Al James - Schoolboy Fascination Mix

[et_the_extraterrestrial]

Hope you enjoy my mix. Constructive criticism welcome! Had to do a bit of surgery on this song. The original files cut off suddenly at the final "schoolboy fascination" right at the end. I cut and spliced together from another event. It sounded good so I kept it.

[Olli H]

Some quick thoughts:

I like the vocal sound. If floats above the band nicely through the song.

Piano sounds quite compressed and dominating.

You have probably compressed too much those sample drums. Many times those samples are already preprocessed and don't need almost any effects unless you want change their sound.

If you trust the listeners capability to adjust the listening level, then you don't have to make this so loud. Little bit more dynamic range would make this mix breath little better.

[grizwalter]

What I really like: Excellent job separating out the tracks. Everything is pristine and clear, separated but together. Also, the vocal is just about perfect.

What I don't like: Piano almost blew my head off. Agree with Olli H. (Olli, I've got to stop doing that, ya' know? lol)--that thing is definitely too loud. Also, the reverb on it seems a slight bit heavy to me, mostly because everything else seems so tight, and with the piano so very loud in the mix, the reverb sets it out there even more.

Take care of that piano and I think this would be pretty close to dead on right.

[et_the_extraterrestrial]

Some quick thoughts:

I like the vocal sound. If floats above the band nicely through the song.

Piano sounds quite compressed and dominating.

You have probably compressed too much those sample drums. Many times those samples are already preprocessed and don't need almost any effects unless you want change their sound.

If you trust the listeners capability to adjust the listening level, then you don't have to make this so loud. Little bit more dynamic range would make this mix breath little better.

Thank you for the feedback. I don't have monitors at the moment so sometimes its difficult to mix things at proper volume. My comp is hooked up to my TV via HDMI so I'm mixing thru my TV speakers. I definitely will turn the piano down a bit and re-upload. I don't think I used compression for the drums except as a send to bring them out just a bit. I will see what I can do to fix them. Thank you again for your feedback.

[et_the_extraterrestrial]

What I really like: Excellent job separating out the tracks. Everything is pristine and clear, separated but together. Also, the vocal is just about perfect.

What I don't like: Piano almost blew my head off. Agree with Olli H. (Olli, I've got to stop doing that, ya' know? lol)--that thing is definitely too loud. Also, the reverb on it seems a slight bit heavy to me, mostly because everything else seems so tight, and with the piano so very loud in the mix, the reverb sets it out there even more.

Take care of that piano and I think this would be pretty close to dead on right.

Thanks for commenting. Please read my reply to Olli as to why the piano is so loud. Lol. Thank you again. I will fix it and re-upload.

[Spede]

Vocals sound really good in this mix. I wouldn't change a thing in them.

I feel the rhythm section in this mix is a bit thin and powerless. Both the snare and kick are lacking in low end punch and I basically cannot hear the bass in this mix.

It's nice that you've brought the toms out (I did the same since I liked them so much) but I feel I'm not hearing enough sustain from them, only the high end attack. Maybe try compressing them little bit more to bring out the ringing? I remember mangling them pretty hard with cascading compression.