Constructive Criticism On Song Would Be Much Appreciated! :) Thanks!

[jddrock]

Hey there!
I have been practicing mixing for the last 3-4 years. I am foremost a musician but started dabbling in recording at home a few years back. My church needed someone to make some songs tailored for the various dramas we do, and I was the guy for the job since I play multiple intruments. Anyways, to make a long story short I have been trying to learn as much about mixing(and now starting to get a little more training and intruction in mastering) as I can, especially for the last year. I have friends who have heard my music but few of them have any experience in mixing. It's great to get opinions from those who know little about audio, but if you have a few minutes, I would like your opinion/criticism/thoughts/suggestions on how to make this a better mix. I recorded and mixed this track back in Febuary and March of this year. Recently I wanted to take a look at this song again and touch it up with a few things I've learned since then to make it better. If you hear differences in the mixes where certain qualities of each are better, please share them. Here are both versions of the song(it's a cover, not original). I'm not sure what genre you would call this, but its not your typical pop song or anything like that. Please don't be shy in your feedback! I would really like to know what I should be working on so that I continually improve(not just in mixing but in playing, singing, etc... anything!). Thanks in advance! I really appreciate you taking the time to help me - Jeremy

 

[BroKen_H]

I've got the same job.
I liked the mix (#2). You'd be surprised at how much leeway you've got at church. I just did an hour and 20 minute presentation with horrid files they wanted made into a congealed whole...
Some of the files worked fine. Some I had to take live performance and line up a soundtrack to the voice I soloed out of the live take. Lot of hissy, low volume, etc. that I had to push and shove and EQ and compress to make the whole thing sound like it all went together. One song I had to step up and sing the vocal over the soundtrack and then make it sound good enough for performance.

Anyway. You're definitely on the right track here. Your song is very Disney-esque (pretty sure that's not what Michael had in mind ) which is good for wide age range audiences. Your singing matches up to the style.
Only one nit: There's a bit of an inconsistency with how you treat tracks (heavy reverb on the sticks to almost none on other instruments) that will probably fly at church, but wouldn't go without notice if you were trying to record for a release or a Broadway show or whatnot.

Hope this helps at least a little. and...
Happy Recording

 

[BroKen_H]

BTW. Don't worry about mastering volume for church. You are in control of the volume and there's not any competition. Just turn it up if you need to.
OTOH, mastering to make everything congeal and sound as a whole (as I referred to above) is pretty necessary.

 

[jddrock]

Thanks BroKen_H! Glad to find someone else with the same job, haha. Thanks for the encouragement and the notes on the mix as well. Yeah, the reverb on the song is a little strange. When I first started doing mixes I put TONS and TONS of reverb on everything(especially the vocals). When I hear my old mixes now, I don't know what I was thinking. I like reverb and I'm still learning to use it tastefully and not go overboard. I may go back on this mix and tweak the reverb on the sticks, although a part of me still likes the sound lol. I might post it back here with less verb on the sticks in a reply in a few days if I have the time. But thanks for the tips!