10-04-2019, 01:18 PM
The stacked vocal intro has an accumulation of early reflections from the recording room encroaching on my perception of space, and this contradicts the bigger emu applied on top. There’s no solution to that at the mix stage, so don’t let that take away anything from the concept because the idea is cool. I don’t like the distortion though, which is saturating everything all the way through the song, even the vocal intro. You could afford to back it off without it impairing your ideas otherwise it risks being just a little too intrusive for some of us pre-millennials. 
The chorus needs backing off too somehow, because it sounds like it’s about to turn into pink noise. I understand you were looking for impact and drive but you’re awakening non-linear unpleasantness rather than linear distortion which has appeal. A little overzealous perhaps.
Certain frequencies resonate in the ear canal, and the acoustic guitar is doing so here. It’s not alone because of the way you are pushing the audio. I suspect you might be equalising a pair of headphones, if I’m not mistaken?
The over dense arrangement loses stereo depth during the chorus and this happens here too. I’d suggest finding a way of developing it by selecting only the stock that offers decent contrast between the channels, it makes too much mono otherwise. We have 12 guitar tracks to choose from. This should have a knock-on benefit of giving you more headroom with the bonus of less distortion. Are you frowning now?
Overall, it’s too brittle and harsh for my ears from the over processing. Great mix ideas here conceptually, and the song benefits and advances markedly from your chops. I especially like the dynamic contrasts in the fake verse transition, the pause, then the vamp. It’s not a feature I liked in the arrangement because it messed with my expectations, but you’ve changed my opinion.
The chorus needs backing off too somehow, because it sounds like it’s about to turn into pink noise. I understand you were looking for impact and drive but you’re awakening non-linear unpleasantness rather than linear distortion which has appeal. A little overzealous perhaps.
Certain frequencies resonate in the ear canal, and the acoustic guitar is doing so here. It’s not alone because of the way you are pushing the audio. I suspect you might be equalising a pair of headphones, if I’m not mistaken?
The over dense arrangement loses stereo depth during the chorus and this happens here too. I’d suggest finding a way of developing it by selecting only the stock that offers decent contrast between the channels, it makes too much mono otherwise. We have 12 guitar tracks to choose from. This should have a knock-on benefit of giving you more headroom with the bonus of less distortion. Are you frowning now?
Overall, it’s too brittle and harsh for my ears from the over processing. Great mix ideas here conceptually, and the song benefits and advances markedly from your chops. I especially like the dynamic contrasts in the fake verse transition, the pause, then the vamp. It’s not a feature I liked in the arrangement because it messed with my expectations, but you’ve changed my opinion.
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