"Lifeless"

JohnnyAmato said:
New mix here and in the OP. Hopefully I'm getting a little closer here.

Dropbox - LifelessDemo3.wav
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Very nice, it seems much more put-together now. A more solid foundation, like the kinks are worked out. Whatever you're doing at 1:12-1:14 is sweet. The combination of everything going on right there sounds awesome - you didn't have all those instruments right there before. That sounds awesome.

My only suggestion now is to get the drums still more humanized - what you're doing at 02:44-02:46 seems more like the way a drummer would play this. More movement, more freedom, looser. Everything else is still really tight. But those two quick fills seem like the kind of thing that would be inserted much more frequently to break away from the monotony of the steady beat throughout.

Much more rounded out now, though. Sounding great dude
 
Updated mix here and in the OP.

Dropbox - LifelessDemo4.wav

Edit: As I'm sitting here away from the studio listening to my night's work on my headphones, I'm thinking a few things:

-The first double tom hit at the end of the intro into the first verse doesn't fit, doesn't quite match the guitar fill...
-A few of the double tom hits throughout the song can probably come down a tad...
-Bass might be a tad loud...
-The chorus lead vocal might be a tad loud as well...
-Seems the verse delay repeats can maybe come up actually...

Back to work tomorrow!

Another side note- Someone I don't even know commented on a song in my Dropbox, how is that even possible??
 
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JohnnyAmato said:
Updated mix here and in the OP.

Dropbox - LifelessDemo4.wav

Edit: As I'm sitting here away from the studio listening to my night's work on my headphones, I'm thinking a few things:

-The first double tom hit at the end of the intro into the first verse doesn't fit, doesn't quite match the guitar fill.....
Click to expand...

What if you slid that down to :16, leaving a slight pause in it's place, then, like a grace note, kicking into the vocal?
 
Guitars are too loud for me. They overwhelm the kick and snare. Drums are top heavy, with cymbals dominating.
 
Robus said:
Guitars are too loud for me. They overwhelm the kick and snare. Drums are top heavy, with cymbals dominating.
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Ok thanks Robus. I haven't touched the guitar levels at all, so something must be making them seem louder. The only part I brought up was the last two chugs of every bar (which were recorded after), I brought them up to match the chugs before them because Taras kept saying they were too quiet. Other than that haven't messed with the guitars at all. There's actually four rhythm guitars, two on each side, right on top of each other. I've been tempted many times to cut it down to just two, as it does sound cleaner when I try it. It's four different amp tones, and two of them are quite hissy. Still not sure what to do there.

I tried an extra compressor on the drum bus, and while messing with it tried a crazy preset, Drum Bus Parallel Nuke (lol) and it really kicked 'em into high gear, I think that's where the 'top heavy' you're hearing is coming from. I've been on the fence as whether to keep it or not. I'm thinking not...

Thanks again, I respect your input.
 
Listened partially to several versions as i scrolled, commenting on the demo5wav. Guitars sound tight, maybe this version sounds less muddy than the other versions i checked out which is a good thing. Drums sound pretty nice-realistically programmed-i like the swish of the high hats-gives a nice swing to the verses. I think the vocals is popping too far out during the choruses-just my own personal preference of course, but it just seems to far out in front of the music. As far as mix in general-it seems to me there's some overlap between the bottom end of the guitars and the bass-still a little mud that could be scooped out imo. There's a nice sound in the second verse-sounds like an acoustic guitar-i would highlight that a little more with either volume or eq...Cool guitar solo using a few different techniques...Yeah that vocal just seems to far out front to my ears...Good tune and of course great playing!
 
e everything sounds great to me. Very professional sounding recording and mix IMO. Good song and excellent performances too.
I don't hear anything to complain about.
fantastic job Johnny!
 
I'd say it's mostly pretty good.

It's really loud, 8.8dBLUFS overall on my meter. I would take it back a few dB. If this is going to get compressed to mp3 for streaming I would also leave a bit more headroom, at least a dB, so it doesn't clip after processing. When I converted it to 128k mp3 the peak went to +0.5dBFS.

The vocals could use a cut around 350Hz and a boost around 5kHz, both fairly wide (at least 1 octave).
 
bouldersoundguy said:
I'd say it's mostly pretty good.

It's really loud, 8.8dBLUFS overall on my meter. I would take it back a few dB. If this is going to get compressed to mp3 for streaming I would also leave a bit more headroom, at least a dB, so it doesn't clip after processing. When I converted it to 128k mp3 the peak went to +0.5dBFS.

The vocals could use a cut around 350Hz and a boost around 5kHz, both fairly wide (at least 1 octave).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input Boulder! After a break from it, I'm going to be re-visiting this mix tonight most likely. I'll be looking into what you mentioned. Thanks!
 
Stratomaster said:
Listened partially to several versions as i scrolled, commenting on the demo5wav. Guitars sound tight, maybe this version sounds less muddy than the other versions i checked out which is a good thing. Drums sound pretty nice-realistically programmed-i like the swish of the high hats-gives a nice swing to the verses. I think the vocals is popping too far out during the choruses-just my own personal preference of course, but it just seems to far out in front of the music. As far as mix in general-it seems to me there's some overlap between the bottom end of the guitars and the bass-still a little mud that could be scooped out imo. There's a nice sound in the second verse-sounds like an acoustic guitar-i would highlight that a little more with either volume or eq...Cool guitar solo using a few different techniques...Yeah that vocal just seems to far out front to my ears...Good tune and of course great playing!
Click to expand...

Thanks a bunch Strat! Great ideas, yea that's my Taylor 816 that made a short appearance in the second verse, maybe I could bring it up a db and see how it feels. The chorus vocal I've been struggling with the perfect level, and I also was worried it might be a little too out front, so thanks for clarifying. I'll look into the guitars/bass relationship also. Thanks!
 
jimistone said:
e everything sounds great to me. Very professional sounding recording and mix IMO. Good song and excellent performances too.
I don't hear anything to complain about.
fantastic job Johnny!
Click to expand...

Thanks Jimi! It's still a work in progress (isn't everything?) :guitar:
 
Professional all the way. And the performance is excellent. You must have been an engineer somewhere. Man do I have a lot to learn.
 
Spokeband said:
Professional all the way. And the performance is excellent. You must have been an engineer somewhere. Man do I have a lot to learn.
Click to expand...

Thanks Spokeband! Funny, I think this one still needs some work and tightening up, might even re-do a few vocal lines. Been giving it a break while I work on others, we'll see how I feel when I open up the session in a few days.

Thanks a bunch for the listen!
 
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