Awake --- come at me bro!

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antichef

antichef

pornk rock
I'm getting close to completing a set of songs for my buddy's upcoming album - I've posted a few of them here over the last year - I work real slow - and your comments have been *really* helpful. Anyway, our self-imposed deadline (including a radio appearance and a release party) is creeping up, so I'm starting to sweat a bit.

Here's a mix that was tracked completely with my equipment (so, no excuses there), partially at my house, and I've worked on it quite a bit, to the point where I'm well into diminishing returns. It's one of his better songs, which makes it nice to listen to. But please - tear it up - the mix that is:



Thanks in advance (again)
 
This is soooo sweet. Love the intimate space of the mix... especially of the guitar and vocal. I think this is a bit extended and would be great "live" but the song should be condensed into its strongest parts for the recorded version.

I am not a big fan of the "whining whale sound" in the intro, but later it helps create a nice movement. I also find the song is less compelling when the percussion starts to dominate.

EDIT: Basically I'd like a 3:30 version with a shorter intro, and go light on the percussion. And "sweet" was meant as a compliment :)
 
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I think it sounds excellent. Song itself may be a little slow, but I enjoyed sticking around for it. My first reaction is that the snare takes up maybe a little too much space, but I do still like it where it is. Not a huge fan of the guitar repeated guitar lick from 3:40 to 3:48, but that's personal preference. Overall I really like it
 
Couldn't say that the mix had any "errors". Sounded very, very nice
 
I like the intro guitar whine - the essing hurts occasionally though.
Nice stuff.
 
Listened to it again on headphones. The whale sound is a bit penetrating.
 
Couple things for me....I agree with most of what's been said.
Too long. Chop that baby down some if you can.
The vol swell/ebow sounding thing is too out front. Nice touch, good idea, just settle it into the mix more.
The vocal sibilance is a little excessive to me.
The snare doesn't work for me. It's kind of....too up in the mix, and it's not played super well. I think brushes would have maybe been better for that, or if you have a snare bottom track, bring that in more and drop the top snare track some.

The good is that the music elements sound incredible. The bass is big and round and powerful without being muddy or boomy. The mids and highs in the guitars are clean with lots of balance and clarity. The whole mix sounds big and rich and very professional. Well done there.
 
Agreed with the points by Ray and Greg. Great recording. The timing on the fingerpicking/rhythm - mainly at the beginning is a little off for me and distracts from the rich mix. The push of the vocals at the end is super - it drives this into the stratosphere. I would have ended it a little sooner and emphasized that - just a thought.
 
thanks all!!!

I think I over-processed the snare, and so I backed off a bit, as well as increasing the emphasis of the undersnare mic. The faux lap steel sound (the whale) was DI, and I had a hard time with it at first, but when I found the right combination of compression and EQ, I was so pleased that I over-did it. I lowered and softened that part. I also did a mild fade-in on the guitar picking tracks to smooth out the rhythmic choppiness in the beginning.

I also ran another de-esser on the main vocal track. I couldn't hear too much essing before myself, but that's probably due to hearing damage. I can see that the plug-in is working hard, and it does sound better (even to me) now.

As to the arrangement - we have to come up with some shorter alternative arrangements for a couple of the songs (12 of them going on the CD), and your suggestions are really helpful.
 
Others are right on the essing, but don't kill that nice vocal taming it too hard.

On the arrangement.
Absolutely love the bit at about 2:30 where the vocal goes "hey" and I like the vibe that follows, but it gets a bit drawn out and only pulls itself back together around 4:05... I think if you transition that faster and cut the first 30 secs you can easily get the song from 5:20 down to about 4 minutes.

The standout for me is how "right" the vocal is, which is rare in home brew. If our advice upsets the mix then ignore us.
 
Sounds really good.

This critique comes from a novice/dilettante/etc, so take it for what it's worth... the snare is kind in no man's land, as far as the volume/attack. I'd want it played more heavily or played even more softly than it is. Personally I'd prefer more heavily.
 
Wow guys - thanks again - here's an update



No arrangement changes (yet) but hopefully less sibilance and a nicer snare
 
I just listened to the final update and you've done a sterling job of addressing issues as well as serving the song.
The cymbal bell hits around seem a little uneven volume wise and could do with some matching, (to the lower level).
Cool effort antichef.
 
This is really nice!!!! the guitars and vocal are fantastic....Not crazy about the drums. How many acoustics are there going?
 
I'm just bumping this because once you get past the intro it is really good.
 
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