Starting Final Mixes Song 11 - Can't Wait To Hear From You

[BroKen_H]

First final mix laughings I always get a kick out of thinking how good something sounds, until I put it up for scrutiny. Funny how things jump out at you immediately after you render...first few vocal lines need retracked and the vocals are boxy/dead sounding. I don't like the way the hats sound (not the tone, but the programming).

Listen to the end for me (well, as well as the whole). I'm trying to decide whether things should fade out like that, or drop off one by one...

Worked hard on the trumpet part. Hopefully it sounds at least semi-realistic. LP/Vox tones throughout. Standard acoustic work. Euphonic Zampled Strings. 10/18 Bass layout (same as all on this project). Played with some percussion samples.
Cold turkey on the vocal effect I usually use. Sounds odd to me. Only 7 notes pitch corrected, but it sounds like a few more could use it.



Remix based on suggestions:

 

[TripleM]

Lead guitar tone was kind of cool.

The low end is pretty soupy. Not much definition in the bass. Everything below 400hz or so sounds kind of cloudy and muddy.

Vocal is nice and clear. Good harmonies. I might back off the vocal reverb. It's a bit thick. Vocal performance was much tighter pitch-wise.

Cymbals are a little swirly. Probably SC's fault. I might give the snare a little more at 5Khz so it snaps a little a little.

 

[BroKen_H]

Lead guitar tone was kind of cool.

The low end is pretty soupy. Not much definition in the bass. Everything below 400hz or so sounds kind of cloudy and muddy.

Vocal is nice and clear. Good harmonies. I might back off the vocal reverb. It's a bit thick. Vocal performance was much tighter pitch-wise.

Cymbals are a little swirly. Probably SC's fault. I might give the snare a little more at 5Khz so it snaps a little a little.

Thanks. Best tones I've come across so far.

Thanks! I had forgot to go through and see what needed hi-passed. Kicked the 10s up and the 18 down on the bass to give it more definition.

Really, thanks. My voice is my biggest headache. I've got a short echo running on highly compressed parallel channels left and right with that reverb, so it might be coming off as too much reverb. No, you're right. I cut the reverb and the nice on the side echoes are still there nice.

Shot both snares with the 5k and it really brings them forward. (I've got my drum kit I've been using + a percussion set with a piccolo.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

The percussion is very busy here. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I might look to ease it up in a few spots.

The trumpet, I'm afraid, has not turned out very realistic at all. You seem to have some kind of glissando between notes that trumpets just can't do. The notes are also really consistent: very little attack or decay; it just hits the pitch, stays there, and stops. Which isn't reflective of most actual trumpet playing.

 

[BroKen_H]

Thank you sir. I'll play with some fade ins/outs on the trumpets. Those glissandi are actually based on a trumpet player I heard...he'd end notes occasionally by having them fall like that (the betweens, maybe not so much). Thanks for the input. Really want it to sound realistic. The pitch bend at the end was as close as I could make midi and a pitch correcter get to his bend. The trombone underneath could get away with simple bending...

Working on the drums already. Too much high hat for one. AND it got too simple during the choruses. Added some kick to that just to keep it similar. So, simple drum beat under the percussion...and maybe not so much on the variations? That what you mean? Just stick to the timbales and piccolo snare mostly, with wood blocks and agogos and cowbell at specific points. Again, I'd like this to sound like something an actual percussionist would do, so I need the input!

 

[BroKen_H]

Okay, here are all the changes we talked about. (Haven't retracked the vocals at the first, yet)
Pulled out some reverb. But pushed a bit harder with the echo.
Reworked the bottom end
Pumped 5K life into both snares. Got rid of a bunch of percussion going on + increased the kick in the choruses.
Tried some semi-natural variation on the trumpet's volume and got rid of the between glissandi. Hopefully it sounds better.

 

[Stratomaster]

Good song-I like the guitar tone in the opening, Santana!.Mix seems lacking in the high end in general, maybe some high end on the snare sound, can barely tell if there are cymbals. I like the horn part, really makes the chorus distinct. I finally heard an acoustic guitar towards the end-on second listen I hear the acoustic but this seems another area where you could generate some high end energy. The vocals are good with good performance, though I would have sat them just a bit more into the mix-but that is just a personal preference. Have you tried high shelfing your master a bit? Overall-a nice listen!

 

[BroKen_H]

I listen to a lot of Salvador and the percussion and horns are just par for their music. Never really cared for Santana (not that the music isn't amazing, I just never got into it...)
I love a good, detailed critique. There are VERY few cymbals in the song. I think, maybe 8 or 10 hits in the intro and solo total. The acoustic is maxed on it's fader, not sure how I got it so quiet...I've been staring at that, too. I'm wondering if it's getting buried by all the different timbale/drum/wood block/cowbell hits. Might try ducking the percussion from the acoustic and see if that works...and yes, I'd love to bury my vocals, but thanks for the compliments.

 

[kcearl]

I really liked the tune, it has a late 60s vibe about it in parts that I liked


I liked the trumpet...as a synth guy Im not super fussed about realism, I thought it was a welcome part...kinda reminded me of "Love" around "Forever Changes", maybe it was the melody


I thought the vocals sat out a bit in the mix and that it was too busy with the percussion. but overall a great tune.

