I made a Driving Song, what you think?

Z

zero00

New member
Hello, this is the first mix/mastering for my new song called Run Away, as always i appreciate every input you may give to improve it... as always please don't hold on your comments.

Thanks to all...

Link
 
\m/ :cool: \m/

The song itself it's pretty catchy. I hear some problems with the recording thou. Let's see.

01. Drums
Overcompression is killing the dynamics of your performance. The snare has no a weird sound, it's kinda dull if you ask me. For this kind of song you need a hard snare along with a full thumpy bass drum with a pinch of click. There's some issue with the left crash cymbal, to my ears you have some kind of expander that is cutting the tail of the soundwave.

02. Vocals
Beware, your singer is out of tune on the high notes. The BG vocals should be more spaciated.

03. Bass
I like it, i can understand the lines and notes.

04. Guitars.
Pan guitars hard right and hard left. Place the lead track to the center.

Hope it helps!
 
I agree with the pixel guy about the drums. Mostly about the snare. It's thin, weak, and too buried. That snare should be jumping out of a mix like this. The cymbals are pretty tinny. Back off the compression.

The vocals don't sit in the mix at all. It's like a vocal take sitting on top of a a pre-recorded backing track - like karaoke. The vocal performance is pretty poor too.

The rest sounds good to me. Nice guitars and bass.
 
OK, i just uploaded a new version, I took your advices so, i hope this is an improvement.

mattdee1: sorry man, i was trying to upload the new version, but there was a problem with the soundclick uploading... and for 3 hours the song wasn't available.

I re-tracked the vocals so i hope they improve as well. Anyway. Thanks for hear and comment.

Cheers
 
zero00 said:
OK, i just uploaded a new version, I took your advices so, i hope this is an improvement.

mattdee1: sorry man, i was trying to upload the new version, but there was a problem with the soundclick uploading... and for 3 hours the song wasn't available.

I re-tracked the vocals so i hope they improve as well. Anyway. Thanks for hear and comment.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Dang internets. :D

Anyway, took a listen. I like the song, the guitars, the vocal melody is catchy. But man, I gotta tell ya... something awfully irritating was coming out of my left speaker with those cymbals. I'm struggling with what I think is a mild case of tinnitus in my left ear at the moment and I'm sure that's not helping, but still it sounds distorted and very harsh. That is definitely my biggest nit with this recording by far.

Next is the vocals. During most of the song, I thought they sounded a bit down in the mix, almost as if you've mixed them that way out of shyness (hey, we've all done it). They need to be more up front.

Then, in that breakdown section, I heard other issues. I hate this word, but the vocals sound a bit pitchy there. It's funny because on the latest song I posted here (shameless plug: https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=290460), while totally different from yours, had a very similar breakdown section with just the chorus vocals and a kick drum, and I had to try a bunch of things before I got something I liked. I ended up cheating a bit--I tracked the usual guitar and bass during that section and sang over that to help keep my pitch in check, then I just deleted the accompaniment later. No it's not perfect, but the point is I was able to see a marked improvement. Maybe you did this too, but if not, it's something you might want to try. Also, if you're going to double track vocals over just a kick drum you probably want to get a tighter "match" between the two performances... I can hear them not lining up as much as they could, timing-wise. I mean, most of us have double-tracked vocals at one point or another, but the idea is to keep the "effect" as transparent as possible and when you hear one trail on longer than the other, it's a dead giveaway.

But hey, don't take this long message the wrong way... after writing it all, I still have your song in my head so that's a great sign of potential.

Cheers
Matt
 
Hi mattdee1 thanks for the advice... wrong way? not at all, i not that i'm not very good at this, so i like when you tell me all of this... anyway, i just uploaded a new version, the vocals more on front, the cymbal horrible noise is solve (hopefully) and i fallow your advice on the break part, made some editing to the backing vocals to make them fit with the lead one. It's not perfect but, i think they are a lot better.

