New pop punk song

How would you rate this mix?

  • Very good

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Good

    Votes: 2 100.0%

  • Decent

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Bad

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Very bad

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    2
B

Big Thier

Member
Ok guys, this is a song I've literally been working on for a year. I'm about to release it, and I'd like some feedback on the mix.

Bandcamp streaming is 128 kbps, but you can download it for free in lossless format.

You guys are actually the first to hear it. Thank you!

Close The Door (demo) | Eve Of Spring
 
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Hey man. The guitar distortion is super smooth to the point it's blending with the cymbals. Sounds like sim distortion with heavy EQ cutting out the harsh but losing all bite on the guitars in the process? There's a bit of mud in the typical 400 range. Maybe you can cut that on the entire mix on the master buss or during mastering phase, though it is always best to figure that out during the mix. The vocal is super dry so it's sitting on top of the mix. Just a hair more of reverb or delay on it would help it sit. The vocals at the end have what sound like audible autotune artifacts. I can see a lot of ambition went into this and appreciate that and commend you for it. I could be wrong in what I'm hearing so see what others say. I DL'd the better copy and the 128kbps sounds worse so anyone else giving feedback should listen to the download.
 
Thanks for the comment. I removed some of the 400ish frequencies in a couple guitars, and added more reverb to the vocals. I updated the Bandcamp version.
 
Cool, I think that helped, but I wish you left the other up for comparison.
The guitars seem clearer. Don't do this yet, but I think you can probably boost them like 1db around 2k or carve out more mud. This would allow the kick more breathing room, too. Can you post a shot of the guitar EQ?
Is the autotune effect on the vocal at the end intentional? If so, at the least it can benefit from de-essing on the move plosive sounds that are triggering it.
 
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Well, there are many guitars, probably close to 10. Do you have one in mind you want to see? And no, the Auto-Tune artifacts aren't intentional, but I really had a hard time with the guy who pitch corrected my vocals, until the point where I just said what the hell, this will be it. Oh and I also turned down the bass just a notch.

If you still have the one you downloaded, you could compare the 2.
 
Big Thier said:
Well, there is many guitars, probably close to 10. Do you have one in mind you want to see? And no, the Auto-Tune artifacts aren't intentional, but I really had a hard time with the guy who pitch corrected my vocals, until the point where I just said what the hell, this will be it. Oh and I also turned down the bass just a notch.

If you still have the one you downloaded, you could compare the 2.
Click to expand...

No I didn't DL the hard drive, just temporarily into memory as it played.
Are you able to access the tuning on the vocals or no? If you can access that track just take off some correction on them, and/or go in an manually de-ess the really glitchy ones. If you lower those in volume they won't be as noticeable. You can look on YT how to manually de-ess. It would help with the autotune artifacts, I think, because they sound a lot like overly essy vocals. You might have to render the effect on the track first so it modifies the sound wave. Or just live with it as-is. Maybe people won't notice. I'm really sensitive to autotune so see what others say.

The fact there are 10 guitars is definitely why it sounds claustrophobic and muddy (though it does seem improved from the first mix). What is the reason for so many? It actually begins to narrow the mix, which is counter-intuitive, but also so much frequency buildup in certain ranges that step over other instruments (e.g. the kick in this example). I'd limit guitars to 4 (personally I never do more than 2 rhythm guitars, but 4 can work if they're playing octaves or something) and then EQ them wisely. Maybe pick the 4 most important and post the EQ curves if you wish.

If this is how you are hearing the song you should roll with it b/c you can wind up chasing your tail listening to others too much. See what others say but be the judge. I voted "Good" on the poll because the performance is tight and the mix isn't that far off.
 
Nah, all I have are the raw vocals, and the corrected ones. I don't have the project file or anything. I know the tuning is obvious, but this is pop punk, and I'm not really a good singer anyway.

There's not 10 guitars playing at the same time, and some of them are turned down so low that you can barely hear them in the full mix. I think during the first half of the verses there's only 2 rhythm guitars and 1 lead.
 
Good Job.

My ears tell me that the snare and kick need a little more presence, maybe some boosts in the higher frequencies. Also consider removing some 300-500Hz of the kick and then compress it some more. The guitars sound really good though.
 
Skip the poll. It's unnecessary. Your voice reminds me a bit of VomitHatSteve, who I'm sure will be along to give his critique.

I like the song a lot. Composition is great. Very catchy. Vocals are out front as they should be. I'm going to make the same comment as before about the autotune effect. Why are you doing that? You don't need it. The genre that you're working in has not been overrun with cheesy vocal effects as so many other genres have been. Why demean your song? Otherwise, for me the low end needs to come up a little, bass and kick drum.
 
The first thing that hit me was that the tempo was too fast. A couple of BPM slower, to me, would be a big improvement.

Guitars were OK. To me, a bit too much gain dialed in. They border on mushy.

I like the singer.

The cymbals are kind of splashy and indistinct. I could use a couple more db on the snare. probably the kick too.

Bass was OK. Maybe a little soft.
 
The 'click' of the kick is too much ()for my taste) in places - usually in the last half of each 'chorus'. Agree that the vocal needs to delay or reverb to sit better in the mix. Sounds good overall for the genre (my wife liked and said it sounded like Blink 182).
 
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