New Song "Love Me" Mixing Feedback?

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pewterbird99

New member
I just wrote a new song called "Love Me" check out www.myspace.com/danielsmithrock to hear it. I just want some critique over the whole mix. Give me any ideas to make it better. Just to give you an idea I wrote it, sung it, played guitar, programmed synth, programmed drums, and then mixed and mastered (or a least tried to master). I use FL Studio for synth/drums and Adobe Audition to mix. I think the verse bass is better than the chorus bass as far as mixing. It almost drops off at the chorus and I think this may be because of the compression I used trying to master it. Anyway give me your thoughts and if you have any questions let me know.

Thanks

-Daniel
 
Hell yes! Daniel, this is some of the best stuff I've heard on here for a while. Really well done, and right up my alley.

What's key here for anyone to really understand, is that you've created a sonic landscape. The instruments each have unique tones and flavors. I can't stand hearing so many amateur mixes that sound like the drummer was in a closet, and the vocals sound weak and flimsy.

This song is great, and expert use of effects, panning, EQ, and compression.

You my friend, are talented. Well done!
 
DarK Friend! thanks man that means a lot. I've been working hard at this for seven years and learned a lot of stuff from these forums. I focus on creating "pockets" using subtractive eq for all the different sounds I put in a mix. Thats in my opinion one of the most important things. I think I could still do better mixing the bass and kick it's tough to get the low end to sound really clean. Hopefully I'll have time to put some more tracks together, I try to get better each time a make a new song.
 
This sounds pretty good, very commercial and modern. From a mix perspective, the things that I'd nit are the vocals and the guitar/drum mix in the chorus sections. It's a great buildup to the chorus from an arrangement perspective, but it fails to really deliver because the mix lacks the power it needs when that chorus comes in. If it were me, I'd start by trying to open up the vocal sound in the chorus a little. In your verses, you almost sound like you have a telephone EQ thing going on, which is cool, but that should be really contrasted with a nice full vocal in the chorus section, and it's not quite different enough as it stands now. Unfortunately, I'm still learning my way around vocal frequencies, so I can't really tell you what to add or remove, but it just sounds a little too telephone-like to me right now, so maybe you've got some EQ high/low passing going on there?

For the guitars and drums in the chorus, I think first of all it's all jammed up in the center. At the risk of starting to sound like a one-trick pony with my critiques, I'd say try to spread out your guitar. Double the rhythms and spread them out wide left and right. The drums sound like they could be a little louder in the chorus too, but maybe that will improve once you get the guitars out of the middle and give the drums and vox a little more space there. If you check out Reliant K, you can hear that there guits are taking full advantage of the stereo space, and I think that's probably going to help you get closer to the sound you are looking for.

Anyway, you have some great tunes out there, I wouldn't be surprised to see good things happen in your future!

Best Regards,

Dave DeWhitt
 
Thanks again. I think you're right about the chorus. It doesn't have all the punch I want. It has some but it also lacks something. I know the answer is not more instruments, it has something to do with the mix. The guitars are panned fairly hard say 50% left and right but they still seem to hit in the center. It almost feels like the bass drops out. It used to "hit" more before I compressed the entire mix but that was only because the volume of the chorus was louder than the verse. I agree the vocals may need more power in the chorus. I think harmonies would help, but to be honest i'm not always good at coming up with good harmony lines so sometimes I'm forced to leave them out if I don't come up with anything. The vocals in the verse have a high pass filter where I removed everything around 180Hz and below. That with some other eq usually gives my voice an "airy" feel almost like a telephone effect. I'll work on it more today thanks again for the feedback.
 
You're right on, the only issue is that the awesome punchy bass you have in the verse is just gone in the chorus. Listen from 0:45 to 1:00. The low end is so different that it sounds like a new song is starting. The uncompressed version was probably punchier just because you had more headroom in the mids and highs around the guitar, so they came out more after compression. I would try boosting bass in the chorus or backing off the guitars, and try less compression on the master and put a limiter on instead.
 
Great song! Sounds GREAT! Great job on everything! Looks like you got the Fruity Loops thing mastered!!! I beat my brains out on that program!!
Your vocals are awesome!;)
 
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