Going for that "radio ready" polish

therealside

therealside

New member
Merry Xmas all...

Just wondering what I have to do to tweak these 2 to get a handle on making a full album where I could actually promote "radio quality" singles. The 2 closest I have are a reggae and pop tune, they are the first on this page:

http://www.ampcast.com/therealside

"Imaginative Ways," and "Never Again" are the songs...

I appreciate the feedback, as always...

I'm no engineer, I just like making songs ;)
 
I can't help you sonically...first, I'm on headphones, and secondly, you're just better than I am, LOL. But I wanted to post to say that "Imaginative Ways" is probably the only "reggae" song I WANTED to listen to all the way through. Probably because except for the upstrokes on the guitar, it doesn't really remind me of reggae too much. Mix sounds good on the cans, but that's less than helpful. I really think it needs another element during the verses...something on a (*gulp*) keyboard probably...I pretty much hate keys, but it feels like it needs something.

The delay on the lead feels just the slightest bit fast at the beginning of the solo, but that's one mighty minor nit. I'm picking up maybe the slightest bit of 60 cycle hum on the left in the cans.

That was really well done man.
 
Nice work. I would add that the bass sounds a little too heavy, at least for my taste. Just a bit too boomy and a little muddy. But other than that, it's gravy.
 
cool, thanks...uh, that guitar probably caught some monitor noise, as I was sitting in front of the computer while I was playing (that is my Roland VS880 guitar modeling amp- Tubescreamer preset I made) and probably did not pivot to that "quiet spot." I hate it when those things come through, I never hear them til I throw the mastering compression/limiting on, then I do my "maybe I can get away with it" inner dialogue. Ahhh well, hopefully it isn't as bad in the speakers, headphones are good for that though! I know the bass was a bit muddy, but it's a 5 string Rogue and well, I'm lucky I can get what I can out of it. Still trying to figure out what frequency to cut to get a bit more punch and less blur??? Yeah, it's a bit of a reggae influenced song I guess, but with some Elvis Costello and maybe a bit of Sublime I guess, but not completely by the book reggae...

Thanks again guys for your feedback!
 
Too much bass (specifically sub-bass around 60hz I'm guessing)... and little definition on the bass guitar. Needs compression because it jumps in levels.

Vocals need their own space.

Because of the bass eating all the space in the mix you can't hear the drums or guitars very well.

Toms don't seperate very well--once again due to the bass.

Drums probably TOO far in the background. I realize the drums aren't slamming for this kind of tune but they are just too low.

Good performances, bad mix. Most of the problems are solved by cleaning up the bass, compressing it and dropping its volume.
 
Cool! Thanks, I will go in and compress the bass on its own and cut that 60hz and lower, good call!!! I think I tried to compress it all together in mastering, but for this sound it didn't work... probably have to use a pretty high ratio too on the bass, at least 6:1? Maybe that'll jump everything back up when I go to master...

Thanks again
 
ok, I tried all those things and remixed/remastered. Tell me what you think now!

I still kept the bass kinda high since it's a reggae song, but used compression eq to squash it more and brought the highs up a bit for clarity...

Thanks!
 
There is something lacking in the vocal recording I guess. It sounds too fragile, almost like Sting in Police-records, but not in a very good way.
Maybe it´s the mix, the verb or the compression. Can´t turn my amps up now, but will give it a second listen tomorrow.
The voice itself is beautiful by the way, so are the songs and the playing!!
 
bass still sounds too heavy to me...ease back on it more so (as a consumer) i can crank the whole thing on my speakers...yeah i'd also bring the vocals up a bit more but just a tad
 
distortedrumble said:
bass still sounds too heavy to me...ease back on it more so (as a consumer) i can crank the whole thing on my speakers...yeah i'd also bring the vocals up a bit more but just a tad
Click to expand...

I agree with distorted rumble. I think the volume on the bass is fine, but certain frequencies just "boom" a little too much. I am no expert, but I would run a high pass filter at about 50hz and sweep a medium-width parametric eq with a 1-2db cut somewhere between 100-150hz to dial out some of the boominess.

Overall, a much better mix, though. I am digging the lyrics, too.
 
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