An in-progress song... "Perfect Woman"

Pinky

Pinky

and The Brain...
This is part of a much larger pop-concept album I'm working on with a long time collaborator. I do the music and performance, Scott sings and writes lyrics. Scott still has a few vocal parts he'd like retrack, but I'd say this is close to done.

I have a decent handle on the mixing part (this is not yet mastered since it's unfinished) although I'd take feedback on what's here, what I'm most wondering about is if the song holds your interest enough or should I try to introduce more layers (and perhaps a lead guitar)?

OLD Link removed, final mix available here:



[If you're curious to hear the other 9 completed tracks, scroll to the bottom and work your way up on this page: The Boogeymen.com Official Band Web Site - Free MP3s ]
 
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The mix is working for me - nothing sticks out as too loud/soft and the panning position (front/back/left/right). The drums have a cool vibe, clear but with some nice color. The chorus? part where the distorted guitar comes in beefs it up nicely - that was a cool "lift" or "thickening" I thought. More lead guitar? Sure - judiciously between lines maybe or even along with the chorus, especially if you use that same tone. Plus I'm a guitar player so there's no such thing as too much in my mind :D:D:D:D
 
You're asking more about arrangement than mixing, so here goes: I think you could use something more to mark off the sections from one another. The composition has a linear quality to it. The sections are fairly long, while the melody doesn't have particularly strong resolutions at the end of each section. It left me guessing where I was in the song at any given moment. Maybe some sort of guitar or keyboard figure might help differentiate the sections. You're doing some of that already. That overdriven rhythm guitar is really the thing that made me realize your verse had ended and the chorus begun. Hope this was useful.
 
I listened to this a couple times and I felt like a nice lead guitar would add something nice to the intro and the section after the chorus. One thing that really struck me was that the verse melodies really didn't catch me. I felt myself tuning out because the rhythms of the melody didn't feel defined enough. Since this is a pop thing, the melodies really should stick in the mind. That being said, I loved the music and the mix. Hope this helped a little!
 
I am listening on headphones.

The vocals seems the could come down closer to the mix. Feels like the vocals aren't giving the same feel as the playing.

If you guys could get the playing and the vocals together, the song would gel a lot more. Other than the vocals, mix sounded good.
 
Robus said:
The sections are fairly long, while the melody doesn't have particularly strong resolutions at the end of each section.
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the sections can stay long, but i agree that they are tough to distinguish between. the phrasing is very close throughout and not many changes occur to let you know where you are. until that distorted guitar kicks in, really.
 
I think the balance and overall mix sound really good. Well done!!

I agree with DM60. The vocals sound a bit separate from the mix. Feels like they are both playing at a different tempo or something. Or the vocals sound dry compared to the mix. I listen in an untreated room just so you know.

Thanks for posting!
 
Thanks everyone, appreciate the fresh sets of ears. It's given me some things to look at and address, as well as confirm some of what I thought I might have been hearing myself. :)
 
It's a ice performance. Has lots of feel.

I could imagine a violin playing backing tidbits, fillers, answer-backs. etc. It wouldn't have to be a violin but there is a real opportunity here. Whatever you add - it doesn't have to do too much.
 
Thanks for the feedback, I used tidbits from this thread to fine tune things and of course the song ended up filling out once Scott added his harmony vocal tracks.



If you hear any deficiencies please feel free to share your thoughts, although this is 'done' it's not difficult to make more adjustments at this point.
 
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That seems to all sit better now. I couldn't hear anything that jumped out. Sounds good.
 
ibleedburgundy said:
It's a ice performance. Has lots of feel.

I could imagine a violin playing backing tidbits, fillers, answer-backs. etc. It wouldn't have to be a violin but there is a real opportunity here. Whatever you add - it doesn't have to do too much.
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I would have definitely done this, possibly using strings where the vocal harmonies ended up, but I've already done this on two other songs (for the same album) and didn't want to lose the impact/effect those strings have. Too much of a good thing.
 
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Vocals sound better than the last version (they were still good though) and the backing harmonies have added the right touch to the song.
The electric has a nice bite to it which suits the tone of the song - the crunchy part as well as the arpeggio at the end were real "lifters" as I mentioned before.
Bass is smooth and drums have a nice live sound (but still within the mix). As DM60 said, nothing popping out, nice and level everywhere.
 
ido1957 said:
Vocals sound better than the last version (they were still good though) and the backing harmonies have added the right touch to the song.
The electric has a nice bite to it which suits the tone of the song - the crunchy part as well as the arpeggio at the end were real "lifters" as I mentioned before.
Bass is smooth and drums have a nice live sound (but still within the mix). As DM60 said, nothing popping out, nice and level everywhere.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed response, it's sometimes just as important to know what's sounding right than what's wrong.
 
The harmonies and the additional instruments improve the arrangement very much. The sections of the song sound more distinct from each other now. Good job.
 
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