Hi All,
Recently upgraded my studio HW and SW and this is one of the first songs. Definitely a newbie with all this, so all feedback welcome. Especially relating to track levels, effects, compression, limiting, etc.
Thanks,
Mike
Hi, good effort, I’d say it’s about a minute too long and seems to be the same all the way through, I’ve been critiqued for not having enough dynamics in a couple of songs I put forward and they were right…light and shade is important to keep the listener interested, the guitar needs to stop for at least a few bars during the song,…good luck and keep on keepin on…
Thanks for the feedback. I tend to have a hard time keeping my songs under 4 minutes. Pondering the thought of what to cut out is killing me.
The songs I am working on are to help demo my solo acoustic act, so cutting out the guitar for a few bars will have to take some thought also. I play keys, but thought the simple blend of guitar, bass, and drums was working good.
It sounds ok, I think, good effort! Even before getting to balance, compression, effects, is arrangement and songwriting. I suggest thinking about evolution of an idea, contrasting idea, and coming back, for this style of music. When there are different sections with variety and different things important about them, then you have different things you want to do in mixing to bring them out. Just a few of my thoughts, which you can take or leave!
Hi…Ok, didn’t know about the solo act thing so stopping the guitar would be a problem I suppose, but you should consider making it shorter…it would be more memorable I believe, best regards…
Hi Mike,
Nice song, I like it! 
Unless someting changes, Ive got some time on my hands this week, if you are interested, Id be happy to
have a look at the mix (and song length) for you.
I could have a look at the tracks, tweak, then send them back with a pdf of what I did, hopefully some of the info
on levels/EQ/ effects/comp will be helpful 
Send me a pm if you are interested! 
Sav
Hmm… not a bad song but mixwise it sounds quite mono (apart from the rather frequent cymbal crashes at times) and also the sonic footprint is quite ‘small’ sounding I think. There’s quite a learning curve to go through in getting a mix sounding really good but you should get some good tips here, though might need to ask very specific questions. Ignore anything anyone says about snare drums though (private joke)
In terms of the structure I think you can certainly trim some fat off this. There’s plenty of surplus bars that I certainly would take an axe too 
And, while there’s plenty of scope for more happening in the arrangement I note you say this is more intended as a demo for a solo act so I’ll keep my mouth shut!
Thanks for the great feedback. I have been agonizing about what I could trim out, but maybe I have found an easy solution. Previously, I was looking at the structure as: INTRO, VERSE, VERSE, CHORUS, INSTRUMENTAL, VERSE, VERSE, CHORUS, END. But maybe the CHORUS is actually a BRIDGE. So maybe just cut out the last part altogether. The revised structure would be: INTRO, VERSE, VERSE, BRIDGE, INSTRUMENTAL, VERSE, VERSE, END. That trims out about a minute.
The instrumental part could definitely use a good lead guitar, of which I don’t play. So, I will try to get someone to do that for me. Also, will be adding background vocals. Regarding my comment about my solo act, I still want to get a full mix going, but when I do play solo I wouldn’t be able to drop out the acoustic guitar in spots.
As far as the acoustic guitar in the mix. I have done some research on the 2-mic technique when recording. One method the two mics are spread apart and aimed at different parts on the guitar. The other method is the close X-Y method aimed at the 12th fret (of which I used). So, my question is this. With the X-Y close mic method, I am still separating the 2 mics in the mix a little (L25 and R25) to try to create some space . Maybe I should keep them both together and place both to one side? I could add some electric guitar to the other side. Bass guitar keep in the middle?
Oh, and let me listen closer to the cymbal crashes. With Superior drummer they default to one being panned all the way left, and the other all the way right. I did bring them in and closer together in the current mix.
Thanks,
Mike
I’d be a little concerned with your proposed structure at the lack of chorus’s. Well, certainly in ‘conventional pop’ terms anyway, the chorus’s are usually THE song… the rest is just padding! Of course from a lyrical point of view the verses are often a vital part of the story, but from a commercial perspective it’s all about catchy chorus’s with strong hooks. That may not of course be of concern to you necessarily.
There’s a number of ways of mic’ing an acoustic - for solo acoustic or parts where the guitar is very exposed in a mix then a two-mic method is often desired. However, I often tend to double track rhythm acoustics which is probably what I’d do in this case. Each part played separately via a single mic and then usually panned L and R in the mix. When you’re using a twin mic recording method phasing issues can arise, AND your playing really needs to be spot on… if you have to do any fix-ups, working with the two tracks instead of just one can be a bit fiddly at times!
As for the panning, generally: bass, kick, snare and vocal at centre. Toms, cymbals, etc I have spread from the listeners perspective. Many drums default to a pan arrangement from the drummers perspective. I always thought that was silly and illogical, And it always bugged me, and always will.
Also, consider tracking two acoustics (playing the same part) L and R. This will give you a much fuller and wider sound. I tend to then route them both into a group channel where that can be treated (FX’d) as a single entity. Similar deal with the drums though routing setups are usually somewhat more complicated for drums.
You know, I reckon this song’s chorus could be built from parts ending with the line “and I am drawn to you”. That seems to be the hook. It would take a significant re-write/rethink to implement what I have in mind but I reckon a more concise and hooky song could well emerge as a result.
For me at the moment its not so obvious what are the verses, chorus and bridges are. It’s definitely too long and I find I’m completely lost and confused by the structure by the end of the song. 