Life - Remixed.....think im nearly there and need your views..

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NickHall

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Thanks all of you who offered advice on the song earlier on.

I've done a few things (prior to mastering this friday....):

a) Vocals are a little more compressed and higher in the mix, I also eq'd a little to get rid of some of the sibilance....(However I've lost all ability to listen to this track now after weeks of messing with it, and am now not sure if the vocal is 'too' high in the mix...)
b) Double tracked the acoustic, and panned left / right (more left quieter right)
c) compressed the bass a little to try and remove the 'muddyness' (is that actually a word.?)
d) Numerous other tweaks here and there...as you do....



I in the meantime went to the shops to buy some new acoustic strings for a gig I did on Sunday, and came back with a new Martin.....(damn expensive strings)....sheesh... and after all that, the new guitar needed restringing....bah. WATYF. tried a couple of taylors, but preferred the sound of the Martin....havent recorded it on any of the tracks yet, as I didnt have time to start from scratch.

Would appreciate any last comments before going to master on Friday

Cheers guys....

Nick
 
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Sounding good...

I can't give you many pointers in the way of mixing, I'm pretty new to this... But I can tell you that it sounds good to me - and a really nice song too....! Good job mate.

Dave.
 
I think the vocals are just there and not too front as you were saying. The song sounds very radio friendly to me, nice pop thang.

Me likes it... thank you very many....


Someone mentioned this earlier. but I also didn't like the spoken parts. They sound a bit absurd to me, but hey it's your song and as I said it sounds good. keep on popping

Riku:D
 
Hey dude, congrats on new axe.
I tell you I was going around for a whole week and singing that chorus "I know ...."

This sounds realy good though vocals are a little too up now.
Actualy they are just right in some places and a little too much in others. But don't listen to me :D. If it was me I would try to "work the fader" on the vocal a little to even it out. Then at mastering it would probably even out.

Great song. Oh no... it's in my head again .... aaaaaaaaaaahh

" I know ..." "I know..." " I know ..." "I know..." " I know ..." "I know..." " I know ..." "I know..." " I know ..." "I know..."
 
I just compared with the first version that i downloaded and the voice sounds much better in the mix to me. bass is much less muddy, best improvement you made imo. also the drums sound more 'stereo' for some reason.

still a great song. i think you should mic up that new martin and retrack the acoustic personally. also, the talking voice thing could be a little narrower in frequency. sounds too wide wide on the bottom and too present in the mix. check out the amy phillips stuff. might work better if it was more in the background.

congrats on the new guitar. as irrational a decision as it may have been, if you ever regret the purchase (like when you can't pay rent or something) just remember that there is a guy on homerec who once sold his car to buy a piano and had to ride his bike to work for a year.
 
Thanks Guys,

Dave52: Aw gee, thanks (blushes)

Riku: Ditto. I like the spoken parts, but then I've been pissing around with this song for so long now, I actually hate it, cant listen to it, and that was there from day 1. If I started removing things now, I'd end up in a looney bin.

Fed: Good good, again thanks. I listened to it in the car on the way to work this morning, and figured the same. I shall be automating the faders in a few minutes....

erichenryus: Thanks. I did pan a few of the drum inst's around a bit until they stopped clashing with other bits. e.g. there is a fairly 'bright' lead rhythm coming from the right speaker, and i finally realized that the hi-hat was clashing with it a lot, so the hi-hat's now in the left speaker. I also pushed the kick right a tad, and the bass left a tad....all in all worked quite well.

I had a quick go at micing the Martin last night, but as I'm in for mastering on Friday, and cant do much tonight or tomorrow, I'm gonna struggle. Its gonna take me a coupla weeks to get used to the 'sound' and where to place the mic. This coupled with the fact that I lost my OM-6 the other day, means Im having to do all mic recording purely with my Joe Meek...which doesnt really add enough oomph (hypercardioid and therefore no 'oomph' on its own...). Ive also had about enough of mixing this song, so Im gonna stick with the guitar as is for this one (I'll more than likely be in the studio recording with musicians in the near future, so I can get it redone then.....)

As for the speech bit, It was recorded a looong time ago, and i cant remember how I got the effect there in the first place. Ive always struggled with the bass in it, due to the effect I used, but have as yet, not found a way to reduce it.

As for regretting the guitar, no way man! lol.....ALL my gear has
been impulse buys...to the extent that I now have 4 acoustics, 2 saxophones (one worth £3k..), a Les Paul, a VS1680, A roland JV1000, a Boss Dr770, a...etc.etc....my spare room is worth more than the contents of the rest of the house (and probably the neighbours...)

I know the deal with the car thing though, I once sold my bike, just to get a drum machine....lol

Keep em comin guys... and Ill post the mastered version after Friday!...

