Wondering your thoughts on our song.

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Brenton

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My twin brother and I decided to write an album, independently from start to finish. Write, record, mix, and master ourselves. I was wondering your thoughts on my mix. I finished the final mix yesterday.

This version is the mix before my final version. Any thoughts or comments?
 
I just listened on a PC speaker. It sounds good. I'm not a big fan of the auto-tune. But I can easily see other churchfolk really enjoying it. Good job.
 
Thanks. I've never been a fan of pitch correction either. Especially since its pretty much the only effect used in mainstream music, just get tired of hearing it. Melodyne fit my bro's voice pretty good and I liked how it sounded. Guess I converted lol.
 
Performances are pretty good. Not positive, but I suspect I'd prefer the vocal without Melodyne.

I kept waiting for the song to kick in with some power chord and take off. That finally happens shortly after 3 minutes. Way too late for a pop song IMO.

Weird vocal edit or something at :34 on the word "He." It's like the beginning of the word got cut off. Little vocal click at about :30. Weird vocal artifact at about :38 on the words "come back."
 
Not sure if it's meant to be that way, but seems like you were really generous with the auto tune. I like the sound quality though. As for the song, there isn't much change in the vocal melody throughout. The verse melody is nice, I do like it, but the whole song is kinda like one big verse. And like Triple M said, the song kicks in a little too late.
 
Thanks for the input guys. I'll definitely be checking out the vocal glitches you noticed TripleM. I know the power chords are pretty far in the song. I was gonna put some power in after the 1st chorus but I just decided that after the second chorus I would kick in the power chords. Since it's the last song on the album I guess that's why I arranged it the way I did.

I put a lot of pitch correction on the vocal on purpose. I know a lot of people don't really like hearing it but I just loved how it would blend the vocal in like a perfectly tuned acoustic instrument. I'm thinking that I might experiment with the song and see if I like the power chords earlier.

Overall how did the song sound? Would love to get opinions on some of the more technical stuff. (EQ, Compression, etc.)
 
I thought the tones on things sounded good. Vocal was pleasing. Relative levels were pretty good. Didn't notice any compression or EQ issues.

Too much reverb/delay for my tastes. But that's just personal preference.
 
the tone of the voice and the overall production is absolutely top notch - fantastic - I love the laid back feel of the first couple of minutes

the vocal melody is great - cant really pick a fault here - brilliant
 
Thanks innerdream. I really appreciate the compliments.

Originally I had the reverb for the main vocal backed off a lot more than it is. But I switched it's position in the effects chain and put it right before the dynamic range compression. That's what gave it it's presence in the current mix. At first I thought it was way too much but now I think I like how it fits.
 
Now this is MUSIC!

This is a great song!! Unbelievable !!!

Give me a run down on all of the microphone used, instruments etc., etc.
 
Ok. Here are the tech specs for this song:
Mic- Audio Technica 4040
Strings/Piano/Acoustic Guitar Sample - Alesis QS 6.2 (Patches modified)
Drums - Reason 4.0: ReDrum (Our own sampled drums)
Bass - Started as a sine wave for reason 4.0's subtractor synthesizer.
Guitar - Peavey Horizon 2 (Guitar rig 4 for rhythm, Boss GT3 for lead solo)
Pitch Correction - Melodyne Studio 3
Recorded On a ... PC Using Adobe Audition 3.0.1
Interface - Presonus Firepod 10
Control Surface - Tascam US-428
Compressor - Waves API 2500
Monitors currently inoperative so I mixed using Behringer HPS3000 reference headphones.
Hardware Mixer - (You might not believe it) Crate CSM 16 (Never heard such noiseless preamps!)
 
Lost for words

You mixed that on headphones!!! Again unbelievable!!! And a Crate CSM 16 ..... I can't wait to here your future recordings once you upgrade.

Really liking that AT4040. And that vintage Alesis synth.
You guys have a very bright future ahead of you. :cool:

Keep up the good work.

Just wondering if your twin brother is registered here at HR as well or do the both of you share this username.
 
Okay... Some notes:

1. I noticed the same glitches TripleM did, and hope you get em' fixed. The missing "H" in "He" is too obvious.
2. Acoustic guitar sample is too obviously a sample, in my opinion. When it kicked in, I was like, "ahh, crap.. They didn't use a real acoustic guitar"
3. Drums... Lots of problems with the drums. They come in *so* heavy, and obviously compressed, it sounded quite unnatural - almost distorted.

For as beautifully done as this song is, it's just screaming for a real acoustic guitar / acoustic drums, if you can get em'. It'd put a song like this over the edge.

Oh, I didn't mind the Melodyne much, although I'd really like to hear it being so obviously applied.

Really liked this tune, dude.
 
So this is the last song on your album are the others different or carry the same musical theme.
 
The other songs have a a different theme to them. This song was originally a techno song that we made a few years ago. Last week we needed a final song and I started playing some keyboard parts and rewrote some lyrics and this is how it turned out. This song was the most different out of them all. And I did fix the vocal glitches. They started bugging me once I isolated the vocal track. :D

As far as the drums go, The final mix we did is smoother and the drums aren't as heavy (the problem was the compression done in reason) although they have the same amount of presence. For this song, I prefer the sampled drums over acoustic, but that's just a preference I have.
But for the acoustic guitar, I wanted to put a real guitar in but I cant play the guitar very well. The major problem between my brother and I is neither of us can play the guitar. The power chords and the guitar solo are pretty much my limitations. Did the guitar parts by ear.

I'm still gonna make a lot of changes to most of the tracks on the album. It's hard to become completely satisfied with a mix. But I have another song I'm gonna post soon because I need some advice from you experienced guys and I've been having troubles getting the sound I need.
 
And no, my brother isnt registered on hr. I told him about it though.
 
Song is great, since it is the closing track i wouldn't change the structure at all. Leave the autotune, it sounds great in this context. My concerns besides the glitches throughout the vox is the drum sounds. They sound as though it was a single sample with the same velocity used on every hit...no variation. Especially the snare. If you can fix the mentioned thing this will be extraordinary. Great song, great performance...mostly great sound.
 
Yes. That was definitely something I fixed. My bro did the drum sequencing. I had him do some velo sensitive triggering to add drum dynamics. I didn't post the final mix because I wanted to see if you guys would find the errors that I did. Somethings I didn't really notice though was a couple vocal glitches so its a good thing you were able to point them out.
 
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