Mix feedback please: our song - Burden Of Truth NEW MIX 6/29 @ 2:04PM CST

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10770526


Hello!  Looking for fresh ears on this mix.  Trying to really get a stripped down sound for our mixes.  We record live now too.

There is a middle break where the guitar solo is going, but otherwise, I think all of the instrumentation is there.

Just looking for mix help here, not composition help.

Thank you for your time!!

Sounds like a modern, typical up against the wall mix, then considering your bio.
 
Which studio did you record it at?

To my ears there are a number of vocal transients 'T' and 'S' that remind me of Wookiee singing, which is fatal to any non Wookiee being, they almost hurt.

The Sound click version cuts off with a nasty click.

Having said that I did listen to then end and to a couple of other tracks from your different web presences.

(For reference I am listening on Event 20/20 passives in a dedicated project studio control room that has a reasonable level of sound control and bass trapping.)

If you were playing somewhere I was, I would probably not walk out.

Thanks for sharing.
 
Edit: Furry Paws make for poor typing skills.

I know you are the bass player, and a darn good one at that, but it is way too up front for this tune.  Too much highs, competing with Kat's vocal power around 2.5k I think. I would like to hear it much lower, especially when the hard rock part comes in at 1:28, there is nothing pushing my sub at all, compared to where it is sitting in the verses.

Though the sound of the bass works great at the musical break at 3:16.

Hi Scott, 
Im just learning all this but this is kinda what I heard on my DS8 Monitors in a dedicated recording setup/area. 
I agree with Wookie and James on all their inputs.  I also did notice that when the chorus would kick in and throughout it, the lows and particularly the bass faded way back into the mix. 

Loved the song,  looking forward to hearing what ya do with it. 

Sounds like everything is getting crushed by the comp way too much, to the point of artifacting and pumping in and out. I'd take off the comp and start carving out unneeded freqs particularly in the drums/bass area. Bass went into comp way too loud sounds like and it's consuming all it's neighbors vitality. The vocals are sitting on top of the track in alot of areas because of her freq range and getting crushed. I love loud records but they sound dreadful when competing instruments are squashed through the 2 bus. Notice how the intro feels nice and cohesive with the vocals before everything kicks in hard. Then it gets heavy and and her voice is spiking out of the thick sonic wall. You want her surrounded by the music not pushed out of her space by all the thickness. Having said that, I do love the live feel this has and could be crafted into a very nice sounding mix. Whats your monitoring setup like? 

GREAT tune! Im not listening on the best rig as of now but the drums sound a bit flat and muddy. Cymbals need more high end. They also sound like they are sitting more in the center then being spread across the stereo field. The lead vox is very clear compared to the rest of the mix. Looking forward to hearing the finished piece. KUDOS!


Kev

Hey Scott
Mix sounds much better on my end. Drums sound clean and clear. My only nit are the drums are now sitting a SMIDGE forward in the mix. Other then that the mix sounds wide, clean, and full. Hope this helps what your shooting for. KUDOS!

Kev

Wow, sounds alot better man! Sounds like a real band now. I found myself wanting to hear a softer reverb on the verses, some predelay (maybe tempo timed or half, more initimate) and generally less verb in the verses, then bigger in chorus. Reverb setting feels a little static throughout. Backups or even double in the chorus would be grand. and the words "Burden of Truth" could stand out a tad more through verb or delays and more upfront to accentuate the the chorus (rememorable). Huge improvement! 

Sorry for ramblings, it's a good tune.

Sweet! This is great to wake up to!  Thank you to all!

What I did was, use a totally different EQ on the bass and vocals, and used volume envelopes.  I never realized that EQ's had such different flavors in tone.  Also, I had too much rolled off the bottom of the bass and the kick drum too.  My high pass filter was at like 70-80 or something like that.  A touch too much obviously.  I've been VERY paranoid about the bottom end; I was having some serious subwoofer issues as in my crossover was incorrectly set.  Now I finally think I'm hearing things pretty good.  Not perfect, but good.  Will work towards GREAT!

I also changed out my bus for my overheads.  I added Ferox tape sim, which I love and put it on Analog Overload, and just sent my overheads there and added just a hair.  Boy, did they really wake up and get extremely musical.  I also added just a touch of presence in the 5-8K range.

Yes, I was trying to find that "perfect" balance of drums and instrumentation; I am going to start sending my entire drum mix to a subgroup so I can just move one fader.  I do use a group for it now, but many engineers use subgroups for things like that for a "cleaner" board.  I've been keeping my kick separate though, just in case it needed just a hair of a bump.

The bass came way down and needed too badly (thanks James); I was focused on the tone and clarity and pretty much left it up there.  It's amazing what a few days can do to your ears and what a fresh perspective can bring.

That sounds better. 

It still sounds all crush up against the wall which looses some of its appeal for me. 

Observations above re Drums and Vox I agree with. 

The other point I would like is to hear some air/space and some overall dynamics.  My ears and my meters tell me it is sitting at between -1 and -3 dB almost throughout, which for me gives no breathing space.

But it is your bands tune and the sound you are looking for is the one your ears like.

Thanks for sharing the remix and I trust the dog is on the road to recovery?

Hey!
I finally got that solo done last night and put the "finishing touches" on this mix.  I think it sounds pretty good though!  I may have to do some final tweaking before final (I prob. will), but I think it's pretty darn close.

Comments welcome and appreciated! 

Thanks, Max!  I always appreciate an extra point of view.  I'm not much sold on anything much, but I also want to avoid doing "too much".  I want to just to sound good and organic.

I appreciate the time and your listen!!!