Proof of Life - Original

DM60

DM60

Well-known member
Original mix removed
Haven't posted much lately, but need some help on this.

Pretty sparse, I have only acoustics (doubled tracked) and the first lead in. Bass which I have heavy to compensate for the acoustics. And a flavor of synthesizer.

Drums were 100% sequenced on a pad with quantization at 95% (not too perfect).

Are the vocals too low (I wanted them not too forward) and is the bass too heavy are my main questions. If there are other issues, please feel free to point them out. But do comment on the bass and vocals.

As always thanks for listening.
Update



Updated based on a few comments. Added an electric to give the tune a little middle, retracked the acoustics as the original just wasn't working. Worked on the drum hits, as pointed out, there were a few timing issues, I think the tweaks and retrack sorted that out.

Thanks for the comments.

Updated mixes mix:





Latest Mix
 
Last edited:
Not too much bass. It seems to ring out on certain notes--hope that's not my room. If you could sort that out, I'd prefer to hear a bit more bass even. Vocal level feels about right, but there's some masking going on, acoustic guitars the main culprits. If you could clear a bit of space around the vocal, it wouldn't need to be louder IMO.

I like it so far. It feels unfinished. The performance could be tighter. Doesn't feel like everybody's quite together on the changes. Some harmony vocals would kick this up a notch.
 
Yeah I think the bass could come back a bit. It's not booming though, how'd you control it so well- just recorded that way? Drums sound great, I might bring them up a bit (except the crash or whatever on the left, that's coming through well already.) Really like the vocals.
 
Robus said:
Not too much bass. It seems to ring out on certain notes--hope that's not my room. If you could sort that out, I'd prefer to hear a bit more bass even. Vocal level feels about right, but there's some masking going on, acoustic guitars the main culprits. If you could clear a bit of space around the vocal, it wouldn't need to be louder IMO.

I like it so far. It feels unfinished. The performance could be tighter. Doesn't feel like everybody's quite together on the changes. Some harmony vocals would kick this up a notch.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the inputs, will look at those areas you mentioned. Thanks for the listen.


easlern said:
Yeah I think the bass could come back a bit. It's not booming though, how'd you control it so well- just recorded that way? Drums sound great, I might bring them up a bit (except the crash or whatever on the left, that's coming through well already.) Really like the vocals.
Click to expand...

I've been working on my bass, both playing and mixing for the last couple of years. I switch between pick and fingers depending on the sound I want. So far, I roll off below 30, and bump around 190 with a small queue. The bump is to taste.

That is the nice thing about digital, bass gets to be more prominent. Thanks for the listen.
 
Bass sounds fine to me on my work headphones. THink the cymbals could be tamed a bit, they are pretty loud, particularly the far left one. Vocals sound great. The whole thing sounds very rough...as in, the chord strumming pattern and accompanying drum parts. Love those vox though
 
It is a bit rough. Also, there's a buildup around ?1-1.5K? Guess: (I'm not always good with frequencies): on the guitar and vocal that's making it a bit harsh on the ears.
 
andrushkiwt said:
Bass sounds fine to me on my work headphones. THink the cymbals could be tamed a bit, they are pretty loud, particularly the far left one. Vocals sound great. The whole thing sounds very rough...as in, the chord strumming pattern and accompanying drum parts. Love those vox though
Click to expand...

Even before I posted, I was working on the cymbals, so not a total surprise. Might need to go back and re-track the guitars. I originally used two mics, but kept getting some phase issues, so I went back and re-tracked just one side, guess it needs a revisit. Thanks for the listen.

BroKen_H said:
It is a bit rough. Also, there's a buildup around ?1-1.5K? Guess: (I'm not always good with frequencies): on the guitar and vocal that's making it a bit harsh on the ears.
Click to expand...

Could be, acoustic guitars have a way of pushing that, plus I might have a heavy influence from the bass, I tend to play on the upper part of the neck which comes in around that range. Thanks for the listen.
 
Hey! This sounds pretty cool. Listening as I jot...

Maybe I'm crazy but on headphones the panned guitars seem a little phasey?

I think there are some frequencies fighting with each other...maybe in the mids and low mids?

Not bad though.
 
Robertt8 said:
Hey! This sounds pretty cool. Listening as I jot...

Maybe I'm crazy but on headphones the panned guitars seem a little phasey?

I think there are some frequencies fighting with each other...maybe in the mids and low mids?

Not bad though.
Click to expand...

I have to check, but I may be routing my acoustics through ADT and it allows for some phasing. You may be correct. Low/mid frequency starts to be pretty hard for me to get right with acoustic guitar.

Thanks for the listen.
 
