19-11-2016, 06:45 PM
Listened to the version 2 mix and, wow -- super-forward-sounding rhythm section, this! Like the wiry bass quality you've brought out in particular, as it really seems to drive the track rhythmically. The voice also has an assertive quality that fits well with the rhythm-sound you've chosen. I do have some reservations about the overall tonality, though, which seems rather hollow, as if you've over-scooped the low mids on too many tracks. (Perhaps in response to the previous poster's comments?) The low end also seems rather light, and I reckon you could bring more of those low frequencies out of the bass guitar to even out and extend the frequency bandwidth as a whole.
Although the snare is clearly designed to drive this track, I think you've maybe overbrightened it, as it pushes too far in front of the vocal for me, and quickly gets a bit fatiguing too -- I found myself turning your mix down as a result, which probably isn't a good thing!
The toms feel too forward as well when they play, although this is as much a pure level issue as it is to do with their also quite forward HF character.
The guitars are balanced quite low in the mix overall in your version, which in principle I have nothing against, but in the case of this particular track the guitars are responsible for most of the arrangement variation, so it reduces the sense of 'light and shade' musically doing that, in my opinion, so I'd maybe reconsider that a little.
One other area you might want to work further on is effects, in particular the kinds of general-purpose delay and reverb effects that help blend things together so they sound like a real ensemble. The toms are a case in point here, because they sound like samples rather than part of the kit, and the snare also suffers from this to a lesser extent. The vocal sounds rather too much like an overdub for me too, despite the rather nice characterful effect tail you've chosen, and in general I think you could get a more cohesive and full-sounding result if you investigated more what tempo-delays and reverbs can do here. I'd certainly use some kind of a short ambience reverb to help tie the overdubs together and blend the drum close mics with the overheads, for instance.
Thanks for posting, though -- my head's definitely nodding to the beat on this one!
Although the snare is clearly designed to drive this track, I think you've maybe overbrightened it, as it pushes too far in front of the vocal for me, and quickly gets a bit fatiguing too -- I found myself turning your mix down as a result, which probably isn't a good thing!
The toms feel too forward as well when they play, although this is as much a pure level issue as it is to do with their also quite forward HF character.The guitars are balanced quite low in the mix overall in your version, which in principle I have nothing against, but in the case of this particular track the guitars are responsible for most of the arrangement variation, so it reduces the sense of 'light and shade' musically doing that, in my opinion, so I'd maybe reconsider that a little.
One other area you might want to work further on is effects, in particular the kinds of general-purpose delay and reverb effects that help blend things together so they sound like a real ensemble. The toms are a case in point here, because they sound like samples rather than part of the kit, and the snare also suffers from this to a lesser extent. The vocal sounds rather too much like an overdub for me too, despite the rather nice characterful effect tail you've chosen, and in general I think you could get a more cohesive and full-sounding result if you investigated more what tempo-delays and reverbs can do here. I'd certainly use some kind of a short ambience reverb to help tie the overdubs together and blend the drum close mics with the overheads, for instance.
Thanks for posting, though -- my head's definitely nodding to the beat on this one!