Rock song - production and mix advice much appreciated...or just listen and enjoy!

[xander.moser]

Hey,

I'm new to this forum. I've been a member of a few others which seem to be obsessed with gear instead of knowledge, so looking for something new for some inspiration.

I'm working with a singer-songwriter to record a few songs for an EP, so that he can find a band. This is the song that we have completed the farthest at this point.

We tracked acoustic and vocals first, and then added and subtracted elements as we went. After tracking everything I started a new mix from scratch (helped immensely!)

Drums and bass were played by a couple friends of mine as favors. At this point the artist is not impressed with the bass track, so that's probably going to be a re-record. Thinking of a bowed standup bass at the end.

I think something just needs to be changed in the first pre-chorus. Can't put my finger on it, but it's just not right. Feels awkward.

So here is the mix at this point, any feedback is appreciated, thanks!

View attachment Such_Is_Life_v8.mp3

 

[PDP]

Welcome, pleased to make your aquaintence. Singer has an interesting voice. First thing to stand out is lack of subs on the bass, theres just no low end on the mix, I also hear alot of clutter and masking, the recordings are nice and clear, but theres something odd about the mix, like all the instruments are competing on all the same frequencies, IDK? Song sounds pretty cool, good performances.

 

[dastrick]

Welcome.

The singer has great voice. Nice arrangement.

The intro sounds great, but when the full band comes in it sounds very empty. Like PDP said, the bass is almost non-existent. It sounds like there's a high shelf boost on the stereo buss or something.

Maybe get those drums pumping a little more.

I think you've got a great start for a great song. Keep working on it.

 

[dewhitt]

Hey, welcome to the forum. I think the singer is great, there's something in the quality of his voice that is special and unique and it's still strong and technically very good. If I was an A&R person from a record label (sorry to say, I'm not), I'd be very interested in that voice. The song is very cool. I don't really have any mix nits from my first listen, I'm not listening on my normal speakers, so I don't want to comment on the mix now, but there is one production suggestion I have - the guitar riff in the right channel that starts at around 0:35 seems off to me. It's very dissonant, and not in a good way to my ears. I think I hear what you are going for there, but it seems like a couple of sour notes in the riff knock it off kilter, and it just rubs the wrong way. IMHO, that riff kicks off the "build up" section of the song, and it needs to be strong, in fact, it should be pretty much perfect. If it were me, I'd spend some time trying to tweak that riff a bit to make sure it's musically sound and gels a little better with the key/tonal structure of the song. Just my opinion...

There is a ton of potential here, best of luck!

Dave DeWhitt
SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads

 

[xander.moser]

Wow, thanks for the welcome and all of the responses!

I tend to be hesitant in the low frequencies, don't want to over do it. Looks like I didn't do enough this time! I'll do some more comparisons with commercial songs to get a better feel for the low end.

PDP, I think one thing that I need to look at again is the effects on the guitars. I discovered a great new plugin that I was experimenting with (NastyDLA), and perhaps I went too far, causing some buildup of the guitars, and kind of messing up the mix.

Dastrick, I know exactly what you're talking about. It's when the band comes in that I was having trouble with. I think dewhitt hit on something in his comment.

Dewhitt, once we get back to tracking I will have a talk with the artist about that guitar part. I thought something was missing in that part of the song, but perhaps it's just the guitar part that is off. Thanks for the analysis.

Due to circumstances out of my control, we had to take a break from tracking. I'm hoping to get started again in a month or so.