Rock track - nearly there but something isnt sitting right.

J

Jake_JW

New member
Been working on this mix this week - need some time away from it to come back and finish it off. Seems like something isnt sitting right balance wise but I've lost perspective a bit so I'm taking a break and putting it out to consultation. Vocals aren't final.View attachment Enemy.mp3

It's been a while since I put a mix up, so, (hopefully) enjoy?
 
The mix is very quiet. I had to turn up my volume quite a bit to hear it.

The acoustic guitar sounded pretty. I'm not sure why you're moving the panning around. It sounded weird.

The vocal sounds OK. Some pitchiness in spots.

Did someone drop drumsticks at :25? I can hear some background noise.

When the drums come in at about 1:30, things go off the rails. They're really phasey and the mix gets real narrow. Like you have stereo overheads both panned to the center (and not well mic'd). The vocal get's very distant and echoy at that point.

Clean electric guitar sounded OK. Too much reverb on it (as well as a lot of other things - I'd just take all your reverb/delay stuff out for the time being and get a decent mix without it.).
 
TripleM said:
The mix is very quiet. I had to turn up my volume quite a bit to hear it.

The acoustic guitar sounded pretty. I'm not sure why you're moving the panning around. It sounded weird.

The vocal sounds OK. Some pitchiness in spots.

Did someone drop drumsticks at :25? I can hear some background noise.

When the drums come in at about 1:30, things go off the rails. They're really phasey and the mix gets real narrow. Like you have stereo overheads both panned to the center (and not well mic'd). The vocal get's very distant and echoy at that point.

Clean electric guitar sounded OK. Too much reverb on it (as well as a lot of other things - I'd just take all your reverb/delay stuff out for the time being and get a decent mix without it.).
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Ah! The background noise is on the second acoustic guitar, forgot to mute it as I haven't done any work on it. He's a big dude sitting on a small stool so it creaked. We're re-recording that tomorrow with a bigger stool. Could explain the panning stuff too, it's panned left and very low at the moment. I'll re-upload later with it muted as it seems to be throwing things off - its all static panned so that could be why it sounds like it's moving.
 
Jake_JW said:
Could explain the panning stuff too, it's panned left and very low at the moment.
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I DL'd and listened again. I don't know what I was thinking before. I swear I listened to it several times. But I don't get a sense of the acoustic guitar moving now. So disregard what I said. But it was in the intro where I heard it (or thought I did). Sorry for the mis-information.
 
TripleM said:
I DL'd and listened again. I don't know what I was thinking before. I swear I listened to it several times. But I don't get a sense of the acoustic guitar moving now. So disregard what I said. But it was in the intro where I heard it (or thought I did). Sorry for the mis-information.
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Not a problem.

Sorted a file without the second acoustic in it - good spot on the drums, the top end had been bugging me.

As mentioned in the original post - the vocal is not the final one, it's on a list of bits and bobs to tidy and/or re-record, so it is indeed a bit pitchy in places and hasn't had any automation love.

Volume wise though, I think we all have volume controls at our fingertips, this isn't a master.

View attachment Enemy Draft Mix1.mp3
 
I will comment on second mix. Out of the gate I think the intro A Capella needs a little work to get in key. Sounds like whomever is singing baritone might be off. I know you said the vocals were not final, but thought I should mention it. The rest of the vocals sound pretty good.

As Triple said, the acoustic sounds really good. I hear a lot of pick noise hitting the body from what I can tell. I do think in the intro before the whole band kicks in, there should be something in the background holding it together like an organ of some type. Just a personal taste issue.

When the band kicks in, it kicks in big which I really love. Reminds me of Black Crows.
 
I could stand to hear more kick and more body in the acoustic guitar. The snare has the 2s and 4s covered but I feel like the 1s and 3s are being left behind. And I want to hear some tasteful and subtle reverb.
 
Not sure at what point you are in production of the song. As it sits now it sounds like a rough mix , very raw. Drums are outside the mix nothing sounds like you have any processing. Performance timing issues are making the ear wonder to separate parts.
 
