Hey Brad,
I've been away for awhile, but I just got a chance to listen to this. First impression, it's a really good mix with great clarity and separation of all the different parts. I'm still shaking my head over the really creative and unique approach to the middle section. Man, that's a cool idea, and I can't imagine it was easy to patch it all together. If I have to offer any constructive thoughts, I would say maybe transition into the middle radio "tour" over a slightly longer period, it seems rushed as is. Same for the transitions between sections. I'm sure you played around with that, so you may have landed on the best way to do it, but something there is bothering me a
little, not exactly sure how to fix it.
I also agree that while everything is sitting pretty in it's own space, there seems to be an overall cohesiveness that's lacking. I went out and listened to "Finish What Ya Started" from the mighty Van Halen, because it's in a similar vein and I thought it might be a useful mix comparison. The good news is that you're very close. I think the VH drums are one of the main differences - they sit further back in the mix with a nice reverb. Maybe something as easy as more reverb on the drums would help your mix gel? Or maybe reverb on the stereo bus to tie everything together?
Sorry to say it, but I'd ditch the telephone vocal effect in the chorus responses. You could pull it down a little in level, or maybe double it, as a few others have suggested, but to me it's sticking out in a bad way, and I'm not sure those changes will help it enough. What about changing that line to a harmonized backup instead? You've got a nice open chorus with lots of room for backups if you like that sort of thing
The only other thing I might change is the rapid (16th note?) sound in the chorus. To me it seems just a
tiny little bit off time, and it's distracting. It's also mixed in a way that makes it tough to hear, so for me, it creates a kind of bad tension. What instrument is that? I'm wondering if a simple tambourine might not fit the bill there to give the chorus a lift...just a thought.
I just went back a re-learned some things about mixing. Starting with the kick, snare and vox around 0.0db and working the rest from there. Nobody told me
That's interesting...I always mix starting way lower than that - kick, snare, bass, etc down around -6dB and vocals a little higher (you know me
), so I'm surprised to see that you start around 0.0dB. That would be an interesting side topic to see what the general approach is. I'm just wondering if you might not have more luck with limiting at the end if you weren't starting so hot...
Reading back through this it seems like I had a lot of things that I didn't like, but honestly that's really not the case. I'm nitpicking for sure, and I really like what you did with the tune. It's definitely ambitious, and it's a cool way to show your chops in a bunch of different genres. Nice job man!
Best Regards,
Dave DeWhitt
www.soundclick.com/davedewhitt