Half Way There

[Tadpui]

Ah, good to hear something from you Tad.

Stylistically and vocally, it sounds way different from what I remember of your other stuff. Nice job on the vocals btw...

So, yeah, I guess the bass is a little loud/rumbly, but I didn't mind it that way, except that it seems to be clashing with, or covering up the kick, which I couldn't hear too clearly.

I thought the snare was a little too far back and/or too dark. I'd like to hear it snap or crack a bit more. Toms seems unusually loud to me when they come in, especially relative to the snare. For a first effort at drum tracking though, it's really quite good. Much more together sounding than I got at frst (maybe even later on? lol).

I'll definitely get the snare dialed up a bit, maybe some ambience and/or EQ, and I'll drop the tom mics by a couple dB and see if that evens things out. Thanks!

Tad, cool style. The only issue I have with it is the bass. Very boomy in that 80-100hz range. Is it a P-bass? I have to notch as much as -9db sometimes in that range on a p-bass.
Unfortunately the bass is so boomy I can't even focus on the rest of the mix critically, but from what I can tell it sounds good underneath.

Yeah, it's a P-Bass. I've got a few tracks on it (direct, mic, and a duplicate of the direct that's lo-passed and compressed all to hell). I can't remember how the faders ended up, but I think that I ended up ditching the super compressed low end track. It may be in there a bit still. I'll check when I get to revisit this in a day or two.

Yeah, the bass EQ or drop it down a litel in overall volume. The lead guitar part around 1:35 could come down a notch. Snare up a just a bit. Definite Bowie ripoff!

Very good, thanks. I've obviously got a blind spot in my room's bass response. I've gotta get that remedied.

Tad, this sounds cool as fuck - the snare is the only drawback to me - it doesn't really cut though.

I'm probably in the minority but I like the the bass sound - its right there really warm and drives the song. Can really hear the Bowie influence with this - and I love Bowie - seems like there's a little China Girl run on the bassline. I think the lead guitar at the 3 minute mark could come up slightly, you appear to slightly fumble a drum fill at 3:10 too. Doesn't really matter though.

This one is gonna end up on my "Best of Mixing Clinic" mix-tape with Bubba's Game Over and Armistice's Stalking Horse.

Thanks JD! I'll take a look at that guitar bit and the drum fill. I might have one or two after the fade out that I can use instead, with a little copy/paste

The bass reminds me of the Stay riff. I didn't find it too boomy but I agree with other comments on the snare. Goof vocals. On headphones they sitting nicely in the mix

That's definitely it! The riff from Stay. I'd listened to Station to Station not too long ago, looks like I lifted part of that bass line inadvertently. Hmmm...

 

[TripleM]

I thought the drums sounded pretty good. Snare is a little thick - could be lightened up. Cymbals and toms are great. So is the kick.

Clean-ish guitars sound real nice to me.

Bass sound is very good.

Lead vocal is sitting a bit too far on top of things. Sounds noticably dryer than the other tracks.

 

[ibleedburgundy]

Sounds cool. Good tune. The mix right at the beginning is nice. I think you lose it somewhere though.

Like the vocal sound. The backups might be a little muddy. I have no idea how to fix that. Maybe EQ?

The bass is a bit muddy.

Helluva first time tracking and mixing and playing drums! One thing about the panning of the toms - you do that descending fill so many times, to have them panned that much and running left to right - it kinda accentuates the repetitiveness of the fill - which is really not a strength here IMO.

 

[Tadpui]

I thought the drums sounded pretty good. Snare is a little thick - could be lightened up. Cymbals and toms are great. So is the kick.

Clean-ish guitars sound real nice to me.

Bass sound is very good.

Lead vocal is sitting a bit too far on top of things. Sounds noticably dryer than the other tracks.

Thanks man, I hear ya on the lead vocal. In mix #2 I tried to address that but I think that as I turned down/adjusted everything else, they may have ended up back on top again.

Sounds cool. Good tune. The mix right at the beginning is nice. I think you lose it somewhere though.

Like the vocal sound. The backups might be a little muddy. I have no idea how to fix that. Maybe EQ?

The bass is a bit muddy.

Helluva first time tracking and mixing and playing drums! One thing about the panning of the toms - you do that descending fill so many times, to have them panned that much and running left to right - it kinda accentuates the repetitiveness of the fill - which is really not a strength here IMO.

Yeah, I had like 4 or 5 fills in mind when I was rehearsing the song, but in the heat of the moment I ended up just hammering that same thing over and over. I'm still a novice drummer, hopefully some more practice will help with my on-the-spot creativity! Thanks for the suggestion, it really does get me to thinking about fills and panning.

 

[Tadpui]

OK, here is mix #2, which I stuck in the original post as well.

Not sure that I exactly nailed it, but I'm a little rushed as I prepare for a vacation and I won't be able to futz with this for another couple of weeks. Thanks so much for all of the suggestions so far, I really appreciate the feedback.

Things I jacked with:
- Adjusted the bass guitar. Ditched the uber-compressed low end track, compressed the whole thing with about 4dB of GR, made a big cut around 80 Hz, and turned it up a bit to compensate
- Added a big bump to the kick around 5K so it doesn't get so lost
- Added room reverb to the snare
- Turned down the toms
- Turned down the lead guitar
- Turned down the lead vocal and its highlighting octave double
- Countless other minutia

Hopefully this is getting closer!