Pop rock track - Show Me The Way

[MatthewH]

Hey I've been home demoing for my band for a while. We essentially build songs from the ground up on a computer, see what you think of this mix.

In my mind its too (cant find the right word here) 'pushy' to the ears, it could be because i'm pushing the limiting too hard on the master, or because there's some frequency buildup that just doesn't sit right in the mix.

It may be ear fatigue because I've played the track a million times, see what you think, id love some criticism, particularly if you can pick up on something i may be doing consistently throughout the mix that i should work on/change.

 

[Bubba po]

Hi, to my ears, the vocal is too loud and is massively over-bright. It sounds like it's elbowing all the other tracks out of the way when it fires in, presumably because of the limiting of the mix. The track certainly sounds like it has the potential to have a great sound, but the processing and eq is hindering it, in my opinion.

 

[TripleM]

I agree with Bubba that the vocals are too far out front and too bright.

I really like the song and the feel. Well performed too.

The snare sounds good. Can't hear much from the kick. The toms are panned kind of wide. They "ping pong" on headphones.

I'm not hearing much from the bass. The song needs a stronger low end.

The power guitars, to me, aren't full enough. I'd like to hear them tracked with quite a bit more gain.

Nice harmony vocals. Real nice song.

 

[MatthewH]

Damn, you know i think my monitors might be pretty bass heavy, cause i felt i was pushing the bass a bit hard and i didn't have a problem with the vocals.
Mind you i haven't checked this track on many other systems which is my own fault.
I keep getting it in the neck about knocking the gain back on the big guitars, ill re-record those with some more gain on!

Thanks for the input guys keep it coming!

Also... what you said is exactly how i feel Bubba po, i feel my tracks have the potential to have a great sound, but i always fall short, i wouldn't mind posting this in the 'mix this' section, but it currently has 58 tracks which i think would be too many for anyone to take on, i could cut that down though, turn a few dual mono tracks into stereo etc... anyone interested in that?

 

[Bubba po]

Damn, you know i think my monitors might be pretty bass heavy, cause i felt i was pushing the bass a bit hard and i didn't have a problem with the vocals.
Mind you i haven't checked this track on many other systems which is my own fault.
I keep getting it in the neck about knocking the gain back on the big guitars, ill re-record those with some more gain on!

Thanks for the input guys keep it coming!

Also... what you said is exactly how i feel Bubba po, i feel my tracks have the potential to have a great sound, but i always fall short, i wouldn't mind posting this in the 'mix this' section, but it currently has 58 tracks which i think would be too many for anyone to take on, i could cut that down though, turn a few dual mono tracks into stereo etc... anyone interested in that?

58 tracks? Pardon my French but, fuck me! The production sounds like it has about half a dozen distorted tracks on it. I can't help but think you're overloading your gear with that amount of tracks and processing. Strip it back and only add stuff that sounds good.

58 tracks.

 

[ido1957]

I'd like to see that track list.
The vocals are too loud but they have a great sound and well performed.
Turn them down and re mix the whole thing to let the rest of the song shine.

 

[MatthewH]

Ill take a look at the mix tonight and resubmit thanks guys!

by 58 tracks, i mean it in a literal term, i have 58 tracks running on Reaper, but that includes dual mono guitar tracks that would otherwise be a single stereo track along with others.
Also if i want to eq things differently, for example verse vocal to chorus vocal, ill usually split that in to two tracks, rather than use automation in some cases.

Ill have a look at stripping some of the guitars away and just using one bigger guitar sound, ill get back to you on that.