Hi guys/gals, here is the last in a group of mixes I have just completed. Keen to get your thoughts. Thanks in advance for listening!
Edit Final Band-Approved mix is here:
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buildwise it needs a little something on the first āwe can start againā in the chorus 1:13 etc. Maybe a harmony line. In any case I find it odd that the line just abruptly cuts off on the word āagainā. I would at least want that last note to be sustained and doubled or harmonized or SOMETHING lol.
Didnt really dig the phone voice lol
Nice bridge
Was expecting another chorus at the end. If not going all the way back into the chorus, maybe you could just add the vocal line at the very end under the instruments way back in the mix
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I thought it was kinda fun 
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Love that instrumental break before the solo. Great mix @ColdRoomStudio! Iām surprised they didnāt come back in vocally after the solo, but then again, itād be a lot less radio friendly if it went over the 4 minute mark. Iām already listening again. Love the feel of this one!!
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The mix is great, so all I can add would be a simple production touch, which may be summarily dismissed if it doesnāt work for you. During the intro, it might be cool to add a gang vocal in the background that would be similar in melody to the line āTime for Me to Wake Upā that leads into the chorus, but simplified, if you know what I mean. Hard to describe in print, but just a vowel sound in harmony that suggested the chorus, like a Kings of Leon thing. The performances are very good, and youāve brought them out very well, but I think you could add to the sense of conviction in the vocal to match the lyrics a little more, if you are in charge of the production side. I probably would have opted for an abrupt end t the song rather than the single note, but again, itās hard finding things to point out when the mix is done so well in the first place, so thatās a good thing.
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@ColdRoomStudio
Another cool songā¦ and some great sounds in thereā¦
Listening on my infinity speakers todayā¦ overall great vibe, love the phone voice, works brilliantly for me and heaps of cool musical bits working really nicely with the lyrics, love the sense of dueling guitars at 2.27ā¦ gives me a real visual sense to the performance.
My only bash-thought was around the acoustic guitar at the very beginningā¦ my first impression when I listened was that it sounded a little āthinā and didnāt quite fit with the rest of the song. Gone back a couple of times and it still feels to me as though it needs a little something - just a little more āoomphāā¦ just a touch more grunt, if that makes any sense. Really like that guyās voiceā¦ very cool.
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Thanks JJ - all good ideas!
I thought about adding a lower harmony to the hook, but I pretty much took the production as far as I dared to go without changing the bandās ideas too much.
I tried the first part of the second verse without the āphone voiceā, but it just didnāt work in āfull voiceā to my ear. The instrumentation change & the dynamic flow of the song seemed to demand something different, and the lo-fi vocal seemed to fit. I got the idea from the vocals - it seemed appropriate to have the singer seem like heās talking on a radio from the ābattlefieldā during the words āI never meant to cause a warā¦ā
Thanks Jonathan - Cool, weāll see whether the band thinks itās fun when they come back to me with their mix notes!
Thanks Bryan - yeah, this is an unusual arrangement - it kinda grew on me, though. Actually, very few tracks Iāve mixed for them go over the 3 minute markā¦ and they actually have been played on (regional) radio.
Thanks Bob! On the last EP I mixed for these guys, I actually did have a fair bit of pre-production arrangement input, but I definitely wasnāt a producer per se - More just in a suggestion capacity. With this bunch of tracks, theyāve pretty much done all the production work. I have suggested a couple of little tweaks, but nothing majorā¦ Great ideas though! Could you point me in the direction of the KOL song youāre referring to?
Thanks Emma! Yeah, Iām not to sure if weāll keep it that way - The acoustic on itās own was my idea, and the band may very well agree with you about the acoustic being too thin. Itās not the richest sounding acoustic, but it works well in a supporting role. In any case, Iām certainly not married to the idea. Thanks for coming back and listening to it a few times - Much appreciated!
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Kind of like Use Somebody, real simple three note melody that suggests the start of the chorus. You could easily add it yourself and see if they liked it. Two or three part harmony.
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I like the idea of thickening out that chorus with a vocal harmony, though of course if itās not your song it gets a bit political trying to add parts!
Any song that has a 7/4 riff in it is a winner AFAIC!
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The last time I went for a gnarly lo-fi sound on a vocal I remember Trash 2 coming in handy Ohmicide does well too for that mangling grit too. Did you use anything out of the ordinary there?
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Thanks Jonathan!
I donāt have Ohmacide (great name, btw!), but I did try Trash 2. Iām not really very au fait with its bewildering array of controls, so I didnāt really find the sound I was looking for - I did manage to use it on a background guitar/keyboard-ish textureā¦
I actually used a plugin from Cakewalk called Vocal Strip VX64. Itās been around forever and came free with Sonar many moons ago. It has both input and output saturation controls - very simple to use, and I know it well.
Cool thanks - Iāll check that out!
Aha, yup 7/4, well spotted!.. I guess, if it worked for Floyd, why not?
It is sounding good with lots of tasty movement.
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the instruments and vocals are all recorded great.
i think the songs got some empty spots, and the bridge maybe Id shorten as it hits the Chorus.
the Chorus hook, i could hear made bigger with like er,ā¦ a large choir chorus doing the Start Again section adding a lot more build up.
the intro had a few squeeky string slides, those new coated strings can help reduce that. i get fruistrated with the acoustic string squeeks and eeksā¦
the bridge for me was good the first go round, but the second time where it has that silent spot seemed to erā¦silent.
then to the chorus.
recording and mixing wise your stuffs always some of the best around and encouraging for HR to get pro results, youve got the pro sound downā¦so nothng to do but bash the song structure or think of adding to it maybe which may or may not work.
like Cirrus said more thickening of the Chorus ,ā¦my first listen I was thinking Choir, a large one, thickening it up, over the top production stuff.
my favorite part was the first acoustic vocal section/verses.
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I donāt have anything to add that hasnāt already been said, but I will +1 on the acoustic sounding thin in the intro. Wasnāt as noticeable on first listen but on second it was more apparent to me, being now familiar with whatās coming.
And the phone voice works for me. 
Great work as always Andrew, will be very interested to hear what the band saysā¦
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Hi Everyone - thanks for the feedback on this. This one got through with only 1 revision - Yay! Only fairly minor changes - this is how it ended up:
Nice vibe/voice. Great guitar tones. Clean breaksā¦me likes.
Sincerely
Paul
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Hey, great song again, and nice mix by the wayā¦ as always 
The song is really well-built and there is nothing really wrong to me.
Mixwise I found the drum sound really spot on but I missed some transients and therefore a bit weak 
I also wish something growing during the final part where guitars fight each other L and R.
Again, what a great job!
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