Like the tune. To me the bass just doesn't sound well defined. Just kind of blurry if that's a thing, and a little low. Would like to here more bass with more definition. Vocal is really nice.

Overall to me it seems to lack bottom. Would like to hear the bass a little more defined (not staccato, just more precise note changes). I think it the bass was less blurry (again with that word) it could come up (louder) and the vocal could be pushed up a little also, allowing all that middle to stay where it is. Also, after the first vocal part, the synth ride could come up a little to make it pop out in the mix.

Comments based on listening on 5" Tannoy monitors which usually give me pretty good bass response.

Good work, just a little more fiddling with the mix and this will be really nice.
 
Bass isn't too loud through monitors, Avantone and cans. It could have a taste more bottom, though.

You're within a dB on the vocal. It's a taste call. Don't turn it down, though.

The toms? could have more low end though. They sound slappy right now, but it would nice if they had some more low end.

I just listened to 'Silly Words' (which you reviewed) and this mix here is way lighter than that one, which is a bit dark, yeah, but maybe closer to the mark. I think you're shying away from low end in your mix, which could use a bit more low end.
 
dobro said:
Bass isn't too loud through monitors, Avantone and cans. It could have a taste more bottom, though.

You're within a dB on the vocal. It's a taste call. Don't turn it down, though.

The toms? could have more low end though. They sound slappy right now, but it would nice if they had some more low end.

I just listened to 'Silly Words' (which you reviewed) and this mix here is way lighter than that one, which is a bit dark, yeah, but maybe closer to the mark. I think you're shying away from low end in your mix, which could use a bit more low end.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the listen.

Yes, I seem to keep low end light. I like low end but I worry about sounding like hip hop. I will do some more experimentation on this as I would like to get my lows better.
 
I have to agree with the other comments - seems like the low end is lacking, if I was listening in my truck I'd turn the treble control down by 2 notches from normal (which I do for Todd Rundgren mixes too). It seems to be a combination of the acoustic, snare and vocal and the reverb.
Good tune - but have you considered a true ending rather than quick fade out?
 
mjbphotos said:
I have to agree with the other comments - seems like the low end is lacking, if I was listening in my truck I'd turn the treble control down by 2 notches from normal (which I do for Todd Rundgren mixes too). It seems to be a combination of the acoustic, snare and vocal and the reverb.
Good tune - but have you considered a true ending rather than quick fade out?
Click to expand...

Reworking this to give it some low end, I was being to conservative with the low end since it is bass dominated (I know, this doesn't make sense).

On the ending, this is intended for concept album. Seems like that is the only way I know to write, come up with a concept, then write to that. Not very good at random ideas. This song is the lead off to an album titled, Proof of Life and intended to simply initiate the idea. Just simple kick off the thought process, then going into the other songs that dive deeper into the idea behind the title.

Based on what others have told me, I reworked the mix. I used Peter Gabriel's "So-In Your Eyes" as a reference. I think it is getting me closer to what I want and supports the feedback you guys are giving.

Thanks for the feedback.

 
Last edited:
DM60 said:
Based on what others have told me, I reworked the mix. I used Peter Gabriel's "So-In Your Eyes" as a reference. I think it is getting me closer to what I want and supports the feedback you guys are giving.
Click to expand...

Yeah, better. Now the bass guitar wants attention. Nice to hear it finally.

Had you used the Gabriel reference on the first mix you posted?
 
dobro said:
Yeah, better. Now the bass guitar wants attention. Nice to hear it finally.

Had you used the Gabriel reference on the first mix you posted?
Click to expand...

No, I had used it in the past, but not on this mix. Based on the feedback received, I thought to bring it back out and as a reference seemed to be needed. I will give that bass another round of attention.

Thanks for the listen.

---------- Update ----------

Robus said:
Maybe too much in the other direction. Seems to be some low mid buildup.
Click to expand...

Will be taking a closer look at the bass area. Thanks for the listen.
 
I really like your stuff. Mix sounds good. Great performances. I am still a noob but gotta try. Do you have some influences as I don't remember hearing this style.
 
Music Box said:
I really like your stuff. Mix sounds good. Great performances. I am still a noob but gotta try. Do you have some influences as I don't remember hearing this style.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the listen. As others have pointed out, the bass is not as clean as it could be (I think is sounds OK, but can be better, that is the great thing about this place, they push the standard up). Since there is not much going on in the song, each instrument counts. If I can get the bass to sit better, I think I can push up the quality of the mix a few more notches. Retracking the bass as I think it is a source problem and don't think I can EQ my way out of it.

Influences, I am all over the place. I am just trying to write songs, get a decent mix. Thanks for the listen and welcome to the board.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top