yesterday lunchtime I decided off the cuff to do an acoustic cover of Man on the Moon along with a video for Facebook etc. Then I decided I could do a more full arrangement and video myself playing a bunch of parts. Then the next thing I know it’s the next evening, I’ve recorded basically a full band arrangment and have 20 5-minute long videos sitting in a folder to turn into something.
I think I might have underestimated the effort involved
But… I’ve done a mix, and I got to try out my new GAP 73 mic pre on the vocals ( through an AT4050), so that was fun.
The thing is I really really like this song, so I don’t want it to be shit. Any chance of some mix critiquing before I start video editing?
Sounds excellent Josh! Great performances and a lovely organic production…Oh, and I love the way it builds into the full rock song by the end - that was a nice surprise. No criticisms from me. Very well done!
Make sure you post a link to your video here when you get it done.
First off - really great version of this song, nicely done!
Just a couple of nit picks. Something with the first verse vocal sounds "muddy’ to me when you’re in your lower register. Maybe the reverb could be backed off somewhat or ducked for clarity?
The hand drum is poking out a bit in the first half. (Maybe just a taste thing there.)
LOVE how it builds! The kick might be a bit “heavy” though in the rockin’ section. It feels a bit too prominent.
Hey, great job here! I really don’t have much to say either. There are a few things I would have done differently but it wouldn’t necessarily be better, I guess. The only thing I will say is that I’m not a big fan of this snare sound at the end, particularly the width it occupies in the mix.
Nice stuff, well done. I would agree with Mike that the hand drums are unbalanced the high one cuts through too much and the lower hits are too quite. I also find the acoustic guitar too bright once it starts really strumming at around 2:14, but that may be down to personal taste.
Thanks for the replies guys, comments were taken on board and changes made. I’m rendering the final (final final rev 3) video now, I’ll post it up when it’s done. Can’t believe a whimsical cover idea turned into basically 3 full days of work. Guess I’ve got to while away the lockdown somehow…
I haven’t read any other comments yet, so I am not sure if I’m helping or confusing. I have very little in the way of constructive criticisms. I love the backing vocal harmonies. They sit so well in the mix and just add that sense of air to the song without crowding it. Well done. I love the whole push and pull of the mix as a whole. I think the hand drum (if that’s what it is) is a really good touch.
My only criticisms are; I found the crashing snare in the latter half to be too harsh, too up front. Kind of burst me out of the mix too much, and the spread of the effect on it didn’t help either. Pulling it back would be an instant solve, but that’s just my taste. The only other SUPER small one is that I thought the vocals sounded a touch too much in the low end right at the start but from then on, great!
Overall, this is a stellar job! The mix is awesome and you’ve done a wonderful version of this song! How awesome is it when you start something and lose a day to it and wind up creating something that you never dreamed you’d do?! They don’t come around often enough, those days!
Now to go and read the other comments and see if there’s a clip or something.
In the final mix I narrowed the snare in which I think tamed it a bit.
Video editing was Adobe Premiere Pro. I don’t know if it’s the best option, and I always end up googling how to do things. That said I’ve never not been able to get what I want out of it. Early in this one, I was worried I just wouldn’t be able to do it as the computer struggled to play more than about 5 vids concurrently. But… as it came together it got easier.
Cool. I use premiere pro as well. Do you have to set up a grid or something? Is it literally just layers that resize? How do you get them uniformly lined up?
Sorry about the plethora of video editing questions on your audio bashing thread!
No grid or really any reference, I just did it be scaling and positioning each clip by eye, with a rough idea of where I wanted the scenes to change and what videos could get smaller as the song went on. The main thing was getting the layers in the right order so I didn’t need to get all corners of every clip perfectly lined up; if the image was tucked behind the ones above and to one side, I only had to worry about the exposed corner and scale to taste, if that makes sense?
Yeah cool. I’ve tried doing similar before but I struggle to get the clips lined up without some form of ‘snapping’. Maybe it’s because I have only used the handles? Dunno but it makes me want to try again. Nice job, my kids loved watching the clip also!
