Dream About You

[mkg]

A little Kentucky pop. My mixing still sux (but trying to improve).
Let 'er rip!

Title is Dream About You, it's on nowhereradio, link below.

Thanks,
Mark

http://nowhereradio.com/mkg/singles

 

[jamal buchet]

hey
....the levels in this song are really good i thought.....vox drums guitar all sound good together...wich i something i certainly havent mastered yrt lol...if i were you i would be proud ! anyway im new to all this too so dont read too much into my opinion..lol

good job! jamal

 

[Guernica]

Hey Mkg.....
.....Kentucky pop..... thats a new one to me The song has kind of a T. Petty feel to it. .....cool. Im at work, so im not gonna comment on mix......these comp. speakers suck. The harmonies sound nice. Maybe just a touch more variation in the melody line might be cool. Great stuff g

 

[SLuiCe]

Love the oooh ahh's that enter around 2:00 ! Nice touch... sounds decent on monitors except I think I'm hearing a light, but steady distortion throughout, but seemed to be more distinct toward the end. I've got the windows open, so I have some outside interference....you might want to see if any gits are peaking I think. I don't hear it on just the drums in the beginning so....

Other than that, good mix and nice tune.

 

[B.SABBATH]

nice tune for the genre..

It sounds good but very compressed, and I heard the distortion Sluice mentioned....somethings clipping.. too normalized or something..

nice job overall though.. Those drums sound good in the begining.

sam

 

[mixmkr]

I agree with the above...nice drum intro..and I think the mix is so hot that its overpowering some of the playback systems. When I backed it down, it seemed best. ..but it IS right on the edge of distortion...if not just a little bit there.

Nice tune. the vocals borderline on some intonation issues too....it seems. Nice bg vocs., jangly guitars, etc.

One comment, the drums sound so good, and 'roomy' sounding, but the rest of the instruments don't get that treatment...and so they seem to lack therefore.

KY pop...I can dig it.

weirdo drum hits at the very ending too...with some noticeable noice too.

 

[mkg]

Jamal: I'm a newbie at this too, we're all learning here. Thanks for listening and for the kind comments!

Guernica: Ya, I just invented the genre (Ky. pop)...let's hope it has staying power (if I don't kill it right out of the gate!)
Actually, I was going for a little Everly feel to it, the original Kentucky popsters. The Petty comparison is well-received, as I like to keep it simple...makes me feel good about the writing. Thank you, sir.

SLuiCe: I had the guitars pretty down in the mix as far as levels, maybe it's the bass distorting, or lead vocal? I'm going back to the drawing board to see if I can track it down. I'm still mixing on headphones, which is giving me fits. Thanks for the listen and observations.

Sam: (my son's name, also, which is one of the reasons I liked you from the start) The drums are from the DiscreteDrums series, live drums played by Greg Morrow. They really sound great, if I can just get the mix right. I bought the two-cd set made especially for the br-1180...many tracks from which to choose.
See above comment to SLuiCe concerning distortion...I've got to track that down.
Thanks, Sam.

mixmkr: I saw your post just after I finished this one, so rather than post again I edited this one.
Glad you could dig Ky. pop. I'm gonna do a remix late tonight, and try to incorporate these suggestions. I'll still be on the damn headphones, though...no other choice yet, until I lay hands on some real monitors.
Thanks for the listen, bro.

Thanks to all for taking the time to listen and critique.

Mark

 

[crawdad]

Overall, the mix is pretty balanced and, for once I'm not asking for Vox up! Voice is up there fine, intelligible and where it should be.

Others mentioned hearing some distortion. I'm not quite sure what it is, but there are some tracks in this mix that have way to much high frequency energy. I can't pick out what thats from right off. Its not the vocal, so I guess its either guitars or cymbals. Hmmm.. the drums sounded OK before the music came in to join, so I guess its the guitars.

I'd say play with EQ's until the sizzle is tamed. Otherwise, the mix is where it should be, I think.

 

[Kramer]

I can dig it MKG.The song has a good hook during the chorus and I was humming along trying to find the words by the second chorus.I was actually humming a high harmony.The chorus would come to life more IMHO if there was a harmony line.(maybe some more of those ooh's and ahh's from the pre-chorus too)

The pre-chorus build up is nice with the backgound ooh's and ah's and when the chorus arrives it's just the single vocal line and it seems to fall short of what the pre-chorus was pushing it towards in the build-up.I hope that makes sense.It's late man,I need sleep.

Nice tune!

 

[mkg]

new mix up

crawdad: the guitar tracks (doubled acoustic and peizo acoustic, both sims) are hopefully tamed in new mix. The vocal scares me when it's that loud, it should come with some kind of warning.

Kramer: something like Everlys maybe? Chorus is definitely weak, that would help a lot.
glad you were humming along, that's a good sign.

Thanks guys

Mark

 

[Kramer]

Re: new mix up

Kramer: something like Everlys maybe? Chorus is definitely weak, that would help a lot.
glad you were humming along, that's a good sign.

