For the Last Time (folk/rock)

  • Thread starter Thread starter easlern
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Nick, that sounds really good! Great vocal and arrangement. I love the song. Is it yours?

First and foremost, you need to get the vocal up and consistent. Level is fine in the louder parts, but it drops off in the softer parts to the point where I struggled to understand some of the lyrics. I think you'll need to compress the vocal more, but carefully so as not to kill the feeling. Something I've done in the music we do together is manual editing of the lead vocal to even out levels. I'll clip around a word, phrase, or even syllable that is dropping out, and raise the level by hand. The more of that I do, the less hard the compressors have to work, and the more natural the result.

Another thing you might consider is some thinning of the low mids in the arrangement, bass and keyboards primarily. That should help the vocal cut through better too.
 
Thanks Ray, I think that's probably the key, thinning out the other pieces so the vocal pokes through. I've automated and squashed the vocal pretty good so I think I need a different approach.

The song's mine, wrote it a few weeks ago. :)
 
Wow, I love this song. Teri does too. Seriously good writing!
 
It's a catchy song, Easlern. Are those drums programmed? They sound a bit stiff and a little busy (almost like a polka beat) for the tune, and a hair too loud for the mix. The claps sound fake to me. They have a mechanical feel. I'd record real claps (if they're real then egg on my face).

The rest of the mix sounds good.
 
Thanks for listening Nola! You got the drums right, they're programmed, I'll see if I can get them to be a little more human/loose. The claps are me. :) Seems like I always end up making my drums a little loud, I'll have to compare them to some commercial tracks. . .
 
easlern said:
Thanks for listening Nola! You got the drums right, they're programmed, I'll see if I can get them to be a little more human/loose. The claps are me. :) Seems like I always end up making my drums a little loud, I'll have to compare them to some commercial tracks. . .
Click to expand...

Egg on my face!
Did you clap differently thought-out the song or record one clap and copy/paste it? It just seems the same to me so you're either a really consistent clapper or pasted it. Haha.

A lot of commercial tracks have the snare almost as loud as the vocal. The thing is since your drums sound programmed/mechanical I'd bury them a bit more. IMO decisions like that change song to song and depend what you're working with. Like if you had real drums and they had a human feel they'd be fine at the current volume. It's tempting to bring drums up because they give the song energy and drive. See what other people say, though, because others might find the drums to be fine where they are.

To make the drums more human, I'd just put the snare hits a little late to slacken it up a hair and get rid of the Polka feel, and then put a very minor (3 to 5%) swing (i.e. a lilt) on them.
 
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Thanks for the drum notes Nola. I did record claps throughout one chorus (triple tracked) and copied them for the others. Maybe it's down to how I did eq/effects for them, I can tell you I'm kind of a sloppy clapper haha. But I'm glad it sounds consistent.
 
A lot of commercial tracks I'm listening to lately have the drums at least this loud. Bass, drums and vocal with everything else kind of poking through in rounds...just to keep your ears hearing them. Don't know if you've heard the type.
Anyway, nice song.
Bass could use some more pressure, push 80Hz and under just a bit to bring it around. Cut (fairly narrow) at about 125 if it gets boomy.
Guitar (solo electric) on the left could use 1/2 a dB. Like the organ tone. Very nice. Acoustic could use a 5-8k boost to bring it out.
I like the vocal. Bring it forward a bit. Nice whistle solo.
It's clean. No mud. Everything is present.
The more you listen to the song, the better it sounds. But most people are going to hear it in a mix and it needs to stand out the first time. :)
 
I thought the drums sounded much crisper and had more high end than the other tracks. The rest of the instruments and the vocal sounded a bit muffled by comparison.

I liked the singing. That was good. Double tracked vocals would be nice.

To me the bass should be lighter in a mix like this. It's kind of a light toe-tapper and it has this big boomy bass. Didn't fit to me.

Little pop at :44. Not sure, might just be a guitar artifact.

Harmony vocals? Song is screaming for them.
 
Thanks Ken! I'll try out those eq's. The organ is a stock logic instrument, it has some surprisingly good ones!
 
Thanks for listening triplem, I did put a little high shelf on the drums. I might reduce it or take it off, it started sticking out to me too as I got some of the other tracks rounded out. I hear the boomy bass too, I've had a hard time getting it to fit with the kick and other instruments without also eating up everything. I usually pick but this one I played finger style, it's something new for me.

For additional tracks, I thought about adding one or two more, I'm always worried about adding tracks though cause it's like squeezing springs into a shoebox- I get a new one to fit and it causes a different one to pop out. . .
 
I agree with the vocals coming up. Other than that, I didn't hear anything wrong with this, nice little tune.

I didn't notice your clap. ;)
 
I'm hearing the vocal better. It may be a hair too loud now, for my taste. Somewhere between where you were on the previous take and this one would ideal for me. I'm hearing an odd texture to the drums, almost a scratchiness in the upper mids. Are you applying a lot of EQ boost there? Nice performances all around. Good guitar playing too. I'm hearing more detail in the electric guitar than I could hear on the previous take.
 
Thanks Ray, I don't have any boosts on drums now. I'll give a listen tonight or tomorrow so my ears can reset. . .
 
New mix is sweet! Could use just a bit more kick. Maybe duck the bass off it so it shines through a bit...for the genre, it doesn't have to be punchy and in yer face, but it's still a bit quiet.
Catchy tune. Good vocal.
 
I am listening on HPs (Old Sennheizer 560 and audio box USB) , everything sounds really clear through them. Sounds good.
 
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