Mix Feedback Requested - Take Me Home

[dewhitt]

Hi All,

This is a song I posted awhile ago in the clinic, but this is a new mix, and I would love to hear any thoughts/comments:



Best Regards,

Dave DeWhitt

 

[PDP]

Overall sounds great, my only nit is the bass, not sure if its too low in the mix or needs more subs (100 and under) IDK could just be me. Other wise I thought it sounded real good.

 

[robgreen]

I remember this one from last time around Dave - I like the tune, performance and the mix. The only things I picked up were

1. There's some digital distortion (?) on the cymbals at around 2.45

2. The backing vocals that come in at 3.07 are so far back in the mix that they're almost absent. I thought they needed to come up as they kind of answer to the lead vocal

Hope this is of some help!

 

[izman]

I cant feel the bass?

 

[sikter]

I cant feel the bass?

I agree about the bass track. Bring it more and it will take this to perfection.
Didn't like sgueezing guitar strings in the intro but I guess you wanted it that way.
Overall: VERY GOOD!

 

[dewhitt]

Thanks for the feedback guys! I'll definitely take a closer listen to the bass track and see what can be done. Also, Rob - there are some issues with my drum recording, particularly the overheads, that are making it difficult to get a great drum mix on this track, but hopefully we can get it without having to retrack. Thanks for the comments!

I have also uploaded the same track to Soundclick, since Soundcloud is lower quality. The Soundclick version is here: SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads

Thanks and Best Regards,

Dave

 

[PoeticIntensity]

First thing I notice on this one is how awesome your drums sound, man. The definition on the kick and snare is amazing. I'd like to hear a high quality mp3 or wav of this. I can hear artifacts all over the place, which most likely are due to mp3 compression. Mostly with the cymbals.

Your vocals are perfect, too, man. They fit in the mix great. Guitars sound great. Bass is fine my my ears.

This rocks, Dave. How'd ya do your drums?

 

[Greg_L]

I don't think thems be real drums. They still sound good though.

I agree with the bass comments, but it's not a tone or EQ thing for me. Just make it a little louder. Don't overthink it. Just push the fader up. The rest sounds fine. The song is pretty boring and repetitive though. It needs something else. I don't know what, but it seems like it's just the same progression over and over.

Good mix though.

 

[dewhitt]

Well, it depends on your definition of "real drums", I guess...lol. The drums track was performed on a real kit by a real drummer, and I use kind of a hybrid Recorderman/Glen Johns 4 mic technique to record the dry tracks. So, they start out real enough - but, as I've mentioned in a few of my other posts - I'm not shy about using flex time editing to correct timing issues, and then I also replace/blend the kick, snare, and toms with Steven Slate samples from Trigger. So, at that point, I've drifted pretty far from the spirit of "real" I would love to have a better room, better mics, better preamps, better kit, heck...better drummer (ahem!), but I'm working with what I've got. I was debating awhile ago about whether I should save up and drop a few thousand dollars on new mics, preamps, etc, but then I ended up spending $99 on Trigger EX instead, and honestly, I think that's one of the best decisions I've ever made. I still have issues with the overheads, particularly the cymbal artifacts that result from f*ing around with the timing, but the timing is the priority for me, so I'm telling myself the artifacts are a necessary evil. You guys have great ears, and you pick up on all the nuances, but I'm thinking that most of the people in my target audience are not drummers, and they aren't recordists (is that a word?), so they probably won't notice. Hopefully I'm not sounding too defensive on this, but I've given it a lot of thought I guess...lol.

Something I didn't mention at the beginning of this thread is that I'm working with Jan Ohlhorst (aka karumba) to finish up my album, and he actually created this mix. We've been going back and forth a little bit about the bass track, so I really appreciate the comments on that. I would have to defer to Jan for specifics about the drum processing for this particular mix, because all I sent to Jan was the individual "raw" tracks, although they were timing-corrected and sample triggered when I sent them over. He definitely worked some magic on them though, because the drums in Jan's mix sound significantly better than the ones in my mix of the same song. Jan was also handicapped by the issues with the overheads, but I think overall he did a great job. If we can just get the bass levels up a little, I think this will be about as good as the mix can get with me playing and singing it

Ah, Greg...you wound me! Ha ha...in my defense...the song has a different chord progression in the chorus than the verses, and there is a ton of buildup that peaks and then falls off again to the end. I'm thinking the extra long beginning didn't sit well with you, which is surely repetitive, but damnit man, I layered crap in there for all it's worth as the song/dynamics build up, and I tried to sing my ass off during the last chorus...lol. Anyway, thanks for listening, and providing feedback, even if you don't appreciate my genius songwriting and arranging

Best,

Dave

 

[Greg_L]

Lol. Sorry dude. Take comfort in the fact that I don't give a shit about songwriting, no one likes my songs, and I'm probably a 100% musical opposite from your potential fanbase, so there ya go. If I don't like it, it's probably a platinum selling hit.

