Please critique my mix

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gordyr
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Gordyr

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Hi guys...

I'm a solo singer/songwriter from the UK and would love some feedback regarding my first trial mix of a song I have just written and recorded.

The mix was done late at night through headphones and since listening back through my monitors I feel that the both the bass guitar and the drums need to come up a little. Also perhaps a low pass filter on the piano as it sounds a tad bright at the moment.

I am just a kid who writes and records music in his bedroom so I know I have a lot to learn. What I really am after is some advice on where I can improve this mix. Any ideas on making the vocals sound better?

Also I should point out that the ending section is going to be completely redone. I have a cool idea for where this is going to go but haven't had a chance to implement it. You will know notice that there is currently no bassline in this outro section. There will be. It's just comments on the general mix and song I am after.

I thought about adding some strings in at the second verse. Any opinions on this?

Lastly anyone have any ideas on how I can make the piano itself sound better. I would really like the high nots to be further "right" in the stereo image and the low notes to be further left to create a wider sound. I really don't know how to go about this though.

Anyway here is the link.

Laburnum Way

I hope you all like the song. It's quite a personal one about a place I used to visit while growing up while my own homelife was pretty abysmal.

Thanks in advance for any help, comments or tips you guys can give me.

Cheers!
 
Wow...

Just wow...

You are very talented, both in song writing and in singing. And if you are playing all those other instruments too, thats pretty amazing for those too! Glad to see someone else is able to do it too.

Ok about the mix now, I don't have much to say because it sounds pretty great so far, and I would even leave it like this and listen to it. The funny thing is the stuff you are worried about actually sounds the best anyway and I wouldn't change it. I think the piano is maybe bright but very fitting leave it and the vocals sound incredable from my point of view, very clean. I wouldn't worry about the bass not being up enough and the drums only raise a little if any but some work can be done to them. This took me 3 listens through to put my finger on what should be done so its really not that bad at all. Bring them up a hair first of all and then add some reverb to maybe what ever it is you are getting the cymbals out of, because that hi-hat sounds a bit dry, but dry can be good. Mind telling us how you recorded everything?

I'd say bring your harmonies up on vocals also for the begining back up vocals. Otherwise this is an amazing song and I wouldn't change much to it. How do you record? got pics of your place?

Good work.

Ben
 
Thanks so much mate! I really am extremely flattered by your comments.

I'll definately have a play around with your suggestions tomorrow. I think you are spot on with most of your points. It's easy to hear the issues when a fresh set of ears points them out for you! Many thanks!

Aside from that, I just need to rework the outro. As I said I have had a fantastic idea, but I'm not sure If I can pull it off. It will involve quite a bit of arranging on my part but it's worth a shot. I'll provide you guys with an updated link if my idea works out.

I played around with adding a string section today. Unfortunately I just found that it detracted from the overall mix, took up too much space and just wasn't necessary. I have binned it for now, but the strings will likely make a return in the outro.



Since you expressed an interest i'll tell you about the gear I use and a little about how I record. :)

I am using an M-Audio Delta 66 soundcard with the Omni Studio breakout box and it's included pre-amps.

An Audio Technica AT3035 mic.

Cubase SX 3 and the "Waves Diamond bundle" for EQ's/compressors etc.

Tannoy Reveal active monitors.

A Yamaha electro-acoustic, Fender Strat, cheapo Tanglewood bass guitar and a Midi keyboard.


Thats about it equipment wise, unfortunately it's all I can afford right now. Saving up for the waves plugins quite literally broke the bank!

I play all the instruments myself with the exception of the drums. After laying down the piano track, which was my midi keyboard triggering a set of piano samples, I gave my uncle a ring and he brought his lovely new Roland TD-20 vdrum kit round and we hooked it up via midi.

I originally intended to mix some drum samples in with the stereo output of the TD-20. Unfortunately we messed up something in the drum brain and we ended up recording the piano that I sent to his headphones along with the drums themselves. It was rather annoying. But thankfully he also has an awesome drum sample program called "BFD" from FXpansion. So instead we used the midi file to trigger BFD's drum samples. Unfortunately BFD seems to have some issues with the way it handles hihats triggered from Vdrums at the moment so they didn't come out quite right. I managed to fix most of the problems by playing around with the midi file itself.

The acoustic guitar was miked up and the bass DI'd. I have no acoustic treatment in my (rather odly shaped) room at the moment. This is something I am hoping to look into when both time and money become more readily available. :)

In retrospect I really should have set up some dampening around my mic in the form of blankets on boom stands or something. I'll try that next time.

As for pictures of my setup... Well if I can get around to tidying up the empty cans of diet coke strewn around the place i'll try to take a picture or two!



Anyway, thanks again for your positive comments Ben. They really are appreciated. I'll keep you updated with the progress of this track. I also have another new song which in my opinion is a lot stronger than this one. I am planning on tracking that one next week some time. I'll be sure to post up my first mix of that one also if you are interested.

Cheers!
 
Dang :eek:

I'm pretty impressed

I wish I could mix like that :mad:
 
Sounds great!!
as far as getting the piano sounding wider, bounce the tracks to audio and then put on the Waves S1 Stereo Imager, and increase the width. What are you using for a sampler player, look around the web and you can find some better samples, as of right now it sound like a yamaha cp70(?) stage piano, doesn't fit the song, here's a link of some links:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37272

I've got some samples that were free from one of those mags... but there big, and I forget what format there in...
 
Gordyr said:
Hi guys...
Lastly anyone have any ideas on how I can make the piano itself sound better. I would really like the high nots to be further "right" in the stereo image and the low notes to be further left to create a wider sound. I really don't know how to go about this though.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Hi

I think the piano sounds fine but if you want it to sound wider, you can re-inject 20 to 30% of the inverted signal from the opposite channel. For example :

Piano right = piano right + 0.20 * -(piano left)
Piano left = piano left + 0.20 * -(piano right)

Post an MP3 of the piano only and I can do it for you.

/Jack Real.
 
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