New In Town... 'Medusa' - Would love some feedback.

[Phil Johnson]

Hiya Everyone... My name's Phil and I'm new in these parts. I've been looking for a good place to get some feedback on mixes and you all seem like a nice helpful bunch.

There's, I'm sure, plenty wrong with this mix, but I'm not sure how to fix it.

The drums are Slate. Guitar and Bass were done with Guitar Rig. Horn and keyboard parts are Native Instruments stuff. For some reason I never seem to be able to get the clarity I'm looking for. Same when mic'ing amps and such rather than using VI's.

No mastering on this version, so it's quiet. Though I do have trouble getting enough volume even with mastering sometimes. Without it being all squashed.

My reference track for mixing is "Suckerpunch" by Butch Walker and the Black Widows.

Looking forward to absorbing some wisdom.

View attachment medusa_mix3_nomaster.mp3

PS... Also not sure how to get the forum player on here... SoundCloud next time...

 

[Chili]

Welcome to the site. You're off to a good start. Don't worry about the overall volume, we have volume knobs.

Good song and good singing.

Song has lots of potential, but it's got some room for improvement. Drums are just about non-existent. I hear the kick and a little bit of the hihat. Vox seems a little too far forward in the mix.

Start here:

Turn everything down except drums. Get them sounding balanced and full of energy. they are the driving force of a full tilt rock song.
Bring in the bass and get it working well with the kick via level and EQ.
Bring in the vox. The vox should sit about equal or a little above the bass and kick, but not by much.
Next are the rhythm instruments; guitars, keys, etc. They should not be as loud as the bass, kick or vox. They are there just to support.
Last are the soloing instrument. In this case, the lead guitar. It should be almost the same level as the vox.

After you get all that sounding good, then it's a lot of little tweaks here and there.

Like I said, you're off to a good start.

 

[Phil Johnson]

That is a very nice way of saying, "Good try. Now start over."

Appreciate your advice. That basically the order I did things in, though I did the vocals after all the rhythm instruments. I'm going to get back in the studio again today and give it a go in this order and see if I can improve things.

I do tend to push the vocals a little higher than usual because it's a comedy music thing. The punchlines are the thing. And my fans have, on past songs, complained that they couldn't catch all the words as much as they'd like.

Open to more comments from anyone else that feels like jumping in.

 

[Phil Johnson]

Ok, it took a few days, but I finally got a new mix of this song done. I think it's got better clarity and space in it.

I don't remember most of the many hours I spent driving to gigs this week because I spent the whole time mentally picking apart the mix of whatever I was listening to.

Here's the new version. Happy to hear more comments on improving it.

PS... How do I get the little in-post mp3 player to work?