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Hey ya'll, it's been a while; I've been working on a lot of new tunes, but was looking for some input on my recording/mixing/writing - anything would help, just trying to better myself and my art. I can almost provide my input for anyone else track if they help me out/Pm me afterwards.

here's the single track for the Album : "Jack Dooley and The Always"

[MEDIA=soundcloud]thealwayss/racing-thoughts[/MEDIA]
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Comments

oynaz Thu, 03/27/2014 - 08:24

Nice track. I like it. Some thoughts:

There is something about that rainy weather sample that bugs me. It might be compression artifacts in the high frequencies. Still you might want to consider replacing it. It sounds unnatural.
Maybe bring the acoustic guitar a bit more up in the mix? 3-6 dBs or something like that.
Is that a couple of small mistakes by the bass player at 0.33 and 0.37?
The vocal does not blend so well with the mix. It kind of sits on top of it. I am not really sure what to do about it, but I would grab for my reverbs, or perhaps consider dubbing it.

Nice touch with the birds in the end.

RemyRAD Thu, 03/27/2014 - 09:33

The tune is definitely hookey. It's fun. There are some things about it though...

It sounds like this was a karaoke track, to be quite honest with ya? As already mentioned, the vocal is kind of like a huge bug hitting your windshield smack dab in the middle of your vision at 70 mph. Not that that's bad if ya like bugs? But it bugs me.

This is the place where a good healthy dose of dynamic range limiting, on the lead vocal, it'll match it up better with the lack of dynamics in the music.

For a little more vitality, you might want to bring up those handclaps? You could make the drums a little more snappy? The music track definitely has potential as well does the vocal. You just need a more snappy, dynamic mix with the vocal compressed a little more than it is.

The song has pop. It's not sounding poppy enough. That's due to the mixing. It lacks punch and smack. The music sort of pools around but it needs to be more with the vocal or the vocal needs to be more with the music.

The music still needs dynamics. Not dynamics in the sense of not using compressors and limiters. That's not what I'm saying. Things just doodle around, with attack times too fast and release times too fast. Slow down the attack to let the peaks through. The compressor/limiter will then bring the lower stuff up without giving it a circumcision. And peaks will peek through.

Slowing the release time will allow you to focus the sound in its "apparent loudness" perception. Faster brings it up front and squashes it, all together. Slower sends it further back for a lazier more natural sound. This is what all the loudness wars are about. But loud only sounds loud when you make it sound loud, in a soft way. With peaks coming through on the instruments that need it.

Or ya could just send it to a Mastering Engineer?

Here's an example: I've been able to bring back dynamics from things that are too squashed to begin with by adding more compression and limiting. What's that I'm saying? Slow attack times with more squashing and slower release times. And you retrieve a modicum of dynamics. This ain't the way you want to do it. It's what I've done at times to combat " automatic volume control ", circuits. But that's just a Band-Aid after your finger has been sliced, so to speak.

Take two?
Mx. Remy Ann David

anonymous Thu, 03/27/2014 - 09:43

Nice track. I'm not really a fan of weather sound effects either, perhaps I just engineered one too many new-age meditation projects; wind, surf, rain, farts and giggles LOL.... back in the days when I had my studio... something about those effects just kinda distracts me, I guess.

As far as making suggestions, the comments and suggestions you might get are exactly that, just suggestions.
When it comes to production and mixing technique, it's likely that you'll get varying opinions to varying degrees, depending on who chimes in. Different engineers mix differently. That doesn't mean they are right or wrong, it's just their way. As far as the whole picture goes, I'm not hearing any blatant problems other than what Oynaz mentioned with the bass...and it's not as if they are clammed (wrong) notes on the bass at the sections mentioned, what I'm hearing is that the kick and bass are falling out of time with each other at those two points.

I like the imaging you have with your acoustic, it's a nice spread, it separates and defines the instrument nicely.

I think the vocal sits fine in the mix in the beginning, perhaps you might pull it back a skooj when everything else kicks in, but, if you want to sound contemporary, modern commercial mixes do tend to have the lead vocal pretty much in your face. I wouldn't pull it back much.

As far as reverb goes... well... personally, I love it, if it's nice reverb. I came up mixing in the 70's and 80's, and every studio had racks of outboard Lexi PCM's and Yamaha Rev 7's. But, vocal tracks have dried up quite a bit in the last few years - not on everything by any means - you'll still hear it used on ballads, but verb ain't the automatic go-to effect for pop vocals like it used to be. If you want a reference, call up an all-80's station, then call up a station that is all contemporary. You'll hear what I'm referring to pretty quickly.
Trust me...after you listen to the 80's station for awhile, you'll need a towel to dry off. ;)

As opposed to reverb, you might want to instead consider adding some tight delay to the lead vocal to add some space to the vocal when the song kicks into gear.

Nice track. ;)