Where the grasses lie

mcmac74

Active member
Last edited:
Hi

I posted the instrumental version of this some weeks ago and finally got enough time to work on the vocals. It's not been mastered yet as just wanted a few thoughts on the balance, levels and of course the song. Feedback as always much appreciated.

Mark

Where The Grasses Lie Demo 14 - 07 by The Mountain Telegraphs | Free Listening on SoundCloud

First - love the vibe overall. Right off the bat, on my setup

* Drum level is just too high - the snare alone is distracting me from the overall track

* Reverb/Delays are "blooming" when hit with a lot of signal, and when they hit there is a lot of low frequency stuff that builds up drowning. You can try and counter this by rolling off lows on reverb returns, and by adding a compressor inline on the reverb to smooth out the input. I am not in the camp that will tell you to use less reverb, cause I feel like I have an idea of what you are shooting for.

Maybe take a wack at those and go from there.
 
Cool song!

I think the instruments sound really well mixed overall. I personally like the drums the way they are, though the snare could perhaps come down a little loud.

I do agree with chuckduffy's comment that the verb/delay creates some muddiness. I have found multiband compression to help with this issue and addressing the low end.

Keep up the good work!
 
Thanks for the comments fellas.

I agree the drums have come up too high and was done in response to feedback on the instrumental version where most said the drums were too low..I'llpull them back a bit . The ' drowning ' is not a phrase I've heard before chuck but I get what you mean. The verb and delay are applied direct to that vocal track along with compression so I'll have a look at your suggestions and see if I can get its head above water. I've tried really hard not to double track the vocal on this, which is my usual route to getting a fuller vocal..I've probably overcompensated with the delay.

Mark
 
This is a song I would listen to if I didn't hear it here. I might not use the proper terms, but, I'll try to explain. This has to do with arranging.

You have the drums, bass, a low keyboard or guitar part and a picking guitar in the opening. The picking guitar is lead. At 24 - 31 seconds that guitar is gone and it's empty space. Really low you can hear that keyboard or guitar hitting a few single notes. But, you have to strain to even pick it up. It doesn't rise to the level of "lead", or even a lovely spacious quality.

It's this and no real "lead" part behind the beautiful vocals, that stop this song from being all it can be. I really think it's a excellent song, and your voice is perfect, along with the parts that are there. I love reverb, so you won't get any complaints about it from me. Though I'm not saying the other posters aren't correct in what they say. I'm pretty damn awful in any sense of musical knowledge. I can only hear what I like. I would be the targeted audience on a song like this.

Best of luck with this. Excellent song.
 
This is a song I would listen to if I didn't hear it here. I might not use the proper terms, but, I'll try to explain. This has to do with arranging.

You have the drums, bass, a low keyboard or guitar part and a picking guitar in the opening. The picking guitar is lead. At 24 - 31 seconds that guitar is gone and it's empty space. Really low you can hear that keyboard or guitar hitting a few single notes. But, you have to strain to even pick it up. It doesn't rise to the level of "lead", or even a lovely spacious quality.

It's this and no real "lead" part behind the beautiful vocals, that stop this song from being all it can be. I really think it's a excellent song, and your voice is perfect, along with the parts that are there. I love reverb, so you won't get any complaints about it from me. Though I'm not saying the other posters aren't correct in what they say. I'm pretty damn awful in any sense of musical knowledge. I can only hear what I like. I would be the targeted audience on a song like this.

Best of luck with this. Excellent song.

Thanks for the kind words Snowman. Dropping the lead in the section you mention was intentional...trying to build a dynamic for when that slightly jazz sounding guitar kicks in just before the vocal. It's all trial and error I guess. I lowered the volume of the lead melody during vocals as it was interfering and not sitting right...I then changed the vocal melody anyway so I will experiment with the lead a bit more prominent...cheers for the pointers

Mark
 
Evening...I've posted what is hopefully the mastered and finished version on original post if anyone has any comments...although i hear nothing is ever really finished.
 
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