New Song - Mix Help Please

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dewhitt

dewhitt

Dave DeWhitt
Hi All,

I just posted a new song to my Soundclick page called "What I Know Now" and I'm hoping to get some mix feedback. This song is just a fun, rocking, cheesy tune, and I had fun writing it and coming up with the parts, but the mix was difficult for me, because I ended up with almost 60 tracks of "stuff" that all stayed in the final mix, so it was really challenging to try to find space for everything and I'm not entirely sure I was successful, especially at the end of the song, when just about everything is going at once :)

SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads

Let me know if it works, or if it's just a mess.

Best Regards,

Dave DeWhitt
SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads
 
You'd never know there were 60 tracks - even at the end. I think it sounds full but not crowded. Good rocking tune - the quiet down part is a nice changeup. Lots of good stuff here...
 
Great tune, dude. I like it. Some nits:
@ 1:50, the "La-la" entrance is a bit messy.. But when they get going, they sort themselves out.
The drums need to come up about .8db. They get slightly covered when everything gets going.
The vocal fader-increase when everything slows down, then comes back up sounds a bit cheesy. Keep em' low, then increment them with each change of vocal pattern.

Other than that, dude... Sounds great! Love the up-beat'ness of it all!
 
I like it a lot Dave. The "so goodbye" and "...come out of the rain" lines both form a great kick into their respective instrumental sections. I'm a sucker for that harmonica sound too.

Does one of the vocal layers in the verse have a little more high end than the others? It doesn't sound like it's all over the vocal or even in every layer, but I think there's a bit of essing there that could be tweaked. That's my only nit though.
 
Does one of the vocal layers in the verse have a little more high end than the others?
Click to expand...
He might be talking about the effect you have on your BGV, not sure...

Nice.
 
PoeticIntensity said:
The vocal fader-increase when everything slows down, then comes back up sounds a bit cheesy. Keep em' low, then increment them with each change of vocal pattern.
Click to expand...

Hey Jason, thanks for the listen and the great feedback. You always zero in on the stuff that I'm agonizing over before I post :) With the above ^^^ I tried that vocal crescendo about ten different ways and none of them were great, so maybe I should just nix it altogether. I feel like there needs to be something there to lead back into the last chorus/outro but for the life of me, I can't seem to find the right part. I was noticing the drums were a little low last night too, so I think I'm going to have to pull everything else down a little, because in typical fashion, I've crowded the upper end of the levels, and I don't really have room to push the drums up now without getting them squashed by the output compressor. I like the upbeatness of this song too...I was due for a cheesy, upbeat song, the last couple I've done have kind of been downers :)

Rob, I appreciate the comments. The harmonica was fun, although I'm not much of a harmonica player...lol. I'm thinking LastDays was probably right below when he noted that you might have been referring to the BGVs in the chorus, but I'm not 100% positive. The weird thing is, with this tune, I didn't really put any "effect" on the BGVs, just a little low cut on the EQ and some light compression. I'm noticing a pronounced "phasey" sound with all the BGVs in the mix though, which doesn't usually happen when I record them and mix them this way, so I might need to spend a little time trying to figure out why and correct it. I'll take a closer look at the sibilance and upper EQ levels when I do that too.

As always, you guys rock!

Best Regards,

Dave DeWhitt
SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads
 
Hey Ido1957, somehow I missed your post when I replied above...I guess I should have my coffee before I start posting on forums :) Thanks for listening, I'm glad you liked it! I feel almost like I passed some kind of test, finishing this mix with all these tracks. I'm happy it doesn't sound like it's too much going on.

Best,

Dave
SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads
 
I really thought you had a phaser effect on your BGV! I guess it would be nice if it was that simple eh?
 
Yeah that's just great. Love the guitar sounds and the positioning of them!!!!! More cymbals maybe?!?!
 
Sounds like a really nice mix to me....love the harmonica and guitar solo too.
I like the mix just the way it is.
 
Thanks, Elton and Steven, I appreciate you taking the time to listen and comment. Glad you liked the song and the mix! Lastdays, nope, no phaser, but I guess the multiple takes of vocals just slightly off from each other is making it sound like there is...I'm scratching my head as to why that is this time but I've never really noticed it much before when I've recorded BGVs that way. Oh well...

Best,

Dave
SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads
 
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Dave,
Wow man, I really like that one! The lyrics were clever, the riffs were simple, the vocals were on. That was a catchy romp - :D fun. Now just a songwriting nit to give you a hard time ;) - You said this was gonna be a fun, cheesy tune etc. But you couldn't resist the urge to try to make it different with twists and stuff. I think you are the most dynamic songwriter in here - your arrangements are usually pretty advanced compared to my mine. But here you have a chance to just go with the pop-rock-commercial flow and for the breakdown you throw in different root chord and different beat and the end of the (very cool) lead and....then.....it just stopped and you went back to the main riff like you should have done in the first place :confused:. :D Listen to me, I'm trying to become a better songwriter and bring you down to my level at the same time - sheesh!!
;):drunk::D:cool:
Brad
 
Hey Brad,

Dude, you just made my day...lol. I appreciate the compliments sincerely :D

Dave
 
dewhitt said:
Rob, I appreciate the comments. The harmonica was fun, although I'm not much of a harmonica player...lol. I'm thinking LastDays was probably right below when he noted that you might have been referring to the BGVs in the chorus, but I'm not 100% positive. The weird thing is, with this tune, I didn't really put any "effect" on the BGVs, just a little low cut on the EQ and some light compression. I'm noticing a pronounced "phasey" sound with all the BGVs in the mix though, which doesn't usually happen when I record them and mix them this way, so I might need to spend a little time trying to figure out why and correct it. I'll take a closer look at the sibilance and upper EQ levels when I do that too.
Click to expand...

Hey, if the harmonic sounds good enough, you are good enough! One of my favourite things I've written is a really simple harmonica line. I'm not much of a player either, but sometimes they can just produce some very nice sounds.

The comments I made about the vocals were the esses sounding a little heavy in the verse - on the 'say this but it's true', 'happiness' and 'sleep' lines, and I wasn't sure whether it was coming from the lead vocal or one of the layers behind. It's certainly not a biggie though, so I don't want to overstate it!
 
I think this is probably the best mix that I can remember hearing from you. Nice kick/bass relationship. Maybe boost the drums just a hair. Good job overall.
 
Wow, Dave, I don't think I've ever heard a mix of yours before. I had no idea you were so talented. I really like the song and the performances. A couple of small nits here and there, but I really like it. So give us a rundown on who's playing what. Is that you singing? Did you write it? Its a very catchy tune.
 
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