"What Will It Take", Rock Cover, Critique Request

[jddrock]

Hey there everyone!
This is the first draft of a mix I've been working on. I just need some other ears to hear things I may not be catching right now. ALL input is absolutley welcome, please be honest. Thanks in advance for your help!
- Jeremy
(P.S. One thing I haven't spent time on yet is compression and Limiting on the Master buss. It will be addressed in another draft.)
"What Will It Take" - Playing What Will It Take(Draft Mix 1) by Jeremy Dean - picosong

 

[Robus]

Good performances. You have a great voice. This is not far off. Your vocals are getting buried by the piano, bass, etc. during the softer parts, and to a lesser extent elsewhere. I'd see to that first. You want your lyrics clearly intelligible in this genre. During the rocking part later in the song, you've got some overbearing midrange buildup that had me reaching for the volume knob to turn down. Shouldn't be hard to find those--just crank the volume. It sounds like a foghorn in a duet with a train whistle.

 

[jddrock]

Thanks for your compliments and critiques Robus! I appreciate it. I listened to it in the car for the first time this morning after posting it here and noticed a LOT of midrange build up as well - NOT pleasant to the ears. I'll be adjusting the things you suggested.

 

[jddrock]

If anyone is interested I made some revisions to the mix, should sound a lot better now.
New Mix: Playing What Will It Take(To Keep You From Jesus) by Jeremy Dean - picosong

 

[Dicus]

Nice performance, your voice works good on both the soft as the louder parts, cool!
I would give the vocals a bit more volume in the intro, try to put them a bit more up front.

And a bit more snap to the snare in general but especially in the loud part just before the outro. (but I like loud snares)

Otherwise nice sounding mix!

 

[jddrock]

Thanks Dicus! I appreciate your compliments and critiques. Having other people take a listen really helps get the mix to translate everywhere you play it.

 

[TripleM]

I listened to a bit of the first mix, and then the full second mix. One problem with the first mix that got corrected was the level balance between the piano and vocal.

Very nice singing voice.

I think the levels are pretty good. The bass might be just a bit loud. Or maybe just a bit too strong in the low end.

The tone on things is pretty ear pleasing. The crunch rhythm guitar didn't quite have enough grit for me, but I think it works well in this mix. Lead guitar sounds cool.

Maybe back off the reverb a bit. It sounds a bit 80's and a bit fake.

Quite a jolt at 2:56.

Small things. Good job.

 

[Robus]

I could tell right away the second mix is a big improvement. As 3M says, the balance between piano and vocal is improved. I'm hearing the lyrics more clearly, apart from spots here and there when you dip lower in your range and your voice loses power. You might find and automate those spots. I'm not hearing quite so much of that midrange buildup, though there is still some of it--especially when the power chorus comes in later in the song. You've got a powerful voice, which is good, but it gets very intense when you are belting it out. I agree with 3M that the low end gets overpowering. The bass could come down just a tiny bit.

 

[jddrock]

Thanks guys for the critiques and compliments again! I fixed some of the stuff mentioned above and for now I think I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. Thanks again for everyone's help with this.

 

[Robus]

Glad to hear it. Your comments and suggestion on tracks other people have posted are welcome. The Clinic works by reciprocity. Hope you'll stick around.