Just another love song of course :D

ido1957

ido1957

9K Gold Member
Here's an original ballad that I recently had mastered called Now That I Found Love.

Me - Guitars, piano, vocals
mjhamil - Bass
Poeticintensity - drums


Guitars - Kramer Pacer Imperial/Roland GP8/Marshall JCM900/SM57
Piano - Yamaha DGX305/line
Bass - Rickenbacker 4001/Fender BXR 400/line
Vocal Mic - Rode NTK
Drums - Poeticintensity recorded these (thanks Jason!) so maybe he'll fill in the details :-) Shameless plug here for Advanced Budget Studios : Utah Recording Studio - Best value in audio recording

This was mastered by Jan @ finemastering. He did stem mastering. He added eq/compression/fx in various amounts to the tracks which improved the final mix quite a bit ;-) .

Just another love song of course

PS - This is an 8MB file so it will take a bit to download....320KPS MP3 to keep the quality.
 

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  • Now That I Found Love 320.mp3
    8.7 MB · Views: 38
A love song??? I am shocked!

The bass sounds great on this. That's one aspect of your mixes that kind of comes and goes for me. Drums and cymbals sound nice too. Good vocal perfomance as usual.

The whole mix is pretty good, but the rhythm guitar dominates a little more than it should imo...espeically since there's little variation there. Personally I think your singing and lead work is always top notch, but the strumming can sometimes get a little redundant. Might just be my tatstes though...great job on this man.
 
Thanks for the listen Heatmiser. I kept/keep the rhythm guitars simple as possible in most songs so I can play these songs live. Plus I'm a hack. lol :D
 
You are no hack sir. But that makes sense. I never have to think about the live aspect since that isn't in the cards for me.
 
All "sounds" are good. And this is a cool tune. But in the mix, the vocal seems to be fighting to come through. Also, I wish the piano was doing something more interesting than just chording simply along with the rhythm guitar. Or maybe have a guitar doing some fills through the tune behind the vocal to give it more drama. Just an idea. You have a pretty cool tune going here.
 
Thanks Track Rat... Yeah it's a pretty simple arrangement maybe I'll revisit this in the future and add some fills. The dynamics/level of the vocal might be what you've described.
 
Yeah, the vocals could use some dynamic control, and the guitars seem a bit 'punchy' for lack of a better word.

All around, it seems that the song does not have a cohesiveness with the instruments. I hate to say it, or use it, but some reverb might help. After the dynamics are controlled a bit.
 
Thanks Jimmy. The vocals do have a compressor taming the extreme parts. They are not squished and do retain some of the dynamics. I asked Jan to keep the vocals just slighty above the mix so that's my call there :D
 
I think I agree with most of the comments already made. I like all the sounds, it just seems the mix is kind of thrown together, for lack of a better description. Maybe it's the stem mastering? I don't know. I generally like mixes with clean isolation between the parts, but this one seems like it has too much isolation. There's no tension or drama. It's just all the same thing all the way through. It's a nice song, it just doesn't really go anywhere for me. I'd like to hear you work it up more. That's just me though. All the parts sound really good, just make em blend together more like a band-in-a-room. I did notice a weird drum edit or something at 3:35. The cymbal crash chops off or he choked it. Either way it sounds kind of unnatural. Jason's drums do sound better to me than usual though. Nice work all around, I think it just needs more mixing! :)
 
You want to check the tuning of those guitars!
It'd make the vocals sound bigger with more verb and delays.
The vocals "thinking back to the time when i didnt have" are clipping several times. I heard McDSP Analog Channel can help tame that.
Other than that it's a cool tune.
 
Yeah it's a pretty simple arrangement that could use some enhancements - maybe later. On another topic - there's probably different reverbs on every instrument/vocal so that may make it tough to get them all sounding like they are together. There's no clipping on the original vocals, so if you hear something it may be the MP3 affecting it.

