Nobody home

YellowDwarf

YellowDwarf

Dismember
Hi all,

I haven't posted a song up here in a while. It's tough for me because many of you are such terrific artists and I feel a little shy to put my stuff up here.

Anyway, this is part of an album that I put together last year, a sort of end of the world album called the Last Sunrise. Please have a listen to Nobody Home and tell me what you think of the production et cetera:

MP3 Player SoundClick

Thanks,
Timbo
 
The song and playing are fine. The sound is pretty horrible. Too loud and clipping. The guitars and vocals are harsh, there is massive sibilance. Is that some kind of sound effect that comes in during your second verse, or noise? Either you mixed too loud, inserted too many or the wrong effects, and/or killed your song on the operating table while attempting to master it.

No problem, you can fix it. Provided you weren't clipping your inputs during tracking. I would suggest rolling it back to the raw tracks. Take off every single plugin. Then rebuild the mix from scratch, keeping the plugins to the minimum that you really need. Leave it unmastered or, if you feel that you must master for some reason, don't over-compress and boost the volume.
 
Thanks Robus. I think it was the "master" that did it. The mix itself sounded okay to my dilapidated ears ... and I don't think there was any clipping going on. Let me give this another shot sometime this week.

Thanks!
Tim
 
No problem. I hope you'll take a moment to listen and comment on tracks others have posted on the Clinic.
 
What's the context of this song? If it's a concept album, it sounds like it would make sense as the down-tempo lull right after a really heavy song.

As a stand-alone mix, it got a pretty severe "lo-fi" sound with a lot of mid-range and not much else.
It sounds like the mix started to open up a little around 0:55, but I suspect that's vocal delivery more than anything else?
 
Reminds me of Beatles meet Pink Floyd...trippy for sure. I think its a good concept for a song. Besides that stereo swirling flange sound that comes in, I think the mix on your vocals is what sticks out as an issue. Are you intentionally going for the "telephone" effect? If not, bring some low-mids back into it. If you are, then take some of those high frequencies out. They stand out. You also may want to add some short reverb to get the vocals a little farther back in the mix without losing clarity.
 
Thanks for the listen guys. Yes, the song follows an upbeat one. Yes, I was raised on the Floyd and Beatles. And yes, I was trying for a telephone-like effect, partly because I'm a baritone and partly because I usually don't sing well.

I'll take all your advice no this, though and get back in my studio shortly.

I appreciate all your help,
Timbo
 
It was a nice song. Kind of Dylan-ish. Playing and singing was nice.

The mix is very thin though. Needs some low end and low-midrange.

The vocal is pretty scratchy. Seems like you've over-cut it. And whatever effects you had on it (sounds compressed pretty hard) weren't helping. It's almost like a telephone voice.
 
I like this. I dont mind at all the tone of the guitars...just the vocals sound really piercing...I would lower a couple of db's in the 5k range?

As for the vox effect, I dont think its a problem...I guess it was an aesthetic that maybe you were after. I miss people using this kind of...effect on vocals sometimes, lol.

To me the only problem is that the vox sound too sibilant...but overall the mix is awesome.
 
I must be listening to a different mix than everyone else because none of the problems being pointed out sound like problems to me.

What I am getting is a Roger Waters kind of inspired piece. None of the effects, eq, levels or other choices sound out of place to me.

Sometimes I think that when hobbyist/amateur/new mixers make choices like these, they are called mistakes, but if Parsons were to make the exact same choices and put out the same mix, it would be called brilliant.

Just me, I guess.

I wouldn't change a thing. Seriously.

PS - I really like the song itself too. It reached me immediately, which admittedly, could colour my perception. In the end, the mix doesn't matter a whole lot. It's the song that matters.
 
Nice song man, it seems a bit top heavy to me atm. Lots of highs, not many lows. The vocal's a bit lo fi too, seems like it might benefit from less eq, it's lacking some lower freqs. It's almost like there's a high pass on the master, maybe that's an effect you were going for. I might push back the lead synth, it's a little forward to my ears. Sounds okay to me otherwise.

Edit: read your comments, I think I get what you were going for now. I wonder if it might be hard to sell the telephone effect without a contrast to another part that doesn't have the effect. Maybe keeping the effect on the voice and leaving the guitar alone would help make it more pronounced.

Btw really enjoying "beach", awesome intro. Brilliant song.
 
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Thanks to all of you. Now I'm not sure where to proceed, because the song and production is a done deal. But I do appreciate all the critiques and kudos, because I'll take the critiques with me on the next song that I work on. I struggle with a deep voice and tend to cut the low end off, plus I'm in a bad mixing room and I often cut the 100-500 too much.

But I really appreciate this, it's amazing, I didn't expect so much help!

easlern said:
Btw really enjoying "beach", awesome intro. Brilliant song.
Click to expand...
Thanks, that was my fave of the songs that made up the album. I loved the solo at the end, the "split" production near the end happened by accident but I kept it cuz it was so weird.

I really appreciate all this,
Timbo
 
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