1st mix....Never the last....Help!

R

RAMI

Guest
Happy Horney-Days everyone.:)

I recorded this over the last week and tried mixing it last night. I had a few (a lot) drinks at the the time, though, so things might be way out of whack. My ears aren't any better this morning, so I still can't tell.:eek:

My first instinct is to say the vocals are too loud, but I always think that about my voice, so I'm not sure. Also, not sure about the drum levels.

Thanx to Ido, Chili, JoeyM, Mikeh, Gecko z, and even JordanD for their comments in the SongWriting Forum when I posted the lyrics a few weeks ago. I'm still not 100% satisfied with the lyrics, but your advice and brutal honesty made me work on them a lot. They're very different from what you guys originally read, but it comes from the same idea/tune that I had posted.

Any help is always appreciated. I know I have more work to do on this one.

POISON REMEDY
 
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Might as well post the lyrics, since I mentioned them:


Poison Remedy (words and music by RAMI)

As I lie medicated again
In the darkness of my cave while I'm shackled like a slave

As I hide where the fog numbs all the pain
Locked away inside a shell slowly burning in my hell

(Chorus)
Something in my head something on my mind
Running right through my veins keeping me alive
Seven deadly sins inside me
I don't want it but I feel I need it
I feel a hunger and the need to feed it
It's my poison remedy

Feeling lost as I wander all alone
And I try in vain to hide this intoxicated mind

(Chorus)
Something in my head something on my mind
Running right through my veins keeping me alive
Seven deadly sins inside me
I don't want it but I feel I need it
I feel a hunger and the need to feed it
It's my poison remedy

Like a nightmare when you try to scream you wake up back home again
I had the wings to fly but couldn't find the sky

I look inside it's clear to see so clear
Just can't let myself be me just can't let myself be free from the fear
Feel this life has always been the beginning of an end

(Chorus)
Something in my head something on my mind
Running right through my veins keeping me alive
Seven deadly sins inside me
I don't want it but I feel I need it
I feel a hunger and the need to feed it
It's my poison remedy
 
Vocal level sounds good to me. I'd bring up the guitars on the outside, and brighten them up a bit. Also, I'd bump the OH's quite a bit.

Overall it sounds great.
 
NL5 said:
Vocal level sounds good to me. I'd bring up the guitars on the outside, and brighten them up a bit. Also, I'd bump the OH's quite a bit.

Overall it sounds great.
Click to expand...

Thanx buddy, I'm re-mixing it now and bringing up the gits. You sure about the overheads? You might be right, but I thought the hats and cymbals would be too loud if I brought them up any more. I'll try it out.
 
Absolutely love it, Rami!
Poison Remedy is just the right title for it, too. The vocal harmonies sound so good! The mix could be a little more evil in my opinion, but that's just a matter of taste. Drums could bang a bit more and the bass could maybe use some gain to make it purrrrrr.
GREAT SONG! :D

Joe :):)
 
Thanx a lot, Joey!

I re-mixed it and will put up the new version soon. One thing I'm wondering about is if it drags a bit. I'm thinking I should have recorded a few BPM's faster. I think REAPER has a function where I can speed it up without changing the pitch. Anyone ever tried this??? I just need to bump it up a touch.
 
don't do what I do......:rolleyes::D
I'm always finding something I wanna change in every mix.....:(
The song sounds great as it is, already. The lyrics are great, exactly my taste. Remember I told you I love metaphors....;) On reading them, I know exactly what you're talking about......:D:D
I didn't find it dragging at all.
 
RAMI said:
I think REAPER has a function where I can speed it up without changing the pitch. Anyone ever tried this??? I just need to bump it up a touch.
Click to expand...