Please tell me how is going.
 
didnt hear the other versions..but this one seemed good....drums lacked a little sparkle..guitars and bass were great, vocals were a tough one..I think they needed maybe a little chorus and delay to thicken them to match the power of everything else??


other than that really enjoyed the energy....seemed more a riding song than driving ;)
 
Yeah man, this version sounds better, and it's better mixed too. Now, the snare still has some issues going on and I think you can bring down the compressor a little more. Try tha tpart of your drums to be the more natural possible. I can hear top snare mic but, what about the bottom? This will add some sparkle to your hit.

I will recommend you not to sing so high. It seems that it's not your register. Maybe you can reach those notes but you have to train (attend singing lessons) a little more. In spite of that, the tune is memorable and you have room for improvememnts.

Luck!
 
zero00 said:
Hi mattdee1 thanks for the advice... wrong way? not at all, i not that i'm not very good at this, so i like when you tell me all of this... anyway, i just uploaded a new version, the vocals more on front, the cymbal horrible noise is solve (hopefully) and i fallow your advice on the break part, made some editing to the backing vocals to make them fit with the lead one. It's not perfect but, i think they are a lot better.

Please tell me how is going.
Click to expand...

Yes, I definitely like this version better.

I didn't hear the scratchy/abrasive noise on the left this time, but there is still something about those cymbal hits. They don't seem to have a natural decay--almost as if you're hitting the cymbal then grabbing it. This fact keeps making me "notice" them, and ideally that wouldn't be the case.

Vocals indeed sound more up front, time alignment in breakdown improved. How do you have the two vox tracks panned in that section? Maybe if you collapsed them both to a single spot in the stereo field, and then adjusted their relative levels you could find a smoother blend without a lopsided spread.

Being somebody who is always rather self conscious about my ability to keep my vocal pitch on track, I'll share a little learning trick I discovered some time ago which has really helped me. In listening to some of my oldest recordings, I always hear my pitch dipping and spiking in the vicinity of large transitions, and it drives me nuts. I think at the time I was doing those tracks, I thought I "heard" those passing notes in the melody, but really they don't fit and sound a bit sour. In an attempt to "train" myself out of doing it, I grabbed my guitar, thought about what key the chords were in, and plucked out the vocal melodies on my guitar in a way that I knew would work harmonically with the accompaniment. I'd pluck those melodies out over and over, to highlight for myself which passing notes don't fit, and to set the benchmark in my head--the "rails" for the melody, if you will. Of course, if you adhere too strictly to those rails, you might sound robotic and stiff, but as a non-schooled vocalist I found it to be a great reference and great for ear training. It's still a bit of a battle for me whenever I record vocals, but I have at least been able to realize improvements in my technique.


Cheers
Matt
 
Hello, wow, it seams that my ears are rusty cause i don't hear the problem with the drums, but considering that you all agree on it, i will take another look, in the current version (not new version) i took out a lot of compression to the drums, well, my cheap crap monitors could be the problem...

The cymbal issue can't hear it, is a China, so the decay should be faster, don't know, i'll check again it anyway.

That vocal technique is the one i'm using now, but i just get started, so hopefully i'll see some results in a couple of moths.

You are right about the register tone, is too high for me... in fact in this song it was higher in the previews version, but i realized that it doesn't fit to me. Next song will be a little lower, i think a tone will be ok.

Thanks to all of you guys, you are really a big help.
 
It sounds good but it's not something I'd listen to. But, I guess this place isn't about "tastes." Your ears are rusty. I haven't listened to homerecording in forever and that snare and cymbals immediately jumped out at me. It reminded me of the fact that I can never get snare and cymbals to sound right.lol When the music drops out and leaves just the vocalist singing the chorus, it sounds like a metal interpretation of traditional Irish music. lol I don't know if it's the vocalist, the melody. Maybe both.
 
Im re-doing drums in a track just now and Ive figured out how to stop the cymbals shrieking everywhere...Im leaving them out! lol


from now on I think Ill only use a kick and hi hat ;)
 
Hahahaha, Nave, the problem i think is the vocalist (me), i really suck hahaha.

About the cymbals and the snare, i made some changes on it, please tell me how they sound in this new version please... i also made a mayor edit to the break part... By the way, on that part there are 3 vocals, one center and 2 panned hard L/R.

Cheers
 
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