Rookie Mix - The Bitter End - folkrock/americana ala Old97's

[lcjones]

Hey folks,

Been lurking and hopefully learning. This is a song I wrote and recorded this past week. I sure wouldn't mind a deep critique on the mixing of this tune.

It seems I always struggle with getting that nice bass mix. I tend to go into the higher frequencies. I'm really wanting to crisp, clean tones.

This track includes a double tracked main vocal, a harmony track, 1 acoustic, 1 electric, 1 bass and 1 snare. The solo is two separate tracks, 1 to the left and 1 to the right @ 25% each.

The Bitter End - MP3 @320kb @7.6mb @3:16
NEW MIX

The Bitter End - MP3@ 320kb @ 8.5mg @ 3:30
ORIGINAL MIX - Deprecated -

Appreciate your time and thoughts.


Chap

 

[Clam Soup]

Dude - great tune! And very clean to my ears. It could use a bit more depth in the pan of the vocals though.... not sure if "double tracked main vocal" means that you duplicated the first track, or whether you sang over yourself. If you simply copied your first track, that might be where the absence of depth is. I notice that when I sing over myself the variences in the two takes are what gives a slightly more substantive tone overall. .... and then I pan the two takes out to where they compliment eachother and work the channel volumes separately to clean up the timing differences between specific words here and there...

I liked the two different leads and the split... might have nudged up the bass just a tad during the second run to bring the song back to it's root.... not much - just a small bump.

This is good music .... driving down the highway feel!

 

[toad_uk]

I would have liked the bass up some. I like your upper tones, that's something I'm not good at. I always end up making it sound harsh and thin when I try to add highs. During the solo the guitar in the left could come up a notch. Really liked the tone of the guitar in the right on the solo.

 

[reganito]

this song rocks! I agree about about the bass. I don't know how you mix, but a cool trick I learned to make bass "fuller" is to actually cut some of the low freq and boost some of the low high mids. It seems counter-intuitive, but it allows the the kick to occupy the really low end and then bass sits fatter in the mids. I like the high end. Very glassy but not harsh. On a songwriting note, great arrangement and melodies.

 

[dainbramage]

Great song! Really groovin stuff! I agree about raising the bass, but other than that I think it sounds really crisp (in a good way). I can't believe how amazing songwriters are on this forum, makes me feel all out of phase!

 

[lcjones]

Hey guys,

Thank you very much for your input. I appreciate the pointers, advice and compliments. Thanks! I re-mixed, re-did vocals, re-mixed percussion and bass. Trying to get good clean separation. The new mix is in the top post. You guys are the judge.

Clam-mon,
Man, you were dead on the money. The original mix did in fact have "duplicate" tracks on vocals. I re-did vocals and did true double tracking. I recorded dry and added a bit of compression to both tracks and just a tad of ambient reverb on one vocal. Reverb on both was too much... I think... or I laid it on too heavy.

Toad ... took my best shot tonight to bring up the bass. Let me know what you think.

reganito's - I tried you trick. You guys will have to tell me if I succeeded. Appreciate that!

dainbramage ... thanks man. And sincerely appreciate the song writer's comment! That right there makes it all worth while! Thanks

**
Chap

 

[toad_uk]

I like this one a lot better. It sounds a lot warmer. Very catchy song. Good one.