You might get a few more responses if you posted it to Soundcloud and put a link. Some prefer not to download files.

I could do without the a cappella part. Your voice seemed to be struggling with range and pitch during the initial acoustic guitar part. I thought there were some timing issues between the acoustic and electric guitars on that part as well. The vocals and song generally came into their own when the bass and drums kicked in. Reminded me a bit of Levon Helm singing with The Band. You have a soulful voice that really blossoms in the upper part of your range, like Helm did. No problems during the second acoustic interlude. You seemed to have hit your stride, vocal wise, by that point in the song. I think this is pretty good and could be made much better. After thinking of Levon Helm, it was a bit jarring to hear that English accent at the very end... ;) Good work.
 
Thanks for the listen guys - I prefer to keep unfinished stuff off soundcloud as I only use it for finished stuff (if at all), probably just a vanity thing.
I've been trying to get the basics in place before anything super process-y.

The rawness is an interesting comment for me - I very much prefer my recordings to sound that way overall (sounding like the instruments are in the room rather than super polished/studio'd is the end goal), but point taken, there is a lot of smoothing over rough edges yet to happen. Haven't really done anything on buss processing for anything (particularly drums, also vocals and eventually a couple of other bits and bobs) but that's going to happen after we have re-touched a few bits, not least the second acoustic and vocals. We are probably going to end up with the other singer singing the main vocal - much better voice and a bigger range. The intro vocal is an idea we were trying, not sure if it'll make the final cut.

I think I should've pushed harder for the drums to not played with brushes (good drummer, not enough pushing for sticks on my part). It would really help with the energy in the cymbals particularly but he has delusions of Jazz-ness and had new brushes on the day. Not much opportunity to re-record that.

Interesting that delay was mentioned...there isn't any on anything.

Might revive this thread later on when more work has been done in a few weeks.

edit: there are timing issues with the electric guitar in the intro, but I'm waiting to re-do the vocal before I decide wether they are an editing or a re-recording job.
 
I would just edit them personally. Split the wave form, slide things a little bit this way or that. Pretty standard procedure in my own recording.
 
Sure, I can edit it.

I'd prefer to have the main lead part for that section sorted first though. Gives you something else to edit to.
 
+1 for the acoustic sounding pretty good.

It takes a looong time for this song to get going. 90 seconds until the drums come in is more than most have patience for. If this is going to be a deep cut, it's probably fine, but if you're pitching it as a single, you'll probably want to trim the intro.

The timing flubs throughout are kind of distracting; you'll definitely want to address those.

Bass tone is pretty solid.
 
VomitHatSteve said:
+1 for the acoustic sounding pretty good.

It takes a looong time for this song to get going. 90 seconds until the drums come in is more than most have patience for. If this is going to be a deep cut, it's probably fine, but if you're pitching it as a single, you'll probably want to trim the intro.

The timing flubs throughout are kind of distracting; you'll definitely want to address those.

Bass tone is pretty solid.
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Yeah, I dont write these, thats the other guy's job ;-)

I must've got lazy with the editing - having gone through with a critical ear, I missed loads. Commence de-flubbing.
It's going to be track 4 (?) out of seven I think. A couple of the other tunes are much more single friendly if there was going to be one...

Strange everyone mentions the acoustic, must be magical mic placement (I spent years and years recording nothing else).
 
Seems pretty dry to me on the intro, I might add some effects but it kind of works as is. The vocals are great, they really sell the song. Drums are a little loose timing at times but not in an unpleasant way. Maybe the kick could use a little boost? Really like that piano. I wonder if the "missing" thing is just a consistent bass/drum? They take a break at different times so the song doesn't quite get a chance to wind up tight and release at the end, but I wouldn't call that a problem or anything really. It's a good performance and a chill song, it works for me.
 
I didn't like the intro so I skipped it. The acoustic guitar sounds pretty good. The vocals are pitchy right at the start. I think it's the vibrato you're trying to do on the last word of each thing you say. Once the song kicks in it's not so bad. Might want to try experimenting, but still a cool tune either way :D
 
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