Sunday Sailing (Alt-New-Folk-Something)

Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 4:51 am

So first up the link: www.riversend.net.au/DOWNLOADS/Sunday_Sailing.mp3

This is pretty much unmixed in terms of EQ, I've only adjusted the levels for the most part, mixing is by far my weakest suit so any advice\criticism you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

(Incidentally I just ran the track quick through Waves L1, and it kinda squashed the drop-in bit, so the drums aren't punching right there)

Ok, I hope you people dig it and look forward to hearing from ya (P.S. I only just found this forum, its awesome! - P.P.S Yes, for you aficondos out there this is my dedication to Mr. Wait's album Heart Of Saturday Night)

Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 5:07 am

Oh dammit - I just realised there's no panning yet either haha so maybe some advice on where to pan the various instruments would be nice too. (do i ask too much?)

Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 12:58 pm

Interesting song and arrangement. I listened to this a couple of times, first on my PC speakers, then over to my JerBiLs. Keep in mind that the following points are JUST one person's opinion. Also keep in mind that I don't post much on this section of RO, only if the material really intrigues me. I make an ass of myself on all of the other sections to make up for that...
The swelling (crescendoing?) strings behind the guitar are an interesting idea, but their timing needs to be fixed; it sounds awkward and unnatural.
The vocalist sounds pretty good, not too heavy-handed with compression, no blaring sibilance issues, etc. Nice voice.
I thought that the middle section-that "wall of sound" (guitars/strings)-was a bit overwhelming. OK, you mentioned the "drop-in" squashing the drums. Ah, the drums...
I have no idea what type of budget, gear, or talent you had to work with here. What I CAN tell you is that the drums sound like they were in too small a room that yielded a "boxy" sound with no presence to them, probably due to placement issues. Plus, the cymbals sound too harsh and "splatty" to me, as if the mics were too close to the cups. You can play with the EQ, the panning, and the levels for all of the rest of the instruments. The drums you HAVE to TRACK right or you're screwed. And if that's the sound you were going for, great. I just think that they could sound a lot better to match the talent that's on the rest of the song.

Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 3:10 pm

i will just say, i really enjoy this song musically. mixwise, for being unmixed, it sounds pretty good. but yeah some things definitely need to be fixed. the kick drum could be a little less boomy but a bit more thumpy for me. also i would try and cut out the bass in all the other instruments a bit, and turn up the bass a bit so the bass itself can take care of the low end. i agree with the moonbaby as far as the drums go. maybe adding a slight reverb to it will let it sound less boxy.

also in the middle, you got the drummer (i think) who squeaks on his chair. also at the really end i think you have some extraneous noise from something else.

Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 3:29 pm

Drums seem a bit too forward in the mix. A bit of verb might fix it. Actually, everything seems a little too in your face imho. There's not enough space. Great song. It generally sounds good but I just think the mix could use some help. Reminds me of Smashing Pumpkins sans the occasional growl.

Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 5:39 pm

Hullo everyone (1st up thanks v. much for your replies!) - I should prb tell you how I made this, it might clear some things up - My budget is about $0, I made this in my bedroom with an NT1A Rode Mic, a M-Audio firewire solo (2 in, 2 out yech) an upright piano and a guitar. Everything else, including the drums, is actually programmed or played in via midi. So unfortunately any tracking probs on the drums can't really be rectified:( I will def. experiment with some verb\EQ. And now that I listen back you've certainly put your finger on something that was bothering me about the track.

moonbaby: Yeh the 'wall-of-sound' bit is actually going to have vocals over it so I'm probably going to push all those guitars into the back.

loh90 - what kind of EQ adjustment to my kick would give me 'thump' as opposed to 'boom'? & thats my piano chair squeaking in the middle - I've recorded about 10 hours of demo-acoustic songs and every single one has that squeak - just think of it like Glenn Gould humming along in his recordings haha sortof

edit: I also possess no monitors of any vague worth, I'm using my little PC speakers which are about the size of my fist, seriously ppl $0 budget!

Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 4:26 pm

Just realizing the limited tools at your disposal, I'd say you're definitely on to something great here. Making this kind of quality music with with a close to $0 budget is impressive and should quite frankly get all of us (myself at least) thinking about our goals (is it making music or buying new gear?).

Sure, I could find things to do differently like bringing the snare level down, making the whole drum kit gel a bit more (maybe a nice room reverb), bringing up the upright bass and most importantly trying another way of recording the piano to add character. I personally don't find that the timing of the strings are off at all and I love the squeaks from the chair.

But at the end of the day noone will care if the songs are as good as this one. To me, the songwriting is flawless and intense and the production and vocals are great.

Maybe not too much constructive mix criticism, but thanks for posting! I guess the Waits-reference in response to your other post wasn't too far off. Smile

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