just finished this a few weeks ago. worked pretty hard on it. thinking i should fill it out with more backround vox or something of that nature. i ended up gating the track becuase it added some interesting things but forgot to automate it so it goes off at the end of the track. it will be fixed in the end fyi. thoughts?

Really enjoyable

In the chorus I'd push synth and guitars a bit back and open verbs and space to make everything more lyric; maybe I'd carve out things around 800Hz.

*pushing play again bc sounds nice*

needs more "magic" done to the vocals (i.e. effects like delay)

Great voice!

Thanks. I'll def give that a shot. I had a hard time deciphering how far back to set the guitars because I thought it sounded empty when I started to pull down the fader. Maybe I need to cut some harsh freqs in those guitars and that would make them sit better.

Thanks !

Really like that mate, sounds individual to me, which is great.

I agree that you could add some nice delay to the vocal in the chorus, with may be some double tracking or even triple/quadruple tracking in a few places, but don't have the same delay on the other layers as the main layer. I also agree the guitar needs thinning or pushing back in the chorus. May be try some obvious EQing on the guitar there, so the EQ is an effect. Just a few ideas.

Love the track and want to hear more from you, so please post a link to your stuff.

thanks! all sound like good ideas. should help to give a little more depth, which i've been trying to do. i actually only have 1 other track which im comfortable to show. i was still developing my style and what i wanted to go for until recently. i've also only been actively persuing this for about a year and a half. i got laid off 2 weeks ago from my union job so im really hunkering down and trying to get **** done. i don't want to be a pipe welder/fitter the rest of my life. my knees and hips already hurt and im only 29! blood money! ill just post the other track along with this thread. i have to warn you tho. kind of just messing around with this one, learning more technique and starting to use my ears. i feel like i've made large strides since this track. here it is...

Thanks for that, Bill.....especially about the mix quality. I was a bit worried about those voices. I armed four tracks and read off the first four pages of my catalog.

I do........and thanks for listening, my friend.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. I just post everything....obviously....have been since back around page 3 or 4. Thanks.

Mixed and mastered all ITB on headphones. Let me know what you think or what could be improved

https://soundcloud.com/jackparris/li...k-parris-remix

Great idea! you can fill the emptiness with a dark delay on guitars, a soft pad or some variation in the bassline.

Hey, do whatever you want, you already got a fan

That's a awesome track; tons of vibe, and a really distinctive feel that's hard to coax out of DAW based productions.

My ONE note would be on the extended guitar solo outro: all the ideas are good, but there is no breathing room between any of the phrases/ideas. Not even a 1/16th note gap for one idea to end, or the sound of the guitar to decay. I don't know if that's because it's a comped take of various free-form ideas, or not, but there's a lot to be said for working on the ends of phrases, as well as the phrases themselves, and you'd get more mileage from the outro if, for the first 16 bars at least, there was breathing room between the ideas - though you could move into more continuous playing for the remainder, which would build the intensity.

First before I forget it, it sounds like the beginning of the song got cut off - hope that was just on the youtube thing you posted

Not sure on the vocals, but I think I see what you mean and hard to put my finger on it too. To start I think they need to be a bit louder relative to everything else, which seems to be drowning it out a bit. And maybe a little less mid-range, a little more lower-end "thump." These are of course just guesses. Sounds good overall though!

I wrote this a couple of months ago and was playing with the mix today.
Any mixing sugestions are welcome.
https://soundcloud.com/iluvstrats/philistine

Thanks..really appreciate it You're most probably right about the midrange. I'll see what I can do with the eq (shudder). The backing/harmony tracks still not done, so it will get thicker, in the chorus at least.

Oh, and that's just a random cut segment from the entire track, that's why it starts abruptly. Gonna be released soon, so didn't wanna post the entire thing.

The vocals do feel a bit to far back in the mix to me, but only at times. I'd be trying some sort of saturation or lo-fi plug that is very subtly automated to bring the vocal out strong at certain times.

I might do the same thing with an automated short delay to add body.

EDIT: Just listened again....this might be a good place to try that trick where you compress the vocal reverb with a compressor that is keyed by the vocal. That would bring the vocal out to the front more while still preserving the reverb tail.

Looking forward to hearing this release.

Thanks. You mean like a gated reverb? Hmm...one more thing to try

Wow, Owen. Thank you so much for the kind words and very insightful criticism. You have no idea how much I appreciate your listening and feedback! You are right about the solo, it was comped from 3 or so different takes but I tried to use as much of a single take as possible. This solo is also a bit of a departure for me as usually when I am playing a guitar solo it is in the context of a psychedelic rock song and I'm trying to overload people's minds with ideas haha. Anyway, thanks again and I wish you all the best to you and your own music.

Not gated......compressed a bit more gently than that with the reverb compressor sidechained to the vocals. The vocals trigger the compressor so that the reverb is lessened while you are singing and then releases after each phrase. If you get the release just right it gets nicely musical. It lets the vocal phrases come forward a bit more while still keeping the reverb tail intact to fill the spaces between phrases.

Try it out and see.......hit the threshold hard with a fast attack and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Ah, got it. Only experienced people would know such stuff..thanks a lot Gonna try it.

Fantastic stuff! Really digging that lead tone as well. Very organic and vibe-y. Good job

Here is a song I wrote about how it feels, to me, to be an American right now. This was recorded and mixed in three different home studios by three contributors. I play the guitars, Bass, and do the vocals.

One thing I will point out is that the 2 electric guitars are Kemper profiles. I love this thing!

https://soundcloud.com/tom-paul-2/were-not-open-today

Hi all!

First time posting anything here, thought I might give it a try. Comments welcome!
https://soundcloud.com/tomjw-1/back-to-reality

Thanks, Tom

Hey Tom, welcome and thanks for posting.

I like it. Just a very quick play on my MacBook Pro speakers, so won't give any mix comments but as a song, it had some nice elements. It reminds me of something from a Disney et al animated film. Hope you take that as a compliment.

Nice job.

Thanks! I've realised it will need more 'oomph' from the middle onwards from other commenters. Disney is great, e.g. Frozen let it go And I really like the 'older' songs by Alan Menken, great composer!

Love how you have the synths coming out strong both L and R; are they doubled?

Also I just said these two things about someone else's songs - either you're the same guy or it's me.

1 - Vocals need lots of de-essing
2 - Vocals also sound kinda boxy to me, might try trimming some mids? Or ease off reverb a bit?

Killer song man! Nice work all around, especially like your vocals.
Mix sounds perfect here to me. Seriously good stuff!!

Another killer tune man!! Really, really like your stuff!!
Awesome songwriting and recording.
Hope you don't mind if I follow you on SoundCloud.

Definitely an infectious tune with a great hook chorus.

I agree with bill5 about a bit of de-essing.

Thanks for the encouragement!! I'd love you to follow me.