done after the fact), just live stuff bleeding into other mics and messing up the way the mics picked a few things up. i've been trying to work on a second guitar part (i.e. a "solo") but been coming up with no dice. i agree with the clash comment above, since you mentioned i can hear it now.

[Moonrider]

Originally Posted by kylosius

thanks for the responses. i was wondering if the vocals were halfway decent. there was no effect on the vocals (aside some reverb done after the fact), just live stuff bleeding into other mics and messing up the way the mics picked a few things up. i've been trying to work on a second guitar part (i.e. a "solo") but been coming up with no dice. i agree with the clash comment above, since you mentioned i can hear it now.

The main problem I had with the vocals was the reverb. Try a mix with them dry or use a touch of delay instead.

The second guitar part doesn't have have to be anything fancy. Have the other guitar use different voicings for the same chords, use arpeggios, or some simple bass string runs.