I've done it in cubase, and it usually works pretty good if you're not changing it by very much. It also seems to work better if you sped up all the individual tracks, and not just the mixdown.
 
joeym said:
don't do what I do......:rolleyes::D
I'm always finding something I wanna change in every mix.....:(
The song sounds great as it is, already. The lyrics are great, exactly my taste. Remember I told you I love metaphors....;) On reading them, I know exactly what you're talking about......:D:D
I didn't find it dragging at all.
Click to expand...
Thanx Joey. I don't usually keep picking at a mix. But I know that my first mix for any song is usually done too hastily, and too close to finishing tracking, so I don't have a good perspective because of that. I made a few changes to the mix; brought up the guitars and livened up the drums a bit.
NL5 said:
I've done it in cubase, and it usually works pretty good if you're not changing it by very much. It also seems to work better if you sped up all the individual tracks, and not just the mixdown.
Click to expand...

Thanx NL, that's good to know for future reference. I kept it the same speed for now. I don't mix in my PC. I only bring in the 2-track master for final pseudo-mastering.

Thanx for the help so far. I put up a new mix at the same URL in my OP. :cool:
 
RAMI,
Brave lad working at that tempo whilst building so much tension. It works!
I wouldn't speed it up at all. It's an excellent piece of recording. The harmonies are superb.
I'm listening on h/phones so my opinions are probably useless AND you're about to post a newer mix so they're probably redundant too, nevertheless:
Overall the mix sounds a little thin. It's wonderfully clear and no track seems to be fighting for space but a little thin.
In the "I look inside it's clear to see, so clear" section there's some string/pick noise or something that distracts from the excellent texture. I know it's natural and so forth but in something this good it becomes an unwanted distraction. This may not be the case on speakers though.
Excellent tune, arrangement and performance mate. I look forward to the tweakmix.
 
I like the tempo as it sits now. Might be fun to play with the speed to see if it will gel together and not sound too processed. I agree with Ray - the mix sounds thin. Could use a boost in the lower eq range to give it some body. The writing and preformance are outstanding as always!
 
rayc said:
RAMI,
Brave lad working at that tempo whilst building so much tension. It works!
I wouldn't speed it up at all. It's an excellent piece of recording. The harmonies are superb.
I'm listening on h/phones so my opinions are probably useless AND you're about to post a newer mix so they're probably redundant too, nevertheless:
Overall the mix sounds a little thin. It's wonderfully clear and no track seems to be fighting for space but a little thin.
In the "I look inside it's clear to see, so clear" section there's some string/pick noise or something that distracts from the excellent texture. I know it's natural and so forth but in something this good it becomes an unwanted distraction. This may not be the case on speakers though.
Excellent tune, arrangement and performance mate. I look forward to the tweakmix.
Click to expand...

ido1957 said:
I like the tempo as it sits now. Might be fun to play with the speed to see if it will gel together and not sound too processed. I agree with Ray - the mix sounds thin. Could use a boost in the lower eq range to give it some body. The writing and preformance are outstanding as always!
Click to expand...

Thanx guys. I wonder if simply bringing up the kik and bass would help. I don't want to add lower mids to the guitars or vocals, so I'm not sure what the solution is.

That squeaking sound that Ray mentions bothers me, too. I must have been hitting the pick-up while playing that part.

Thanx guys, I'll see if I can thicken up the mix a bit without ruining it.
 
The song has a great strong start.

Harmonies are great . . . specially the nice aahs at 1:23

Lyrically the song appeals to me . . . "seven deadly sins" . . .is great. I like these lines:
"In the darkness of my cave while I'm shackled like a slave"
"And I try in vain to hide this intoxicated mind"

The mix is fine, but I find myself vaguely unsatisfied. I'm on my fifth listen of the track trying to figure out the source of this.

The guitar and vocal start sounds great, but from 40 seconds to 1:28 (and at the equivalent points throughout) that instrumental richness falls away. This may have been deliberate, perhaps to add some dynamic variety, but it's not quite working for me. Maybe it's also the lead-type guitar floating around on the right, which suffers a slight out-of-tunedness, specially on the higher notes. "Something in my head", which starts this section, doesn't sound as strong as the other vocals.

