Qucik Ears. Mix advice.

BroKen_H

BroKen_H

Re-member
My anniversary is tomorrow and I sat down and wrote this hoping my wife would like it and be surprised...I know it was thrown together in 5 hours, and there's a lot of bad picked notes, a couple clunkers on the piano and my voice is all pitchy from trying to sing a heartfelt love song and trying not to cry and...

MAN, TMI. Shut up and put the song up!

OK



Need some quick turd polish, please...:)

2nd version with bridge. Volume up/reverb down on the vocals (still need to retrack). Picked guitar part, real tambourine, limiter scaled way back (less than 3dB reduction max). I also turned down the signal chain into the limiter as I thought it was adding dirt, and kicked it from tube to digital. Something's still adding dirt to the vocal, but it's pleasant, so I'm not looking.

 
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Thank goodness I have a dentist appointment next week, because you just gave me an extra cavity, that was too sweet. :D

I think, for this type of song, the vocals have to come up. I think this song is all about the message/lyrics, and I can't make them out without REALLY trying. I think it should be effortless to hear the vocals. Also, I don't know if it's the guitar and the keyboards or just the general instrumentation, but instruments seem to be fighting each other. It could be just an EQ thing, like cutting somewhere in the 300-500hz range, or re-arranging the piano and/or guitar part. I have a feeling a little EQ will fix this up.

For me, I think the main thing is getting the vocals up. They can be wet, and for this song might even need a lot of reverb, but they can still be more in your face at the same time.

Nice song.
 
The acoustic guitar sounds a bit dull yet chimey (almost like old strings on a bright guitar? Maybe try some EQ on it) and the low end needs to be filtered out a little because it's boomy down there. I'm sure your wife will adore it no matter what.
 
RAMI said:
Thank goodness I have a dentist appointment next week, because you just gave me an extra cavity, that was too sweet. :D

I think, for this type of song, the vocals have to come up. I think this song is all about the message/lyrics, and I can't make them out without REALLY trying. I think it should be effortless to hear the vocals. Also, I don't know if it's the guitar and the keyboards or just the general instrumentation, but instruments seem to be fighting each other. It could be just an EQ thing, like cutting somewhere in the 300-500hz range, or re-arranging the piano and/or guitar part. I have a feeling a little EQ will fix this up.

For me, I think the main thing is getting the vocals up. They can be wet, and for this song might even need a lot of reverb, but they can still be more in your face at the same time.

Nice song.
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Thanks for the kind words. Thank you more for the advice. Vocals are tough for me, but I'm sure my wife will like them...up they go. Yeah, there's a fight that sounds almost distortion building when it's all together. I've put a bump in the bass EQ @ 300, maybe that's where the problem runs.
 
BroKen_H said:
Thanks for the kind words. Thank you more for the advice. Vocals are tough for me, but I'm sure my wife will like them...up they go. Yeah, there's a fight that sounds almost distortion building when it's all together. I've put a bump in the bass EQ @ 300, maybe that's where the problem runs.
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Yeah, you really belt it out well in certain parts of the tune. That needs to be featured. This might sound weird, but I'd reference some Barry Manilow for this tune. I'm not joking. Not because this sounds like him. But he's really good at orchestrating and arranging this kind of song. From the first verse to the end of the song, he adds layers so perfectly. I can see this song benefiting from that. It seems to have a constant energy level, where it would be great to hear it with the energy building up as the song goes along.

Maybe rather than turn 300hz down on the bass, leave it on the bass, but turn it down on the overall mix...or every instrument BUT the bass. There must be a reason you boosted on the bass in the first place. So, you might want to keep it there, but reduce it overall. Just speaking for myself, 300hz is a frequency I'd almost never boost on my bass. I pretty much always cut in that honky area. But that's just me with my set-up.
 
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4tracker said:
The acoustic guitar sounds a bit dull yet chimey (almost like old strings on a bright guitar? Maybe try some EQ on it) and the low end needs to be filtered out a little because it's boomy down there. I'm sure your wife will adore it no matter what.
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It's probably got more to do with EQ. The strings are only 2 weeks old and the guitar sounds great by itself...well, not the playing. :laughings:
 
RAMI said:
Yeah, you really belt it out well in certain parts of the tune. That needs to be featured. This might sound weird, but I'd reference some Barry Manilow for this tune. I'm not joking. Not because this sounds like him. But he's really good at orchestrating and arranging this kind of song. From the first verse to the end of the song, he adds layers so perfectly. I can see this song benefiting from that. It seems to have a constant energy level, where it would be great to hear it with the energy building up as the song goes along.

