Joe Johnston -- Selah

J

joejohnston

New member
Hi! Not sure how this works--my name is Joe Johnston, I'm an amateur singer/songwriter from Austin, Texas, currently doing full time mission work in Guadalajara, Mexico. I have no formal education in music, and not anything special gear-wise, just a voracious appetite to learn and an overdose of optimism. I love music, words, and putting them together--hearing people's songs and writing them one of my own. Some of you may know what it's like when you write a song and you just can't get it out of your head, have to record it. But then the mix has to NOT make people want to rip their own ears out of their heads, and that's the tough part.

I have been eating up everything I can find about music production, mixing, and recording for the last few years. Specifically, a friend loaned me some books by Anthony Egizii, Bobby Owsinski, Bob Katz, etc., which have helped me to grasp..... mainly how much I don't know. This site was recommended to me by a friend, to hopefully get some advice on my mixes, and learn--and contribute what I can.

I wanted to post a rough mix of a HAPPY, BOUNCY song I'm working on, and hopefully get some feedback on the mix. (Beware if you are offended by pro-Christian material---the lyrics are Psalm 98.)

Selah --


What do you all think? Is the mix hard on your ears? How about the groove, can you feel it? Does it make you smile?

Joe.
 
Hey Joe--

Welcome to the board! Don't worry about apologizing for blatantly Christian material! There's a lot of believers around here who will get it, and just as importantly, even the folks who aren't Christians will give any tune a fair shake--regardless of the content.

I'm listening on some cheap earbuds, so I can't speak to the mix much (though I'll listen again later on some decent speakers), but I can say that I like the groove. Light and funky--very fun. Matches the feel of that Psalm quite well I'd say. And I like your voice--really fits the tune.

More later after a better listen.
 
Hey Joe, we're neighbors, welcome to the site.

Good song overall. The lead vocals are buried deep. Definintely need to get them out front and tell your story. Good capture on the acoustic guitar. Drums could use some balancing. Cymbals dominate over snare and kick.

Arrangement is good though I feel the mob chorus might come across as gimicky, but sometimes gimicks work.

cheers,
 
whitestrat: thank u, fun and light r definitely what i am going 4. pls do get back 2 me if u hear it on better speakers..


chili: ok i think i'll boost the lead vocal 2 or 3 db........thing is i really don't like my voice so i always try 2 bury it. do u think there's any way i can eq it more, so i don't have 2 boost the volume so much? 4 instance, is it clashing with any instrument..........what frequencies do u think deserve a little boosting on the vox 2 bring them out more? or should they just stay like that, and boost the volume? i have a wide Q gain of about 4 at around 15k (on the vox), and a cut in every other track at the same frequency.
will also bring down the cymbals a bit, txs.

anything else?
 
Good song instincts. Very gritty sound and performances. A lot good. The drum fills are a little ragged. There are a couple fishy notes.

What the other guys said. Keep going!
 
Quite a nice easy-going song, fellow-Joe....:)
Drums do sound a little hard for this kind of tune, especially the crashes, but pretty good work overall.

Joey :):):):)
 
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