Rock / indie song - would love your thoughts

[philwilks]

I've been doing recording for a few years but this is the first song I've done with my new band. I'm quite happy with it but there is certainly room for improvement.



Thanks for any thoughts you have on it!

Phil

 

[mewsician2]

Well done!
I love the intro, and the music is rockin nicely!
It's a nice clean capture, and the mix seems spot on.

 

[TripleM]

I liked the song, it was catchy. Nice singing voice, clear vocals. I liked the distorted guitar sound.

Drums are OK. Cymbals are pretty swishy.

Some weird click on the word "cause" at 2:30.

Seems like the mix could use a stronger low end.

 

[philwilks]

@mewsician2 Thanks for the feedback!

@TripleM I know what you mean about the drums - the drummer likes to use his cymbals a lot! Do you think that could be helped by improving the EQ or when you say swishy do you mean in the performance? I know what you mean about the low end, it does sound a bit thin comparing it to other songs on the same speakers. In your opinion do you think that could be fixed by EQing the mix as a whole, or do you think I need to bring up the bass guitar volume and EQ other elements individually?

Many tanks,
Phil

 

[puscookie]

philwilks, Nice song! Im a guitar guy so i would have to say lower the bass in the 120-200 hz range by 3-5 db and boost the bass around 75-85 about 3 db depending on where your kick is. I think this will let the bass hit harder and let the guitars breathe more. The vocals are definitly sitting well! I hear the swish on the drums too. I would think it would be about how hard the drummer is hitting the cymbols and there isnt much you could do about it. I really like the sound of the toms! I wish i could tune drums hahah, Great job overall! These points of mine are just some thoughts im prolly wrong hahah

 

[philwilks]

Thanks for the advise - I'm a guitar guy too.

The tuning of the toms definitely helps. In the previous bands I was in the drummer didn't bother with this and also used really old skins - what a difference it makes! No matter how well I mic'd the toms and EQ'd the hell out of them they nevered sounded any good. I hardly had to do anything to the toms on this recording.

 

[TripleM]

...Do you think that could be helped by improving the EQ or when you say swishy do you mean in the performance? I know what you mean about the low end, it does sound a bit thin comparing it to other songs on the same speakers. In your opinion do you think that could be fixed by EQing the mix as a whole, or do you think I need to bring up the bass guitar volume and EQ other elements individually?

I'd guess the low end could be addressed by simply raising the level on the bass guitar. That's the first thing I'd try anyway.

On the swishy cymbals, that's a tougher one to answer. My guess is they're swishy either because of the way they were tracked or in the MP3 conversion. If it's the former, I'd guess it's a phase issue in the overheads. You'd probably need to retrack and pay closer attention to overhead mic placement.

 

[maximusbs]

Cool tune, I like the sound, the mix was ok. I'm not sure what it was but the kick had hard click on the louder hits. It might be the compressor trying to tame it . I agree that the cymbals were a little swishy. There were the only things that struck my ear funny. The tune has a nice driving feel to it.