Ever corner a raccoon in a garage? They will attack. And, that’s what I did to this mix. I just went at it with some teeth. Gave it some bite! 
Enjoy!
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0 voters
note admin had to edit post. No problem
Nice job being the first to drop in a mix. This is a good mix to boot. It feels tight instrumentally. The vocals aren’t sitting quite right yet for me. It has to do some with the wetness of them, maybe. I am having troubles getting them to play nicely with my mix as well so maybe it is just me over analyzing based on a problem i am having. Anyway solid mix, and I will revisit the vocals if anything comes to mind.
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Thanks. Yeah, the vocals gave me a bit of trouble. Not to say that I couldn’t have done a better job mixing, but I don’t believe that the vocals were tracked well. And that’s about 80% of the battle, right there. I used some saturation, 2-stage compression, 2-stage reverb (a room and then a hall for the tail) and some delay. I was trying to create density and depth to the lead vocal. The backing vocals were kinda the same deal, except I threw a slight chorus FX send on them. I look forward to hearing your mix. Hopefully, yours turn out better than mine did.
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The vocal was tracked with Logic Pro in a regular studio. I’d be interested in understanding what could have been done to track it better. I’m always looking to improve. 
Yeah i hope i will get it done. I don’t think it will turn out better than yours though. But that is a nice high target to shoot for.
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First off, I am by no means an authority on this. Secondly, what I’m about to type, I’m not being condescending or rude in any way. That’s not my intentions. So, with that, I’ll give you my response.
Just because you tracked with Logic Pro in a regular studio doesn’t equal vocals that were track well. Just because you have a nice DAW, it doesn’t do the recording for you. Same reasoning with being in a “regular studio”. Good recordings have small amount to do with gear or where you go to make them. It’s more about you being a competent vocalist. There is no Botox for vocals. It’s either tight or not.
I see improvements needed in phrasing, clarity, power, enunciation and layering. I can’t add anything that isn’t already there. Mixing vocals is just about pulling out and emphasizing the best aspects of it. Either it’s going to sound great before I’ve touched it, or it never will.
I also see problems with this being a good song in the first place. I’m just being honest with you. When I first heard the song, I laughed at how bad it is. The lyrics, the vocal performance, the out of time guitars, ect. are all really bad.
I know I’m not earning any points for the competition, but I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t like telling people that they suck and need improvement. It doesn’t make me feel good. But, I’d rather tell you this so that you can get better. I hear potential and that’s why I’m being honest.
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I take no offense. I am aware that I’m not a professional singer. The song was written a long ago and the vocals were recorded at least 10 years ago. I appreciate the honesty.
Hi!
I like the attitude, the bite you gave indeed.
The snare is very good.
The vocals are too distant.
The guitars are too light.
This is a rock colored mix, and this is a difficult shape to create, so well done with that.
However maybe I would have liked another balance.
Thanks for the opening BASSMASTER.
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Thanks, 974dB!
Making the guitars “too light” in the mix was a conscious decision to hid the sloppy playing of the guitarist.
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BassM,
Im not sure I follow your logic for ‘hiding’ stuff in the mix. If the guitar playing was sloppy, why didnt you just fix it?
I thought the vocal could have come up a bit too, in pitch and volume.
In a mix comp such as this, balance is still everything.
The only way to fix it would have been to re-record it.
To quote Big Al…
“Basically, I don’t want the structure of the song to be changed. You are welcome to use the guitar tracks that have been included, REPLACE THEM, or play your own instruments along side them to enhance the song. You’re also welcome to replace my drum and bass tracks. Feel free to add any other instrumentation that you feel helps the song.”
Apparently, its in the ‘rules’ 
Simple answer. It wasn’t worth my time and effort. I knew that I was allowed to change it, but I chose not to. That’s it. 
I’m liking the overall sound, but I’m going to agree with some other comments. The vocals aren’t sitting in the mix - it feels like the reverb sets them apart from the rest of the music. The guitar is very buried in the mix, to the point I couldn’t hear it in parts. But I did like the overall vibe of the song - there was something very cool about hearing this mix - I love the snare drum, and you managed to pull a kick drum into the mix that sounded great!
I could hear the sloppiness of the guitar - I recorded them in a short time and I think they needed to be edited to take out the string squeaks and odd sounds that I didn’t edit out myself when I sent them to @BigAlRocks.
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mmm… okay, so it’s kind of a passive aggressive mix style 
I don’t understand.
me neither
I feel like you’re trying to make fun of me. Is this what you are doing?
well, maybe just a little bit, but not in a bad way 
I would suggest that mixing a song for other musicians isnt about whether you like it or not.
It is about achieving a good balance and representation of the song.
For instance, Bob Dylan apparently plays guitar and sings, yet everybody unanimously agrees he writes great songs.
The guitar parts were no better or worse than the bass, the lead vocal and the arrangement of the instruments clearly needed the most work, but you didnt seem to give those parts much attention.
I’d guess you just got bored or perhaps didnt know how to fix it.
Nothing wrong with that.
Just seems like you were ‘brutally honest’ without offering an alternative performance or a balanced mix.
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I eagerly await your mix. 