Another good saturation plugin is : http://www.kvraudio.com/product/tls_saturated_driver_by_tbt

I just downloaded it and am trying it out on a few things ;-)
 
Nice work Gerry...dont have much on the mix or performance, all sounded pretty level to me...I thought the vocals could come up a tiny bit, the bass sounds great, I liked the little touch of keys too, they sit in the mix really well...the only thing I found missing was a big Claptonesque solo, seemed to scream out for one to me, and you do them so well :)
 
ido1957 said:
Yeah it's a pretty simple arrangement that could use some enhancements - maybe later. On another topic - there's probably different reverbs on every instrument/vocal so that may make it tough to get them all sounding like they are together. There's no clipping on the original vocals, so if you hear something it may be the MP3 affecting it.

Another good saturation plugin is : KVR: TLs Saturated Driver by TbT - Details

I just downloaded it and am trying it out on a few things ;-)
Click to expand...


I just read some of the other comments, tbh I can hear the separation, but I look for that as a positive...if its glue, without compression, Id highly recommend trying acustica nebula (I swear I should get shares in this company the amount I pump it)...I had a pretty seasoned engineer ask if Id mixed my last track to desk, and Im thinking its the way these plugs make it all gel. i imagine theyd work even better on more traditional songs/instruments.
 
Thanks kcearl ;-) I might add some lead to spice it up later. My sister also said turn up the vocals. :D
 
I had an old Rick 4001 when I used to play bass in a band back in the day. I like your song, I'm not the mix master so I can't comment on that aspect. It sounds good to me though. It cries out for fills, some kind of a lead instrument. Also, I hear backing vocals (which should be there.)
 
Yeah, I like this tune. I agree it needs movement or change through the song. Either by adding/removing parts, or by harmonic differences. But this could be really nice. I don't think you need the piano part. Piano yes, but a different part maybe. Nice work, enjoyed the listen.
 
It sounds great dawg. I don't think it really needs much more other than maybe a way to make the chorus catchier or more intense. Most of today's music is extremely simple and complexity goes over the head of the average listener it seems. I thought it was a nice song and appreciate it not being too long, because any longer it'll just drag on.
 
RockinRobby said:
I had an old Rick 4001 when I used to play bass in a band back in the day. I like your song, I'm not the mix master so I can't comment on that aspect. It sounds good to me though. It cries out for fills, some kind of a lead instrument. Also, I hear backing vocals (which should be there.)
Click to expand...
Elton123 said:
Yeah, I like this tune. I agree it needs movement or change through the song. Either by adding/removing parts, or by harmonic differences. But this could be really nice. I don't think you need the piano part. Piano yes, but a different part maybe. Nice work, enjoyed the listen.
Click to expand...
FoulPhil said:
It sounds great dawg. I don't think it really needs much more other than maybe a way to make the chorus catchier or more intense. Most of today's music is extremely simple and complexity goes over the head of the average listener it seems. I thought it was a nice song and appreciate it not being too long, because any longer it'll just drag on.
Click to expand...

Thanks RR, Elton and FoulPhil.....
Quite a few suggestions for some fills/harmonies/add ons! Guess I better get on that arrangement! :D
 
It's a pretty good melody. I think the vocal needs more dynamic control. If I was producing this I would smash the bejesus out of your vocal with a fast 1176-style compressor, then back it off a bit just to smooth the vocal out and get it sitting better. Mind you what I know about producing could be chiseled on the head of a pin
 
Nice song, great vocals. I got the impression that the guitar and piano were fighting for attention and taking everything away from the vocal. Sometimes the piano would dominate in the right ear and then the guitar would take the stage in the left ear and I could never really focus on the words. A drastic option would be to drop either the guitar or the piano and see how it comes through but that of course may leave the backing a little light. I agree with other comments that the guitar and piano should be doing something different. If the piano did the same thing and the guitar was used in arpeggio just to highlight and complement the chords being played on the piano, it may sweeten the backing. If pushed for an opinion, the guitar is too busy in this recording
 
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