EP first mix is done!

D

dkerwood

Member
I finally got the first mix back on our EP from my engineer friend (he's a hobbyist as well). Still fighting the "wish I woulda done it myself" bug, if you know what I mean. :D Anyway, I sort of have my own ideas about these four tracks, but I'd like to hear your comments on them - to confirm or deny my own thoughts, or to bring up things I hadn't thought of.

Love Song
I'm Gone
Radio
One More Time

I'm going to give him a list of critiques on Monday or Tuesday, and we'll hopefully have a finished mix by the end of the week.
 
its kinda late and i have to listen at low levels so take this with a pinch of salt.

first song:
heard an evil resonance on the word "mine"
the snare drum sounds like its out of time which bugs me

second:
vocals are LOUD
does the guitar sound change half way through? sounds kinda messy
kick drum anyone?
 
Quick thoughts:

Love Song:
Don't like all the reverb on the vocal. Way too much. Bass lacks definition. Cool tune, tho.

I'm Gone:
Vocals are a touch loud for my taste. Kick is there, but lacks def. Not sure if it's a recording issue or a post-pro issue. What's up with the bridge vox? Very odd, and I don't think it works. You also seem to lose energy on that quarter note "chunk chunk" chorus. Overall, though, I think this is the best track out of the four.

Radio:
I noticed this on the last track, too, but some of the elec guitar tones sound really lo fi. Again on this track, vox are a bit too hot. No def in the bass or the kick. I'm guessing that the "engineer buddy" is a guitard... lol... FWIW, I like this SONG the most of the four. Oh, and there's that one spot in the bridge where the drums are out of time.

One More Time:
A little pitchy in the vocals, which seems to be the exception rather than the rule through most of these tracks. Lyric: "Still my WHIRLS are spinning round"? Did you mean "wheels" or "world" or did you really mean "whirls"? Kinda weird. Inst interlude between cho and verse 2 is a little too long for my taste. I like how the bass sits in this track. Not really in your face, but just a solid support. What's the purpose of the half time interlude? Sounds like this would be a good place for a guitar solo or something. This is probably the second best track in terms of production.

In general, all the endings need to be cut off sooner. Elec guitar sustain rocks, but gets boring and awkward real quick on tape. Bass and kick are almost always too low and not in the mix. Maybe a little nudge around 100 on the EQ?

Some good tracks, though. Not bad for a "hobbyist" recording. Probably not something you'd want to pay for, though (although I've heard "studio" tracks that sound worse than this).
 
Hi.


If I had to pick the single biggest problem with these recordings, it's the drums. I think the drums are the reason why the mixes sound like they came off of a TASCAM 4-Track. The whole kit sounds really distant, which may work ok if you're recording Irish Folk songs 30 years ago, but it doesn't work at all with these songs.

The 2nd biggest problem in my amateur opinion is the pitchiness of the vocal tracks. Ideally, you should probably take another crack at them...if you can't do that, or if it doesn't help, try tuning them. It'd fit perfectly with the genre.
 
The first song, the drums get off time. The vocalist just seems to be whining very nasally. The whole mix is kinda dulll id be kinda pissed if I went to someone to do this. How much did it cost you.
 
Ouch. I guess I asked for criticism, huh?

Two of the four were part of a previous deal - 5 tracks for free, and in return, he gets to use them in his portfolio. The other two were $50 per track. A nice price, I thought...

The first time through, in January, we nailed the session, but he had some strange setting on his computer, and it didn't record at full quality. So we went back and redid all of it in April/May. Instrumentally, I thought the performance was better, but vocally, I wasn't feeling well. No option to reschedule, though, because we were already running several months behind schedule, and we didn't have free time until June or July to get back together.

THEN, his computer crashes in early June. Luckily he has the audio backed up, but he was back to square one on the mixes. So these are rushed, to say the least.

Any thoughts on salvaging this mix?
 
With all of that information you can tell he hardly knows what he is doing and really shouldnt be charging for his services but really getting better at them by doing it for free.

Maybe you shoujld of just done it by yourself. People try to look like they no what they are doing but recording a full song not on full quality and having to go back and redo it is really unprofessional.
 
With all of that information you can tell he hardly knows what he is doing and really shouldnt be charging for his services but really getting better at them by doing it for free/fun.

Maybe you shoujld of just done it by yourself. People try to look like they no what they are doing but recording a full song not on full quality and having to go back and redo it is really unprofessional.
 