I listened to this twice all the way through, and it seemed like one long song of the same thing. I'm just going off memory. I don't remember noticing changes or buildups. I'm usually listening to the mix though. I don't listen to lyrics or any of that shit. You could be singing "Greg is fag" over and over and I wouldn't even notice. I'd only notice if it's out of pitch or too midrangey.

There's nothing wrong with what you're doing on the drums. I wasn't trying to call you out about it. But if you wanna know, it's the snare that makes it sound fake to me. Every hit is exactly the same. It has the sound of programmed 80's cheese. Get some variety in there on the kit. The rest was great.

 

[TripleM]

Good performances. Good singing. I liked the distorted guitar sound. The clean guitar sound wasn't bad either.

A lot of string squeak in the intro. Goes away after the other instruments come in. Intro is long too - about a minute.

I don't know if you made adjustments in the bass or not, but it sounded like a good level to me.

If it were me, I'd nudge up the harmony vocals. The lead is much louder.

 

[karumba]

First thing I notice on this one is how awesome your drums sound, man. The definition on the kick and snare is amazing. I'd like to hear a high quality mp3 or wav of this. I can hear artifacts all over the place, which most likely are due to mp3 compression. Mostly with the cymbals.

Your vocals are perfect, too, man. They fit in the mix great. Guitars sound great. Bass is fine my my ears.

This rocks, Dave. How'd ya do your drums?

jason, thx for your nice comments. since i caught a cold (& cannot master or mix anyway), i have some time to answer your question from a mixing-perspective.
as dave already wrote, kick and snare are samples from slate trigger. in comparison to other drum libraries, slates drum samples are "raw" & unprocessed, so it just sounds like very good recorded drums, but still needs a lot processing to sound good. i'm now just trying to describe what i did on the drums:

kick:
- some compression (10:1, 30ms attack & 50ms release) with the glue (ssl 4k type compressor)
- 3dB shelf from 500hz up for 3dB (thats a rare case, normally my kick EQ-curves look really weird ;-))
- slight limiting with voxengo elephant, its just kissing the needle to make the kick more consistent
- lexicon L224 reverb.

snare:
- reaper gate to remove some noise & to "dry" the sound a bit (normally i don't use gates much)
- UAd 1176LN (my fav for snare), with ~3dB gain reduction. its more for "tone-shaping" than compression
- SPL transient designer to increase the decay length a bit
- some more weird EQ curve, drastically boosting 90hz to give the snare that fatness & huge "bottom". further some 3dB here & there boosted
- lexicon L224 reverb (which i felt in love with for snare)

overheads:
- 1176LN which i also use quite often for that, ~3dB GR
- voxengo tube amp (freeware!) to give it some edges & to remove a bit the sharpness
- again a quite weird EQ-curve
- L224 reverb

the kick & the bass is then also compressed together on a buss with the glue.
if you have further questions, pls let me know!

thx also to everyone else for the feedback!

 

[hppnq]

Great performance, good mix, nice song. I might have tried a bit different arrangement, I find it slightly dense. I thought the kick/bass compression at around 2:00 sounded artificial. The bass is relatively absent, that's the only thing that I would really try to fix.

 

[heatmiser]

Hey there. I guess I missed this one...sorry.

Sounds really good man. Did you already adjust the bass? I can hear it just fine throughout. I don't mind the longish intro at all, although it strikes me as a bit much for your sort of material that tends to be more, uh...accessible I think? Vocals and guitars sound great. Bass good as noted. Not crazy about the snare sound on this. My first impression was that it sounded too soft and round (?) like it needs more impact or something...hmmm...talk about vague - sorry.

Not a big deal by any means either way. The drums in general sound really good as does the track as a whole. Well done.

 

[maximusbs]

Well, I'm late as usual, PI already said what I was gonna say . I like the snare and the drum sound, and I knew you mixed in some samples because it sounded like a studio/album drum sound, and not just the sound of a dude playing drums in a room (which I know a lot of people like and, I do too sometimes). It sounds polished, and that's way ok with me . I can't wait for the album

 

[rmcn]

I agree with the earlier comments about the bass needing to be upped a bit otherwise the mix sounds really good - really enjoyed the song - good stuff !!!