Happier Times mix

C

Crycookie

New member
Hello Everybody,

Hope everybody is feeling good :)

Here a new song I've been working on for a while now and I'm starting to loose perspective.

I finally bought a jazz bass(fender squier) few weeks ago, so I'm still trying to get used too it. I plugged it straight to the interface and then Used Native instrument rig5 pluging for the tone. EQing and arrangement wise I'm not sure if it sounds ok Though.

The drums are the logic drummer and I haven't yet separate the elements worked on them yet, just a basic EQ/ compression, trying to save some CPU while working on the arrangements and tone for the guitar parts .

For the guitar parts same than the bass

For the vocals I have separate them(verse- mid verse and chorus)

Hoping to get some feedbacks and perspective on the tone, arrangement and mix parts.

Thanks a lot

https://soundcloud.com/crycookie/happier-times-tracking-mix
 
I like this a lot. Glad you got a bass. It changes everything. Your guitars sound better with each new song I hear from you. In my opinion, the vocal and melody should be the focus that everything else supports in a song like this. I think the guitars are crowding your vocals in places. The vocal level also seems inconsistent--sufficiently loud in some places, too soft elsewhere. You might want to work on getting your vocal levels more consistent first. The rest of the mix should fall into place more easily then. I'll listen again later.
 
Thank you Robus, I really appreciate your feedback, I agree with you on the vocals I find it difficult to level them up between each other and the mix,will definitely work on that. I'm really happy to hear there is an improvement on the guitars sound, I have been working on the tone and practice more for this song so it's good to hear that it has paid off. I probably over do the levels in some place I will look into it.

Thank you again :)
 
Hey Cookie, the song has an 80s vibe. I think it can benefit from reverb. It's kinda dry for the style.

The tone is a little thin, in general (e.g the guitar at the 1:50 mark...very thin and boxy). The rest of the guitars sound okay, but the lead guitars lack sustain, and the notes are very deliberately plucked at times without fluidity (e.g. outro solo). That feels very deliberate. Like you're watching your hands as you play. Maybe that's not the case and I don't mean to insult you, but that's how it sounds.

Agree the vocals are loud at times and sitting correctly at other times.
 
Hey there,

Listened earlier and again now. Agreed that it could be less dry. Agreed on the vocal level fluctuating a bit too much as well.

For me, the whole mix had a slightly unpleasant sizzle to it...a harshness if you will...I think it comes from the cymbals and vocals combined?

Lastly, there seems to be some errant rumble starting right at 1:48 that is distracting (for me anyway)...the bass guitar didn't seem too rumbly before, so I couldn't tell what that was, but it stood out on both listens.

That's all I've got...a good effort to be sure. I did like the dual soloing guitars when they were panned apart. I'm a sucker for that kind of thing.
 
Hi Nola,

I do watch watch my hand as I play :), no offense taken though, I still need more practice , still difficult to maintain speed and ligato , and I have some difficulties with vibrato too so I just went to make the obvious more obvious, so it would sound a bit more intentional.

Regarding the thin guitar I'm not sure how to fix this, should I add some more mid/low end or double the tracks?

For the reverb I haven't yet worked on them properly, just used the preset in Rig5 for the guitars and a small amount of reverb on the vocals.

Thank you for the feeback :)
 
Hi heatmiser,

The rumbling is coming from the toms in that section starting at 1.48. I have not yet worked on the drum elements so they are not tamed yet but it will :)

Thank you for you feedback, I wiill definitely work on the drums, reverb and balance the vocals and post a new version soon.
 
Pretty good song. Most of the tones sound pretty good.

Those bongos panning back and forth were pretty distracting tho.
 
I'm so use to them now that I almost don't hear them anymore ,I don't want completly remove them if I can but I'll try to figure out something for them ,thank you for the feedback :)
 
Great performance crycookie. I think the bongos might come down a little bit in volume, maybe bring up the drums a bit. The vocals could use some leveling I think, they kind of pop up and down in volume. Real nice arrangement, all the elements work well together.
 
Thank you easlern for the feedback,always appreciated.

I have taken the feedback and got a new mix, added some reverb and delay, and level the vocals(mostly used the vocal rider ).

I also tried to fatten the guitars mostly by EQing, not sure if it sounds right though.

I'm not 100% sure about the bridge, will probably try to have another try.

For the bongos I avoided them during verse and chorus and drop the volume

Not sure anymore how the mix sounds, falling asleep on my pc, any feedback is appreciated :)

https://soundcloud.com/crycookie/happier-times-tracking-mix8
 
Yeah, dropping the bongos in a bunch of passages was a good choice. They become much more of an accent instrument in that context.
 
Hi, I like the mix, I think it's very balanced. My one point of feedback is more of a production comment, and would be that I think the left channel electric guitar noodling during the first verse that starts at 00:12 is competing with the vocal too much. The guitar playing is fine, but the vocal has to come first. I would either pull out most of that verse guitar completely, or if it's possible, rework the guitar parts so that it's not stepping all over the vocal, and re-record that part.
 
This is a much better mix than the first one. I like the song. Vocal level seems more consistent. I'm not sure it's sitting in the mix as well as it might. The lead vocal is high and dry--that's a good thing within reason, but I'm getting a little bit of the karaoke vibe here. You might try lowering the vocal slightly, adding a little more ambiance to the vocal, or bringing up the bass and drums just a bit to give the vocal more support--just suggestions.
 
This isn't a bad mix, the levels are pretty good but a few elements sound a little too hi-passed and brittle, particularly the vocal and snare. A little more body is required on those, I think.
 
Cool song, big improvements in the second mix, the vocal sounds more balanced. I like the tone of the bass and it sits well for me. Overall the levels and content seem to drop over the course of the song, it feels a bit lacking at the end?

I'm on headphones so pinch of salt :)
 
@VomitHatSteven, I pretty much like them that way as well, I really appreciate the feedback you gave me on those though, it helped to get a different perspective from the song, which really needed it though :)
 
@dewhitt, thank you for your feedback , I worked on this guitar last night, tried an acoustic slightly phased for this part and dropped the volume ,it sounded better but it did not really convinced me, so I believe I will remove them completely from the next version.
 
Hi Robus, I have followed your advise last night as a test, dropped the vocals volumes by -3db and added some reverb and delay and you were right ,vocals sounded much more in phase with the song.Not sure about the amount of reverb, seems a lot for me but as I listen to it ,I was quiet please with them and might suits the songs that way. I will post a new version later on today or tomorrow. Need to do some further tweaking
 
Hi Buppa Po, thank you for your feedback, I will definitely look into that. My mic gives a lot of boxiness (or at least I think) so I'm mostly removing/or taming most of it(probably too much though), plus mixing with headphones and a pair of logitech pc monitor might not help either ,so I appreciate your feedback, gives a better perspective on the sound :)
 
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