 

[wizardof7]

Right at the beginning the end of the second lead , the last note seems to be bent to a quarter tone . It doesn't resolve well . I like the tone of the guitar . The drums seems to be hiding a bit . They lack punch . The drums need to be louder . I'm not a huge fan of the trumpet synth . I think you could just as easily do them with guitar . Vocals are good . If you listen to it at low volume you can hear it the drums are too distant . Cool tune .

 

[BroKen_H]

Keith - Thanks for the listen, man! Glad you like the tune. Really glad someone likes the trumpet part! Compressed the vocals to death (11:1) and yeah, they still stick out a bit even though I turned them down. Would really help if I knew if you were listening to the original or second mix, though. I cleaned up the percussion on the 2nd some. Maybe it still needs more.

Wiz-Glad everyone at least likes the guitar tones. Appreciate the time you took to listen. Yeah, I've got to put some time into paralleling the drum channels to bring them forward and get them more definition...I'd like a bit more punch to the kick and most of the percussion parts are just kinda meh. The snare at least sounds good after Trip cued me in on the 5k thing... Funny, everyone likes this vocal, and it was the one I was afraid of putting out because I thought it stank. That bent guitar note is also a matter of contention. Some say it doesn't resolve (as you have), and others tell me it brings a sense of tension to the beginning of the song that they like...

 

[ido1957]

Good mix - the guitar could use some comping - that tension is .... tense. The very last quieter part where things end seems a wee bit low. It's a good effect, but for me it drops off a bit. Other than that I like what you've got, vocals are sitting perfectly and the whole thing sounds really smooth. Tiny changes, and I'd call it done.

 

[BroKen_H]

Thanks Gerry! I still think the vocals are a bit too far forward...by comping, do you mean compression, or pick a take that had a better note? Maybe I could stick it in Melodyne and move that one note closer to pitch?

 

[ido1957]

Thanks Gerry! I still think the vocals are a bit too far forward...by comping, do you mean compression, or pick a take that had a better note? Maybe I could stick it in Melodyne and move that one note closer to pitch?

I think the vocals are ok where they are but you can make the final choice there. Yep - by comping I mean cut and paste. I usually do a dozen tracks of everything, just so I have lots to pick from. Or I go to a different section if I can't find anything if the phrase is the same. I've never tried Melodyne on a guitar lead but it's always worth a try. Guitar notes with bends might be a bit tricky.

 

[Armistice]

Your lead guitar is noticeably pitchy - either your intonation is out or one of your strings is out of tune - not sure why no-one's mentioned that to you so far.

 

[jimistone]

Nice song Broken.
I listened to the remix. The bass and kick sounded great. All the instruments sounded well defined and nice and warm without any muddiness. Nothing harsh or shrill sounding. I don't have anything to gripe about in it. Great job man.
I really like the song by the way. Great lyric!

 

[BroKen_H]

No time off since Wednesday. I'll look at this as soon as I get some...
Armistice: Yeah, been pointed out. Looking at doing some autotune on it. Don't know if one string was out of tune by the time I got a decent take, or what, but I'm not much of a guitar player, so that's comped from about 50 takes. Some may be more or less out of tune. For those who don't think autotuning is the way to go, sorry! My music, my bad playing, my fix.

Jimi! Thanks, man. Trying to write some good lyric for this entire 12 song project. Couple of catchy tunes, couple of catchy lyrics...that was what I was shooting for.

 

[andrushkiwt]

No time off since Wednesday.

geez, i thought my 3 12-hr shifts in a row were bad. at least i have 4 days off now. hope you get a nice break too.

i really like the chord progression and melody. i thought the vocals were mixed really well. i hear a little chorus effect under them, ya? I was kind of thrown off by the salsa-type percussion underneath a general rock tone, but I got used to it after a bit. Honestly, if you didn't say it was a trumpet, I would never have guessed it. It was actually (to me) very similar to the lead guitar tone used by Santana in "Smooth". The whole tune kinda went that route, particularly with the congas, or whatever they were (i'm not familiar with the percussion instruments, sorry).

really good mix, perhaps a little too wet overall, but still very good.

 

[BroKen_H]

I get Wednesday off this week...had to use Saturday to rebuild the master bath throne (technically a day off, but no time for what I want...) Fun project, pull the toilet, tear out the tile, cut out the bad flooring, spray the mold, attach new joists to support the new floor, reassemble. Took 9 hours (including two trips to Lowe's for parts and tools). Estimate was $500, so my $130 spent was well worth it. $370/9=~$41 an hour I paid myself.

The chorus effect is there, but it's because there are two parallel channels (Left=distorted, Right=Limited) that are reverse phased (they're about -18dB from the main vocal). Still gonna work on cleaning up the percussion, but really wanted that salsa-rock Santana/Salvador/Los Lonely Boys type of feel. Have to take more looks at the trumpet/trombone and see what I can do to get them clearer. May be congas, thought it was timbales, but those sound different. The big bongos, anyway...and you say you're not familiar
Thanks for the listen and the compliments. Especially, thanks for giving me things to look at to improve!

 

[andrushkiwt]

I'm not, seriously. I call everything congas. lol.