Yo Hablo!

S

santiu

Rock-scientist
Hey all, working on another song here. I've got a first cut at the mix:



okay, couple notes.
1) the second 'C' after the drums come in, both the key and guitar track are messed up. It sounds like it's clipping, but the levels aren't even close. I don't know if there was a power surge, or a cable got knocked, or what the happened in the signal chain to cause it.
2) still need to try to remove some p'losives from the lead vocals (didn't have a pop-screen on that day, note to self: never ever record without one again)
3) at the very end when it's rocking out, it's pretty squashed by limiting/compressing. What do you guys think of that? Do you think it would sound better to just automate the levels down? I kinda like the squashedness.

Feedback, comments, and criticism of the mix (and song if you want) are very appreciated :D Thanks (or should I say gracias)!
 
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Sounds pretty good. I'm a big fan of the fact that it's in Spanish but simple enough Spanish that I can understand.

I speak Spanish./ I speak Spanish./ But I only speak three words./ I speak Spanish
Click to expand...
Right?

For the most part, the mix is pretty good. The piano sounds a little overwhelming when it comes in on the third chorus and the instrumental part at the end. By the same token, the guitar could probably stand to come up a bit.

Your two vocal lines drifted from each other a bit occasionally (especially around the word "palabras") I assume that's intentional?

Other than when it gets buried in piano, your vocal tone is pretty good. The plosives aren't bad.
 
I like the poppyness of it. Reminds me of "They Might be Giants". Vocals are very good. I love the line "no one speaKs latin anymore except maybe the POOOOOoPope". Damn this is catcy. The spanish parts are great. Catchy as hell.

lines I think need fixing.

but spanish is certainly derived from it
so is porugese so they speak it

those lines refer to other lines but I think they could be written better. look at them more closely. I can't tell you how to write them, but they could be better on the rhyme scheme.

"quid pro quo in latin means something for something else" - the way you sing it is a bit too much, good, but too much on the "in LATIN". I wouldn't go so high on "latin".

I love the line "and if you ever get arrested, just say it's not so wo"

I love the piano parts, and I'm wondering how you recorded them to sound so live. The change at 3:31 is great. Ben Folds, Cake and Elton John come to mind. Throughout the whole song those 3 come up.

You've done a very good job of mixing everything together and bringing up volumes of instruments when needed. I can learn from you. Thanks for the post.
 
thanks a bunch for the responses guys :D

Vomit... yup, you got it on the translation. You're dead on with the piano being too overwhelming at times, i didn't notice that till now (that's why i love this board). The lines do indeed drift away from each other intentionally, but i haven't decided if it gave the intended laid back fun feeling, or if it's just annoying and amateur sounding. Thoughts?

Nopoetic, thanks for the kind words and suggestions. As for the piano, i can't take credit really for the recording as it's a Kawai MP-8 keyboard going directly in. No EQ or effects were applied, so that was 100% Kawai just making a great freaking piano sound. As for recording process on this song in geneal, all three parts (keys, guitar, and drums) were tracked together at the same time. The piano player wanted to redo his solo, so that was the only overdub we did (aside from the vocals).

I also appreciate the comment about bringing up the levels when needed, but again I can't take credit. That just comes from tracking everything "live", and everybody listening to each other and trying to adjust their playing accordingly (which is sometimes a bit hard with headphones). There's very little automation going on here.

thanks again for the comments guys!
 
Hi Santiu:

Niiiice...:)

Yo ablo un poquito mas que tres palabras, but, serious, my spanish is terrible ("much" worst than my english, if it´s possible:D), altough living 'near' Uruguai/Argentina.

Pretty good stereo/stage image.I can "see" the band...(great performance).:)
Part at 03.30 really sounds a bit out of control (dinamics) compared with the rest. The change of line on guitar (similar with the piano before) can have to do with this, and the mids on piano "jumps" too...

I think you can have a good result using the volume envelope in this case.

Ciro
 
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The plosives aren't bad as mentioned. I found the whole mix to be very lively and dynamic. Great job for mainly live... Catchy and extremely danceable. This should be on that TV dance show! :D
 
Enjoyed the song. I like the different vibes it goes through. I agree with the comments on levels.

I get the loose and laid back feeling, but if I wasn't expecting it, it might come across as unintentional. I think if you're going for that feel, it has to be deliberate so the listener knows you're having fun.

Cool.
 
Very interesting song. Nice vibes around everything.
I would suggest some panning tweaks. It's a little overcrowded in some area.
Don't be afraid to experiment with very wide panning for some instruments and maybe you will achieve
better balance/levels as well.
Very well!
 
santiu said:
The lines do indeed drift away from each other intentionally, but i haven't decided if it gave the intended laid back fun feeling, or if it's just annoying and amateur sounding. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I think it works.

Edit:
Could you post the lyrics to this? I'm noticing there are a lot of quite intelligent linguistic jokes in there, but I'm having some trouble making them all out.
 
Vox seems low in the mix to me....it should have the right of way and be center of attention...
I agree that the lyrics are interesting and creative....very cool songwriting man...

the other fellas covered the mix...
needs a bass line man....
Good job.
 
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