Howlin (Sano mix)

[sano]

My mix of Howlin.

[Olli H]

Overall sound is great.
Intruments sounds and balances feel ok to me.
Guitars create nicely depth to the space

Two minor things came to my mind.
- I feel the vocal levels are changing too much. That's more evident if you listen with low volume.

- Opening sound is quite thin. Maybe the kick could have more bottom. Now the kick is little boxy

[sano]

Thanks for your comments Olli. I think you're right, I did leave the kick a bit thin. I adjusted it and made a few more minor tweaks.
I not quite sure what you meant by the changing of the vocal levels, you mean the difference between the separate vocal lines or the dynamics of the vocal lines i.e. more compression needed?

[Olli H]

I not quite sure what you meant by the changing of the vocal levels, you mean the difference between the separate vocal lines or the dynamics of the vocal lines i.e. more compression needed?

For example
At 0:34 starting prechorus/chorus choir vocals are clearly more silent than verse vox.
At 0:47 comes somekind of vox fills in the chorus that is clearly louder than other parts of chorus.

Maybe you have interpreted these parts as "mere" background vocals. The original version supports interpretation that these are also "main" vox parts and should be at the same level. Of course one doesn't have to mimic the original. (That would be boring. Personnally I listen always the original only after I have made my own good/bad desicions.) I took it up now only to explain what I was referring to in my yesterday's comments.

[sano]

Thanks for clearing that up Olli. Yeah, that was my thinking, kinda like backing vocals giving them different layers.

Like you I really only listen to the original (and also listen to the mixes here) when I'm putting the finishing touches to my own mix, just as my own quality control.

[pauli]

Nice, clean, and open. The Sub bass has a very nice impact but I feel like I'm wanting a bit more smack from the kick? I really like the vocal delays, too, especially during the break... the vocal sound is on the whole very good. Is the vocal maybe blending a little too much, though? Perhaps it's just my interpretation, but for me there's something pushing the verse vocal down into the mix when it could be a little more up front... maybe a reverb of some kind? or the feedback on the delay is a little too high? It makes sense to sink the vocal into the chorus a little bit and I like what you've done there, but maybe a little more intimate and personal in the verses?

The guitars sound ridiculously good.

[Spede]

I think you did a great job creating some musical dynamics throughout the song. I can feel that lift in the beginning of the choirs I'm craving for so much!

The pre-chorus lead vocal levels didn't bother me as much during the first pre-ch, but they are way too quiet in the second one.

While the chorus sounds great otherwise, I feel that high synth's energy is too high in the spectrum. I think this mix would translate better if you'd make the synth darker and everything else a bit brighter. This is the trick in creating mixes which translate well IMO.

[sano]

Thanks for your comments guys. I mixed this again from the ground up and tried to take some of your comments in to account.

[HbGuitar]

Love the intro to this...and the detail in the backing track generally. Nice job there. Vox in verses, howls and bridge sound good too. Maybe the chorus vox is a bit small....The level is good, but seems quite narrow to me.....needs to be more like the pre-chorus to my ears..which sounds quite wide.