Listen To Your Heart - feedback please

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ido1957

ido1957

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Hi guys - here's a before and after version of Listen to Your Heart. The before is my mix using Sonar 6.0. The mastered mix is by Jan @ finemastering . The mastering has helped the overall sonics so I thought I'd post that for your enjoyment...

I'm wondering mainly about the guitars vs keyboards levels... I mixed (and had mastered) the keyboards to be fairly up front to enhance the song as the guitars were kinda boring to me all alone on a slower song. I know that my keyboards have received a few disses on previous songs (lol) so I'm ready for anything haha.

Listen to Your Heart - Unmastered Version 320MP3
Listen to Your Heart - Mastered Version 320MP3

Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.
 
Ido,
I tried to get this for a listen but there's some problem with the net down my way as the download time was estimated at 50+ minutes which is ridiculous for such a small file. I've been having similar problems all day.
I'll try again later.
 
I think any comment I have is really just personal preference.
In the unmasteresd version the keyboard parts sounded too thick tonally and masked the vocals.
In the mastered version everything becomes more lively, but almost to the point of harsh....almost.
The keys sound ton better, but guitars, even though panned, almost obscure the vocals at times when listening over headphones.
It probably sounds fine over speakers though because headphones always seem to maginy the panning and the intensity of the outer panned instruments because they are isolated in one ear .

You have a nice voice...in this style of music it needs to be a little more forward in my opinion.
 
It sounds pretty good over speakers. The unmastered version is fine. To bring it up to match the mastered version I bumped up the highs by about 6db and normalized the level. I would prefer to only comment on your work rather than comment on what someone else did with it. It sounds great mastered but it sounded pretty good before that if only slightly muddier.

Great song, good lyrics and in general a nice listen
 
rayc said:
Ido,
I tried to get this for a listen but there's some problem with the net down my way as the download time was estimated at 50+ minutes which is ridiculous for such a small file. I've been having similar problems all day.
I'll try again later.
Click to expand...
Another trying day on the internet - makes me realize how lucky I am as I can't remember the last time we were slow.

tmix said:
I think any comment I have is really just personal preference.
In the unmasteresd version the keyboard parts sounded too thick tonally and masked the vocals.
In the mastered version everything becomes more lively, but almost to the point of harsh....almost.
The keys sound ton better, but guitars, even though panned, almost obscure the vocals at times when listening over headphones.
It probably sounds fine over speakers though because headphones always seem to maginy the panning and the intensity of the outer panned instruments because they are isolated in one ear .

You have a nice voice...in this style of music it needs to be a little more forward in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Thanks ! Do you mean vocals in mix or master?


GuitarLegend said:
It sounds pretty good over speakers. The unmastered version is fine. To bring it up to match the mastered version I bumped up the highs by about 6db and normalized the level. I would prefer to only comment on your work rather than comment on what someone else did with it. It sounds great mastered but it sounded pretty good before that if only slightly muddier.

Great song, good lyrics and in general a nice listen
Click to expand...

Thanks! I get stem mastering done as it helps resolve some of my mix issues. But I'm trying to mix the stems better each time...
 
Net problem solved - I went over the limit last month so the access was slowed for the last 3 days of that billing period. They DIDN'T reset it for the new billing period!! have now.
Ido, I LOVE this song & I think the keyboard lines are good ideas - the arrangement is sound. In the end it's a matter of preference for the samples from the k'board. I'd have loved to hear some old mellotron stuff but that's a difficult thing these days. I still think the song & the arrangement are terrific.
Well done!
I take it back - down to as slow as 8.6kbs for the last hour.
 
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The mastered version has much more colour than the unmastered ido - I played the unmastered first and my inital impression was that the mix sounded a little dull. The mastered version was a pleasant surprise as it came through the speaker so much fuller sounding.

Very nice song and I always like your vocals :)
 
I only listened to the mastered version. Man, it's hard to find anything I don't like or that sounds like a problem to me. Mix is pretty damn good but what the hell do I know.
 
rayc said:
Net problem solved - I went over the limit last month so the access was slowed for the last 3 days of that billing period. They DIDN'T reset it for the new billing period!! have now.
Ido, I LOVE this song & I think the keyboard lines are good ideas - the arrangement is sound. In the end it's a matter of preference for the samples from the k'board. I'd have loved to hear some old mellotron stuff but that's a difficult thing these days. I still think the song & the arrangement are terrific.
Well done!
I take it back - down to as slow as 8.6kbs for the last hour.
Click to expand...
We recently had a national online petition against Internet download/upload limits. The government actually listened and prohibits limits although I'm not sure to what degree...I have no limit on my phone line internet.
robgreen said:
The mastered version has much more colour than the unmastered ido - I played the unmastered first and my inital impression was that the mix sounded a little dull. The mastered version was a pleasant surprise as it came through the speaker so much fuller sounding.

Very nice song and I always like your vocals :)
Click to expand...
I think my lack of eq experience is an issue - I could try and brighten it up/high pass some stuff better IMO.
Track Rat said:
I only listened to the mastered version. Man, it's hard to find anything I don't like or that sounds like a problem to me. Mix is pretty damn good but what the hell do I know.
Click to expand...
Thanks TR- you know what your ears tell you and I'm glad to hear the message they are sending lol!
 
ido1957 said:
I think my lack of eq experience is an issue - I could try and brighten it up/high pass some stuff better IMO.
Click to expand...

I mentioned in my post that I bumped the highs but that didnt give any specifics. I boosted the 5KHz region by 6db with Q=1.3 and it came up pretty much the same as the mastered version once it was normallized. Its a nice recording to work with.
 
This sounds fantastic! Nice song, good vocals and arrangement. Sounds pro to me.
 
I've been kind of down on the last few masters I've heard from jan, but I think he did a really nice job with this one. Less keys is almost always a good thing to me. I'm not a fan of keys. Anyway, I think the mastered version is fuller, more robust sounding. Not that the other version is bad, it just sounds a little more sparse.
 
I thought this sounded good. Good performances all around.

I would nudge the lead vocal up just a bit. Like a db. There also seems to be a little tubbiness in the vocal - like maybe around 800hz to 1Khz or so. Maybe a small notch there would help.
 
A couple of things I forgot...

It might sound nice if you double track the lead vocal during the chorus. Since the song, musically, kind of builds up right before the chorus, it might sound cool with a thicker vocal.

Harmonies are used so sparingly in the song. There are lots of other places where you could add them.
 
Thanks guys - this is pretty much a done dealio for now - Jan will master the "set" once Ive had him do a few more so the set sits sonically in the same place. I'll have him look at the whole thing again then. Been busy with some personal things and have been less than motivated but hopefully I'll get back to it shortly to complete that.
I'm no keyboard player :D but I try to add them for variety mostly on the slower stuff. Glad this one seems balanced ...
:D:D:D:D
 
Great song!

I listened to the 1st 30 seconds of both the unmastered version and the mastered version.

The mastered version was louder but vocals were spot on!
 
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