New Seconds To September Song

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Bisson820

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Hey guys, so my band is recording a new demo which i am engineering.

This is not a finished product, but im looking for some early critique/enjoyment

The title is not really "I Love You" its an inside joke the band has lol.

anyways, heres the soundcloud.

 
I love the guitar tone at 1:05! And the double track/harmony leads are very well done and sound great.
 
Thank you!!!

i have a concern about the vocals however. not really a concern... i like how i have some of the vocals distorted but i wanted to hear some other opinions
 
Hi

The vocals in the left channel around 0:50 sounded a little harsh. Like the harmony guitars around the 2:00 mark. The distorted vocal idea works, but those bits could have done with a bit of EQ cut to make them a bit thinner and make the effect stand out a bit more, the change is quite subtle.

Like the guitars. overall the mix sounds good.
 
Sounded pretty good. Nice vibe to the song. Good performances. I like the singer.

I thought there was a little too much switching back and forth from distorted to non-distorted vocal. It works well, just a bit too much of IMO.

To a small extent I thought the low end of the guitars were covering the bass and kick. I also thought the bass covered the kick a little bit.

Lastly I might raise the vocal (or drop everything else) by a db or two.

Nitpicky stuff. Good sound.
 
Sounds too compressed for me but the radio would like it... It's a little muddy for me. I can hear all the instruments very wel but there's just a bit of a blanket over it all. I have not read any other comments so I leave that as just my opinion.
VERY modern sound and this would, again, suit Top 40 Pop/Rock the writing is great. The vocalist whoever he is needs to ask for more money as he is definitely a keeper, lol, actually the whole backing band is equally tight so don't worry ;-)
Great tune! :D:D:D:D
 
The vocalists are myself and my brother. thanks for the feedback!

do you have any idea of what instrument might be causing that muddiness that you hear?
 
I'm hearing the muddiness too. It's funny, it sounds weak in the bottom, but it's still muddy. The bass, kick, and snare are all mired in a fog of low mids. It's not real bad, but it definitely takes away from what otherwise could be a decent pop mix. The kick is a boxy woofy thud instead of a powerful presence. Not enough slap, and too much energy in the low-mids. I'd look to scoop somewhere in the 100-400 range and do a tight boost around 50. Look for the slap somewhere up around 5k and play with some compression. EQ the bass to work with the kick better. An EQ sweep will pinpoint offensive frequencies. The snare might take more work. Snare sound is totally subjective from person to person, so I'm not gonna tell you what it needs to sound like, but I know it can be better than this. Again, smart EQ and compression can bring a snare to life. The guitars and vocals sound great. I don't usually recommend blindly rolling off frequencies, but it might help this mix if you high pass the guitars around 150-200 or so.

Also, what's your monitoring situation? You said my mix needed more bass while this mix is muddy. I'm wondering if your room is deceiving you.
 
My monitors are krk rockit 6... room is deff bad, im well aware im fighting an uphill battle with that.

also the only low end for the majority of this song is the kick... since the bassline is so high up on the neck

can you notice a difference in the sound quality from the first and second verse? the reason i ask is because the first verse we have a loot of backing vocals and maybe thats causing some of the muddiness?

there's none of that backing vocal stuff in the 2nd verse.

I'm trying to pinpoint the problem child.
 
Bisson820 said:
also the only low end for the majority of this song is the kick... since the bassline is so high up on the neck
.
Click to expand...

That's not true. Just about everything has low end in it. Some more than others. Playing a bass high on the neck doesn't mean that it's not still occupying low end. You can play the E at the 7-12th frets on most basses and it will boom and shake the walls. Also, low end energy eats up headroom and space in the mix. Do some smart EQ'ing and you'll see what I mean. I'm not saying to kill all the low end. I'm saying to kill the right slivers of the low end. If you get it right, things will come to life and become beautifully clear before your very ears without you even touching a fader.

Bisson820 said:
can you notice a difference in the sound quality from the first and second verse? the reason i ask is because the first verse we have a loot of backing vocals and maybe thats causing some of the muddiness?
.
Click to expand...

No, it's muddy pretty much from the first note and stays throughout the song.
 
yea i expressed what i was trying to say poorly... what i was trying to get across is that i feel its very important for the kick to have power and presence in this song due to the bassline being played higher on the neck (energy) rather than bottoming out (power).. .if that makes sense.

and even when its just the drum/bass build up? because that narrows down the spectrum quite a bit :P

Also how does the high end sound? symbols?... toms? i know your a drum guy greg :P
 
Bisson820 said:
yea i expressed what i was trying to say poorly... what i was trying to get across is that i feel its very important for the kick to have power and presence in this song due to the bassline being played higher on the neck (energy) rather than bottoming out (power).. .if that makes sense.

and even when its just the drum/bass build up? because that narrows down the spectrum quite a bit :P

Also how does the high end sound? symbols?... toms? i know your a drum guy greg :P
Click to expand...

I'm all for the kick carrying the low end. Make it happen. I prefer midrangey bass tones myself, so I generally try to have my kick thumping away at the bottom end. Everything works together, so it's hard to pinpoint exactly where your problem lies. I know that, for me, the kick sounds terrible, so I'd start there. It doesn't sound like a kick, it sounds like a tupperware container. The toms and cymbals sound okay to me. The guitars and vocals sound great to me, and I can listen loud without ear damage, so the highs seems fine to me. Your problem, to my ears, is just a build up in the low mids compounded by less-than-great recorded sounds. The more I listen, the more I'm hating the kick drum. It has no balls or punch. It's a muddy, fluffy, woof - like a wet cardboard box. Fix it! :D
 
wait a minute... since when were kicks NOT supposed to be fluffy??? :P

i wonder if i fucked up by messing with a multipressor on the master track :x

feel like giving the mix a shot? ;)
 
let me count it in my head since im at work and not in the "studio" ...

if i remove the vocals 19 or 21

10 drum tracks
1 bass
1 rthm guitar
2 lead guitar (verse)
2 double tracked Rthm guitar (chorus)
2 lead guitar (chorus)
1 bridge guitar.

i think thats it, but im not positive.

if you want the vocals too then its 1 main vocal, 1 harmony vocal, and 4-6 backing vocal
 
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