It’s been many years since I’ve posted here. My band has recently recorded a bunch of tracks ‘live’ in my small studio (everyone plugged in and electric drums). Now we’re working through the tracks, polishing things up, with the hopes of getting together an album. This is the first track that’s nearing completion.
I was hoping to get some general impressions of the song and well as some feedback on the mix. Have I left things too dynamic? Do I need to try to push compression to get things louder? There’s just a limiter on the mix bus, all the other processing is on individual tracks. Thanks in advance for any feedback you can provide us.
Your song is really good. As for the mix, it’s difficult to advise or to target certain elements that could be considered as a defect to be improved, because it’s very personal, a matter of perception. Overall, I think it’s very good.
But if I had a suggestion to make it would be to listen to some Mark Knopfler albums and find one of these pieces that you could use as a reference, because I think the overall sound of the piece as well as your voice would benefit from it.
Thank-you for your feedback. I had a quick listen to the references you suggested. The thing I noticed most was how wet and ambient a lot of his tracks are. I’ve added some more ambience, especially on the snare and guitars and I think that has helped to fill things out a lot (I hope I didn’t overdo it). I’m the drummer, not the vocalist, but he wants to redo performance as he was quite nervous, so there might be some gains to be made there. I’ve updated the mix (not sure if browsers will refresh properly). Thanks again for the feedback.
Hi Robert, it would have been nice to have left the previous version to be able to compare properly. I’ve listened to it several times and I think it has good potential, and the voice suits the musical style perfectly.
With the current mix, the piece is easy to listen to and it’s impossible to consider it bad. Is there room for improvement? Certainly, but trying to achieve perfection can also become laborious.
Submitting your piece to someone who is very familiar with mixing (sound engineer) could enable you to achieve a different result. That said, I like the piece as it is, but it’s up to you.
Hi Rob !
The song is good !
On the mix side, I think the drum can punch a little bit more, it feels erased in the back of the guitars. In the verses, the vocal is a little to loud for my taste. The dynamic of the acoustic guitar could also be more controlled.
As Rene wrote in his post, mixing is very personnal, if you like it the way it is, that’s whats important!
I have time, and I’ve already invested a lot. I would be fool not to make it as good as it can be. I revisited the EQ on the bass and guitars. I had scooped too much mids leading to harshness in the guitars and vocals. I’ve updated the mix and is has now filled up nicely now. I’m pretty happy with now. Thanks for your feedback.