23-01-2019, 09:43 AM
Hi Spandexcore -- lots of cool ideas you've got going in this mix! The bottle-clink was a great touch, and the electric guitar sounds were fresh and interesting, if a touch mono-incompatible on occasion. Your overall mix tonality seems pretty sensible, although I'd probably give the bass a bigger share of the sub-100Hz energy, as it currently lacks a bit of low-end support for the harmonies. The kick also ends up being a little too 'thunderous', and doesn't balance too well against the comparatively lightweight snare, which means that the Reintro and Outro lose a bit of rhythmic drive and some of the drum fills aren't as attention-grabbing as they could be. The cymbals are nicely contained though.
The lead vocal feels a touch boxy around 800Hz, and suffers from the variable low-frequency levels that afflict many of the mixes I've heard so far. In addition, the vocal level isn't that solid throughout the mix, and I noticed some quite large disparities in vocal level between similar sections. Clearly, there are reasons you might actually want inter-section level variations, but in this instance it doesn't seem planned that way. A trick I often use is to set up marker points at the start of each of a set of similar sections (say the choruses), so that at any point I can remind myself where I should be aiming at while automating the vocal, and there's less likelihood that the vocal level will drift quieter/louder through the song unintentionally. I reckon a slightly less dense and darker vocal reverb would also help, because the current patch feels a bit artificial and draws the vocal backwards in the depth perspective. In general, I'd also reiterate the advice I've provided to some other entrants, that it's worth automating your effects sends in this case, as that'll help make the production feel a little more like a mainstream pop mix.
The processing on the rhythm guitars is emphasising the little muted pickings on the sixteenth-notes between the main eighth-note off-beats, which feels to me like it's causing the groove to drag. In general, the more you labour shorter beat subdivisions, the more you'll create this kind of psychologic slowing effect. When the Hammond arrives in Chorus 1, it rather dominates the texture, especially in the lower midrange. I'd carve away at it with some EQ, so that it sits behind the lead vocal, not in front of it. The Outro could have a little more of the live clap tracks, I think, and the mod vocals could be widened in some way too -- as it stands, they sound a bit narrow and distant, whereas it'd be better for the party vibe if there was a certain amount of stereo spread to them, I reckon.
I like a lot of the arrangement work you've done, but there's still precious little differentiation between Verse 1 and Verse 2, which feels like an oversight. Then, in Chorus 1, I wonder whether the whistle riff's gilding the lily. Remember that, at this point in the song, the casual listener will be hearing the chorus melody and lyric for the first time, so I don't think it's wise to distract them from that important task with such a prominent counterpoint at that moment. By all means bring it in for Chorus 2, once they've already heard the Chorus tune once. Removing the off-beat chords during the Reintro section was one of my favourite ideas of yours, as it makes more of a feature of the solo guitar line and Hammond rotary-speaker texture, so good work there.
Thanks for posting -- some great ideas for us all to ponder in there!
The lead vocal feels a touch boxy around 800Hz, and suffers from the variable low-frequency levels that afflict many of the mixes I've heard so far. In addition, the vocal level isn't that solid throughout the mix, and I noticed some quite large disparities in vocal level between similar sections. Clearly, there are reasons you might actually want inter-section level variations, but in this instance it doesn't seem planned that way. A trick I often use is to set up marker points at the start of each of a set of similar sections (say the choruses), so that at any point I can remind myself where I should be aiming at while automating the vocal, and there's less likelihood that the vocal level will drift quieter/louder through the song unintentionally. I reckon a slightly less dense and darker vocal reverb would also help, because the current patch feels a bit artificial and draws the vocal backwards in the depth perspective. In general, I'd also reiterate the advice I've provided to some other entrants, that it's worth automating your effects sends in this case, as that'll help make the production feel a little more like a mainstream pop mix.
The processing on the rhythm guitars is emphasising the little muted pickings on the sixteenth-notes between the main eighth-note off-beats, which feels to me like it's causing the groove to drag. In general, the more you labour shorter beat subdivisions, the more you'll create this kind of psychologic slowing effect. When the Hammond arrives in Chorus 1, it rather dominates the texture, especially in the lower midrange. I'd carve away at it with some EQ, so that it sits behind the lead vocal, not in front of it. The Outro could have a little more of the live clap tracks, I think, and the mod vocals could be widened in some way too -- as it stands, they sound a bit narrow and distant, whereas it'd be better for the party vibe if there was a certain amount of stereo spread to them, I reckon.
I like a lot of the arrangement work you've done, but there's still precious little differentiation between Verse 1 and Verse 2, which feels like an oversight. Then, in Chorus 1, I wonder whether the whistle riff's gilding the lily. Remember that, at this point in the song, the casual listener will be hearing the chorus melody and lyric for the first time, so I don't think it's wise to distract them from that important task with such a prominent counterpoint at that moment. By all means bring it in for Chorus 2, once they've already heard the Chorus tune once. Removing the off-beat chords during the Reintro section was one of my favourite ideas of yours, as it makes more of a feature of the solo guitar line and Hammond rotary-speaker texture, so good work there.
Thanks for posting -- some great ideas for us all to ponder in there!