Faithful kind of morning - instrumental

[fritsthegirl]

Hey you guyses,

V1

V2


I'm just putting this up as an instrumental for now. I have the melody for the vocals but am still figuring the lyrics out. So I've just got a few oooh aaahs going on.

I just want to sanity check (and second guess) the decisions I've made on 'mixing' it so far. I've a bit more than usual going on.

If you wouldn't mind having a listen, please say if something sounds obviously bad. Guitar, harmonica, bass (maybe too bassy?), drums, piano, whistling.

I've been listening so long I can't really smell it anymore.

It's probably pretty difficult without vocals. If it is, you can just tell me to piss off and come back when it's finished.

Thank you.

 

[K-dub]

Mix is clean ... but ... kind of "laid back" -- piano is overly dominant, which then steps on the guitar work -- and the drums are a bit too far back -- leaving the whole feel slightly on the midi-sterile sonic side. I don't know if you were intending to wait until you layered in the vocal to apply more polish to the piece, but that's what I'd do -- because once the vocal gets added, everything else needs to be adjusted to fit it.

 

[fritsthegirl]

Mix is clean ... but ... kind of "laid back" -- piano is overly dominant, which then steps on the guitar work -- and the drums are a bit too far back -- leaving the whole feel slightly on the midi-sterile sonic side. I don't know if you were intending to wait until you layered in the vocal to apply more polish to the piece, but that's what I'd do -- because once the vocal gets added, everything else needs to be adjusted to fit it.

Hey, thanks. I don't mind playing around with just the instrumental version to get the sounds right. It's good practice for me just to work with the instruments for a change. It doesn't matter if I have to do it all over when I add the vocals.

You're right about the piano. It was too loud and obviously midi. I turned it way down in parts and pulled the guitars and bass up a bit, see V2. I also put a high pass filter on the guitar and piano tracks. Not that it makes much difference individually, but they (google) say doing a bit of this helps bring out the low end stuff better.

You don't have to listen again or anything, I appreciate you having given me a fresh perspective on it.

 

[Mr Clean]

Sounds like a really good start. I agree the drums could come up a bit. I listened to both versions and like them both, it has a nice, chilled out sound to it. A nice melodic bassline in there would really open it up as well IMO.

You'll probably find you'll want to change levels of a lot of the instruments when the vocals go over the top anyway so everything has it's own space and the vocals shine over the top.

I look forward to hearing more.

 

[DM60]

You know what's missing, is that new bass you just bought. I nice layed back bass, I heard it within the first couple of seconds of the song. I would give the piano and the guitar equal billing. Drums I will reserve until after I hear that bass. This song cries for a bass. Nice a clean, just easing everything along.

That you whistling, if so, nice!

 

[ido1957]

Soundcloud is blocked at work so I'll try at home later

 

[dobro]

It's probably pretty difficult without vocals.

Yup. The oohs and doowahs are going to be there as backing vocals? Or are you going to have just the main vocal when you get one?

So far, I find some of the individual tracks a tad dark, but I'd like to hear them with the vocal in the mix to find out if it's an attractive darkness or just a muddy darkness. You can bring the bass up now, though.

 

[TripleM]

I thought V2 was better. In V1 I thought the piano was a bit too loud. It also sounds a bit muffled - like it's missing stuff above 3-4K or so. V2 was better.

It'll be easier to make comments once the lead vocal is put in.

 

[fritsthegirl]

You know what's missing, is that new bass you just bought. I nice layed back bass, I heard it within the first couple of seconds of the song. I would give the piano and the guitar equal billing. Drums I will reserve until after I hear that bass. This song cries for a bass. Nice a clean, just easing everything along.

That you whistling, if so, nice!

Noted, the bass will be. I love that thing, but my fingers are rhythmically challenged. I'm also trying to make it sound good using a guitar v-amp. Bit challenging. Yeh, me whistling, really hard to record that was. I ended up doing it with the mic pointing at my chin, kind of whistling over it. Then I added a shitload of reverb.

 

[fritsthegirl]

Yup. The oohs and doowahs are going to be there as backing vocals? Or are you going to have just the main vocal when you get one?

So far, I find some of the individual tracks a tad dark, but I'd like to hear them with the vocal in the mix to find out if it's an attractive darkness or just a muddy darkness. You can bring the bass up now, though.

I think the ooh doowahs are going to stay, but they might become 'who are's?' and 'you are's'. They'll sound loads better than they do now (she says confidently). What do mean by dark? Dark EQ, uninteresting, or dark as in sinister? I'm kind of hoping my jokey voice will bring all the darkness into the light.

 

[fritsthegirl]

I thought V2 was better. In V1 I thought the piano was a bit too loud. It also sounds a bit muffled - like it's missing stuff above 3-4K or so. V2 was better.

