Vocal and guitar mixing and mastering

[gonso]

Hi everyone!
I’d love to get some feedback on this track. I know the pronunciation isn’t great — I’m aware of that — but what I really want your opinion on is the sound.

Do you think this sounds professionally acceptable?
Any suggestions regarding compression, EQ, or reverb?
Does the mix sound tight and cohesive to you?


Thanks in advance for your time and input!

 

[rob aylestone]

With an acoustic guitar and vocal - many of the categories for comment are difficult. It's not really a mix with just two sources, just one balanced against the other. Personally I hate compression on this kind of music, because it rarely needs it, as you're going for realism rather than treatment. Professionally acceptable? For what? It's a little different from convention - your voice and the guitar style is a bit 'folky' - Is the mix doing any fader jiggling? I didn't detect anything? so difficult to not be tight with just voice and guitar? I found the overall sound quite hard, in your face and raw, not gentle, warm and emotive. Does that help? Reverb, it sounded to me to be quite a small space, so short reverb time. Not boxy sounding just really up front. As it's essentially jazz, the guitar for me should much more mellow - and your voice more gentle maybe?

Not sure if that helps?

 

[gonso]

With an acoustic guitar and vocal - many of the categories for comment are difficult. It's not really a mix with just two sources, just one balanced against the other. Personally I hate compression on this kind of music, because it rarely needs it, as you're going for realism rather than treatment. Professionally acceptable? For what? It's a little different from convention - your voice and the guitar style is a bit 'folky' - Is the mix doing any fader jiggling? I didn't detect anything? so difficult to not be tight with just voice and guitar? I found the overall sound quite hard, in your face and raw, not gentle, warm and emotive. Does that help? Reverb, it sounded to me to be quite a small space, so short reverb time. Not boxy sounding just really up front. As it's essentially jazz, the guitar for me should much more mellow - and your voice more gentle maybe?

Not sure if that helps?

Thank you so much for taking the time to listen and share your thoughts. Your comment is genuinely helpful — I really appreciate the detailed feedback. You're absolutely right about the balance between realism and treatment, and your reflections on compression, reverb, and tonal character give me a lot to think about. I'll definitely revisit the mix with your suggestions in mind. Thanks again for your honesty and insight — it's exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for.

 

[Papanate]

Do you think this sounds professionally acceptable?

Who would this be judging the sound? If I was the one judging I’d say a couple of things - the vocals are too loud and gutiar and vocals don’t have enough space.

Any suggestions regarding compression, EQ, or reverb?

The guitar has a weird EQ to my ears - and like @rob aylestone said I don’t really like the use of compression - I have to listen again to give a comment about the reverb.

Does the mix sound tight and cohesive to you?

The Vocal is roo high and the guitar has o space to my ears. BTW Are you French? I thought I detected the slightest bit of accent - If so it seems like a couple of lines of French would be in order

 

[gonso]

Who would this be judging the sound? If I was the one judging I’d say a couple of things - the vocals are too loud and gutiar and vocals don’t have enough space.


The guitar has a weird EQ to my ears - and like @rob aylestone said I don’t really like the use of compression - I have to listen again to give a comment about the reverb.


The Vocal is roo high and the guitar has o space to my ears. BTW Are you French? I thought I detected the slightest bit of accent - If so it seems like a couple of lines of French would be in order

Thanks a lot for your feedback, it's really helpful. Regarding the EQ, here’s the current curve I used for the guitar (see screenshot). I can hear now that it might be too scooped in the mids and lacking warmth. I’ll definitely try reworking it to give the guitar more space and reduce the vocal level a bit. And haha, yes, I'm not French, but close!