"Falling Right In" - New Drums - How's The Mix Compare?

dewhitt

dewhitt

Dave DeWhitt
Hi All,

Been absent from the forum for a bit, but still working on recordings. I just recently went back and rerecorded the drum tracks for a song called "Falling Right In" that I posted here about a year ago. The original posted version had software drums. This new version was recorded with the acoustic drums in my basement and then mixed with some triggered samples.

What do you think of the new mix?: SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads

Compared to the old mix?: SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads

Any mix feedback is greatly appreciated!

Best Regards,

Dave DeWhitt
SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads
 
I prefer the new drum sound, the snare sounds a bit more upfront. Great song and vocal... totally pro sound (those smooth backups). Love the vocal tone.
 
To be honest, the drum levels of the two mixes differ so drastically, it's hard to make an accurate comparison of the two. The software drum mix has the drums so far back, they are almost completely covered up at times. Truth be told, as far as I can tell, the tone of the software snare sounds a bit better than the acoustic sampled snare does, to my ears. Subtle tonal differences make the software one seem a bit more alive. The acoustic cymbals sound 100% better than the software ones do, but both of the cymbals are all but completely buried in the mix.

The performance / programming of the two seem to be very similar, and you've got a good drummer, so the timing seems to be spot-on (either that, or you're using some sort of beat correction software). The only significant difference I can hear between the two are the cymbals. Software cymbals rarely sound real.

Anyway... Hope that helps.

Your songwriting and vocal abilities astounds me. Very well done.
 
Nice. Drums sound good to me, and the mix is nice. I like the song too. The vocals sound a little bit muffled, and a bit distant.
 
The new drum sound would be perfect for me if there was more room/overheads. The snare seems like it can use a bit more compression too. Other than that, I am satisfied. :D
 
Hey Jason, thanks man, I appreciate your feedback, which is thoughtful and helpful as always. I will get another mix going tonight with your suggestions in mind.

Aaron, thanks for listening and the comments. I recorded those vocals a year or more ago with my old vocal chain which wasn't stellar, but I'm probably not going to rerecord them. I may try to tweak a little to clear it up...one thing I did differently in this mix was to pull the vocal levels down a tad because I had some feedback way back when I originally posted this that the vocals were too hot and forward. Hopefully I'll be able to find the sweet spot.

Squibble, ha ha...glad you were satisfied, we aim to please :) Based on what you and Jason both mentioned, I'll bring the OHs up in the next mix.

Thanks as always for the great feedback guys!

Best,

Dave
 
Hey Dave, the new drums sound better overall to me although if you hadn't mentioned it, I would've thought these were software drums too based on the exactness of the timing and whatnot.

I think the new snare sound could use maybe a little more crack to it though? It just sounds a little too subdued to me, ya know? Good performance all around. Polished.
 
New mix needs more overheads. I'm not crazy about that snare sample, and it's way out front. i like loud drums, but that snare may be too much. reel it in a little and bring up the overheads. Rest of the mix sounds good.
 
New mix is up on the soundclick link with lower OHs and the snare slightly lower. And...when I was looking at the snare levels, I realized I had never set up any reverb on the snare, so I added a little verb to try to move it back in the mix a little. Hopefully this mix is a little better.

Thanks for all the great feedback everyone!

Best,

Dave
 
Damn, I love this song! I'll take the excuse to hear it again. I'm a little late to the mix party, so this is just for fluff. You know how I always hone in on the guitars and usually have a tone 'nit', but this time my ears were freakin' delighted. I'm not sure if you changed the guitars while you addressed the drums, but they really gel nicely. I think they are the best I've heard from you man. Vocals, still great. Anyway, it's the drums you are interested in today, so my only comment, late as it is, is as follows: Too real. [Greg, shooting at his computer, trying to kill me :eek:] They sound great, it's just that this song is produced at such a professional level that that 'live' or 'real' sound, is just a little out of place in this. I'm sure you're pretty set on this already, but I just had to throw it out there.

BTW - If I didn't tell you the first time, the lyrics on this are stellar. I know how you hate the process, but you got a well crafted fit with this product. :D:D
 
Hey, thanks Brad...just saw this. Yeah, I think I know what you mean about the drums. I'm in "album" mode now though, where I'm trying to get twelve of my songs together and sounding relatively similar from a production standpoint, and this is kind of the drum sound I've been using for most of the others, so I'm not really sure what to do about that. I may throw little more of the compressed snare into the mix to try to get it to sound a little more processed or something on this tune.

Thanks for the comment on the lyrics, it's nice to know the hair pulling, gnashing of teeth, and rending of garments I usually go through while I'm writing lyrics might be worth it :)

Best,

Dave
 
Dave...It's a hot song, it works (still loving those backups)... I am surprised you are listening to wankers like us... it is a very commercial song, which might make you feel a bit wrong... but it just works.
 
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