New band in the studio, please critique.

Thanks for listening, laser. I have been working on this mix and just trying to get everything to sit right. I think once I get a chance to listen to it on something other than my monitors I'll be able to tell a lot.

Thanks again!

-jD
 
That snare just doesn't seem to fit right with the rest of the sound. It needs to be a fatter sound, I think... less of the poppy sound and more of a room sound. The kick has a high-mid punch, which is a bit strange. You want more low end there, and compress it. I like the stereo width here. Honestly, without bass guitar it's really hard to say if it's a good mix or not as everything will change once you add that in.

Oh, god, just heard the autotune.... god, I hate frickin' autotune...
 
TrevorQ said:
Oh, god, just heard the autotune.... god, I hate frickin' autotune...
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Ha, thanks for the listen. Anyway, the Melodyne on the last chorus was a joke, and a test to see if you people actually listen. :p

I am fond of the way the snare sounds, so that stays. But the kick concerns me. What frequencies are bothering you?

Thanks,

James
 
Honestly, the snare might sound better to me against a more thumping kick. You should pull off on the 500hz-1khz range a bit, and fatten it up from 250hz on down. A few extra dbs in the 2.5 khz range will kick you some more click that will allow it to cut through better. Definitely give it a good compressor, too. At least a 3.0 ratio, fast attack and release, find the sound that sounds best with the threshold control and then boost the gain to get back up to volume.
 
TrevorQ said:
Honestly, the snare might sound better to me against a more thumping kick. You should pull off on the 500hz-1khz range a bit, and fatten it up from 250hz on down. A few extra dbs in the 2.5 khz range will kick you some more click that will allow it to cut through better. Definitely give it a good compressor, too. At least a 3.0 ratio, fast attack and release, find the sound that sounds best with the threshold control and then boost the gain to get back up to volume.
Click to expand...

Thanks man!

I tweaked the kick and I think it actually made everything sit a bit better in the mix!

Here is an updated mix.

http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_3375028

Thanks again,

-jD
 
Yeah... Had a listen to the new remix, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Really laid-back style. The only nit I have is with that snare. It sounds flappy. Especially at the end where it's just the snare... The snap of it sounds good, but the body of the sound is really.... flappy.

Other than that, sounds really well done!
 
Thanks for listening poetic,

I have a track with a mic over the snare and one with a mic under the snare. I wonder if I take the under mic down a bit, if that would help with the sloppiness in the snare. Any advice on that?

The only time I really notice it is in the intro/verses. I think the chorus snare sounds fine. What do you think?

Thanks,

-jD
 
Had to listen to this again.... On the 2nd listen, I cranked the volume a bit, and the vocals, when he sings the higher notes, there was a really annoying frequency to his voice... I'd recommend EQ'ing (just slightly) the 1.8-2.5K area down. Just a bit... It'd sit better with the laid-back feeling of the song...

The snare.... Hmm, dude.... I guess it works okay with the song, but the reason it works throughout the song is because the flappiness is covered up. You can get a much less flappy sounding snare (possibly with a nice ring to it, instead of a flappy sound?) which will sound better throughout the whole song, AND at the beginning and end. It definitely has personality, and by and large, the rest of humanity won't notice the snare at all... BUT... I'm left thinking... You could use a *better* sounding snare, and it'd make the song sound even better. I really hope that makes sense...

Bottom line: The tone of your snare has a nice initial snap, but the body tone of the snare (which is its personality) only adds marginally to the mix. A better body tone would make the overall tone of the song much better, in my opinion.

Great overall mix, though. These are seriously nitty nit-picks.
 
onestu3 said:
I noticed an acoustic guitar in the chorus on the left side that is either too high, or the high frequencies need to come down a bit. Nice space in the mix. Good tune.
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Hey thanks for listening man.

It seems like I am always so concerned with drums sounds, so sometimes I neglect the other stuff. Thanks for mentioning it, I'll take a look at it.

-jD
 
jamesduysen said:
Thanks for listening poetic,

I have a track with a mic over the snare and one with a mic under the snare. I wonder if I take the under mic down a bit, if that would help with the sloppiness in the snare. Any advice on that?

-jD
Click to expand...

I've usually found that the bottom mic gives more of the "crack".
 
The fixup job on the kick has made a HUGE difference, as far as I can hear. I'm still not sold on the snare but I don't dislike it as much as I did before with the weird high-mid kick sound.
 
I think the reason the snare sounds the way it does is the way the drummer played. I don't know what it is called as I am not a drummer, but he plays the first note hard then drags stick across the surface. I don't really know how to deal with it. I thought about sampling those parts, but drumagog doesn't do a very good job with waveforms like that, in my experience.

Thanks for listening!

-jD
 
Great song! I like the mix too man. Im a drummer and yeah the snare is different. The actual snare on the bottom sounds like its really loose and just needs to be tighter. Other than that, awesome song!
 
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