Hello IRD, I found this song over at the Cambridge site. The mix still needs some automation, ear candy and tone adjustment so it’s about 85 to 90% done,hopefully. There are some sections that I took parts out of or added things that still need worked out, but before I go too much further I need some fresh ears.
The song is Never Stop by Jules King’s.
Thanks for the time and comments!
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only a few quick comments. Its not my genre and its a pro recording so its not my thing either way lol
really the only thing I can say is that the song itself doesnt really kick that hard on the chorus so maybe find ways to keep it quieter during the verse but then really ramp up everything on the chorus
as u said, maybe some ear candy on the verses would help too
peace, JJ
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Sounds great, Jerze - I really dig the song too - it has a nice degree of variety in the arrangement.
Frequency & balance wise, the mix sounds great. There is a nice quality of depth about it too. The lead vocal sounds excellent.
At first I thought you had panned the lead vocal slightly left, but then I realised it was some ambient effect (reverb/delay) you had panned left to balance out the right-panned guitar. Just a personal preference here, but I like to hear the left and right unbalanced at times - it creates great opportunities to get the ear yearning to hear something there, and then you can put something there and get the emotional payoff.
I really love how the choruses open up wide and full - that’s great! The drums sound really nice in the verses, but I’m finding particularly the snare is a little inconsistent and “soft” sounding in the choruses, where it has to compete with a lot of other elements. That slightly ragged “soft” quality doesn’t match the intensity of the choruses as well as it could, IMO. I’d like to hear the drummer sounding like he’s hitting harder (even if he isn’t). Maybe some parallel stuff could help there, or even a sample layer.
The delay throws/special effects show some real promise, but I think you need to fine-tune them to sit nicely in the mix without sounding forced or “unnatural”. It’s funny, I often find those final “polishing” details take a lot of time to really massage into the mix… the ol’ 80/20 rule at work.
Nice work on this - very cool!
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Very nice. Sounded like a little too many instruments going on in the chorus? like to here the voc better there. The chorus explodes:) Just a personal choice…like to hear you hold at least some of the last words in the vocal performance in the verse a little longer. Didn’t read the other reviews. Nice song, Congrats:)
sincerely
Paul
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really the only thing I can say is that the song itself doesnt really kick that hard on the chorus so maybe find ways to keep it quieter during the verse but then really ramp up everything on the chorus
Both you and Coldroomstudio are saying the same thing which helps. If you have time read his post he has a few things I can try to solve this issue which might help you out also…
Thanks JJ Peace out!
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Hey thanks Coldroomstudio… aka fh fh,
I think the song has a lot of potential can’t believe the guy didn’t try selling it. I found the song needs a lot of work choosing the individual parts in the different sections. But he did a great job laying it out.
Ya,I wanted the intro different, but couldn’t figure out how to get the sound i was wanting to do. I started a thread if you have any ideas. How do you add ear candy to your mixes? [quote=“ColdRoomStudio, post:3, topic:1548”]
I really love how the choruses open up wide and full - that’s great! The drums sound really nice in the verses, but I’m finding particularly the snare is a little inconsistent and “soft” sounding in the choruses, where it has to compete with a lot of other elements. That slightly ragged “soft” quality doesn’t match the intensity of the choruses as well as it could, IMO. I’d like to hear the drummer sounding like he’s hitting harder (even if he isn’t). Maybe some parallel stuff could help there, or even a sample layer.
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I will give the samples and parallel a try. I also maybe could adjust try readjusting the guitars back some, but I don’t want to lose the feeling of the drive. I guess I need to analyze it more. Good insight thanks.
This is what I need a lot of work on where, how and when to add something in and how much so much to learn.
Thanks for your time!
Hello Paul,
I think you might be RT in the chorus. I will have a look at seeing what I can do about cutting parts out or adjusting them down more in the mix to see how it sounds. I can’t do much with the length of the words other than maybe time stretching them as this is not a song of mine.
Thanks for your time!
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yeah, the vocal sounds like it leans left a bit to me. sort of makes the rt channel seem too empty in spots
I dont like the little “hole” at 3:34 before the chorus kicks in. id fill it in with maybe turning that last little guitar bend lick up or add delay to it…OR im a big sucker for reverse reverb vocals fading in. or something anyway to fill in that hole
I guess I sort of dont understand the part from like 2:22 to 2:36 where it gets quiet before the chorus. is that supposed to be a short bridge? seems odd to me. Only thought I had for that would be to divide that section into 2 pieces. From 2:22 to 2:32 id keep it at the the same or even slightly more volume than the preceding part and turn the vox up a bit from where it is. Then maybe from 2:32 to 2:36 have everything except the vox drop out (like a dead stop or close to it) and have the vox still pretty strong with something like ping pong delay leading into the chorus along with that fading in cymbal swell etc. As it is i dont think that section really does anything
the section at :36 “take us back to the start”. I would rather have heard the delay be more over in the rt channel since most of the vocal had been over in the lft channel. Id have panned most of those repeats over to the rt side and maybe eq’ed them differently than what had gone before etc just for some change/ear candy. As it is I think it makes it lean left even more etc.
I know there is guitar in the rt channel but the vox is overall louder than the guitar so I dont think it really works to try to “balance” the vox (or vx fx) and the rt guitar against each other as if they are 50/50. They arent 50/50 IMo, the vocal is stronger so i think id at least put SOME of those delay ambience fx way over in the background in that rt channel
On headphones, it sounds like the lead vocal doesnt increase in volume any going into the first chorus…so in effect it almost sounds like it gets quieter since other stuff cranks up a bit. I think id have that ld vocal increase somehow
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Makes me want to go listen to ‘the Church’ now
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Ya, still not sure on what I chose to do there I did take some instruments out so let me see. Also not sure about the snare sound either.[quote=“Jon-Jon, post:8, topic:1548”]
I guess I sort of dont understand the part from like 2:22 to 2:36 where it gets quiet before the chorus. is that supposed to be a short bridge? seems odd to me. Only thought I had for that would be to divide that section into 2 pieces. From 2:22 to 2:32 id keep it at the the same or even slightly more volume than the preceding part and turn the vox up a bit from where it is. Then maybe from 2:32 to 2:36 have everything except the vox drop out (like a dead stop or close to it) and have the vox still pretty strong with something like ping pong delay leading into the chorus along with that fading in cymbal swell etc. As it is i dont think that section really does anything
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I guess a trans bridge or maybe a type of a lead in section. He also uses it to lead into the 1st verse. I felt like the writer was going for a dreamy going back in time thing so that’s the direction I took keeping in mind the impact leading into the chorus. I did take a lot of liberty with parts in this song. I took out hi hats, bass parts guitar parts in that section along with other sections of the song. All this was to find a flow, but maybe some things needed left in.I also might be able to rework the vocal stuff in that section which I think is what coldroomstudio was taking about. I would have to try the 2.32 to 2.36 suggestions, just not hearing how that would work out. The only vocal line is the word AND 0n the upbeat of 4 before that down beat.
I do have fun producing (I use that term loosely) when I mix it helps keep my arranging and writing up. But if I ever did get good at mixing the band would make the decision I would just give them my thoughts on parts or sections.
I like the idea of Eqing the repeats differently will try.
Sorry, where are you taking about?
That should be an ease fix bring the level up and maybe spread the vocal out a little more.
Great stuff. Thanks JJ