After hearing the first two, you should find another drummer. Not only is he off time but lacks conviction. Pansy bois shouldn't play drums. Vocals are clear although pitchy in most of the time. Too many H's added to the vowels if ya know what I mean. I hate that. Could be auto-tuned to death as Chris already said. Bass guitar is pretty lame too.
 
HangDawg said:
After hearing the first two, you should find another drummer. Not only is he off time but lacks conviction. Pansy bois shouldn't play drums. Vocals are clear although pitchy in most of the time. Too many H's added to the vowels if ya know what I mean. I hate that. Could be auto-tuned to death as Chris already said. Bass guitar is pretty lame too.
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Constructive, or at least USEFUL criticism here, friend.

So far I've gathered that everyone thinks it sucks, and I agree, but it's not like I can simply ask for the money BACK. The best I can hope for is that he will come out and "fix" it again. My whole thought was that I lack the patience to do take after take to accommodate my musicians (strong live players, nervous studio players). Thus, I'd let someone with more patience take care of it for me.

Now, I'm starting to lose patience in the whole process.

Is there ANYTHING that can be done to make this mix, and this whole ordeal, useful? I don't think I want to put the songs on a CD as is. I think I may ask him to send me all his tracks, and see what I can salvage.
 
I don't wanna repeat what all the others said, but man, the drum sounds are a major issue. You barely hear them. And in the last track the drums are all panned right for some reason, it sounds strange.

The guitars and vocals mix aren't all that bad, but you really need goodsounding drums to make these tracks 'work'.
A lot more EQ-ing at 2 -5 KHZ for both the kick and snare. They barely have the attack neede to make them 'stand out.

It are good songs though, that's why it's such a shame that the mixing is way off.
 
dkerwood said:
Constructive, or at least USEFUL criticism here, friend.

So far I've gathered that everyone thinks it sucks, and I agree, but it's not like I can simply ask for the money BACK. The best I can hope for is that he will come out and "fix" it again. My whole thought was that I lack the patience to do take after take to accommodate my musicians (strong live players, nervous studio players). Thus, I'd let someone with more patience take care of it for me.

Now, I'm starting to lose patience in the whole process.

Is there ANYTHING that can be done to make this mix, and this whole ordeal, useful? I don't think I want to put the songs on a CD as is. I think I may ask him to send me all his tracks, and see what I can salvage.
Click to expand...


I'd get the tracks from him if I were you. If you have a less than optimal mixing environment, you may even find someone here to mix it for you. Maybe even for free. Some of the timing type problems with the drums could be hand edited and made acceptable. I've fixed worse. And the vocals could also be taken care of with some careful use of Auto-tune.
 
I suspect that I'm too close to the project, because I can't hear more than 1 or 2 tuning issues vocally... I guess that's the problem with hearing it over and over and over and over again. Eventually, everything sounds right.

I zipped him off an email asking for all the tracks... and also included a laundry list of "fixes" (some with detailed instructions as how to go about fixing it) in case he didn't want to give me the tracks. Ball's in his court, now.

I ended up going with him, because several months ago I posted a track he recorded versus the same tune that I recorded previously, and even though I liked mine a whole lot better, the HR.com community almost unanimously preferred his. Again, I must assume that I'm too close to the project (which, from a musical point of view, is quite disheartening).
 
dkerwood said:
I suspect that I'm too close to the project, because I can't hear more than 1 or 2 tuning issues vocally... I guess that's the problem with hearing it over and over and over and over again. Eventually, everything sounds right.
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slightly off topic, but you might want to not listen to any of the songs for a week or so before you have a listen again for faults, and it will be like hearing it fresh
 
'sound endineers' that charge $50 for that kind of work are the reason everyone turns to DIY

the poor mixes are a shame though since i can hear the playing is ok (sauf the drums) and the band's got real potential.
 
faderbug said:
'sound endineers' that charge $50 for that kind of work are the reason everyone turns to DIY

the poor mixes are a shame though since i can hear the playing is ok (sauf the drums) and the band's got real potential.
Click to expand...

I'm getting ready to move, and I should (hopefully) have a ton of time on my hands to set up my new studio. When that happens, I may just re-record these all over again from scratch. Or perhaps I'll just redo the drums if he sends me the source tracks.

And then, I think I might even send the tracks to some other folks on this site. Get a fresh perspective.
 
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