Original Christian Christmas Song - Please give feedback on the mix

  • Thread starter Thread starter singer202
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32 seconds of silence at the start needs to be trimmed off. The piano sounds very nice to me. I wouldn't change a thing there. The song needs something else besides piano and vocal before the 2 minute mark. It does start to get a bit monotonous. Maybe bring the strings in earlier, or bring in some percussion, or something to change it up before the 2:00 mark. I didn't notice that there was an acoustic guitar until 4:00 into the song. If it's there in the earlier parts it needs to be brought up. The string parts are nicely done. The female backing vocals sound nice. The lead vocal is pretty pitchy. If you could pitch correct them and have the vocalist re-do the vocal with the tuned vocal playing in his ear, maybe that would get him back on pitch more. That's what I'm hearing.
 
Updated....

I took the 30 sec. of silence out (not even sure how that wound up there). I also brought the guitar up a tad. It comes in in the second refrain.

I thought by having the bass strings come in on the first refrain was enough to keep it interesting until the second verse, but I'll think about adding something else.

I will work on the pitchyness. There are some doosies I missed in there. Must ahve been paying too much attention to everything else. Thanks.

Anything else, or anyone else??
 
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Hi Steve,
I'm listening now.

First impressions, you definitely have the voice for this kind of thing. I think the tone of your voice is great.

I have to agree with Zero though. The pitch is off here and there.
I definitely don't get the feeling it's an inability though. It sounds like you could just use a good warm up and a little but more strength in the vocal.

That said, the melody jumps about a bit. I wouldn't feel bad about tweaking this with a tuner if I had sung it.

At 2:20, I'd like to hear more happen, or at least hear more of what is happening.
It might just be my preference though. There's nothing wrong with they way it is.

I just feel like slightly swelling strings and a bit more from the percussion would really lift it up to a peak at 3:05.
Maybe even bring more hand percussion or something like that?

I get that you aren't going for the epic massive build up, but there's still room in my opinion.

October 24th and we're both producing Christmas tracks. :facepalm:
Feels dirty, doesn't it?


Hope that's useful to you.
 
Steenamaroo said:
At 2:20, I'd like to hear more happen, or at least hear more of what is happening.
It might just be my preference though. There's nothing wrong with they way it is.

I just feel like slightly swelling strings and a bit more from the percussion would really lift it up to a peak at 3:05.
Maybe even bring more hand percussion or something like that?
Click to expand...

Steenamaroo. Thanks for the input. I think the cello part gets lost at 2:20, so maybe if I bring that out a little it will help. I honestly stayed away from too much percussion because I havent had a great deal of success with recording other percussion instruments besides shakers....I wonder if with some creative eqing or multi-band comp that I might be able to get a little more out of the strings in the mixed piano sound at that point.....I fiddle with it.

Steenamaroo said:
October 24th and we're both producing Christmas tracks.
Feels dirty, doesn't it?
Click to expand...
Nah! I work with a choir and we have to start learning Christmas sounds in Sept., so I'm used to it....

Thanks a lot for the input.
 
singer202 said:
I honestly stayed away from too much percussion because I havent had a great deal of success with recording other percussion instruments besides shakers....

High end stuff might be enough to carry it. Do you have something in there where a snare would normally fall? It's quite hard to tell.

If there is, bring it up, and if not, I'd be inclined to hit a hand drum for a snare, and put in some shakers; Even layer up loads of them then compress them so they never stick out.

Might be worth a go.
Click to expand...
 
Definitely! Don't be shy.

If you weren't concentrating you'd think they come in at 2:20, and even then it's a strain.
 
Anyone else want to chime in here? It would be very helpful....
 
I listened a while ago. But I didn't have any comments beyond what you had already received, so I didnt comment. Sorry. I'll give it another try tomorrow. maybe my ears will be a little better.
 
So, I did a complete re-take on the lead vocal and fixed the pitch issues as best I could. I think they are much better. I tweaked the mix a little in the second refrain, and then I brought the shakers up to add some more of that percussion sound to drive it a little......unfortunately, when I did this, I realized how incredibly sloppy the shaker part really was, and therefore have to redo that too. Not sure when I'll have it ready, but I'll post it soon.
 
Just listened. Nicely written song. I have to agree with the others that said the singer is slightly pitchy, but definitely has the right voice for this song.

As a vocalist the thing that I heard, or rather would like to hear is more of the female vocalist. I think I'd pan her off to one side slightly and maybe bring her up a bit. To me it sounds like she's standing way behind the lead singer. I had to really listen to hear her part. But I have a tendency to mix vocals more evenly. I like harmonies to really blend with the lead vocal.

My 2 cents.

Joel
Studio 52
 
Joel, I'm working on the final mix now which will have a completely redone lead vocal part and I will take a look at bringing the female BG vox up a bit too. Thanks for your comments and look for the final mix in a new post in the next few days. I'd love to your your thought on the next one. :)
 
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