Living In The City - first mix for years... (and what a great track!)

[Roy]

Hey. I just gave this a quick listen. My immediate thoughts besides what others may have mentioned is that to me the kick feels a little...artificial? Is it a sample or heavily gated or just too scooped or something. I'm not sure. It does jump out at me at that very first kick that's by itself and kinda lays out the sound for the rest of the tune.
That and the guitar automation in the first verse might be too noticeable. I guess that's been mentioned though now that I look. Oh well. Overall a good job.

Cheers Roy. And well spotted - there is a kick sample in there! I thought I’d kept it pretty subtle...

Fair enough. Samples are fine. It does stick out for a few reasons. Mainly, being a live recorded track cleaner sounds and samples, etc, are more stark in contrast. What really caught my ear was the naked upbeat kick going into the song. It just stands out and becomes more obvious and sets the stage from then on.

It reminds me of an article I read ages ago. There was this one song that had synth horns (80s quality) throughout the whole song that felt artificial. Someone knew a sax player and had them play some riffs just at the top of the song and that created a sonic illusion from then on. The opposite happens in this instance. That sample (or even if it isn't a sample - sound) describes the sonic path for the rest of the song. That initial opening impression calibrates the listener in a way.