Follow The Money

Cuzme

Cuzme

New member
Hey all,
I'd love some criticism of "Follow The Money" at http://citizenonemusic.com/

I recorded this in my living room (Velvet Hammer Productions) to Logic Audiothrough an HD 896. I have my own opinions but I'll wait on them so as to not put words in your mouths. Thanks a lot, I appreciate any comments you may have. Much love,
Chris Cuzme
 
Really? No thoughts, eh? Forget the political aspects of the song itself, I just want mixing critiques.

Instrumentation:

Male vocal, Acoustic guitar, Electric guitar, Moog bass, Drums, Wurlitzer electric piano, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, and baritone saxophone.

OK, I got a crappy snare sound to tape (computer), and the drummer was very inconsistent in his attack...There is a pretty bad hiss on the wurlitzer that I could not get rid of; the wurly had grounding issues but had to be recorded that day given people's schedules and the leaders sense of urgency...he wants to send it to public radio and everywhere he can...

other than that, despite not owning any pre-amps I think the instruments were tracked well and very clean.

I put a lousy reverb on the bari sax solo because I rushed through the mix given the amount of time I had so I added a preset plug-in for "saxophone" and tweaked it just a little bit, but I intend to mix again and fix some what nots (I might even re record the bari solo...).

I had the horn section soft on the first bridge and louder on the second for effect but in retrospect I could use a bit more on the first bridge. But it feels a bit abrupt. I may write some more horn parts to introduce them sooner or at least carry them through the verses following the first bridge with small lines or something.

The vocals are a bit too upfront even though I kinda wanted that Bill Withers presence.

That being said...anyone agree/concur...have suggestions on repairing the snare (I'll do a search on this as I'm sure the topic has been discussed time and time again)?

Thanks

Oh, btw, the singer, Citizen One, wants several different mixes and will send anybody the raw tracks if they want to give it a shot.

P.S. the sound clips of poli riff raff was added to the final mix by Citizen One after it left my hands.
 
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very tasty...... yep. Very smooth, but It seems the conversion ate a little of the presence on the high end. There is an alien click on the snare in spots and it gets pronounced during the vamp for about 3 measures then goes away. on the chorus just before the reveal of the hook, I think the horns punchin it up would sound good, and then a hard Splat on 1 right after the hook would be spicy. The bass in the vamp sounds a little overnoodled, when in fact it isn`t, its just a forward in the mix elbow nudging a little with the sax and the choral vamps. Really tasteful arrangement, pickin, and the mix is smooth.
 
Thanks Toki...I think I do intend to lay some more sax section going into the Bridge...time permitting (it does help that the alto, tenor, bari players all live with me ;) ). Much love,
Cuzme
 
Nice tune. Voice is very good. Mix seems a little bass heavy. Not real bad, but there isn't much in the high end department. If that's what you went for, sorry. But I'd like to hear a bit more mids and highs in the music.
Ed
 
Yeah son, I'm feelin' this!!!! The lyrical content and voc work are so "Gil Scott Heron-ish" (one of my faves) with the music flowing with the same feel as the socially-conscious songs of the '70's done by Curtis Mayfield, T.O.P., Donald Byrd etc.
Straight-up ole'-skool jazz/funk flow!!!!

Yeah Cooze', this is MY MUSIC (you talented b@stard)!!!

Technically IMHO, I would've liked a lil' 'Verb thown on the vocs for some added depth but bruh' C, perf-wise, the vocals are on point and captured most cleanly. Musically, the drums seem a bit far back & in need of a db or 2 boost in upper freq'y's for hi-hat, cym and crash definition plus clarity on the snare (however Claudio's syncopated funk-flow is madd tite!!). Some gain-age on the rhythm git & the kit(around 2:10 of song, git seems to drop further back in the mix) would provide that "ooomph" leading to your "Grover Washington/Gerry Mulligan"-influenced, soulful, "Bruh-Cuzme-got-it-goin'-on-real-hard" solo (luv'd that Brecker Bro-type scale climb @ 4:56!! (mannn, slap some plate 'Verb on that bad boy bari solo for emphasis!!!)

Yo' Cooze, this jammie here is hot! Even my own, club/dance-music, disco-(sucks)luvin', never-feels-my-music, wife flowed to this!!!
This is ME!! This is my FLOW!!!! We gotta' talk!!

PM or call U 2-morrow!


BTW Chris, this has been burned to c/d!

'Nuff said!
 
Mad Love Q! Thanks for the accolades and the advice! I intend to do what I can to the mix this weekend.
 
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