New Song - Close to Final Mix - Feedback Requested

  • Thread starter Thread starter dewhitt
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Dave... Them drums sound *good*! Yeah, man... Listened to this twice, and can't come up with many nits. At first, I thought the drums would be really, really loud in the mix, but as the song progressed, they seated themselves quite nicely.

As far as performance goes, and this is all 100% personal preference, but during the chorus, the drummer gets a bit snare-happy. I'd take out a few of the snare hits, and follow the bass-line with the kick more. But, dude, that's splitting hairs. *Great* song, great recording, great mix. Keep em' coming!
 
Hey Jason, thanks for listening! Yeah, the song definitely builds up, which was what I really wanted - to try a different song structure and production approach from what I've been doing. Your comment made me smile because the first time I played back the polished drum track in the mix for the drummer in my studio he got a funny look on his face when the drums first came in. I waited a minute and he said "ok, I was thinking that kick was way too loud, but now it's fine". So...I'm wondering if maybe I should pull the drum levels down a little at the beginning? I'll take a closer listen to the snares in the chorus too.

Thanks for the feedback!

Best,

Dave
SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads
 
Nice 6/8 vibe on this. You beat me too it, damn! I got a 6/8 tune that's gonna be my next post. :D Hey, this is a real nice tune; little vulnerable - I like it. I wish I could wrestle that kinda emotion outta my voice..uugh :mad:! I can't offer much mix advice, cuz I'm at work listening to it on poopy I-pod ear buds :(. Which, by the way, is probably the way most people will end up listening to your music anyway. I sounds real good though, nothing outta place, vocal sits REAL nice. Intro's just a bit long, but no biggie. I like how the bass is doing most of the heavy lifting, while the guitars are kickin' back a bit - tasty :D
U rok brutha!
:cool:
 
Hey Brad,

Thanks for checking it out. Just like you can never have too much cowbell, you can also never have too much 6/8 :D I'm looking forward to hearing that new tune!

The songwriter/arranger in me was thinking about cutting down the intro, but then I realized that the buildup from the intro to the peak of the song in the middle is what makes the whole tune for me, so I left well enough alone. I am hoping that since new parts are being layered in continually throughout the intro, it doesn't get too boring.

I'm off to see if I can figure out a way to get a cowbell into my next song...

Best,

Dave
SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads
 
dont have anything on the mix just wanted to say what a good job this sounds, both performance and mix...very nice work Dave


might stick it back on now :)
 
Dude--just listening to this song made my day. I love your stuff! The writing, the performance, the mix--it's all spot on.

If I had to find one complaint, it would be that my stuff doesn't sound this good...yet.
 
Hey Keith, Steven, and Bob, thanks for the listen guys, and I'm glad you enjoyed it! Steven, I'm going to put this one to rest for a little while because I'm sick to death of it at this point, but I might come back to it later and play around with some harmonies.

Best Regards,

Dave
SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads

PS. Bob, I think your stuff sounds pretty darn good, sir! :)
 
first: very cool song. you have a great voice! i like the drum sound.
mix & esp. the vox could have a little bit more depth. at the end it sounds a little bit distorted, maybe too much limiting or not well prepared for the limiter.
 
Sounds great Dave - the drums do seem a bit at first but then get nicer later. I've seen that happen in a number of tunes - can't really say why...maybe it's just our ears! I like it!
 
Karumba, thanks for the listen and the feedback. When I talk about depth in a mix I'm talking about time-based effects, like delay, verb, etc. Is that what you mean here? I'm not hearing distortion, but I definitely wouldn't rule it out - I mixed this one really loud and turned a blind eye to the little red LEDs that were blinking on my meters :D

Thanks ido...I'm thinking with the drums that it's just maybe the timing of then they come in, because there really isn't much else in the mix when they start. I may try a mix with them pulled down .5 - 1dB at the beginning and see if that sounds ok. Of course, I may also just call it finished and go have a drink instead :)

Best Regards,

Dave
 
This is a well written and performed song. I really like it a lot. I too thought the intro was a bit long until I saw how it fit into the grand scheme of things. Don't change it.

Downloaded!!! Thanks for sharing.
 
Hey Chili, thanks for the listen and the feedback on the intro. I usually try to adhere to the "rules" of pop song writing, and one of those I think is to have the vocals, or at least the main hook, start in the first 20 seconds or so. I kind of threw out the rules on this tune, the vocals don't start until around a minute in, but I think it works ok. Glad you ended up liking it in the end :)

Best,

Dave
SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads
 
I thought this was really good. Only a few nits...

I think the chorus would sound much better if the lead was double tracked and there was a nice three part harmony that followed the melody line (vs doing "ah's") all the way through.

Words at the end of lines tend to get lost. Simple fader ride could fix it.

The bass is a little strong and a little boomy. A little notch taken out somewhere between 100hz and 200hz would help it behave.

Other than that - I thought it was real good.
 
Not bad. Very 90's sounding.

Everything sounds pretty good for the most part. The bass is a little boomy. A little tighter bass with more definition would be cool, but this aint too bad. The drums in the intro are way too loud. They sound fine once the song gets rolling. I'd suggest some automation there. Bus the pieces to one group track and ride the fader or automate so they're not so obnoxious in the intro, then bring em all the way back in once the song picks up. Your drummer is beating the hell out of that snare during the choruses. It's a little much, even from a drummer's perspective. Too many hard snare hits. I think the idea there would work better with light accents between the downbeats instead of full force whacks. I'd try a different pattern, but whatever. That's just my personal opinion though. Good job overall. :)
 
TripleM said:
I think the chorus would sound much better if the lead was double tracked and there was a nice three part harmony that followed the melody line (vs doing "ah's") all the way through.

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Quite good, but the chorus doesnt stand up as well as the rest of the song. Needs something like that ^ or further development of some kind. Enjoyed listening!
 
Hey there... good stuff. I'm only listening via small headphones, so can't get too much detail.

I'm with Gerg on the drums being a tad loud during the intro and also being pummelled a bit hard on the chorus... I don't mind where the hits are, he's just pounding them a bit hard.. a lighter touch would IMHO work a bit better.

A couple of spots where you're singing down low in your register I think your voice fades into the mix a bit much - "disconnect" in the second verse for instance... I'd ride the fader up and down in a couple of spots, just a touch, for that.

About the only other thing I heard was just in the final second as the last note dies down, you get a bit of amp hum and the guitarist taking his fingers off the strings... OK if you like that sort of thing, but I'd try to kill it if poss..

Keep it up. Top song!
 
I didn't realise there was a thread for this, but I happened to go listen to Dave's page after he commented on one of my tunes. I think it's really good, besides the few nits that have already been mentioned. But, overall, I'm really digging it.
 
Greg_L said:
The drums in the intro are way too loud. They sound fine once the song gets rolling.)
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I think they're the right volume for the tune. But the reason they seem loud at the beginning to everyone (myself included) is because that piano isn't very loud, even though the piano is also the right volume once everything's playing. What I would do is start with the piano much louder and then fade it to the volume it's at now once everything comes in.
 
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