What is wrong with my mix ???

[jpb123]

Hello,
I'm a pro muso not a pro recordist!! I have recently moved my gear to a different area in the house and ever since have had no joy with anything I've recorded !!

If anybody with recording experience could listen to my last recording and tell me ( In there honest opinion ) where I am going wrong.
It's unmastered and not totally finished.....I gave up when I couldn't get it right !! HaHa

Please be gentle on me and my mrs !

JohnView attachment Finished 16bit.mp3

 

[DM60]

First, love the song from Don McLean.

My only response would be maybe the low thumbs a tad much, maybe a roll off below 100 (roll off, not a cut), maybe take a little off the top on the vocals, above the 10K (once again just a mild roll off), the vocals could be lowered a few notches just to blend a bit better.

All of the above is opinion as I thought the sample sounded rather good. I think you are so close on this one, a few others on the board who really know their stuff can guide you much better.

Over all, I thought it was pretty damn good. Tell the Mrs she sings very well. Nice lounge singing.

 

[polarity]

This may be a personal taste thing but I'd like to hear a little more of the guitar (just a touch). I agree on the high end part (don't know that it's 10k, but I'll trust DM on that one).

I am also at work listening on crappy ear buds not at home with the monitors so judgement could be off.

 

[jimistone]

I liked it a lot. Beautiful vocal performance. It's a nice warm sounding recording and I didn't hear anything out of whack. If I had to nitpick I would say to lower the level on the guitar solo a tad. Is has more volume and punch that her vocal

 

[anoopbal]

This sounds awesome! The singers voice is gold.

Here is my little suggestion: I felt the vocals sounded very warm, and the backing track a bit bright. So I felt it wasn't blending very well.

Excellent job!

 

[NotThatBright]

Well, it's like they say (or maybe they don't)...

"If you think there's something wrong, then something's wrong, even if nothing's wrong."

I hate that kind of music and even I was enchanted by your song. And you want to screw with it? What kind of sick game are you playing here??

Nice work.

 

[dobro]

If I had to nitpick I would say to lower the level on the guitar solo a tad. Is has more volume and punch that her vocal

Yeah. polarity's attention was caught by that guitar too. What I noticed was the difference in the space on the guitar and the space on the vocal. I'd either try cutting the space on the vocal a taste to pull everything together (I mean, even the solo guitar is more forward than the vocal, right?) or putting more space on the comping guitar to push it back with the vocal. You could turn it up a bit if you did that. But somehow, pull that guitar and the vocal into a more similar space somehow.

 

[MusicWater]

Hello,
I'm a pro muso not a pro recordist!! I have recently moved my gear to a different area in the house and ever since have had no joy with anything I've recorded !!

If anybody with recording experience could listen to my last recording and tell me ( In there honest opinion ) where I am going wrong.
It's unmastered and not totally finished.....I gave up when I couldn't get it right !! HaHa

Please be gentle on me and my mrs !

JohnView attachment 88633

Hi John, I just listened to your mix. I guess you've ended up with that classic cruise sound, in other words if that's your goal you have reached it! I honestly got a little sleepy from listening to it, my feedback might be colored by that. You have brought that classic cruise sound to perfection, how can I actually say anything critical about it, it does what it should do! Now, music, whatever the genre, can sometimes be shaped towards something new and that's probably where I would say you should focus. In my world any drums with higher resolution would definitely take this kind of music to the next level, but that's just my opinion, I'm used to mixing great sounding drums. The vocals are nice, in my opinion they are not as in my face as I would want them to be. The stereo image is also kind of a pretty big issue about it, which is due to the sounds that you have in the arrangement, such as those strings. If you would mute the strings and increase the mix signal level, you would notice an improvement in mix quality.

OK. That's as critical I want to be about it. I find you have reached a really solid classic cruise sound and you should be proud about what you've achieved here. Keyboard mixes are challenging, listening to your mix is a reminder about that. Good luck and happy mixing!

 

[jpb123]

Wow thanks everyone for your kind words and very helpful advice. We are a duo that play lot's of different material but we do a hotel 2 nights a week and mainly do the lounge type stuff there. We are being constantly asked for cd's so we thought we'd have a go......and we've really got the bug for this recording business. Thanks dm for your advice and the other gentleman (musicwater )who summed up my probs in a nut shell. I can't seem to get that expansive stereo sound from my keyboards and it is a challange getting the sound in my head onto "tape ". I use a fast track ultra interface and an audio technica at2020 mic for debbie's voice but we have decided that as soon as we have made the cd , the proceeds are going towards some new recording gear !!.
If anyone knows of any books that deal with the recording of keyboard and vocals and that subject matter primarily that would be really helpful. Also any recommendations for a mic that suit debbies voice best that would be great. It really makes a difference to talk to real world experienced recordists and you have no idea how thankful i am for your tips.

John

 

[jpb123]

It's also refreshing that people still enjoy the music we like as reading a lot of forums made me think that the only material people record is rap or metal or dance !!
And as are both over 40 i cant get debbie to wear leather (I've been trying for 20years !! Ha ha) and i am a hopeless rapper !!
Musicwater. Is there any tips you can give me on improving the way i track and mix?
I normally play each track in by hand and record the seperate midi tracks then edit and print them before getting a rough mix and then recording the voices.
Is this the most productive way for me to be working or has modern practice changed ?

Thanks
john

 

[FoulPhil]

If you were trying to take us to another time and place you did that well. Sounds like some 60s lounge music or something. Although, without the warmth and depth of that amazing sounding analog recording gear. Sexy singing as well. I would say it's pretty damn good although it's far from sounding modern.