Maybe rather than turn 300hz down on the bass, leave it on the bass, but turn it down on the overall mix...or every instrument BUT the bass. There must be a reason you boosted on the bass in the first place. So, you might want to keep it there, but reduce it overall. Just speaking for myself, 300hz is a frequency I'd almost never boost on my bass. I pretty much always cut in that honky area. But that's just me with my set-up.
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Okay, perfect. I'll hit it in the morning. The missus will be home in a few and I don't want to spoil the surprise...
Thanks again for everything!
 
Everything sounds well balanced except for that buildup on bass. More in the 150-200 area; the piano and guitar are throwing stuff into that part of the sound spectrum, too. High-pass on the guitar and piano could help clear up the bass quite a bit, IMO.

Want to know the exact frequency of the buildup? That last harmonic/feedback note before the wave cuts out is almost the exact frequency range that is "too much."
 
RAMI said:
Yo homie. Hit it, then tell her to make you a sammich. :D
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:D :D :D Thanks, man. Both were very nice! :D :D :D

Thanks. Applied the drop everything except the bass fix (Participant is right about the frequency being closer to 200Hz...I centered at 222, but that's obviously overlapping the 300 boost on the bass). Wifey loves the song as is. I'm going to be busy for the next few days off redoing all the tracks. Any hope of a RAMI drum track?
So, I've got to get the piano cleaned up (I double tracked during the choruses...surprised no one called me on that). Both tracks sound good alone, but when you put them together there's a couple bars that clash. Probably going to pick one and just automate the volume up...
I've got a tambourine, and I'll be replacing the crappy sounding soundfont tambourine with real. Should make some difference.
Voice: Sure wish I had one, but I can at least practice till the pitchiness goes away.
The bass is actually pretty solid (imagine someone who played bass for a living for 20+ years being able to do a decent bass line on a simple song:))
I'll save the guitar for last, unless I can get DJ over here. He said he'd come over during the summer. Maybe he'll track me some guitar parts...

Thanks for all the help gents! I'll post it back up in a few weeks when I get everything together. :) :cool:
 
BroKen_H said:
Any hope of a RAMI drum track?
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There's always a chance. :)

I just finished 2 drum tracks for other people here, and I'm working on 2 new songs of mine. If you're not in a rush, I can do a track for you in the next couple of weeks.
 
RAMI said:
There's always a chance. :)

I just finished 2 drum tracks for other people here, and I'm working on 2 new songs of mine. If you're not in a rush, I can do a track for you in the next couple of weeks.
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You are a gentleman and a scholar (and I'll think of some other insults later). Thanks!!! :)
Remember, I use Reason, so the tracks will have to be in WAV format. PM me with details...You rock, sir!
 
It's always got to be waves files.

If you could send me the tune with the music all panned to one side, and a click track on the other side, that would be perfect.
 
See how little I know. People talk about stem files, and I've never even bothered to figure out what that means. Doesn't apply to what I'm doing yet, so... I'll put it together today and PM you a link.
 
Its a good song. I noticed right off the bat, after listening to Ramis tune immediately beforehand, that I got hit with a low mid muddiness on the acoustic and keyboard. The keys and guitar are too thick IMO. I like the vocal sound ...not too thin and not to thick. I can't hear the drums that well but I think cleaning the low mids from the other instruments will remedy that.
great effort and lyric!
 
LOL.
You've become a benchmark...
The yardstick....
litmus paper...
The example we all strive for...
The reason newbies give up on recording in light of the futile impossibly of recording something that freaking good!

of course it's not fair to play the Rami card but I just couldn't help myself.
:)
 
Thanks for the listen, Jimi! :) I only do this to get my songs out. I'm not a great drummer or guitarist; certainly not a great vocalist anymore. I'm just a songwriter with some talent on the keys and bass...therefore, my mixes are the best I can do with the festering piles of track that I create! :D

I'll try to keep the vocal style and sound when I redo the vocals later. Still trying to get hold of DJ (songwriter/guitarist from Nashville I know who's in town). Maybe this one will go somewhere? Never know.
 
Coming to this one late. I think that muddiness others mentioned is due to the combined piano and acoustic guitar - they''re both fighting to be the lead accompaniment. Pick one (Piano?) and fade the other one down and pan it to one side more.
 
BroKen_H said:
My anniversary is tomorrow and I sat down and wrote this hoping my wife would like it and be surprised...I know it was thrown together in 5 hours, and there's a lot of bad picked notes, a couple clunkers on the piano and my voice is all pitchy from trying to sing a heartfelt love song and trying not to cry and...

MAN, TMI. Shut up and put the song up!

OK



Need some quick turd polish, please...:)
Click to expand...

Okay, it's four days late, but what I'd do is pull some of the reverb off the vocal, so that the *next* time she listens to it, it's more intimate.
 
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