First Fire

[guitarmonkus]

Hey if anyone has a couple of minutes could you check out a song I just uploaded and tell me about the mix?

www.purevolume.com/followthebirds

Called: First Fire

I know about the hissing in the song. It's annoying and you notice it, I know. I'm mainly worried about the mixing starting around the 2:00 minute mark till the end.

Thom

 

[heatmiser]

Hey Thom,

Well, this is certainly different . I think it is a cool tune. I like the melody and what I caught of the lyrics. The main acoustic guitar riff is bouncy and cool, but I just don't get where you're going with the mix. The sounds are all kind of odd to me. Maybe this is exactly what you want, but cetainly not right in a conventional sense.

The guitar sounds like it was captured direct with some sort of pitch shifter added...kind of sour and no sense of space to it. The drums are small sounding and again have no spatial presence...just...there. The vocals sound like they could be cool but they also lack fullness.

Again, I think the song itself could be very cool if tracked and/or mixed in a more traditional manner. I appreciate unconvential stuff, but feel like this misses the mark in some respects...sorry, just my .02

 

[guitarmonkus]

Hey thanks for checking it out heatmiser and for the honesty.

I don't pretend I know anything about mixing. I'm recording on a Tascam DP-02, so mixing is somewhat limited. I mess with the EQ alot and I try to find space for everything to fit and not get all jumbled up together, but yeah I know I am not the best.

But you talked about vocals alot, but the song I was directing toward doesn't have vocals at all. Were you listening to First Fire?

Thanks again,
Thom

 

[guitarmonkus]

Oh but also, you said that it's not a conventional mix. Agreed. What could I change to make it sound more pleasant to the 'ol ear drums?

 

[heatmiser]

Hey thanks for checking it out heatmiser and for the honesty.

I don't pretend I know anything about mixing. I'm recording on a Tascam DP-02, so mixing is somewhat limited. I mess with the EQ alot and I try to find space for everything to fit and not get all jumbled up together, but yeah I know I am not the best.

But you talked about vocals alot, but the song I was directing toward doesn't have vocals at all. Were you listening to First Fire?

Thanks again,
Thom

Oh man, I am so sorry . I listened to a lot of stuff on here last night and must've missed that. I'm afraid my comments were about the first tune on your player, "70". See if anything I said makes sense in reference to that tune .

Now, I will try to check out the tune that you actually wanted me to listen to . Again, my apologies...

 

[heatmiser]

Ok, so I listened to first fire this time

It is an interesting little ditty. Kind of reminds me of the old Doctor Who theme song at times.

I'm getting the same kind of vibe from this mix as the other one though...synths sound ok, but the drums sound really muffled and the kick especialy sounds kind of flabby. I dunno, I'm listening on bookshelf speakers w/ a sub hooked up to a laptop, but I'm pretty used to it, and your mix seems to be lacking brightness. You have good separation of sound. I can certainly hear everything clearly, but the sounds I'm hearing seem a bit muffled and one-dimensional.

Sorry if I'm not describing it well and I don't mean to be a downer. The performances are fine, I just think they could be mixed and or tracked a bit better. Maybe someone else can offer more helpful advice or perhaps reassure you that I am full of it .

 

[ido1957]

First fire is very well mixed and all the parts fit quite nicely together.

I found musically that there were some lead parts that sounded slightly off kilter and some that were fabulous (second half).

I would aim for more of the latter if you're striving for a "pop" type sound.

The former sounds more experimental/indie, but I'm a pop fan so take that accordingly.