There's like a young lion yowling ;-)
Nice keys, blending well with the acoustic.
Your vocal is really working well now, there is tremendous improvement here.
I'm hearing the bass stranded in left field, bring it closer to center, or start it out there, and move it to center, and as you do that, you literally move the listener to center also, focusing the listener.
Now the horns coming in on the right, that's nice, a little loud considering the quality of the sample, I say ... always use what you've got, what's good gets the light in the mix. To paint an IDEA is fine, but when you finally mix, if it's not super quality, bring it down lower than you might want it. To soft is always preferable over to loud ... except when addressing the vocal in a mix. IMHO.
Your vocal is still mixed ... down in the mix, it's embedded in the mix. You can EQ your vocal out of the mix after your run everything to one bus and compress everything except the vocal. Then the vocal can jump up out of the mix more dynamically.
At 1:59, this is the PERFECT level for the vocal throughout ! From 1:59 to 2:12. That's your target, retrack if necessary, this song is WORTH IT. ... I like.
Now the keys are WAY to loud here, stomping on your excellent vocal.
MAN, I cannot tell how much your skills ... all the way round ... have improved hugely.
Tack a chorus or vocal outro hooking with backup harmonies over this outro and you have a very, very nice piece of music. And that ends the first listening.
Spinning again.
Ahhhh, I think there is a sidestick mixed with the snare ? The sidestick can be heard over the roar of a stadium crowd. The sonic qualities of sidestick can be extremely dominant and for those who would want to listen to this at high volume, it would be an uncomfortable sound. And maybe the anger expects this ...
You meters will not accurately display the peak on the sidestick, they are not designed to show those type of peaks. Unless you have got some really, really, really nice and expensive meters and even then you'd have to tweak them to show the true peaks of a sidestick.
With fresh ears, come back to the sidestick, what is your intention with this instrument ? The sidestick can be a very effective tool, but must always be used carefully, and crafted, it's an extremely strong instrument, like cavemen banging on a small log with a stone ya know
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You might EQ some of the bite out of the sidestick, or just use it less sparingly all together.
This has a John Cougar feel, slightly Americana
, I hope other reviewers will make some artist comparisons, although I really think you are creeping up on a 'unique' style that is yours.
I really like these keys, and the mix level is perfect there in the beginning.
Yes, the vocal should just come up a bit please, don't err on the soft side.
I understand the words much better now, (second listen), but I still feel challenged as though I have to 'work hard' to understand the words ... and of course this is the second listen.
At 00:49, I am convinced the bass is 'stranded' out in left field, and this is distracting to the continuity of this piece.
As MC Guitarz says, this is not working. Take all the highs and mids out of the bass, add lots of reverb and work it closer to center.
When the vocal comes back in at 1:11, drop the horn BEFORE the vocal starts, expose that vocal as it enters, that is very important, if necessary, retrack that entrance more aggressively or draw the fade envelope on the horns much more aggressively. You cannot ever step on a vocal entrance, people re-listen and their attention is 'drawn again' to the song when the vocal comes in, if they can't understand those first few words, if you don't hook them, they tune you out.
Back off on the reverb by about 20% , and put an 18milisecond delay on your vocal and use that delay very sparingly. Do not use 'pre-delay' on your vocal. A little delay will make a little reverb go much, much further and it reduces the mud or sibilance reverb introduces, especially software reverb.
Often, we find ourselves adding more and more reverb, reaching for some sound quality we really don't know how to describe, maybe we really don't know what we want, all we know is adding reverb seems to get us closer. Refer to Groucho's recent posts searching with keyword - reverb -
!
Third listen, (can't wait to jam on the cello with this, especially the outro)
Now I'm thinking the stick is appropriate, and it does come down significantly after the first few bars, and you bring it down again as the vocal comes in. You are crafting here and that is good. But my second listen impression says bring the stick down a bit IMHO.
I would like to hear some 'spagetti western' type electric guitar fill after 'bandit in a western'. IMHO . Like a strat mid-position pickup sound with lots of delay.
At 00:40, the instruments are too loud, they are all 'up around' your vocal. I think what you might be trying to accomplish here, is to bring up the level of the entire song, and that is a compression technique which ALL of us on the board can benifit greatly from understanding better all the time.
At 1:02, something percussive sounding happened ... kick the reverb tank ?
I love the change at 1:27, it's great.
EMOTIONS FUEL THIS is an understated and tasteful way
, it's focused dissappointment at it's best with little judgment, and a touch of sarcasm, just what I'm in the mood to listen to
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The weakest part is the horn samples, PLEASE find a collab to get real horns if at all possible, or dig deep to find some ;-) better samples or soundfonts .
Wow, I just really love to see such improvement from a board member.
Generally you are still hiding your voice somewhat. And I'm beginning to think you are just a softspoken fella, and I think you are doing a great job moving towards finding the proper mix for your voice.
After 2:29 as this softer section ends, which is really topnotch ... that sidestick is really going to blast the listener.
I agree there should be an abrupt change here, that is very effective mixing and songwriting, but look at EQ'ing that snare or stick on the top end ? IMHO.
Cool tune, very, very cool and it's you, I mean it's 'YOU'. Now just get that vocal mixed a bit higher, maybe just 1db, so we can understand 'YOU' better.
Great performance, great improvement ... totally cool.
Thanks for sharing and participating in the board.
