Newest Track - whatcha think?

andrushkiwt

andrushkiwt

Well-known member
Wrote on Sunday, recorded Monday, mixed since Monday night. Think I'm going to settle for how it is at this point...I've only heard it 400 times by now, not like I'm sick of it or anything! More seriously though, I used a lot of MBC on each bus, for the first time since i started mixing my own stuff. It may not be the "right" way to do it, but it felt as if I had more control over everything separately. My equipment is embarrassingly cheap, and it's near impossible to get a great sound going in. If the listener doesn't care what the person mixing it did...then it's all good, right?! Well, what do you guys think?

https://soundcloud.com/andrushkiwt/let-you-down-2
 
I found the left-and-right guitar at the beginning quickly fatiguing. I think the snare is ok, but agree with Scwarz that the bass might benefit from a little high definition.

It's not unusual for ears to get tired on a mix, trying to do it all as quickly as you did. Put it away, work on other songs, then come back to it after a few days or a week. When it gets louder ~ 2:30, the distorted guitars lack clarity, less distortion/gain might be the answer.
 
I loved the song .

I liked the guitar effect at the beginning but agree it did get old .

nice work!
 
It's a very contemporary vocal sound which you've performed very well.

I'm not to worried abut the level of the snare. I reckon it's ok for this song.

I'm not a fan of the panning guitar at the start . . . i would aim for something for more subtle.

I didn't pick up on the corruption at 1:22.

All-in-all, a pretty good job.
 
Schwarzenyaeger said:
There is a corruption at 1:22
The bass guitar could use more definition
I'd bring up the snare 1db
Click to expand...

I didn't notice anything there on the two systems I listened on...I'm sure you're right, I'll just have to put it through a few more speaker sets and find it. Thanks for pointing it out. I agree about the bass; it has a prominent role during the second verse, it should be more rounded. I probably lost a bit on the snare with the final touch of EQ cut i did on that track, thanks for sharing that as well!

mjbphotos said:
I found the left-and-right guitar at the beginning quickly fatiguing. I think the snare is ok, but agree with Scwarz that the bass might benefit from a little high definition.

It's not unusual for ears to get tired on a mix, trying to do it all as quickly as you did. Put it away, work on other songs, then come back to it after a few days or a week. When it gets louder ~ 2:30, the distorted guitars lack clarity, less distortion/gain might be the answer.
Click to expand...

Yup, I got very burned out on the track pretty quick. 4.5 consecutive hours, 3 nights in a row, and I had enough already. ha. The distortion and gain are relatively low on the amp setting (about 3/10 each). Maybe my EQ on the tracks have certain aspects exaggerated and others more muted. Maybe I'll go back to it in a couple weeks, like you said. thanks for listening!

dreib said:
I loved the song .

I liked the guitar effect at the beginning but agree it did get old .

nice work!
Click to expand...

thanks! I'm surprised you guys didn't care for the 16-step pan in the beginning. I really liked that the most of everything I did in the song. maybe I could bring down the depth of the pan, so it's not so "attacking" in each ear. oh well! glad you enjoyed it in general!

gecko zzed said:
It's a very contemporary vocal sound which you've performed very well.

I'm not to worried abut the level of the snare. I reckon it's ok for this song.

I'm not a fan of the panning guitar at the start . . . i would aim for something for more subtle.

I didn't pick up on the corruption at 1:22.

All-in-all, a pretty good job.
Click to expand...

thanks! I'm never sure how the vocals will be heard by others, I just like using a slightly distorted, "chorus-ey"-type sound. glad you liked it though. hmmmm, now I really think I'll change the depth of the pan...maybe that's the part that's not coming off right. thanks a lot!
 
It's a quick "klak" sound like one of those percussion instruments that where you run a nobbed stick over a surface. Predominately in the right speaker. Just before the vocals kick in around 1:22.
It doesn't sound like it's supposed to be part of the song.
 
Thanks! I'll see what it sounds like without the panning, but with keeping the delay effects, when I get home. I must be hearing something different than how it came across. I'm glad you guys shared that.
 
Hey, I'm listening on phones, and while I guess that doesn't really help you to know that, I feel like I have to make that disclaimer... :)

Great vocal performance. Very polished sounding to me. I like towards the end where the vocal delay synchs up with the swirling panned guitars - that gets pretty intense in phones.

I really liked the panning on the guitar myself, but might only suggest that you not leave it that way throughout...if there's some way it could come and go throughout the song maybe? I'd vote for keeping it at the intro and ending for sure, but maybe you could lessen or eliminate the effect at least during portions of the body of the song? It might have more impact that way?

Just some thoughts. I thought this was well done but can't really address any finer points of the mix due to my monitoring situation at the moment.

Oh, and after listening to 1:20 - 1:24 many times just out of morbid curiosity, there definitely is the tiniest of clicks or clacks off to the right between 1:23 & 1:24 just before the vocal kicks in. I never would have noticed myself had it not been mentioned.
 
So, I had my gf take a listen and she immediately said that the panning was giving her a headache. Haha. I put the "depth" of the pans down quite a bit, so it doesn't attack you as much. I'll put the new one up soon.

The clacking noise might be the right floor tom....? I haven't heard it yet, but I'm guessing that's what it is. I think there's a fill right there before the verse.

Thanks for the vox comments. I always played rhythm G in my groups because I didn't have much confidence in my singing. Glad you guys are liking it, aside from the nauseating effects!
 
Leave that back and forth track and then re-record the same guitar track without that effect....then fade out the former and fade in the latter in the beginning. If this intro went from highly separated ping pong to a stable stereo with chorus...that would be an idea to tame it anyway. You could go back to it throughout the tune but I agree that it's laid on too thick throughout.

That clean guitar tone is great. It made me want more. I like it a LOT.
 
Thanks! I didn't mention this yet, but I automated that panning guitar down by about 2db once the first verse starts, in the version that has been up. I did that since another set of lead Gs come in midway through the song, if I remember correctly. But I agree with your idea. That's a good one. I really appreciate all these comments. It means a lot to me.
 
Um, so its not the floor tom..just listened again. No Tom fill there.

I'm having this issue with one of the doubled vocal tracks...the chorus layer. This is where the clack is coming from, I believe. ..I always have one set of vox clean, and one set of same take with a stereo panned chorus. Even if I roll off at 140Hz, I occasionally get this "boomy" noise on certain words with the chorus layer. Can't figure it out. I think it's around 200-250Hz, but I can't cut there or it'll lose some "body". Ideas? MBC on that band? Set the ratio higher for low mids?
 
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