-Ballenas-

Hey All,
 
Longtime lurker here but I have never posted before.  I just got back into recording a few years ago after a (very) long hiatus.  I mainly just work with friends and help them flesh out their ideas and try to give them a good product to display. 
I wanted to run a song by you all and see what kind of critiques I get.  I have tough skin so fire away on the mix, performance, anything.  Just trying to make each song better than the last.
 
https://soundcloud.com/smallspacessound/ballenas 
 
(edited for carelessness - Thank you jamesg!!)
 

-Thank you
Brian
soundcloud.com/smallspacessound

jamesg1213


Hi Brian, your link doesn't work, I think it's the '#'..try this; https://soundcloud.com/smallspacessound/ballenas

Thank you for the heads up. *fixed* (i hope)...

Beagle


Hi Brian,
still a lot of work left do to on mixing, IMO.  the electric, bass & drums are very muddy and "noisy" and some are very "distant" in the room with lots of room sound  - probably the way you recorded them.  you need to clean up the source.

great talent, keep at it

Thank you for the take Beagle. Much obliged.  I can't argue with the critique, specifically on the guitars and, upon listening for it, mud in the vocals.  Guitars are not my instrument and this is the first time I have ever produced a track with multiple heavy guitars like this - I mostly work with acoustic songwriters.  Ever still a work in progress.
In reference to the bass and drums, I don't disagree but I find it interesting.  The drums are all ITB.  Percussion is my primary instrument with bass second.  I don't have the "room" and physical resources to properly record a kit so I choose to program them (as I would realistically play them).  So this is interesting as it seems that I have gone too far trying to "liven" them up on the production end.  Hmm... something to think about... 
 
Again, Thank you for taking the time!
-b

Any further comments on this track?  I am sitting at home sick in bed so I decided to give posting a go and I am (very bored and) very curious of others opinions of my work.  Good, bad or ugly - I would appreciate any feedback that anyone would be willing to give.  I am just trying to see how I can improve with each project. 

Thank you for your time!

jamesg1213


I liked it. To me there's a nice 'live' vibe to this song, a rawness which perhaps doesn't need to much polishing. I would maybe do some hi-passing on the elec guitars and get the vocals to ride above the heavy sections. The fake 'bagpipe' sound is a bit odd, I might lose that..

Thank you for taking the time to give it a listen jamesg.  Getting the vocals to ride above is a headroom problem I created but I may have to look at what I can do with the eq to "sculpt" or something... The bagpipe is a dimpro sample from the HD strings collection - tubed violin, i think - I pulled that melody line on a whim from the original (which is VERY different) and my collaborator went nuts (in a good way) when I was searching around for how to voice it.  Was more his pick but I like it and have grown accustomed to hearing it (but, I do think it is odd too...).
 
Appreciate it!

eko


As I havent heard the originaltrack its hard to comment on comparision but I think as a live take this is very good. If it supposed to be a studio track it needs more attention. 

Studio v. Live - It's just a track. I try to go where the feel takes me.  While I certainy take this seriously and work hard at it, I don't really have any other ambition other than to get better with each project and enjoy myself hoping that others enjoy what I produce.   
If anyone is interested for comparison the original is here:
https://soundcloud.com/bonafonte/ballenas
I had never heard the original (local band in Madrid, Spain), only my collaborator's take, until the mix was about 90% done. Very different songs....

Thank you for listening!

Lynn


Welcome to the forum, Brian.  You've gotten some good advice on the mix, however, you could quickly improve this mix by spreading the guitars more.  There is a lot of sound near the center of the stereo spectrum which makes everything sound a bit crowded.  Plus, this may lessen the need to sculpt the guitars to sound right.  The song is good, and it deserves the very best.

Thank you Lynn.  Stereo spread is an issue for me as I am deaf in my left ear.  So I have to rely on others to help with with that.  To me it is all in mono on the right side. I intentionally work with my collaborators on this but NONE of them understand recording, engineering, production, etc... at all.  That is why I am here... to get some educated opinions. 
 
I appreciate the advice and thank you for taking the time!

Oh, yes, I do constantly but I know I still have problems with balance in general either because I overcompensate or worry about overcompensating.  I also have little krk5s set up in a wide spread that I actually roll from one to the other when mixing (probably looks funny) and this is how I work through things alone.  At least my right ear works great
 
Appreciated.