Dealing with the loss of a loved one

Way too much reverb on the piano.... it sounds like it's coming from a room next-door.

The vox is also a bit too verb'ed, but not as bad as the piano.

The BGVs sounded good. Nice harmonies. I think those are the vocals that you want to "wash out" using heavier reverb/effects... but the main vox could use to be right up in my face. Could use a few more BGVs parts. (to change things up every once in a while.)


Strings were a nice compliment. Coulda used a bit more of those too... maybe after the second verse from then on or something.


Decent recording, though... but you really gotta bring that piano forward way more. It's the primary instrument, and the fact that it sounds like it's not in the same room as the rest of the tracks is very distracting.


WATYF
 
Would you mind posting a dry version? I have a feeling it could have more impact with a dry sound.

Nice song. Great vocals. Arrangement is good as well.
 
WATYF said:
Way too much reverb on the piano.... it sounds like it's coming from a room next-door.
Click to expand...

This is exacly what I was thinking from the start.........the vocal and the piano sound like they're in diferent rooms.......

I like the verb on the vocal, maybe just tone it down a bit on the piano............

the strings are a nice touch.......maybe a slight touch loud, but not much......

nice song too
 
It used to be totally dry, when I added the reverb I thought - Wow, this is exactly what I've been looking for.....but

That's what I love about this forum, it's the extra set of ears that you don't have.

I'll post the dry version later today.
 
Lynx,
I'll leave it to the others here to critique the sound, mix, and whatever.
The important thing is you've created a beautiful & sad song. I really like this type of writing/music.
 
Thank you reaper. This song has a personal meaning and I wasn't really interested in a mix critique to be honest, I was just thinking that someone else might find comfort in the song at this moment.

Regardless, I still greatly value the opinion of the people here so I'll try to improve, that's part of making good music.
 
Very nice song. Kind of has a sad, Brian Wilson melancholy quality to it which is nice.

I really like the playing, but tend to agree a bit with the actual verb sound of the piano. I'm listening on headphones and it does kind of sound like the piano is in a different room...sounds like it could be more up front in the mix.

Very nice addition of the strings. You have a great voice. There are some real nice vocals on this.

:D

Just went back and read your last comment ... then without worrying about mix stuff, the actual song is very good. It is honest and that is all that counts. :)
 
mixing aside..............VERY heartfelt performance.
Every album should have one.
Congrats on the song and vocal.
Dry that keyboard up and you have it done.
 
I like the words and melody of your song. The mix sounds distant and a bit hard to understand, kinda like there is wax over it. I am not technical enough to really say what is what, just my ears responding. Walter
 
Nice tune. I see what everyone else is saying about the piano. It is a bit distant sounding, like 90% effect.

Not that that couldn't work, but the vocals are upfront enough that it sounds a bit odd to me.

A little cliche, not extremely so. It's hard to write about death in a pop context and not have it sound like that.

Nice stuff!
 
01:46 - 02:00 -> These backup vocals are outstanding.

I like the strings, those are some really good samples, would you tell me what you are using there please ? And I think you use them effectively, minimally. I like the real attempt at 'arranging'. I would not pan them about, that is easily abused.

When the instrumentation is sparse, when there isn't a lot going on ... this is the optimal time to let everything come to front dry as a bone.

The less that is happening in a mix, the more we are tempted to fill up that space with ... reverb , which is really just noise.

You have to 'justify' the mix. Give the listener a reason, why you are using reverb ... setting the stage ? ... enhancing a lyrical element ? ... defining the arrangement ? ... justify your use of effects ... ESPECIALLY when the mix is thin.

Pedullist hears it ...

This is a real piano isn't it ? If it is a real piano ... shame on your for covering it up with reverb ... :D

Dry up the entire mix, then ... select focus areas to appy verb, like the harmony vocals, and structure the use of effects to give the song ... breath ... and flow.

Create a landscape, the verse dry, like flying over a desert ... the choruses open up with lots of verb, like entering a dark cave ... and then popping out into a valley ...

Think about how that would sound.

This song is begging for this type of treatment.

I just came across a fella at http://www.speermusic.com , and I"m hearing a bit of 'Seal' or even Dave Mathews in your voice, things are really going well with you and you seem to be very productive.

This fella Speer is in the same ballpark as you with respect to vocals.

I'm keeping my eye on this mix, becuase I'd like to put the real strings in there.

You've almost fooled me into believing these are real strings, maybe I just want them to be real !
 
Hey studiovols - These are just string samples from my Roland XP-30. There are some nice string patches on that thing.

OK, I now have a dry version up, I can see what everyone is saying, I prefer the dry one as well.

Any thoughts?
 
Hey man,
I A/B'd the mixes....dry is so much better....


good song man....

ususally I would comment more on such a good lyric....

I'll just say that it's very cool and appropriate...
this is a well written song man.....

later,
Joe
 
I really liked the tune, the vocals were great for setting the mood.
I didnt like the piano sound either, was tinny and "far away".
Listened to the dry version and its way better.
I felt that with the piano standing out better you could drop the volume a little or kick the vocals up a little. There were parts of the vocal in the end I thougt were a tad to low.
I like the song alot though.
I liked the way you waited to add the orchestration.
 
Last edited:
Hey Joe, thanks for the comments man.

dragonworks - Thx man, yeah the dry works better for me now. I have a tendency to over-produce at times.
 
Huge difference, and improvement.

The backvox at 0:44 now really create a huge space when they come in ... and we as the listener are 're-focused' as we return to the verse.

And I would go further here to reduce the volume of the piano, as the intent of the mix serves from this point to really, really let the lead vocal shine ... because ...

At 1:50, the backvox are LOUDER than any section of the lead vox, and this is unbalanced.

If you reduce the piano before this point, let the leadvox come out stronger and louder, ( Compress the lead vocals, bring the levels up, the piano steps on some of the lead vox at times.),

if you will do that, then when the backvox comes in it is more of a general dynamic, and fits better in the flow of the song.

The leadvox dips to very low levels at some points, so compressing it, and bringing up the 'average' level is very important for this song.

Now that the mix is generally , 'more believable' ... the panning of the strings is very un-natural. If the strings were to perform with you live, or in the studio, as a quartet for instance, they would probably be on a single stereo channel ... they would at the very least all appear on one side of the mix ...

You could 'clone' the track, and put the entire string submix on one side, and then 'shadow' it ... on the other side with a very verby submix of the strings.

Huge improvement.

Now, I actually enjoy listening to this song, and see even more potential for improvement.

Good job.
 
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