Hi Guys and Gals,
This is a very challenging song to mix especially the the high hats and snare. I am a full time broadcast engineer of of over 30 years and a hobby mixer. I hope you like my mix I worked very hard to give a good presentation. I use to mix live sound years ago but have been in the box a little over a year and a half.
I love mixing contest I hold no expectation to win it is great practice. I am working with a friend of mine to wright and mix some songs we hope to publish.
Thanks Boz for all you do to help us small guys.
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Hey Thomas,
Nice job overall.
I am a hobby mixer also so you can take my “bashing” anyway you like.
I like your sounds on the bass and the guitars. The bass has crystal high mids.
There’s something I don’t like on the snare but I don’t know what exactly…
I just think it needed more power and the tone doesn’t sit very well with the rest of the song.
I understand though that mixing those drums was very challenging. For me too!
Finally you could do a little riding on the vocal level because sometimes it is at the right volume and other times it gets buried.
Also I would bring the background vox by 2-3 db because when they are heard along with the lead they completely cover it!
I think there’s too much compression on the track, the chorus is apparently louder than the verse, though if you were going for modern, then you should consider this a success!
I think you should back off the compression on the snare a little bit, there’s too much thud and not enough snap.
I like the way you featured the acoustic guitar, and it works really well, I wanted to hear a bit more of the electrics especially during the chorus. Granted, this is more of a taste thing but I do think the chorus needs a little bit of extra “oomph” for it to work.
Anyway, great work, thanks for sharing.
I like the balance of things acoustic might be a touch hot I do like the sound of it nice Job! .
The bass I feel has too many hi mids has that pluck sound maybe a cut there and add more of the fundamental Freq. The guitar Fx is pulling things out of tune some with the bass maybe just a little adjustment there.
After a few more listens the bass could use some taming it jump out some check compressor setting along with some cuts at the 3 k on the guitars.
Nice Job! Also, good luck with the writing looking forward to hearing the finished songs.
Hi Old guy! I believe I belong to the same category (turned 60 last year).
Good song, nice hook, well played and well tracked! Before any other comments come from me: be warned I’m listening over laptop speakers only, so this might augment my perception in some way…
I agree with some of the other comments. I actually love the punky bass guitar sound, but at the same time find its way too dominant in the mix. I also think you should tame the high-mid frequencies - substantially - in most parts of the song. An idea - if your DAW allows it, it’s easy in Reaper - is to automate the frequency cut. Let the higher frequencies pop out here and there as an effect (similar to a slap bass in funk) where it doesn’t get in the way of the vocals or lead guitar.
I think the snare and hi hat twang are in the room mics… Happened to me also, had to do some automatization in some parts due to that.
Besides that, the bass does cut a little harsh through the mix. Mostly because the high mids it’s kickin’ (maybe around the 2.2-3k’s). Sounds great but stands out a little more than the vocals which is delicate territory.
Great mix in my opinion, just heads up with the bass’ pressence. :beerbang:
Gonna be honest with ya, I feel the bass louder in this mix than the last one.
The mid range is a little overpowering over the rest of the mix. On the bright side, the hi’s are much smoother than before. A -4 to -6 db dip between the 350-1 k could probably give some more space for the rest of the crowd. Try around 750 maybe. A good tip is to get a spectrum analyzer on the end of your plugin chain either on the master channel or your target track (being the bass in this case) and solo it out so you can see where it’s coming from.
Also, a good eq trick is to grab a paragraphic eq, create a skinny peak and boost it up 12db or whatever the max range is, look for the harshest frequency in the range you’re trying to tame and then lower and broaden it as needed.
I feel the guitar a little low in it’s little solo intro spot also though I’m sure mostly it’s the bass eating it up.
Feedback and harmony vocals are a little high.
Try to focus on the kick/bass/snare alone first, remove snare and add the guitars and then the vocals. (add snare at the end and see how that feels)
Those are just some tips and tricks that work in many cases, hope they are of some help!
Wow, that’s a gnarly bass tone! I kinda like it…but…
I think the biggest single improvement you could make is to get the high mids in the bass more under control, and get them to sit under the vocals.
At present, particularly in the verses, the bass is totally running the show, and the vocal appear to be sitting behind the bass in the soundstage. It sounds much better in the verses, when the bass goes down to a lower register. Perhaps multing the bass and using different eq schemes for the verse and chorus might work better.
