Had fun with this song. I took the song in an Indie Rock direction. The vocals seemed like they’d benefit from a smoky kind of vibe (think of The Strokes). Let me know what you guys think. Cheers!
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Love it, good one.
Some issues that came to my mind.
Soolo guitar is a bit timid, vox has some piercing quality, cymbals come though quite loud.
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bass masking the kick. and the vocal sound thin. cymbal come through quite loud too
other than that great work… cheers
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Thanks for the critique. The solo guitar was buried in the mix on purpose. Personally, I didn’t like it poking through. I do agree with you about the vox. I may have pushed them a bit too much in the 3kHz range. Also, now that you mention it, the cymbals could’ve came down a notch.
Thanks for listening. I agree about the kick. Maybe I should’ve carved out a spot in my bass with an EQ for where the kick was hitting. I wasn’t going for a punchy kick, though. Something more warm and vintage. I do agree with the cymbals needing to come down a notch. Thanks for your input.
Hey @BASSMASTER, no need to carve a big hole in the bass for the kick to live, use dynamic EQ, send a signal from the kick to the EQ sidechain input and set your frequency around 60Hz (or wherever your kick lives) so that every time the kick hits the EQ carves the hole in the bass for you.
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Nice touch! But the vocal a bit too “in front”, especially on verse. And the lead guitar is too quite, I think. But good luck, mate! Cheers! 
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Thanks for the tip. I’ve never tried that. I will definitely look into doing this in the future.
Thanks for the critique. Yeah, I could’ve automated the vox levels lower for the verses and up for the choruses. That would’ve created a more ebb and flow. Thanks for commenting. 
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You’re welcome, mate! But the most important thing is having fun… Especially for contest like this… Because basically, you can do anything you want, right? Haha! Cheers! 
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Well well. I like the size of this mix. It feels big and yet still moves, until you get the vocals and it is too intense. Personally i thought that getting that vocal to cut through but still have the body was the hardest part of this mix. I feel like you got the cutting through but gave up too much of the body and that is why he sounds so intense. Putting some of the body back in and using some distortion or something of the like to help it stand out would work better. That is my 5 cents. thanks for sharing.
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Thanks for the comment. I think the reason his vocal cuts through too much is because I boosted the presence frequencies too much. And, because I compressed quite heavily after the EQ, it brought it too much forward and resulted in it sitting on top of everything instead of fitting snug in the mix. Wish I could go back and correct those few mistakes. I’m new to this forum and didn’t consider putting up a rough mix for you guys to bash, before submitting my final for the contest.
As far as distortion, I used quite a bit right off the bat. My first two plugins were, if I’m remembering correctly, tape saturation and Soundtoys Radiator.
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I see that. As far as posting it to be bashed first i don’t do it for the contests myself because i feel funny about it and i don’t know why. . I wish i had done that this time as well.
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Red: That makes sense. Not that it really matters (I’m not here to win a contest; I’m just here for material to work on and peers to talk to), but getting a bunch of input before you submit to a contest makes the mix less your own… in my bumbling opinion… 
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BASSMASTER! Your balances are good, altho I agree that you need more lead gtr. I know you buried it intentionally, but to me it’s one of the few elements in the track that breaks up the sections and keeps it building… (And what would the lead guitarist’s mom say? ) Vocal-wise: I would try not to EQ vocals too severely, unless you’re going for a temporary effect. Just my 2 cents…
If you have the chance, please listen to and comment on my mix; I’d appreciate it:
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Thanks for the comment, Mike. I just listened to your mix. The first thing that struck me was the bass (Lol, no jokes please). The bass has a growling tone that does not compliment the guitars. They sound too separated and the bass pokes out in a bad way throughout the whole song. I would try to make them more cohesive. The guitars could use a bit more weight to them, as well. Maybe you high-passed them too much? Also, the chorus effect on the vox in the first chorus of the song is pretty intense. I’d look at maybe dialing that back a bit. Other than that, I think you did a really good job. And as always, these are just personal opinions. Feel free to dismiss them.
BASSMASTER: thanks for your comments. The bass mids ARE a little… strident aren’t they… (I assume you’re referring to Mix 2?) For Mix 2 I flipped the polarity on a parallel bass amp track; I guess I didn’t re-adjust enough. Good call! And I could see giving the gtrs more weight (I really should have re-amped), especially if I make a little room in the bass mids. (You’re 2 and 0. ) The real effect on the choruses is an actual lead vocal double: I duplicated the LV track and then swapped choruses 1 & 2 on the dupe. I used one of them for the dbl on chorus 3 too, tuning the note changes he does to match the original lead… I usually use vocal doubles WAY back in relation to the primary lead, but I got used to them both equal and panned a little away from center. It’s probably a little too “slick” (for lack of a better word), for an indie rock track like this, but I liked the contrast with the verse.
Thanks so much for your thoughts. Having access to people with chops is huge!
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The balance and guitars sound good overall… I think the big thing is your EQ choices AS, others have said the vocals, which aren’t bad needed less hi pass and some needed automation on them (breaths certain words or lines)and the tuning…did you use the unturned ones? The drums could use a little work which is also my biggest problem so not much help .But, I think the snare and toms could use more of the direct mic sound along with some more body too both. along with the kic bass Recommendations from others.
Nice job! thanks for posting.
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Thanks for the comment. To answer your question, I did use the untuned vocals.
I like the mix. It is big and punchy.
A couple of things I noticed while listening:
- There is some siblance in the main vocal, so you may want to try a deesser.
- You are using the untreated vocals, where there are some intonation problems left. Is that intentional?
- I think you are using too much distortion/saturation on the main vocal.
Good luck!