Zillionaires

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Thekesslerboy

Thekesslerboy

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This one was fully completed using the Boss BR-800 digital portastudio. No external effects apart from the in built ones, and the internal drum machine. Managed to to just keep it at 4 minutes, which is rare for me. Especially as I am a big fan of that elusive perfect 3 minute pop song.

Grateful for any mixing thoughts and composition ones too. Is it too long, too short, are there too many choruses, too few?

 
Love the song! Retro-vibes and over all a great composition!

Some things that stood out when it comes to the mix:

- The ride feels way to sharp and bright, a cut at around 14-15Khz would make it more pleasant for the ears.

- Maybe this comes down to taste, but I feel like the snare could use some more body, slight boost at around 200hz?
 
Jeffaklumpen said:
Love the song! Retro-vibes and over all a great composition!

Some things that stood out when it comes to the mix:

- The ride feels way to sharp and bright, a cut at around 14-15Khz would make it more pleasant for the ears.

- Maybe this comes down to taste, but I feel like the snare could use some more body, slight boost at around 200hz?
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Thanks man! When you say retro, what were you thinking? 90s or 60s! Be good to know how the song feels to others. I hear it as one thing in my head, but it always comes out different when recording.

Just realised it only goes over 4 minutes because of the outro, and that starts before the 3 minute mark so I could fade it out earlier. I am a sucker for long outros though.

The drums are a fixed combination of patterns in the machine, and I can't separate them. No real eq possible either, just extra reverb. Thanks for the pointers though.
 
Thekesslerboy said:
Thanks man! When you say retro, what were you thinking? 90s or 60s! Be good to know how the song feels to others. I hear it as one thing in my head, but it always comes out different when recording.

Just realised it only goes over 4 minutes because of the outro, and that starts before the 3 minute mark so I could fade it out earlier. I am a sucker for long outros though.

The drums are a fixed combination of patterns in the machine, and I can't separate them. No real eq possible either, just extra reverb. Thanks for the pointers though.
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More 60s in my mind. I don't listen to lots of 60s music but my mind goes straight to The Beatles when hearing this song :) The composition could work as a 90s song as well, but the overall sound of the recording and instruments gives me more of a 60s vibe.

I don't think the outro is overly long, maybe shorten it just a bit?

Ah I understand regarding the drums, it still sounds great though!
 
I don't hear anything close to 60's. I do hear 90's with a 60's vibe. IMO, bring the bass, and keys down so that the vocals can ride over top. Give it a tad of air, I think it would work very nice.

Not a bad little tune, little tweaking on the mix and would only improve it from good to better. (y)
 
I second Dave's notion. I have a suggestion as well. Pull back on the beater (kick). It's clouding the mids in competition - which is unnecessary. Listen to where you hear it, but it loses its prominence. The vocals will become much more defined because there won't be a 3k-ish interruption constantly interjecting itself into the melody. You could almost eliminate the beater for a low thump and that middle would open up for you w/ more clarity.

Everything else is really in place. This is not a matter of needing to do much but clear up the frequency stage for the best feature of the song (which is not the beater click). :D
 
K-dub said:
I have a suggestion as well. Pull back on the beater (kick). It's clouding the mids in competition - which is unnecessary.
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The kick drew my attention too, but it wasn't the beater, it was the fact that, through earbuds, it's the single biggest sound in the mix. To my ears, rather than just anchor the tune, it dominates.

Good jangly tune.
 
Thanks all. I'll take a look at the drums. It's always a balancing act, isn't it? Being a guitarist first, I am constantly fighting my instinct to hit the volume button on the guitars. But I try to do everything to serve the song, and was shocked when I first realised that it was the drums that were the loudest and clearest on my favourite records. I remember a lightbulb moment when re-listening to R.E.M.'s Murmur, and hearing how prominent the drums were. So now I might over compensate and default to pushing them a bit further than necessary. Mixing is not an exact science and taste varies, but there are some general principles I am learning every day. Usually it comes back to "Less is more". But it's hard to not add just that one more guitar part that you hear when listening back to the mix!
 
Nola said:
The mix sounds thin to me. Did you mix it on headphones? Personally I want more low end warmth.
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Yes, mixed on headphones. I always check on external monitors after that, and adjust as necessary. Do you mean the bass alone is low, or the low end on the other instruments? I'm conscious of bass, so always listening for it. What are the problems with using headphones?
 
dobro said:
Ride cymbal. I can hear cymbal hits, but not a ride. Is there one?
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Possibly not. It's a drum machine, programmed with ins, verse patterns, and fills so it depends which ones I chose at the time that seemed to fit.
 
Thekesslerboy said:
What are the problems with using headphones?
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I used to mix on headphones, and the mixes sounded a lot like this one where the low end is thin. Headphones are just not ideal...I'd suggest always adding a bit more bass and body than you hear in them.
 
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I almost always mix with headphones. I used to have lots of issues with the low end. When listening on other devices the low end was just way to loud, then I tried using Sonarworks Reference. It makes the frequencies of the headphones more neutral, you can even select your specific headphones and it calibrates accordingly. For me personally it's made a huge difference and I use it all the time.

Different headphones have different frequency curves and may cause different issues, mine was mainly in the low end.
 
Having lived through the 60's this is nothing about the 60's here. Kick drum dominates and gets in the way. The hi-hat and vocals have an annoying sizzle around 8 or 9 kHz. Not sure if a de-esser will fix this or if a targeted EQ cut is needed. The buildup at this frequency range kept me from enjoying the song. Minor tweaks for an otherwise good song and production.
 
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