Something like the everlys would work!Give it a try and see what happens.I just listened again and it seems like the pre-chorus is the peak of the song.The part before you sing the title of the song with ooh's and ahhs is the pre-chorus right?Musically it seems to peak at the pre-chorus also.

The last Chorus is actually working because it has the ooh's and ahhs and the guitars are busy enough to give it a peak.

Thats just my opinion of course.It's your song!

 

[Track Rat]

Not a bad mix. The drum thing at the end is a bit distracting. I hear some ever so slight tuning issues with the instruments and the vocal drifts a bit to. It's a good tune though. the drums sound very nice.

 

[mkg]

Kramer: Yes, the pre-chorus is my favorite part, at least it's the most interesting part to my ears. I love your suggestion about beefing up what comes after. In fact, I might just do all the vocals again, try to take care of some of the pitch/intonation issues while I'm at it.
One line in particular is supposed to be "please don't interrupt" but it came out "please don't enter rut."

Track Rat: Others have also commented about the weird little drum roll at the end, I thought I was being cute by using the same roll from the beginning at the end...that's what I get for thinking! I can edit that out easily enough.
You've a good ear, there are some tuning issues. As far as vocals, unfortunately what you hear might be as in tune as I can get, but I do plan to re-sing all four vocals, maybe add some oohs/ahs and harmony.
Maybe bring the lead vocal down a bit, just so small animals won't get so frightened.

Mark

 

[TripleM]

I liked the song quite a bit. REAL nice melody. Some lyrics were good - some of the others... well.... nothing's perfect. The banjo was a nice touch.

I thought the acoustic guitar was slightly on the harsh side. The vocals "bobbled" a bit on some of the long notes. The "ahhs" on the prechorus were a nice touch - but I thought the way they come up, max out, and then back off was a little too dramatic. Maybe don't accentuate that quite so much. Sometimes they weren't hit exactly right (e.g., at 2:39).

A little overall vocal practice would help.

Call me goofy - but I liked the little drum hits at the end.

Again - real nice song.

 

[Fed]

It seems you used same reverb for vocal that you used for the drums. You might want to try changing it. I didn't care much for the small room effect it gave to vocal.
the guitars sound harsh are you micing it?... oh wait it's a banjo or is it? something is out of tune that makes the song out of tune....? i think it's that banjo (i'd like to hear how it sounds without it)

cheers

 

[mkg]

TripleM: Thanks, glad you like the song. The lyric is definitely weak in spots...were you thinking of the "heaven on earth" line? That one bothers me a bit, so might be in for a change. I'd like to hear particulars on any specific part of the lyric that you consider weak, I'd like to strengthen it.
I plan to redo the guitars, as I'm having trouble eq'ing out the harshness.
So far, you and I are the only ones who like the drum roll at the end...guess that makes me goofy, too.
Thanks very much for listening and for suggestions!

Fed: As mentioned above, I'm going to redo the guitars. I used electric guitar for both, using the onboard acoustic sims. The banjo-sounding one is actually a peizo type sim...maybe I can find something more appropriate.

I bought a pair of monitor speakers today, so I won't have to mix on phones. The latest mix is still too loud in spots, so by the end of the day or some time tomorrow I hope to have a more user-friendly mix up, with guitars in tune and better singing.

Thanks to all for the help!

Mark

 

[TripleM]

I tried to send you a PM with thoughts on lyrics, but it looks like you're set up to not receive them. Can you turn that on?

 

[mkg]

TripleM, sorry, didn't realize I had messages turned off. Got it fixed now.
New version of song is now up (same lyrics but new vox and acoustic guitar, and new mix).
Looking forward to suggestions.

Mark

 

[Fed]

Is accoustic recorded direct?
Honestly, I don't like guitar sound and I don't think it's preference thing this time.

I think you kept banjo sounding thing too. it's bad. I usualy not that strong in my statesments but this one realy bugs me

Actualy new guitar sound could work if you take out the "wanna be banjo" and put some string/organ arrangement to fill it up. I think you left it becuase it's too thing without it.

Mixing wise, vocal reverb sounds much better to me.

Thanks for postin, it's good to see progress of something developing.

cheers

 

[mkg]

Fed, right on all counts. I did consciously try to make the vox fit in better, and recorded new acoustic guitar (still a sim, though).
Kept the banjo sound for the exact reason you mentioned, song was too thin without it. Your idea to sub strings or organ is excellent, but I don't have that option. I could try a different sounding guitar pad maybe? It needs something, but I'm limited on choices.
Thanks for the words of encouragement and the suggestions, I hope the thing is improving somewhat, but it has a ways to go.
First priority will be replacing the banjo pad, then maybe a lyric change in spots. Glad that you approve of vox reverb, I was worried that it was a little too wet.
The kind of help you guys are providing is very valuable, I appreciate your taking the time to help me improve.

Mark