It'll be easier to make comments once the lead vocal is put in.

Thanks, I'll check those frequencies out. I just used the piano midi as it came, but I'll have a look and see if i can hear and hopefully fix the missing the things you speak of. I'd quite like to pump the volume up of that piano track in some places but only if i can get it to sound alright.

I agree it's difficult to assess this without the vocals. The advice and suggestions you have provided have already given me a lot of stuff to fix, work on and think about, so it's been helpful for sure.

 

[TripleM]

Thanks, I'll check those frequencies out. I just used the piano midi as it came, but I'll have a look and see if i can hear and hopefully fix the missing the things you speak of.

I don't know for sure, but I'd guess this is the same thing dobro meant when he said some of the tracks were a little dark. I think he meant they didn't have a lot of top end.

 

[robgreen]

This went in a direction I wasn't expecting at all. Great to hear a fuller mix from you - I love the arrangement and the song - hard to tell what will need shifting for the vocals until you drop them in. It made me think of early Badly Drawn Boy stuff - the EPs and first album where he had a really engaging playfulness and a bit of a whimsical bent. The piano has the same kind of tone that Damon uses too, so he might be an interesting reference point to A:B with. Not that I'm suggesting that this is or should be derivative mind...

In terms of bits that stuck out for me, the introduction still sounds a bit messy until it settles into the main part. I like all the constituent parts, but they need to meld together more and fit better timing wise. The other thing is that the guitar sounds kinda sour against the rest of the arrangement, like it may be out of tune a little bit. It stuck out when I first heard it and I was surprised nobody else has picked up on it - which is why I'm wondering if I've misheard?

Looking forward to hearing how this develops, I think it's got really good potential.

 

[K-dub]

I don't know for sure, but I'd guess this is the same thing dobro meant when he said some of the tracks were a little dark. I think he meant they didn't have a lot of top end.

No. He meant his eyes were closed while he was listening. Dobro is very literal.

 

[ido1957]

I listened to V2 and it sounds good. I think the snare should match the lead vocal level once it's tracked so we need to wait. Good so far.

 

[Armistice]

Hey frits... listened to V2

Reckon the piano is still too obviously straight MIDI - I don't know what the answer is here - sounds (a) sterile (b) plonky. Not sure what it actually is you're using? Consider dragging some of the notes slightly off the beat, and perhaps LPFing at the top end a touch and a preamp VST (Ruby Tube mebbe) to dirty it up a bit...

I've been meaning to work out how to do more with piano VSTs via pure MIDI (ie. not actually playing) than just velocity, but haven't yet... let me know if you work it out - it has to be possible...

Also I think you have some tuning/intonation issues with the geetar here and there... sort of gives it that loose carnivalesque feel if that's what you're after, just not sure it's intentional..

I'll await the next iteration with interest...

 

[dobro]

What do mean by dark? Dark EQ, uninteresting, or dark as in sinister?

Dark's traditionally a frequency range, upper lows and low mids is where I find it on my stuff, cuz... never mind. But I don't mind changing the terminology to suit the tune. Dark can go lower.

 

[rayc]

V2 - Wow, the intro suggested something ominous & then it all changed to a slightly whimsical thing.
With that sort of beginning and change anythig can & will happen.
The oohwahs would make great who ares.
The balance seems right & the playing is good too!

 

[fritsthegirl]

Ah, some much needed feedback. Love this place. Cheers to all of you. To summarise, over the next few days/week, I'm going to:

- Try and sort out the piano sound and frequency (thanks for all the tips on how to make this better. I agree it sounds robotic and clunky, and not so much like a real piano at all)
- Perhaps tune my guitar. This was kind of intentional, but not really. I have the vocal melody/theme in my head so I'm thinking the slightly off key business works as a whole. But I may, and probably will find, that I am completely wrong about that. I think the guitar tracks are standing out as needing some work with the piano turned down a bit so there's a high probability I'll redo them.
- Get an audible bass line going on. This will hopefully meld the different sections of the song together too
- Fix the timing in the intro (listened with a click track this morning, BAD)
- Sort out the drums in the final mix
- Come up with some meaningful lyrics. LOL at that.

Hope I caught and understood all the feedback everyone gave. Thanks for the technical tips but also for the 'sounds good, looking forward to hearing it finished' encouragement. I really appreciate it.

 

[dobro]

Ah, some much needed feedback. Love this place. Cheers to all of you. To summarise, over the next few days/week, I'm going to:

- Get an audible bass line going on. This will hopefully meld the different sections of the song together too

Yeah, this is what I want to hear. I'm interested in how bass will impact what I heard as the dark end of the mix. It didn't sound so dark tonight. Room for bass, probably.

- Sort out the drums in the final mix

Or add something, even. I play claves.

- Come up with some meaningful lyrics. LOL at that.

Now you're talking. To yourself.