Black Mirrors - pop/rock/alternative, feedback?

  • Thread starter Thread starter andrushkiwt
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andrushkiwt said:
It's really not! Tell me what's giving you that impression, I really want to figure that out. Is there a particular instrument that seems to be smashing or something? It's only getting -3.5 on the loudest part and input of about 4db.

I'm going to guess it's a compressor somewhere else, maybe on the kick...or how much I used on the bass, perhaps? I really want to get to the bottom of that and see what it is exactly. Thanks for the listen and comment 3M, much appreciated man
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I'm not at a spot where I can listen. I'll do my best to give it a re-listen in the next couple of days. I'll keep your comment in mind when I do.
 
I find the harder the song (toward the rock spectrum) the more I compress the bass. It just sounds better that way. Mellower tunes or country/folk - ish tunes I write have a lot more dynamic in the bass tracks.
You never cease to amaze me. Incredible talent you have. I think I've already told about DistroKid, so I won't bore you with how cheap it is to get your music out there.
Lots of great guitar tones, and yes, the drums are a bit wide spread, but it's not problematic. I've heard similar on the radio (where this really belongs).
I'm not going to even try to nit this mix. It's really good. I would give this production nit: I heard about you could use a bit more vocal (echo, higher harmony...something) at each iterance. That's it. Excellent song. Excellent work.
 
andrushkiwt said:
I did make the vocal performance rather dynamic in emotion.
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See, I felt it was kind of the opposite issue. You emoted so much in the verses that there wasn't anywhere to go in the chorus.
 
I haven't read the other critiques....it tends to skew how I listen and respond.
I think this is a phenomenal recording. Everything is clear as a bell. Every instrument in this mix has its own place in the sound Spectrum. Nothing is walking over anything else everything's in its own place. I think it's a fantastic vocal...a well recorded great performance. There's plenty of bottom and plenty of sizzle, a perfect balance. There's not really much at all to criticize here.
The only thing I would suggest, and this is really a personal preference,....I think the vocal level needs to be hotter at the very start of the song. It's not buried but I just think it needs to really stand out grab the listener's attention.
Killer song and fantastic recording!
 
BroKen_H said:
I think I've already told about DistroKid, so I won't bore you with how cheap it is to get your music out there.
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Yeah I really need to start doing this. I'm thinking I'll get 10 on my favorite songs mixed real well and then give an album a shot? Or individual songs? Not sure what's better. I like the thought of putting out an "album" lol, makes it sound....more, uh, complete...and legit. :guitar:
 
VomitHatSteve said:
See, I felt it was kind of the opposite issue. You emoted so much in the verses that there wasn't anywhere to go in the chorus.
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hmm... Here was my thought process:

the verses were abnormally low in register. That's my fault for never singing these aloud until recording time, only having them in my head. So, I figured I'd give the lower vocals more energy by emphasizing things differently or more emotionally since the chorus vocals were rather high and powerful. I thought the melody on "winding road", along with the music behind it, was the hook here; and so I just needed a decent verse take where I didn't destroy the attention span of the listener. The only way to do that was go a little above and beyond with the low notes, which were rather hard to do actually. But I wanted it "intimate" sounding in the verses, like where you could hear breaths and things like that.

Maybe I overdid it. Come produce for me next time. :D
 
jimistone said:
I think this is a phenomenal recording. Everything is clear as a bell. Every instrument in this mix has its own place in the sound Spectrum. Nothing is walking over anything else everything's in its own place. I think it's a fantastic vocal...a well recorded great performance. There's plenty of bottom and plenty of sizzle, a perfect balance.
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Hey thanks man. There's def sizzle. Maybe too much in the vocal. I used 2 de-essers, one before compression and one after, and it still sounds a little too sizzly in the 7-10khz range. I don't know, maybe not. Maybe it's system-dependent or something. My car stereo (the deciding factor for me) has a lot of treble so that might be overemphasizing it.

Glad to hear the midrange isn't bombarded. But I wouldn't call it a great performance...I did 13 takes. And I had a really hard time picking these phrases out. Some of the lines only had a single good take, and the rest were pitiful. I should post them sometime so ppl can get a good laugh. I'll get a chuckle when I'm sitting down to do vocal comps/edits and I hear, "when she foooolllows the ..F!&K!!! Son of a sh%t (bang)". Pretty hilarious.
 
Second listen...

It still sounds to me that it's squashed in the chorus. But it must be caused by the crunch guitars competing with the vocal. Perhaps if you just lowered the guitar only db or even less it'd open it up a bit.
 
TripleM said:
Second listen...

It still sounds to me that it's squashed in the chorus. But it must be caused by the crunch guitars competing with the vocal. Perhaps if you just lowered the guitar only db or even less it'd open it up a bit.
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that's certainly a possibility. i need to automate more, or even just trim volumes in sections more frequently than i do now. basically, "ride the faders", just in digital form. i don't do that often enough. thanks for reinforcing that
 
I listened to the soundcloud link in the OP. Assume that's the latest mix. That sizzle in the vocal that other mentioned is what jumped out at me immediately, because it's very evident in the quieter part at the beginning of the song. Is that a plugin, or some kind of interaction between compression and ambiance? Or even a soundcloud thing? Anyway, it's bothersome in the verses. I don't hear it so much in the chorus. Apart from that, not much is jumping out at me. I do think the doubled lead guitars are competing a bit with the lead vocal in the part I mentioned to you before.

Cool drum outro. Reminded me of the intro on 1979.
 
Robus said:
That sizzle in the vocal that other mentioned is what jumped out at me immediately, because it's very evident in the quieter part at the beginning of the song. Is that a plugin, or some kind of interaction between compression and ambiance?
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I'm really not sure what it is, to be honest. It could be a poorly set or placed de-esser interacting with one of the vocal compressors, not to mention there's a top boost somewhere in the vocal chain. I do know what you're talking about. It's in the 4-8khz range and sizzles over softer parts. One, I had to "emote", as Steve put it, and I wasn't controlling my voice very well there. Two, that microphone is naturally bright. Three, the chain isn't set properly for that specific vocal channel. I wasn't sure how big of an issue it'd be, but thanks for mentioning it. Laziness on my part.
 
andrushkiwt said:
Hey everyone, please give a listen and comment on the mix, if ya can.

Eh, a little different one here as it's certainly softer, but still a bit of screaming stuff here and there as I like to add in. I wrote the music last month and have battled the mid

I like your work here, it's amazing the production quality of the members in this site have.
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The sizzle in the vocal sounds to me like the mic itself. I've used a lot of different mics and (imo of course) the made in China condenser mics all have that sizzle. I wrote about it somewhere on the forum in the past and people were offended so I don't want to start a controversy. Anyone can ignore the opinion. I think they are fine mics IF they are modded with better capsules/components (~100-$150). I don't know what mic Andru uses or if it's even made in China but it has that sound to my ear.
 
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