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Mix Review
recorded and mixed this song with a friend. any feedback?
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16 Replies
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Patrick! This is SO RAD! What a vibe!!! I love it. The piano sounded so intimate in the beginning—I love all the detail in it. I wasn’t expecting the song to go where it went, but I loved every moment as it kept building and evolving. I love the whole vibe you created with the mix. You can really feel the energy and the emotion happening. I also like how the sounds are so dry and detailed—it’s like they’re right in your face.
If anything jumped out, it might be that sometimes when the vocals get really loud, they feel almost too dynamic (like within one phrase they go from quiet to super loud). It just made me wonder if a little compression or clip gain could help even it out just a tad. On the other hand, it’s SOOO moving when the singer is just ripping, so… curious what other folks think about that.
1:27 – “I see two years passing” — nice harmony! I wonder if that other voice could join in another time? Maybe at 2:56, when he sings that phrase again?
2:29 – The first (or second) “and now” felt kind of distracting. It’s a really cool idea, but it kind of took me out of the vibe I’d been in. Not sure if you agree, but just putting it out there for what it’s worth…
Also, there’s a little blip of piano right at the last second that I’m guessing isn’t supposed to be there.
But honestly—it’s SO GOOD!!! The mix has such dynamic range and emotion and balance to my ear. I think it’s amazing as it is right now. Such a powerful song and performance. Congrats to everybody involved in making this. It’s really moving to listen to.
❤
JLew
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Awesome, Patrick!! I cranked this in the car today while doing errands – love it!
I’ll circle back when I’ve had a chance to check it in the studio this weekend or monday.
Killer song and performance – and really digging your mix. You’ve come a long way, baby! When those drums came in I was like, “okaaay, Patrick!” 🔥
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Wait a second! Is this the same Patrick Harber who last posted that sweetest of lullabies?
Good God man, you’ve got range.
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Sounding real good, @pat 🤘
My main thought is to turn up the bass gtr throughout. That cool, wily piano with all it’s charm and disparite harmonies/voicings, could be nicely anchored with a stronger “root” in the mix – i.e. fundamental chord tone.
Along with those beefy badass steady rockin drums, a solid louder bass guitar will help the listener feel anchored while the singer/pianist reach for the stars.
Dig?
Just my 2 cents. Great work!!
Dana
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Patrick,
I think you may be asking the wrong question here. Instead of asking for mix feedback, asking the collective the question “How does the song make you feel?” might elicit more response because what you’ve written / expressed / and or captured is terrific storytelling. I was drawn in and unexpectedly emotionally manipulated. Your musical intro does not at all foretell the ending, but your disarming charm does get us to the breakdown effectively. So well done!
That wide-eyed sense of wonder I detect in you music might just be your superpower. I think the French call that “Genois swa.” Not to be confused with Beni swa.
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Beni Swa … LOLOL. Love my alter-ego’s French alter-ego! 🇫🇷
Great points, Paul – and yeah, such an awesome emotional ride, @pat!
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👨🎨
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hahaha
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Thank you all for the feedback. This is a friend’s song that I helped record and mix. I’m glad you liked it. There’s actually part two that I’m working on now. It’s like a 3 part 15 minute song so this was just the first part. I’ve tried a lot of different approaches, but the biggest changes I’ve made to this mix has been my routing, and my clip gain and volume automation before any eq or compression. I saw Dana do this when he mixed that one song a while ago. I will send the whole song once it’s finished.
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Lookin forward to hearing, @pat! And good work on the Clip Gain-ing!!
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heres the full song. its a wild ride.
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Soooooooo great, man!!! What a ride, indeed! Sounds amazing and such a beautiful piece of music. Love this, Patrick!
Congrats,
Jesse
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Wow, Patrick – super cool, man! Feels like 1 complete SIDE A of a 12″ vinyl release … 🤩
I’m still hoping for more bass gtr, and more booty on that kick drum.
In the 5-9min instrumental section: when drummer hits the cymbals I can hear your gate chopping off the cymbal decay. Sometimes in those situations I’ll automate the gate’s threshold setting or release time right after the offending crash cymbal hits.
Ooh, and love the bouncy section around 12min, and all the cool infinite reverb FX. What a fun project to work on, full of creative sonic exploration!!
Badass, man!
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Wowza, as Mr. Tucci put it this one is full of vibes… I got so lost in the music that I turned off my thinking Mixer Brain and let the music tell take me on the ride, telling the story for a 15 minutes.
Is there things that could be tidied/cleaned up, maybe. Some vocal comping, drum timing, etc., Yes… but does that take anything away from the story that is being told emotionally, NO!
This reminds me of the Jazz albums with 15 + minute songs. I have never mixed a song longer than about 6 minutes, so props to keeping the energy building throughout without losing a beat!
Patrick, I’m curious if you were strictly the engineer on this or did you have a hand in recording/playing on it as well?
Kudos to you for going at it & coming out with some really raw vibes, job very well done!!! Take care, keep creating & Mix ON! =)
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So true!
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Thanks. I need to make some changes. @Dana I will add more bass. I’m not sure about the kick. I think processing drums is what i need to work on the most. besides everything else : ) I just recorded the song. I didn’t write any part of the song.
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