Song about to go to pro mixer. Please some last minute thoughts?!

[juicylime]

I won a competition type thingie to have my song mixed by a pro. I've got to have it sent within the next day or so. It's entirely recorded by me at home on Cubase with ezDrummer on relatively basic equipment, so while it isn't as perfect as I might like (pro studio, real engineer, string quartet and some musicians) it's the best I can do for now.

I've had alot of people asking to buy the song on myspace from a rough version and am doing a video for it so I'd like to really, really get it as good as I can and use this pro mix as my final version. The fact that it's about to go to the hands of a pro has made me listen even more critically and spot some mistakes and things that need to be better. I'm willing to spend the next few days sweating over the tiniest things if it will improve it even slightly. If there are to be any changes they need to be now or forever hold their peace!!

I'd be delighted if anyone will take a listen and help me improve anything that could be made better!!

Perfect Day

Jules: Double post from MP3 upload forum, trying to get informed thoughts before sending this off. I hope it's cool!

[rcm]

Congrats on winning the mix.

Do you know a local player that is a really great percussionist (not always the same thing as a great drummer). If you can give your mixer some options of great shaker and tambourine tracks that run through the song, that really lock into the drums, it will open up some options for him/her to make this track shine.

Great percussion tracks and possibly a really simple keyboard pad in the verses, and this track should be ready to go and come back sounding great. You may also want to think about having a double of the lead vocal available for some creative processing and possibly have the falsetto notes in the verse re-enforced with a lower vocal, that could get snuck in to keep the vocal sound nice and full when you go into your thinner register.

Good Luck

[juicylime]

Hi Ronan, I hope you're well. Thanks a million for that, great ideas! Exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for.

What does anyone think of the drums? I'm wondering if the fills are a little too busy and if the syncopated snare striking just before the 3 beat in the intro is making it sound a little static.

[kittonian]

Alright, I'm prefacing this by saying congrats on the win and I'm only stating these facts because you asked for whatever you can get to make things better. These are the things I'd do based on listening over the net, in order of importance.

1. Get a real drummer in a great room with an engineer who knows how to record drums. Let that drummer experiment through the song and add the textures/fills/etc. that a session drummer in your genre knows how to do. Get a bunch of takes with different fill options, and have the engineer beat detective everything (not robotic but in time with a feel/groove).

2. Recut the vocals. There is no air to the recording and there seems to be a really harsh freq. rearing it's head when you sing louder. Again, perhaps the same studio you'd record the drums in you could recut the vocals. Sing things with various inflections, try different harmony parts, etc. Let the mixer decide what to use.

3. Once 2 & 3 are done, I'd look at the bass and guitars. I know I'm sort of nitpicking at everything here but it all starts with the recording. The bass needs to groove to the drums and lock in with the kick, and the guitars seem slightly off-time here and there throughout the song.

I'd do things like highlight the acoustic with some great drums/bass in the verses and perhaps little delayed rhythmic notes on the guitar sporadically. Add something to keep the listener's attention halfway through the verse and then really make the chorus explode.

As I said, I'm only trying to help and I wish you nothing but the best.

[juicylime]

Originally Posted by kittonian

As I said, I'm only trying to help and I wish you nothing but the best.

I take your advice as nothing but helpful, no need to qualify it! The drums aren't an option I'm afraid. I think I agree about the vocals. I did them on an AKGc3000b and I think it's responsible for that sound. I've since got a Nuemann KM140, it's an SDC but I think I'll recut them with that. Points taken on guitar and bass.

[bcgood]

Redo the lead vocals, there's a lot "o" flat notes and the tone of the vocal sounds like they where recorded in a milk carton through an eq with all the highs turned down. Record everything with the least amount of compression as possible this track needs a lot more air and breathing room in my opinion. I'm trying to be helpful and truthful. Those are the things that jumped out at me more than anything else. Hope this helps!

bcgood

[chrisso]

Focussing on the drums, which is more my area of knowledge.

It's hard to tell how they sound as they are so low in the mix.
The groove seems OK, definitely appropriate for the song.
However, you've repeated the same (busy) triplet fill at least 6 times - which a real drummer wouldn't do. It is the only fill.
Without taking away any time from your vocal redo (which is probably a priority), I would try to find or program some much simpler fills. Keep the triplet fill for the last chorus or outro, or both.
A combination of 8 and 16th notes between bass, snare and a couple of toms.
On songs like this I would typically play a whole bar of 8th notes on snare and floor tom together, getting louder (crescendo), especially into a key section of the song (NOT the first verse or chorus!!!)
I agree that some good tambourine and shaker work would really lift the track.
Congrats on winning the comp.

[u b k]

when it comes out of the breakdown, that part before the last chorus, it sounds like there was supposed to be a guitar solo and it got cut. i'm not suggesting you put a solo there, but something needs to hit. it's a moment that's been built up to but there's no payoff.

agreed on all the vocal points others have made, fix the flat notes and include some layers. one thing that bugs me more than it probably does others is that the drums have more swing than your guitars. this is common; relax your strum a little, get some of that flow in there. either that or straighten the drums up to match your live tracks.

in all, a well done pop song.


gregoire
del
ubk
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[juicylime]

Great responses. I've been working on a few things and the fact of having to raise my game because of this is great. I've always thought that music is like football, you're best served and have the chance to improve most by being involved with people who are more advanced than you are. I've retracked the bits that obviously needed it (which I decided was actually quite alot) and already it's a big improvement. Everything is really "fitting" better. I'm excited by what the final mix will bring to it all.

Bcgood: No compression anywhere. I'm going to leave that to the mixer.

Chrisso: Thanks for that. You're completely right.

UBK: Do you mean straight away when it comes out of the break down, or a little bit in when the chorus section is playing and there is no vocal line? I was planning on a slide guitar part then, I'm just wondering if it's earlier you're talking about? great tip on the acoustic. Whe you say vocal layers are you talking about same melodic line, harmonies, high/low octaves?

[mrlouie]

make sure all the files are labeled correctly ...

if you did any edits go through each track and listen in solo to make sure they are all good, nothing clipped ... if you have any parts you DONT want in the mix make sure they are not there.. send a track sheet with it so the guy knows he has all the parts he should

if there are any comps ... like lead voc for example...make sure you do them .. but just have the source files there for him incase he needs/wants to change something...

you dont want this person wasting time tryin' to figure out what something is or is it suppose to be used in the mix or fixing some bad edits .

you want him spending the time mixing not having to deal with tracks that are mess... i hear this from more then a few people when they get projects to mix only.

hope this helps..

louie