22-01-2019, 12:49 PM
Hi loweche6! Wow -- a much moodier and dubbier version this! Love the effects spin on "too much to drink" in Verse 2. (Although I wonder whether it might have been even more effective in the gap following the word "drink", given than nothing else much is happening there.) The overall tonality feels a little boxy, so I think you could trade a bit of 120Hz and 3kHz for 60Hz and 10kHz respectively. That said, the 100-200Hz region is a bit of a battleground at the moment, so master-buss EQ isn't really the right fix. The bass is very powerful in the region, as is the kick, and the lead vocal's also probably contributing a little too much there as well. Then the first Hammond part also uses a lot of that same energy when it comes it, as well as being very narrow, which increases its competition with the central vocal. So I think you just need to be a bit more sparing with that spectral region, and really weigh up which parts will most benefit from it at any given moment in the arrangement. It's often a tricky region for a lot of mixes, because you want enough warmth, but at the same time it's easy to overdo things and make the mix sound woolly overall.
I can't quite make my mind up about the drums. On the one hand, I like the punch you've got on the snare, and the side-stick's also coming through nicely, but overall I get the feeling that the kit as a whole is too distant-sounding, and not really solid or loud enough in the mix to drive the rhythm along properly. But, at the same time, from about Chorus 2 onwards, there are some very aggressive transients coming through. It almost sounds like it's a heavy-metal-style kick-drum beater 'click', but whatever it is it gets quite fatiguing on the ear and I find myself wanting to turn the playback volume down. And, if anything, I'd want to turn your drums up, as a whole, to get more rhythmic energy and momentum.
I like the drop-down you do in the Verse 3 arrangement, although it does suggest to me that the congas are also rather too reverberant. In a general sense, in fact, it seems to me that you're using your delays/reverbs a bit too liberally, which is losing you some mix clarity and contrast. I'd try to make each reverb you use a bit more efficient, and adapt it more to the needs of the instrument(s) feeding it, so that more of the individual character of the sounds comes through. I have similar thoughts about the retro timbral flavours you've chosen. In principle I like that kind of thing, and I think it suits this production too (especially if you're taking more of a cue from the reggae/dub influences), but at the same time it's almost like you've overdone it, such that it begins to sound like it wasn't intentional. The key to making retro sounds work in a modern setting is finding some elements of the production that say 'retro' but at the same time making sure that other aspects of it are clearly more contemporary, and it's the latter aspect that feels like it needs more attention here so that the retro elements sound like an artistic statement.
In general I like the vocal balancing, and the high vocal level certainly make sense in terms of lyric transmission. However, I think you might actually bring it a little lower in level in the verses in particular, and use a bit more automation to keep the words coming through clearly at that lower level. I also felt that I wanted some of the backing fills and licks to come through more clearly during gaps in the vocal line, so I'd maybe look to automate a little more with that in mind too.
Hope some of that makes sense, and thanks for getting involved with the contest. Another eye-opening creative vision -- a pleasure to listen to!
I can't quite make my mind up about the drums. On the one hand, I like the punch you've got on the snare, and the side-stick's also coming through nicely, but overall I get the feeling that the kit as a whole is too distant-sounding, and not really solid or loud enough in the mix to drive the rhythm along properly. But, at the same time, from about Chorus 2 onwards, there are some very aggressive transients coming through. It almost sounds like it's a heavy-metal-style kick-drum beater 'click', but whatever it is it gets quite fatiguing on the ear and I find myself wanting to turn the playback volume down. And, if anything, I'd want to turn your drums up, as a whole, to get more rhythmic energy and momentum.
I like the drop-down you do in the Verse 3 arrangement, although it does suggest to me that the congas are also rather too reverberant. In a general sense, in fact, it seems to me that you're using your delays/reverbs a bit too liberally, which is losing you some mix clarity and contrast. I'd try to make each reverb you use a bit more efficient, and adapt it more to the needs of the instrument(s) feeding it, so that more of the individual character of the sounds comes through. I have similar thoughts about the retro timbral flavours you've chosen. In principle I like that kind of thing, and I think it suits this production too (especially if you're taking more of a cue from the reggae/dub influences), but at the same time it's almost like you've overdone it, such that it begins to sound like it wasn't intentional. The key to making retro sounds work in a modern setting is finding some elements of the production that say 'retro' but at the same time making sure that other aspects of it are clearly more contemporary, and it's the latter aspect that feels like it needs more attention here so that the retro elements sound like an artistic statement.
In general I like the vocal balancing, and the high vocal level certainly make sense in terms of lyric transmission. However, I think you might actually bring it a little lower in level in the verses in particular, and use a bit more automation to keep the words coming through clearly at that lower level. I also felt that I wanted some of the backing fills and licks to come through more clearly during gaps in the vocal line, so I'd maybe look to automate a little more with that in mind too.
Hope some of that makes sense, and thanks for getting involved with the contest. Another eye-opening creative vision -- a pleasure to listen to!