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Mix Feedback
Hey everyone 🙂 Me and @sexton got so much help from you on my last song post, I have another one for your talented ears… this one is called “Wherever I Go” and it has 4 tracks:
Vocals
Electric Guitar Pad
Acoustic Guitar
Irish Bouzouki
We intend to keep it as simple as possible, so it’s pretty much set production wise.. Our goal is a moody sound and big reverb for cinematic vibe
Love to hear your thoughts on balance, EQ, compression or anything else that comes to mind would be much appreciated
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11 Replies
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Bar,
This a very good piece of work as is. I’ve listened a half dozen times and think I may have a suggestion or two to offer up when i settle back into normal schedule after doing a bunch of shows and being a caregiver after my wife’s surgery today.
PT
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I hope your wife is recovering well, Paul! 😌
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Hi Paul
Hope your wife has a fast recovery. Thank you for taking the time to listen, waiting to hear your thoughts
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Bar,
Thank you and Dana for the well wishes. Honey is doing just fine already. I had the same knee replacement surgery a year ago and came home from the hospital a mess. We’ll see what happens on her day three when the pain really kicks in and at which point I was hallucinating giant spiders.
Bar, your song is beautifully haunting. You sing like a raven-haired sorceress, I trust you’re using your power for good. I love the tempo and instrumentation.( I am curious if a sparingly played acoustic bass wouldn’t add some grounding bass.) All strong choices that support the vibe. It’s so moody that it will find a good home. Once again, I can barely decipher a word but the phrasing is your signature evocative.
I agree with I do have a question about the bazoukiMix-Master D when he questioned the vocal placement. I dropped the vocal level 2dB in my DAW (I can do magic too:)) to help put it in the song rather than atop the song. I react to your vocal level more akin to a pop song than the intended (?) conjuring.
I I do have a question about the bazouki in the outro, What was the thinking to have the bazouki play the ending lick by itself instead of the resolve with the guitar? It made me think rather than just feel the completion of whatever-the-event-was-we-just-stumbled-upon.
More verb across everything might just add the right flavor to the soup you’ve got cooking in the cauldron. Wait. What? Is that me talking? I fear one of those painkillers may have slipped into the spaghetti sauce I had with dinner.
PT ish
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Hi Paul
Thank you for the detailed description of your experience, it’s really nice to hear 🙂
I’m still playing with the verb & level of the vocals trying to find that sweet spot..
The acoustic bass is a great idea as well, I’m not sure if I’ll make it happen in this song since im keen to release it, but it’s definitely going to be in my mind for further productions! We’re still in the mixing process of the whole album and we’re probably gonna master the whole album together, thank you for your generous offer
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Hey Bar! What a beautiful vibe this piece has. I’m listening on my AT headphones while resting in bed and couldn’t help but close my eyes and relax while the sounds washed over me. Very nice!
My main technical observation/suggestion has to do with the main guitar. There seems to be a low-frequency thumpy rumble that could easily be attenuated with a high-pass filter. At times it almost sounds like 50-60 Hz wind noise but, unless you recorded outside, I bet the mic just picked up some thumpy finger proximity or something. Anywho, should be an easy fix!
At times I wondered if the vocal and the bouzouki were a bit TOO hi-passed. They both sound great as-is, but if you’re interested you could experiment with adding a bit more body to the vocal and bouzouki (maybe 3db of 150-ish on the voice, and 5db of 250Hz-ish on the bouzouki? These frequencies and dBs are just guestimates).
As always, take it or leave it! haha. Really great work, both you and @sexton! 🙌
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Hi Dana thank you so much! Spot on advice, it worked like magic.
I high passed the thumping 60hz on the acoustic (I hope it’s enough) and gave the vocals and bouzouki more body through the frequencies you mentioned, yep it sounds better now 🙂
Here’s version 2…
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Awesome, Bar! This sounds really nice!
The last couple things I notice:
- at 0:40 there’s an odd subtle guitar note on the left side that always catches my ear
- during the final reverb tail fade-out at the end of the song there’s a subtle sound like hands letting go of the guitar chord. I would find a way to remove that for a cleaner ending.
- sometimes I wonder if the lead vocal is a little too loud against the track overall, and possibly a touch too bright. But I also like it a lot the way it is.
- the mix will sound even better with some gentle limiting to get it louder overall! I usually use a Fabfilter Pro-L2 plugin to get my mixes loud and proud (within reason, that is … this is a gentle song, so no need to go crazy with loudness, but I bet you could get another 6db of volume easily)
Again, great work, Bar!! And thanks for sharing with us!
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These are great observations! After taking a warmer approach towards the vocal and reducing its volume, I had to play with the whole mix until it settled and I really like where it went. I took care of the odd note, cleaned the noise at the end and it’s a louder version as well.
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Bar,
Thank you for lettin’ me in your kitchen. I’m glad the external observations offered up rang true to your vision of the song. I would offer to master this for you when you’re done if you have such a need. In fact, I’m gonna tinker with this version right now.
PT
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BRAVA, Bar!! This came out so beautifully! Really great work. Everything sounds balanced and full and airy and verby and rich and calm, and is a delight to listen to! 🙌⚡️
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