NIck
 
Right on the mark!!This mix is proof that this clinic helps at least a little bit!Compared to your first mix of this tune this is excellent.Sounds perfect to me.You did a really great job of re-mixing and tweakin!;)
 
I like the rhy instrument coming out of the right side...like a 'leslied guitar'. It has a nice full sound to it, and I'd like to hear your strumming acoustic on the left to be its' equal...as the mix seems "tilted" because of it. Also, I am a believer that your instrumental solo should come up as loud as your vocals...which are champs, btw. Can you get a nice stereo piano sound? I'd also consider starting the song out with the acoustic WITH the drums, as the drum sound is not that killer by itself to be solo'd to start things out. Your "repeat echo vocal" could be lower in volume, imo.
At 2:37...can you bring things down even more?...that would be nice....more dynamics....and build back up to your solo and WHAMO...your solo is thrust to the front stage.
Very catchy tune....borderlines on getting a bit long for this style...but, I can easily live with long songs;)
Sorry about the random, out of order thoughts, but I listened twice and typed while listening....
Some strangeness on the very final fade note...like your phaser is mis-behaving!! Oh yeah...the lead gtr licks could come up in volume and peek thru the singing, as long as they don't trowce on that lead vocal.

overall...nice
 
The first thing I noticed is "great vocals". If that's you singin' you've got a wonderful voice. I did think the drums as a whole could come up in the mix for some more definition. But, as a whole, great job.
 
NickHall said:
Thanks Guys,


Riku: Ditto. I like the spoken parts, but then I've been pissing around with this song for so long now, I actually hate it, cant listen to it, and that was there from day 1. If I started removing things now, I'd end up in a looney bin.


NIck
Click to expand...

I've been there done that... You'll get to point where you can't hear anything and you are totally confused. I think the song is very solid so keep it that way. ;)
 
Thanks guys.

As I said, I've now run out of time...so other than small fine tunes to the mix, its going mastering tomorrow....

Kramer: Thanks bud, very true, I've been struggling with 'how good' my mixes are, and my g/f is sick of hearing my songs. Whenever I play them to her and ask her advice, she says 'its good' (very helpful). I'm so glad I finally found a place where I can get constructive feedback.....it makes a world of difference... :D

Mixmkr: So many comments to answer!..(thanks ;)). I have to say, it does sound like the bits and bobs you'r talking about now are relatively 'small' issues compared to the biggies I had when I started it. As I'm now out of time, I'm gonna have to live with these.
The guitar on the right is indeed a Les Paul, running through a Gated reverb, then a delay, then a plate reverb...sounds quite nice...It is supposed to be over to the right but balanced by the lead guitar licks in the left (as It only really kicks in big time during the chorus..) the acoustic is also panned to the left, but bringing this up to match the right only muddies the mix and doesnt help balance (the sounds are totally diff' freq's..)
The lead solo...hmmm, the problem with this is, that its not actually guitar, its synth guitar, and the more I bring it up in the mix, the more 'synth-like' it sounds. I agree it could be higher, but I'd rather live with a nice sound than a louder 'synth' sound...;)
I think I'm gonna cut the entire drum intro off, rather than add the acoustic to it....Im not a big fan of intros unless they actually 'acheive' anything. as this will be the first song on the CD, mebbe coming in straight may have more impact...
As for too long.....I've been thinking that for a while, most of my songs are 3:00-3:30, this is 4:00. I have thought about removing one of the double chorus' which should take 20 sconds out....but hey, I can do this after mastering if need be....
Phew!...other than that, the few dynamic issues..I'm not gonna worry about for this mix....I think I've played with it enough...and you know the deal, you bring one instrument up, and it can screw the whole sound...which I dont have time for now..lol....
Many thanks ;)

MONTE: Yuppage, tis I singing...in fact its all me, everything (I did try and get my Sax, and Didgeridoo in aswell, but thought it might be a little OTT...) :D.

Riku: Exactly. This song has been around for a year or so now, on and off, with different instruments, diff vocals, diff drum beats. I 'think' this is the last time Im ever going to change it.....(until I record it with a band................)

Huge thanks guys...Its really helped!!.....

Nick

http://www.nick-hall.com
 
Great track, Nick. And it really sounds wounderful (at least through these cheeps headphones *lol). I think you've got the right balance there

vegar
 
on to the master!

Nick, this is not "nearly" ready...it's ready now. It's natural to second-guess yourself at this point (what could I have done differently? what needs tweaking?) but really, it's ready to go.
You've got the most important elements covered (singing, melody, lyric) and the rest supports those three elements nicely.
Congratulations on the great song, and happy mastering!

Mark
 
Thanks vegar + mkg,

I finally made a couple of minor tweaks before mastering and 'I AINT TOUCHIN IT ANYMORE!'

1. Cut out one of the double chorus' so the song is now around 3'50
2. Cut the bass on the spoken part and lowered it slightly in the mix
3. Lowered the vocs, drums and acoustic slightly in the 'quieter' bit so it gives the Solo more oomph (nice suggestion mixmkr - it worked) Logic automation is a king....

Im gonna be positive now. THIS IS THE FINAL PRE MASTER MIX.

w00t.



Thanks to all for making it sound sooooo much better......

You all have until tomorrow morning to tell me if I screwed it up ..lol

Stand by for the mastered one tomorrow evening ;)
 
I like this much better than the original.

I really like the song. Great vocals and instruments. The falsetto note in the chorus comes on a bit strong, but not too much.

Great job.

However, I still REALLY don't like the spoken answer back. I think that detracts from an otherwise terrific tune.
 
looking forward to hearing the mastered version. this is a great song with a great hook. fine work.

i'm really looking forward to hearing more stuff from you with that new acoustic guitar!
 
First, you got a great voice.
The song is really good too.
Don´t like the drum sound that much though.
No feeling..I don´t know..
Overall..it´s very good..
 
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