new song of mine

This is a new song of mine I recorded in cubase 5. Any comments on the mix or song are appreciated. Wondering if it is lacking in low end on other systems. I have listened to it on different systems but I’m still not sure about the low end.

Thanks.

http://soundcloud.com/sean-taylor-2/ive-got-the-time-remix

Cool song, nice singing too!
Generally the mix is quite good, it’s mostly the drums that need some work. I don’t really like the snare sound, it’s a bit dry. I think the entire drums can come up a little, I’m not sure if there is a hi-hat playing, but I don’t hear one anyway apart from the outtro.
The accoustic guitar is sometimes a little buried, mainly in the refrains. The lead sounds very nice though. The bass sounds really good in the mix in my opinion, so in that sense the low end is fine. If you bring up the entire drumkit, I think the boost on the kickdrum will make the low end quite convincing.
There’s some drum timing issues in the first bit, but other than that the piece is well played!

Guitars sound great. Just needs a little more volume and punch on the drums. well done.

Good effort…could do with some harmonies here and there…Kevin

The overall balance is allright, a bit harsch in the mid’s. Instead of the low end I would introduce some more air in it.
Apart from that the song is almost mono, this is maybe by choice I don’t know, but is sounds as if the only stereo material is produced by the ambience (reverbs etc)
Widen the mix could make it bigger and the seperation could give more mixing oppurtunities.

The song itself is nice, not really out of the box composing, I have to play it a few times to get it to stay in my head.
So in terms of composition I would rate it an album filler, not a single.

Greetz Dylan.

Thanks to everyone for listening to my song and I appreciate all the comments. I remixed the song(same link in first post). I brought the drums up in the mix and added a little more hihat. I was trying to add dynamics to the mix by making the verses more mono, with closer panning, and during the chorus adding wide panned electric guitars. I’m not sure the effect worked out as planned. In the remixed version I panned the acoustic guitars a little wider in the verses. As a result, this may take away from the effect of the chorus getting bigger sounding.

Thanks again for listening and all your great ideas.

Just listened again and it sounds better but still think it needs harmonies and a bit of variation with the instruments…it seems to be the same all the way through…maybe drop a guitar for a few bars somewhere, Kevin

Stereoimage is better, better seperation of instruments.

I agree with Shadowfax.
There is not much difference between the chorus and verse, in this genre (popsong, singersongwriter)
you would expect a strong hook and a more anticipated chorus.

the Hook:

Would be the guitar melody heared in the intro, this could develop through out the song, with strings, piano or an octave higher, during the solo. I would make it stronger any way in terms of performance, not composition.

the difference between verse and chorus:

You could as mentioned before leave more space in the arrangment during the verses or make the chorus fuller (with vocal harmonies, shaker tambourin etc)

I would do a combination.
In the verses, or on of the verses remove the 16th acoustic guitar to break the groove so it can come back in the chorus, and then more percussion in the chorus which can be done very subtle with deep impact.

Point is not to make the song a 3 minute same groove, that is a rule of thumb in this genre, this sounds contradictive because you would expect a song to be the same through out so you can pick it up easily on the radio but the trick is to make it compact but also appealing (thus changing over the course to maintain attention) for the listener.

After listening a few times two things bug me:

  1. There is something wrong with the timing, I can’t really tell, maybe the drums are dragging to much behind, as if the whole track is nudged.

  2. sometimes you sing a few words with a very raw voice, but it sounds to hold back resulting in a fake whisky vocie, it’s raw but not loud, so sing it that you mean it demmit! from your toes. :smiley:

A long replie, meaning that the song is worth it, if it was a bad song I would not even begin to discus it, so take that as a compliment.

Greetz Dylan.

Nice song! I never heard the first version, but this sounds good to me.

I think this is just one of those songs that doesn’t need anything fancy or in your face. It just kind of is what it is - a nice, easy to listen to tune. Well done.

Scott