ThunderFunk - You Need A Man (Criticism Welcomed!)

  • Thread starter Thread starter elbandito
  • Start date Start date
elbandito

elbandito

potential lunch winner
This is the first mix of my band's eventual first single (there are two more tracks that I'm in the middle of mixing). I just finished this preliminary mix and I think it sounds alright, but for some reason I just couldn't get the floor tom to punch thru. I'd like it to sound meatier, if you know what I mean. Also, there's a scratchiness to the lead vox that I'd like to try to smooth out a bit, if possible. Anyway, I'd appreciate any and all constructive criticism about any aspect of the mix and/or recording.

We did it live off the floor, with a stereo condenser above/behind the kit in M/S as OH, mic both under and above the snare, and mics on the kick and floor tom. The keys and bass both went thru amps and were miked with dynamics, and the sax blew into a ribbon mic. Vox and all percussion were recorded with a condenser.

Thanks for your time! :guitar:

 
Oh! Fyi, for those audiophiles that may listen to this, be aware that the file was converted to 160 kbs mp3, using LAME encoder before uploading.
 
Sounds pretty good except I'd redo the vocal. Your singer sounds good, but a few of the notes don't quite sound right. The fact that he can actually sing makes it more noticeable when sometime is a little off. Also the vocals have a little too much reverb on them. I'd lower it maybe 10 to 25%. It sounds like he's in a different room than the rest of the band.
 
Thanks for the feedback, man. Maybe we can punch in the vocal parts that need touching up. As for the reverb, I was going for the sixties Motown sound... You might be right, though. I'll take another pass at it.
 
I hear what you are saying about the floor tom. Tuning it would probably have helped. It just doesn't sound right to me. I'd hate to say to redo the drums, but...

I could trigger you some other floor toms if you can send me the tom wav file. And a copy of the mix.
 
For the vibe of the song, I think the toms sounds fine. Yeah they're a little distant and not too punchy, but it sounds like it's from the era you're going after, when most of them at the time were only using OH's or Glyn Johns style to capture toms as opposed to close mic'ing.
 
I love the bass sound. But I think it's too loud. I'd bring it down a good 3 dbs.

The singer has a nice voice. A couple of bobbled notes though.

Loved the keyboard sound.

The snare sound is kind of dull. Too much thud in it.

The reverb you used gives it a real Motown flavor. But keep in mind that it will make the mix sound very dated. To me, I'd back off of that. The style and musicians give it enough of a Motown feel without the reverb.
 
Thanks for all the feedback, everybody. I agree with much of it and am working on incorporating them as we speak. I'm definitely gonna take the reverb down a touch and I lowered the bass volume as well... Jimmy69, we tracked this not at home but in a studio in Toronto. I thought the drums were pretty well tuned at the time... in any case, I really appreciate the offer and I'd love to take you up on it, whenever you've got some time. I'll PM you.
 
elbandito said:
Thanks for all the feedback, everybody. I agree with much of it and am working on incorporating them as we speak. I'm definitely gonna take the reverb down a touch and I lowered the bass volume as well... Jimmy69, we tracked this not at home but in a studio in Toronto. I thought the drums were pretty well tuned at the time... in any case, I really appreciate the offer and I'd love to take you up on it, whenever you've got some time. I'll PM you.
Click to expand...

Coo man. My day is open tomorrow. You can just email MP3's. I don't need wav's to trigger from. :)
 
So I decided not to pursue Jimmy's help after all... in the end, I just really wanted to push thru the difficulty and figure out a way to get this track to sound the way I wanted it to and I think I've succeeded. I tweaked, edited, compressed, EQ'd, gated and limited my way to a finished track and along the way, I think I've even figured out how to 'master' my own tracks!

Until this tune, I tried to fake master my songs by slapping a compressor on the 2bus and slamming a limiter until I hit the -0.1db mark. This time I actually took the time to look at the final stereo waveform and touch it up as a whole until it sounded nice and even and not just loud. It was frustrating and great fun and I've ended up with the best work that I've ever done as far as producing a track goes. Please, if you've got some time, take a listen and let me know what you think. Does anything sound wacky to you? Are there any annoying frequencies that pop out of your monitors/headphones/home stereo system? I'd love to hear all the opinions that I can get and if you decide that you really like the tune, I'll post a link so you can download it yourself to enjoy at your leisure!

Thanks! :listeningmusic:



PS. If you're feeling like being extra picky (which I would LOVE!), the previous version is still posted both at the beginning of this thread and right below the finished version on soundcloud. :)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top