As a demo it's very well done. Can you tell us a little bit about how it was recorded?

I really like what you've done.

The drum track sounds great. Although I do believe it's a drum machine/software track? Which was done very well if that is? And if it's a real drummer? It's even better. But otherwise superb. And everything else sounded like where it was supposed to be.

Here is my only issue. " Plowed ", while it is a single syllable word, it should be treated as 2 syllables. Because your lyrics sounds like " this field is going to get 'down' ". Or "this field is going to get 'POWED' " ?

How to correct that? It's simple. You spit out "Plowed" as "Pul-loud", making it 2 syllables and it will glue your song together all the better. It'll fit better.

Of course the lyric could be misconstrued to sound like "this field is going to get 'pulled loud' "? Or maybe " this field is going to get "Pulled Out". But I don't think so.

So you just have to put a good down accent on "Pul", while rolling into " Loud". Which will make it sound even more Country Fried. Yeah baby! Time for some cornpone and moonshine.

Although I am one of those people that puts only sugar on my grits. No salt. No pepper. No butter. Reminds me of cream of wheat. So I always freaks out folks when I do that in a down-home Southern country restaurant. Otherwise I love grits and Scrapple! And I'm Jewish? Yup. Certainly not kosher. That and lots of bacon! I mean who has ever heard of a matzo, lettuce and tomato sandwich? Not I. No... just butter, on my matzo please.

But what would I know? I'm originally from Detroit.
Mx. Remy Ann David

good work,

I'm the opposite (drum machines are awesome, especially when they suit the song and are mixed right) but your drums definitely bother me. They sound real enough but have too much room and cymbals and they have phase issues. I would rather less room and a more centered snare and kick.
Toms are panned in a distracting way as well.
You have drum phase issues big time in this. The cymbals are fighting something you either created in the mix or through bad micing. Center your drums more ( get the snare, kick and bass guitar dead center) , turn down the crashes and fix this phase and you are well on your way.

My suggestion:

Turn your monitor level down to where you can barely here your mix and listen to whats popping out. The cymbals are for sure but, your ears may be tired from mixing this and a break may help.
Check your mix in mono, this will help identify this everytime.

Fix these and I think you will have improved this mix substantially.

Re-post again. :)

Hi Everybody and thanks for the replies!

Let's see - I'll tell you the *how* and address the concerns at the same time. BTW - I hear the phase of the cymbals now too - but only when I play it in mono or in the car.

I work in Reaper. Guitars are a mix of standard Tele, 62 re-issue Strat, and 57 Les Paul Jr. - thru 2 different amplitube settings. The main rhythm is actually an amalgam of the Tele thru amplitube and a Fender Blues Jr III. P-Bass direct with Stillwell's Rocket Compressor for punch. Drums are SD2, avatar kit, my hacked-up midi and my fx hacking-about. And yes - I consciously drove the room sound higher and dropped the hihat and snare directs quite a bit - which I *used* to like. I didn't hear the phase issue before you mentioned it - and of course - lol - now it's all I hear. Drum Bus fx are Stillwell's Major Tom Comp and Kjaerhus Audios Classic Master Limiter set lightly. Vox are a combination of things also - They're all me thru a Rode Nt1A and a Shure Sm7B. From the beginning of the song thru the end I double and then triple the backups and double the lead. I changed the rolloff and boost settings of the shure for each new track. then I bus BUs and Leads separately and send them thru Izotope Nectar and do the requisite fiddling-about there also. Oh, and I put an instance of Reaper's ReaComp on each vocal track to calm the peaks little.

As a singer/songwriter who records in his living room with the kids watching TV (ok - enough caveat), I track myself sing/playing acoustic gtr first (both scratches) to a click. Then I build the bass to that to get a groove. Then rhythm electrics, drums, reprogramming drums, and again. Then I redo the lead vox, then backups. Then I do the lead guitar.

Then I set about mixing - - - - lol - - - first thru head phones for a rough balance (I know - but I truly have no choice) - - -then - - when everybody leaves at some point - I turn on the Rokit 5s and have fun. I ducked the main rhythm guitar behind the lead vox with a sidechained comp; automated a ton of levels with the vox and gtrs, and I believe I made the rhythm gtr go from centered to wide stereo between the verses and choruses. That was about it - - Then rendered - - then fiddled about with Ozone. and there you have it.

I'm not sure what to do about the cymbal phasing as I'm not doing anything really too the any of the drum tracks other than some light compression on the snare, kick, and overheads - and a bit of eq-ing on separate drums. same goes with toms. I'm going to double check and report back shortly.

Remy - lol - the *plowed* thing - - lol - that's how we say it in Southern llinois - -I can;t make myself do it any differently. lol - - And what;s wrong with matzo, lettuce, and tomato - - - -with a bit of hummus?

I'll repost soon. :) - - -as soon as everybody leaves the house t the same time - lol

Tim

So - - After a little detective work - and fresh ears - and direction from ya'll - -I think I found the culprit(s) - I had transient designer on the snare top with the sustain pulled a little too long and a stereo widener on the high end on the bus. Eliminating those 2 things seems to have helped some. I'm going to listen to it tomorrow and will repost.

---- oh - - and I narrowed the toms - - -you're right - they needed it

Thanks!

Tim

Ahh yes . Th ubiquitous stereo widener. Those have caused more problems in DAW mixes than almost any other processor I can think of, short of Limiters.

Hey audiokid -

Mixing at super-low levels - - I do hear the cymbals more on top but the VOX - all of the them - are seemingly WAY out front to me - which I suppose is a good thing as long as the vox are good. lol - but it is really interesting to me that the difference in listening level of about 10 db would have such a profound effect on the general balance the mix overall. It truly sounds like a different mix. what kind of phenomena is this?

One other question - often when trying to get a nice thick thwacky snare, I end up with a honky one instead and can't seem to pinpoint the frequency(ies) that the *honk* is emanating from. Is there a general range or fx application that - in your experience increases/decreases the *honk* resonance?

Still playing with the cymbals - will repost later.

Thanks,
Tim

by and large you can generally look around the 400hz region as the culprit for a boxy sounding snare. There are variables of course... the type of snare, the type of head, the mic, how far off the head the mic was, etc.