Human Radio - You & Me & The Radio [Mix & Master]

[Roy]

It feels a bit "cardboard". In general the balance is ok but it's a bit boring. It's a start but more could be done to catch the listener. There's that "telephone filter" after the bridge. Maybe the worst point to include it. I dunno. It's a start but could be better. C+

Thanks for your honest feedback. In your opinion what would you say would push it from a "C+" mix to an "A" - interested to hear your insight/ideas?

Personally I really like the telephone effect in the bridge - I purposely put it there to make that Chorus back in really hit. I toyed with adding it in a few more spots, I mean c'mon the song is called "You & Me & The Radio", the name is on the tin. Do you think that would level it up?

I could definitely chuck in some more automation moves from section to section, or even exaggerate some moves/FX etc.

Look forward to hearing back from you!

Cheers

Meh, maybe I was in a bad mood. Then tone of my reply might seem a little harsh. But part of mixing is being able to not take things personally and roll with the punches. And the C+ was more of a personal joke that I should realized people don’t know. So I apologize if it was a bit much.

I re-listened a few of times this morning and in general I stand by my notes. It feels like a real solid base to start from but has issues. It's not bad but could be better.

Tonally, there’s a bit of thickness in the lower mid area that adds to the ‘cardbordi-ness’ I referred to before. It’s a bit dry in general. This makes the song feel a little “plodding”. I think for the most part all of the instruments sound good but as a whole things tend to build up in the mids and sucks some of the energy and distinctness from the parts.

Thematically, it should be a driving, moving song, literally, and it doesn’t feel like it gets up to speed. It could be a little leaner and have some points on the way to catch the listener’s ear more. The choruses tend to pick up the energy, mostly by the vocal part, but then lose it. Parts like the, background vocals or the vocal hook are relatively back or buried. The solos, feel ‘shy’ and restrained. 

The radio effect on the bridge doesn’t really nail a radio sound. Lyrically, it’s an intimate point in the song that gets devalued by the effect. Musically, it already dynamically comes back before the last chorus and I’m not sure it needs the help of that effect. The impact is already there. I get the desire to add a radio sound to the track but there aren’t many opportunities. Maybe the intro but that might have to be extended for it to work. The only real spot is the background vocals in the chorus since that’s when he references the radio. Or maybe on the lead vocal on last line of the chorus which seems to get a bit lost. A fade out of the mix to a radio sound might be cool. There’s over a minute of instrumental section which is them driving off and not much going on. Play the mix over a speaker and crossfade? Easy enough. Now I’m just blue skying.

I like the bass, I like the piano, I generally like the vocal. When he gets quiet he gets a bit ‘wooly’. When he pushes his tone changes and probably gets farther from the mic and it works a bit better. But that can be easily tweaked with automation or separating the verse and chorus sections on different tracks. 

It feels unfinished and I think as a listener what I'm missing bothers me more than what's there. 

I dunno.