This song is part of a collection written and recorded by my brother to promote awareness of people who struggle with disabilities and can’t afford health care (my brother has Aspberger’s Syndrome). He sang and played acoustic guitar. I added bass guitar and a virtual drum track.
Then I kind of went nuts and added horns and electric guitar, going for something along the lines of a “25 or 6 to 4” vibe. Ended up with a lot of tracks, and I tend to get bogged down when mixing such a dense project. I spent the day tweaking it, and it’s going on the album as is (I’m up against a deadline and out of time), but I’m very interested in any thoughts as to how you would mix it differently.
Of course you’re free to critique the song, the performances, etc. as well, but I’m mostly interested in mixing ideas. Thanks!
Cool project and song. I find that the drums and bass are being stomped on. All of the horns and electric guitar could have had more cut out using the eq and pulled back in volume. Also i think it would have been cool to have some delay on the vocals.
Hmm, I can barely hear the drums at all, except for the fills. I also feel that the vocals could be more rhythmically inline with the track. I’m missing a unified groove. I wonder if this would be helped by the drums being more prominent.
I suspect that you need to make more EQ cuts to strategically place the various instruments along the spectrum. I have heard that it’s a good idea to give each instrument it’s own spot on the frequency spectrum. I like to use my EQ plugin to sweep around until I find a spot that just feels like the “heart” of the instrument. The sweetest spot. And then I try to make sure there’s enough space for it there, and cut other less important parts as needed. It’s hard though! I’m not that good at it anyway.
I like this! Lots of good stuff going on here and you have some good suggestions above to check out.
I’ll just add that the horns sound good but could sound better with more expression applied via automated envelopes or midi cc controllers type stuff, just a thought.
Thanks for the input, guys. I kept listening to it and feeling like it really lacked something, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I played a little with the stereo spread of the horns, and that helped a little…
Then I read your comments. Duh! The drums were almost inaudible. So I remixed it. I’d already submitted my DDP to the duplicator, but I sent them a new one hoping it’s not too late if they haven’t started duplicating yet.
Cristina, you’re right that the vocals feel a bit off-time in some spots, but an eccentric sense of cadence is common for people with autism. I actually did do quite a bit of editing for timing (and some for pitch), but I’d tried to strike a balance that wouldn’t make him sound too unnatural. Hopefully people who listen to him play live will find it acceptable.
Hmm, from the previous comment I think I’m a bit late on that stuff…
By the way the second mix is a great improvement and I would even further on the drum/bass balance: drums are still light to my taste and bass is really heavy in the mix.
The vocal and guitars are pretty well balanced and I think it really deserves the main topic of the song.
Nice work from both of you!