Thoughts so far - A Lonely Mile

[jonny deep]

I think maybe I wasn't really clear about the drums - sorry! I am totally cool with the bumm-cha bumm-cha pattern and I think simple drums make sense for this tune. I'm not suggesting you add more fills or complexity or anything. I also think the sounds themselves are pretty good, although like FF, I think there could be more crack to the snare.

I don't really know the terminology here, but I was just thinking if the existing snare hits could vary somewhat in velocity, decay, or whatever from one hit to the next, that might do it. Sorry I can't explain it better and it may not even be helpful, but it seemed like I was saying you should add additional fills or other content which wasn't what I meant.

Hey Heat, no worries, you were clear, but perhaps I wasn't! My point was simply that I made a simple pattern then cut and pasted it through the whole song for tracking and haven't been through and varied velocities, timing, etc. I may add some cymbals and vary slightly, but the main pattern is to stay. Thanks again!

 

[jonny deep]

The recording sounds fine to me. The playing is tight, singing is on pitch.

Musically it gets a little dronish as it's all in the key of F. As I played along I threw a Gmin in at the turns like at 00:40 to 00:42. That doesn't change the key but does add a little surprise.

But you've done well with the changes and change ups to keep it interesting.

Good work on the vocal styling as well.

Hey Manslick, thanks for the listen, much appreciated! Lol, I thought it was in Dm. I'll try what you did and see if it works for me. Cheers, mate!

 

[fat_fleet]

I guess then we get to the issue of a mix translating to other systems well. General advice here is to listen on other systems, take notes and adjust the mix accordingly. This is where I'm at a loss. What notes should i have taken (beyond: it sounds dull and a bit rubbish) and what is it I need to do to fix it???

I think I'm the only one who heard it dull...everyone else heard it spiky. If it were my song, and I wanted to make any adjustment at all, I'd adjust for how it sounds on the greatest number of systems, since you're never going to make it sound great on every one. This is a great place to get mix advice, especially when you've listened to your song so many times that your ears are burnt out and you lose objectivity - but in the end what matters is that you're happy with it. No one here knows exactly what's in your head.

 

[robgreen]

Hey Manslick, thanks for the listen, much appreciated! Lol, I thought it was in Dm. I'll try what you did and see if it works for me. Cheers, mate!

I think Dm and F keys are made up the same notes aren't they? I'm not too hot on the theory side of things, so I never really understood what the difference between the minor and it's relative major scale is in practice though?

Thanks for the accent clarification - it was the "cut my hair" line that led me to Stoke

 

[RAMI]

Have you re-mixed this, Johny? It sounds better every time I hear it. Maybe I'm just liking it more and more.

 

[jonny deep]

Have you re-mixed this, Johny? It sounds better every time I hear it. Maybe I'm just liking it more and more.

Not since I brought the snare up a little in the second mix I uploaded. I find it gets better each time I turn the volume up a bit! Thanks for listening again .

 

[Rexinator]

Jonny,
It's a very catchy song with an ingenious arrangement. Not the usual ballad. Since I'm a drummer, the one thing that caught my ear, which might be an item for improvement, is to tighten the timing on some of the tracks. I'm not familiar with Reaper, so I don't know if it offers any kind of quantize function or flex editing, but a little more timing syncronization, particulalry in what I would call the 'choppy instrumental part' might make this tune groove a little better. It's not bad at all in this respect, but I can hear some slight 'flamming' in some parts. You have a good sense for musical arrangements that are pleasing to the ear, and I like your vocal style. I'm sure there are more great tunes to come.

 

[RAMI]

Jonny,
It's a very catchy song with an ingenious arrangement. Not the usual ballad. Since I'm a drummer, the one thing that caught my ear, which might be an item for improvement, is to tighten the timing on some of the tracks. I'm not familiar with Reaper, so I don't know if it offers any kind of quantize function or flex editing, but a little more timing syncronization, particulalry in what I would call the 'choppy instrumental part' might make this tune groove a little better. It's not bad at all in this respect, but I can hear some slight 'flamming' in some parts. You have a good sense for musical arrangements that are pleasing to the ear, and I like your vocal style. I'm sure there are more great tunes to come.

He's using a drum machine. How much less human would you like it to be?

 

[Greg_L]

Pretty good. I like how your voice went from mellow, almost Americana folkie, to full Brit. Lol. I think the bottom end is a little mushy, but not much. The canned drums, particularly the snare, don't do nothing for me. Can't wait to hear it with real drums.

 

[jonny deep]

Pretty good. I like how your voice went from mellow, almost Americana folkie, to full Brit. Lol. I think the bottom end is a little mushy, but not much. The canned drums, particularly the snare, don't do nothing for me. Can't wait to hear it with real drums.

Hey Greg, you came back. Had a feeling you might!

Thanks so much for taking the time to have a listen. Yeah, I'm not crazy about the drums either, although it's my best effort so far at programming them myself. As you know, I have some real drums to add once I can find a spare few minutes.

When you say the bottom end is mushy, I guess I need to high pass some stuff to clear some space down at the low end? I already did this on most of the instruments (I think everything except the bass and kick). Or is there something more subtle I need to be doing? All pointers gratefully received!!!

 

[Greg_L]

Hey Greg, you came back. Had a feeling you might!

Thanks so much for taking the time to have a listen. Yeah, I'm not crazy about the drums either, although it's my best effort so far at programming them myself. As you know, I have some real drums to add once I can find a spare few minutes.

When you say the bottom end is mushy, I guess I need to high pass some stuff to clear some space down at the low end? I already did this on most of the instruments (I think everything except the bass and kick). Or is there something more subtle I need to be doing? All pointers gratefully received!!!

Um, I don't really know. Each mix is different. I'm not a fan of just high passing stuff though. I'd personally rather find the offending EQ range and notch it out while leaving the stuff that should be there. Like with a kick or bass, there's lots of subtle info in the way lows that helps the sound. Just rolling all that stuff off can hurt you more than help you. But to my ears, the mud that typically clouds up those instruments usually lies somewhere between 80-200hz and might pop up again between 300-400hz. For me, I'll listen to a solo'd track and try to find sonic aspects that I don't like. Then I'll listen to that track in the mix. Are the things I don't like still there? If so, away they go with whatever cut is necessary to alleviate the problem. Low end cuts are more difficult to pinpoint than midrange or high end cuts, but if you get it right it will sound really good. Do a sweep with a parametric EQ and you can find the nastiness.

 

[jonny deep]

Thanks again for taking the time, Greg - good info! I'll give this a go once I get time to go back in the studio.