Comment on the mix please

[sHOWpONY]

Hi, been working on this mix and would love some feedback on it.
First impressions would be great then I can give details on what I've done.

Thanks a whole lot.

[BigJamesBoy]

Originally Posted by sHOWpONY

Hi, been working on this mix and would love some feedback on it.
First impressions would be great then I can give details on what I've done.

Thanks a whole lot.

The kick sounds a little too scooped, all click no body. Rhythm guitar could use a be a bit brighter, maybe a couple db around 8k. Otherwise sounds decent. thumbsup

[sHOWpONY]

Hey thanks BigJamesBoy

Thanks for the feedback. There's plenty of body in the kick but I probably need to raise the overall kick level and drop the send to my comp that adds the snap.
Can I ask what type of speakers you listened on? Full range? nearfields?

Do you think it sounds over compressed?

Cheers
Amos

ps This really is a strange forum. I've been a member for a few years and often it's a struggle getting a response, and then you find some other post has got 30 replies to a similar question...straaange! Thanks again.

[SimmonsCS28]

Hmmmm, I like most of the rest of the tune but something about that snare was just too much. What does your eq on the snare look like? Maybe it just needs to be brought down in the mix and the kick up a little as mentioned. Just my thoughts but otherwise you've got something good hear.

[sHOWpONY]

Thanks Simmons. I appreciate it. The snare has been causing me a little angst. I think it's probably to do with a bit too much send to my 'snap' compressor. I get great results with this (short comp time, v low threshold, 1:10 ratio) but I may have overcooked it a bit.

[stagefright13]

Can't really hear the kick and I think the snare is too loud. But the snap is good on it.

Listening on system 800 Tannoys this second. Kinda big dual concentric nearfields. In a way.

John

[paulmun]

yeah agree the snap on the snare is good, but the ring of it is too much for my taste, there is a ring around 290 hz you could cut that out with a fairly narrow band eq I reckon also you could reduce the tail of the snare a little i think. maybe using a show attack snare (~60 ms) and a release that is just long enough for the gr to be gone in time for each next snare.

other than that like the mix.

not sure about the topic of the song though lol!! good fun!

[sHOWpONY]

Hi paulmun. Thanks for the advice. I know what my problem is. Too much f**king around with processing on the snare! I had a lot of bleed originally, so I drumagogd it and did a few other stupid things and mixed it down, then added further processing. I've since removed some of the processing and it's sounding better. I've increased the kick level and given it a bit more bottom, and upped the guitars a bit. Now it's sounding better, but still too rawkiss for Grandma! Thanks again.

Amos

[sHOWpONY]

Hi John, thanks for the comments. I agree and I've made changes to it.

[fHumble fHingaz]

Sounding really good! The snap on the snare is a little too much for my taste, & it does sound a little "disembodied"... one other thing I noticed - the line about "hand sanitizer" just got a bit lost in the mix - perhaps a little automation could bring it out.

[sHOWpONY]

Here's my adjusted mix with all your good advice...more kick, less snare snap & more body, slightly brighter guitars...

[api2500]

Sounds much better.

Have you thought about bus distorting the vocals at the start? Could be interesting. Up to 0:16 and at 0:53 but the verb on the vocal rather than the distorted channel. Or just throughout the song.

Before the Chorus, maybe take some guitars out. Create a build up?

Distort some Bass on a bus channel?

Reverb on the backing vocals?

More Amb Reverb on the Vocal?

This song itself epitomises my problems with teenage american songwriting. Good sonics though, just musically not to my taste. Good work.

[JeffS65]

I think that last mix, you might have gotten it. Much improved from the first.

Rockin' song too. I played it second time just to listen to it. Funny and catchy too.

[sHOWpONY]

Originally Posted by api2500

Sounds much better.

Have you thought about bus distorting the vocals at the start? Could be interesting. Up to 0:16 and at 0:53 but the verb on the vocal rather than the distorted channel. Or just throughout the song.

Before the Chorus, maybe take some guitars out. Create a build up?

Distort some Bass on a bus channel?

Reverb on the backing vocals?

More Amb Reverb on the Vocal?

This song itself epitomises my problems with teenage american songwriting. Good sonics though, just musically not to my taste. Good work.

EXCELLENT! Thanks for ideas. I realise the transition from the verse 1 to chorus has got wobbly knees and doesn't build well. I like the idea of buss distortion on the vocals from 0.16. There's verb on the BVs and and a short spacial on the lead vox. I'm keen to keep the main vox fairly dry, but you're making me think that some variation of effect on the main vox could work at different parts of the song. Yeah, I also like your idea of upping the verb on the BVs; that'll give them a bit more space in the mix. I've already done this to bv's singing 'germany' at 2.05.

A big thanks and salutations for taking the time.


Amos

we do things different in nEW zEALAND

[sHOWpONY]

Originally Posted by JeffS65

I think that last mix, you might have gotten it. Much improved from the first.

Rockin' song too. I played it second time just to listen to it. Funny and catchy too.

Thanks Jeff. Think I'll try some of the things api suggested. I'm not one to keep on tweaking till the cows come home...but....well just a small adjustment on the main vox and fixing that verse 1/chorus transition might just do it!

Thanks for listening and commenting.

Amos

[api2500]

Originally Posted by sHOWpONY

Thanks Jeff. Think I'll try some of the things api suggested. I'm not one to keep on tweaking till the cows come home...but....well just a small adjustment on the main vox and fixing that verse 1/chorus transition might just do it!

Thanks for listening and commenting.

Amos

Don't you love Digital and DAWs? .

Post the final mix!

[sHOWpONY]

Originally Posted by api2500

Don't you love Digital and DAWs? .

Post the final mix!

Will do.
You know, the thing I hate most about this track is the very thing I spent most time on...that damn snare! For the last and definitely absolutely final mix, I'm going to go back to my original un-super-processed snare and give it a little 'sane' treatment this time. Will post soon.

Thanks again.

[Rotaholic]

Hey Bro, banging mix. Man I love the lyrics "to many germs in germany" reminds me of weezer a bit. funny as

[sHOWpONY]

Well, sorry for the delay in posting a remix. Things are crazy, working 2 jobs in that transition between moving from my real job to working in the studio. Here's my latest mix. Essentially the same as last time with the original snare minus all the bollix overprocessing I mistakenly did. Has a bit more bottom. Checked in mono. I find these mixes great fun but tough work - so dense and always a challenge to articulate all the instrumentation in the mix.

Comments greatly appreciated.

Amos

[sHOWpONY]

Originally Posted by Rotaholic

Hey Bro, banging mix. Man I love the lyrics "to many germs in germany" reminds me of weezer a bit. funny as

Hey Rotaholic, where are you in the land of the long white cloud?

[sHOWpONY]

Hey everyone. Would really appreciate feedback on my latest mix. In fact, I'm happy to discuss everything I've done, what I use and and how. If anyone wants to reciprocate, then I'm happy to comment on your mix in exchange.

Thing is, I've been banging away on this a little longer than I should have and I was feeling like maybe I was losing perspective.

Cheers
Amos

ps most recent mix is mix H.

[cyjanopan]

it is going in right direction ! only thing that jumps at me is EQ on hard panned guitars, I think there is too much ringy high mids added (around 1,5k - 2,5k cant tell for sure). Overall really nice

[sHOWpONY]

Cheers for the feedback cyjanopan.

Amos

[Rotaholic]

Originally Posted by sHOWpONY

Hey Rotaholic, where are you in the land of the long white cloud?

Palmerston North, I cant comment on the mix cause my studio is down for another two weeks, but once its back up and running I will let ya know. Still sounds cool on my ATH-M50s