Good song! Has this southern rock kind of jive.
And fantastic recording/ mix.
Just one small niggle concerning the snare: to me (specially on my monitors) it sounds a bit like a tom, not enough snare rattle maybe, or a bit too much lower mid? I wouldn’t be surprised if it coincides with Emma’s 700 Hz.
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Thanks Emma, I’ll check that out, see if I can improve it.
Thanks Evert, great feedback. The snare was tracked with only a top snare mic, so that may explain why there is little snare rattle… I’ll see if I can improve it.
Thanks for the input everyone! Here is the new mix with changes (albeit fairly subtle ones). Let me know what you think - improvement?
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The Bourbon Bell is outstanding!
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O YES! Subtle yep but scrumptious… that fuzz I’d heard has gone, sounding crystal clear with enough ‘smear’ on the glass to keep that gorgeous bluesy vibe… Pianos sounding slightly different, fitting in really nicely… vocal sitting just a touch prouder and sounding great…
Now, what did you do??? LOVE this subtle stuff, awesome… :beerbang:
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I agree, I’m learning Reaper, so I sent him nothing but raw tracks, which fortunately is what he is mixing with. When the keyboards were being added, the keyboard player was just hearing raw stuff in a headphone mix. I played him a snippet Andrew slapped together and it knocked both of us off our chairs.
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This mean girl just became a little bit meaner: 
, it makes a difference! Yes the piano is a bit more present (an upper mid boost and/or lower mid attenuation?) and the snare now sounds like a snare. The change is subtle and it doesn’t sound like you mixed in a snare rattle. Did you use add some sort of distortion? Or was it just an other eq move?
Anyway, nothing left to bash as far as I can hear. Well done.
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I just added a very narrow, dark ping-pong delay set to 16th notes to thicken it up a bit.
Cool, glad the difference is noticeable and and improvement… These were the changes:
- Vocal: Pulled out a very small amount around 680hz and increased level by 0.25 dB
- Bass: Dipped around 2dB around 750hz
- Rhythm Guitars: Pulled out around 2.5dB around 700hz
- Piano: Pulled back high pass turnover frequency from around 250 to around 110hz, increased level 0.3dB
Cool. I pulled out some 200hz on the close mic. I also added a bottom snare only sample triggered from Addictive Drums, but mixed in just enough so that it added a hint of sizzle.
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wow very powerful mix. the presence and the "up-front"ness of the song is awesome. loving it.
I fired up the new mix. the kick sounds full and nice. the whole track is very well balanced and the low end mixing is superb 
I think you could get away with compressing some of the 2k on the vocals. the harsh frequencies im hearing usually pokes when there are voicings. Aside from those eveything is a work of art cheers!
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Thanks Brian - Ok, how’s this? - I threw a very gentle multi-band dip at around 2.3k on the lead vocal as well as the harmonies as a group…
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Reviewing the version posted for Brian:
Obviously it’s very good, and good performances too, plenty of clarity, good whisky-soaked vocals, good vocal harmonies and a nice tune too.
Main issues I detected:
It’s bass-heavy, especially around 100Hz. Maybe some of that bottom end is coming from the kick too but certainly the bass. I often get this on my own stuff - sometimes no matter what I do there is a build up at 100Hz and I have to tweak the master buss.
I know the version you just posted apparently has a dip at about 2kHz, but, well, it needs a dip at about 2kHz. Quite a big one.
Backing vocals are very muddy, About 500Hz area - or maybe they have too much of the mid parts mixed in. Not sure, but they are very honky.
Has the guitar on the left got some distortion? I mean, like clipping distortion? .I can hear something going on at the front.
Apart from above, the biggest problem for me with this track is the bass line. The song is crying out for the bass to peddle on quavers (eight notes) with the drums. As it is there is no fluidity to the track, it’s all stop/start with more stopping than starting. My ears are desperate to hear that peddling bass. I mean, sure, accent the staccato chords, but in between, surely the bass should be chugging away with the drums? I don’t think anyone would hit the dance floor upon hearing it in its current form, the bass is fighting the drums, there’s no rhythm to it.
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You might be right about the bass line, since it is a guitar player trying to be a bass player. I played eighth notes in the original version, and decided to make it quirkier. I think it has a different kind of propulsion this way, but I understand what you’re saying.
Fair enough, you’ve tried it both ways and the current way is the one you prefer.
With eighths, it sounds like a normal rock song, really straight and predictable. I think a real bass player would definitely play it that way, but I think the feel is pretty good. Thanks for your comments, I’m sure Andrew will check it out.
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wow that was quick the main vocals somehow lost some bite. I think its better if you keep the settings of the main vocals as is and just compress the harsh frequencies of the backing vocals.
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Hey @ColdRoomStudio and @StylesBitchley! I have a request for you guys…
Since this was a bit of a collaboration, I’d sure love to see you guys put a thread or article together about this whole process for this song. It’d be awesome to hear about the songwriting went as well as how the song developed instrumentally (hooks etc). Anything on the producing end of it would be great!
How did the editing and mixing come together? All that fun stuff. 
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Thanks Adrian, I’ll check those areas out and see what I can do.
Nope - it’s all gain staged very conservatively - I have a little “sauce” from Slate’s Neve Preamp emulation going on, but it actually sounds harsher when I turn it off, so that’s not an issue. I’m pretty happy where the guitar sounds are at, TBH.
I’ll let Styles handle that side of things. Thanks again for your input.
Ok cool, I’ll restore the 2.3k to the main vocal and pull some out of the backing only.
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Happy to fill in the details of the mixing stage. Perhaps @StylesBitchley can start a new thread outlining some of the permutations he went through writing the track. I know Bob sent me a few different versions for comment while he was recording it. They might be of interest if he’s willing to put them “out there”. When I got it for mixing, I sent through a few mix “samples” before we got down to the final shape… they might be enlightening too…Bob? Over to you…