"Don't Give Up On Me"

[JohnnyAmato]

Another one from the Addison Lane Record.

Simple arrangement, basically just hard panned stereo acoustics and a vocal. There is also a piano track, and hard panned strings, but both very low in the mix. The heart of it is the acoustics and vocal.

These mixes can be tricky; there are so few elements, I feel you have to get them exactly right.

Me on all the acoustics, and the wife Christina Grace on all the vocals. Written again by Laurie Green.

Guitar was my Taylor 816ce through my Slate condenser (only single-mic'd it because I did two tracks hard-panned) Then there's a few acoustic fills here and there, and the actual solo, panned right down the center.

The three elements I'm obviously most concerned with getting exactly right are the rhythm acoustics, vocal, and the solo. And of course reverb levels.

Lots of subtle things going on here and there mix-wise; saturators, harmonic enhancers, tape and console emulators, etc. I use this stuff basically every mix, but with this mix being so sparse, I could really hear what it was all doing. Very cool.

Used the Slate Fairchild on the master bus; usually opt for the SSL on most mixes but was really liking what the Fairchild was doing on this song.

Dropbox - DontGiveUpOnMeMix2Demo.wav

 

[TripleM]

This is beautiful.

Guitars sound very full. Almost too full for the voice, which sounds a little thin by comparison. I might roll off a little low end from the guitars. Like maybe up to 120hz. You might want to play with a small low end boost in the vocal, but I don't know if that's going to sound good.

Dry up the guitar just a wee bit.

Little flat pitch on the vocal at 2:24.

But I don't think I'd change much. It was beautiful.

 

[Robus]

Great playing as always.

That synth string pad in the opening is loud. It made me think there was an echo in the room until I listened more closely. It's stepping on the acoustic guitar. It could be much lower while still doing its job. Not as noticeable when the vocal comes in.

Vocal performance is pitchy. She is going flat on some of the held notes (don't give up on meeeeee). I would tune it, if not ask her for another performance. Sorry!

The song is alright. I'm getting a sense that this songwriter could benefit by creating more exciting changes and bringing them into her songs earlier and more often. It's monotonous. Maybe your arrangement could do something to create a sense of building. Maybe go with the solo acoustic in the first verse, then bring in the synth pad. I'd think of adding a tasteful electric lead for late in the song.

The acoustic break that starts around 3:00 could be briefer and more to the points. It makes its statement in the very beginning and very end, with the middle part just cycling through the progression.

4:23 is long.

No complains about the mix. I'd kick the vocal up another dB on general principles.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

Listening in a noisy environment (which is, of course, the worst for something like this)
It sounds pretty good from what I can hear. The pads are barely audible, which I'd say is right for this.

I kinda agree with tripM that the vocals do sound a little thin relative to the guitars. Not sure what the best solution for that is.