Others have commented on 'thin-ness', and I half agree. For me it is just that 48 seconds or so at each part of the song that I think contributes to a sense of it being thin, and maybe some dramatic instrumentation in these parts may elevate the whole track.
 
gecko zzed said:
The song has a great strong start.

Harmonies are great . . . specially the nice aahs at 1:23

Lyrically the song appeals to me . . . "seven deadly sins" . . .is great. I like these lines:
"In the darkness of my cave while I'm shackled like a slave"
"And I try in vain to hide this intoxicated mind"

The mix is fine, but I find myself vaguely unsatisfied. I'm on my fifth listen of the track trying to figure out the source of this.

The guitar and vocal start sounds great, but from 40 seconds to 1:28 (and at the equivalent points throughout) that instrumental richness falls away. This may have been deliberate, perhaps to add some dynamic variety, but it's not quite working for me. Maybe it's also the lead-type guitar floating around on the right, which suffers a slight out-of-tunedness, specially on the higher notes. "Something in my head", which starts this section, doesn't sound as strong as the other vocals.

Others have commented on 'thin-ness', and I half agree. For me it is just that 48 seconds or so at each part of the song that I think contributes to a sense of it being thin, and maybe some dramatic instrumentation in these parts may elevate the whole track.
Click to expand...

Thanx a lot, Geck. This is the kind of feedback I need.

Hehe...That "out of tune" guitar is probably tuned fine. It's my Chuck Berry bending that sucks. :eek: I realize it's off a bit. But I may need to re-think that part, and re-arrange it.

Thanx for the help, man. Still a work in progress. :cool:
 
I think it's cool to hear this early in your mixing stages....it may not have the usual polish your final mixes have, but it has a kinda raw energy vibe that's really cool...Agree with others that it is missing a little overall "oomph" to the sound...vocals are just awesome. The bendy guitars may be off a little at times, but they kinda add to the "desperate" vibe of the song...Look forward to hearing how this comes along, a very solid tune Rami!
 
Rami - I'm getting an error in Windows Media Player when I click on your link. But I can download fine and listen. Not sure if you can fix that but it is an issue...

Listening today I think the mix sounds different/better than last night. Sounds like more bass guitar and kik. Maybe I just have different ears today.
There's no issues to me now..

In any case it's a great song...:cool::D:cool::D
 
Hmmm....might be the headphones. I was using open back headphones last night and closed back headphones this morning. I'll try the open ones now....brb:D
 
Yeah the closed back emphasize the bass more, but the mix sounds like it has more bass than what I remember. One thing that comes to mind....the vocals sound like you've trimmed most of the bottom off them. Might try adding some back in...but then you may get some mush...:D
 
ido1957 said:
Yeah the closed back emphasize the bass more, but the mix sounds like it has more bass than what I remember. One thing that comes to mind....the vocals sound like you've trimmed most of the bottom off them. Might try adding some back in...but then you may get some mush...:D
Click to expand...
Hehe....Thanx for all that, Ido. I didn't do anything to the mix since yesterday. But I will bring up the kik and bass a bit. I also might have cut everything under 250hz too much on the vocals. I'll check that out.


Thanx alot!:cool:
 
queepy said:
I think it's cool to hear this early in your mixing stages....it may not have the usual polish your final mixes have, but it has a kinda raw energy vibe that's really cool...Agree with others that it is missing a little overall "oomph" to the sound...vocals are just awesome. The bendy guitars may be off a little at times, but they kinda add to the "desperate" vibe of the song...Look forward to hearing how this comes along, a very solid tune Rami!
Click to expand...

Hey Queepy...I missed your post at first. Sorry 'bout that.

I just put up a re-mix, beefed up the drums a bit, turned up the bass, as well as a few other adjustments. Same link as in my OP.

Thanx dudes.:cool:
 
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