O.K. Here is my N°1: The most beautiful day

Hi folks,

This is not my first song, but the first one to be submitted on this forum. It`s a christian gospel song I have heard a many years ago two people performing live in a church. I spent much time and all of my knowledge to create this little piece of music based on these rememberings:


"The most beautiful day": http://www.soundclick.com/bands/7/joshuagospelmusic.htm


I am not a pro, but I tried to incorporate as many of the tips and tricks on mixing and mastering in the main SONAR forum.
The reason why I post this song here is primarily because I want to learn from you. I would be very very grateful for your comments on how I could further improve the mixing / arrangement / EQ etc...

And here is how I did the song:

Recording:
Mic: AKG Emotion C900 (stage condenser mic)
Preamp: dbx 286 project one with built in compressor / enhancer / gate / deesser
Soundcard: ESI Waveterminal 192X

Everything is - of course - recorded, mixed and written in SONAR (3.11); All audio in 44.1 kHz / 24 bit

Instruments:
A)patches from SR Sonic Synth 1 and Expansion ROMs (Nylon + steel guitar; Honky-Tonk piano; electric guitar "brain damage"; Bossa Nova Drum Set; Gritty Rhodes; fingered bass; acoustic bass; slap bass; large string ensemble)
B) from siedlaczek compact orchestra: brass FF sus + brass staccato
C) from EWQLSO Gold: Solo Violin sus vibrato hard

Effects:
- Sonic Timeworks EQ (on almost every track)
- Endorphin on the bass guitars
- Dominion on drums ("meat machine" preset)
- Lexicon PSP 42 delay on vocals track only
- Prosoniq Mixciter on Vocals
- Voxengo Lampthruster on vocals
- Kjaerhus Classic Chorus on vocals
- SIR Reverb with Impulse resonses from noisevault.com (Lexicon PCM91 String Hall / Piano Hall / Real Vocals) on violin /
strings / brass track and on complete mixdown (always very small amount of wet signal)
- BBE Sonic maximizer on mixdown (very little)
- Sonic Timeworks Compressor on Mixdown
- Voxengo Elephant 2 on mixdown (applied 2 x to get it loud; the initial mixdown was peaking at -15 dB)
- Oh yes, and finally a little harbal with only slight adjustments on some "holes"

My global impression of the song is not bad, however, the vocals (beside the fact of sometimes being a bit out of tune and out of time) sound a little artificial, like plastic, overcompressed, although there is only little compression on them. Initially they were very muddy, then I applied some Exciter and Tube simulator to make it more crispy. I am not sure if I did it right...

Thanks in advance for your constructive critics!

Best regards

It's online now and available. Sorry, didn't know that soundclick needs 24 hours to "clear" the uploaded files

Best regards

like your voice. Uplifting feel.
Generally:

1.the music is kind of distant and small-l would work on one instrument at a time to make it sound a bit more "in yer face". The more that's going on, the less presence you get.
2. lots of cool ideas-maybe a few too many. I would look at the drums-make them a bit more striaght ahead. When everything moves, nothing moves. There is so much movement it's a bit like one of those dixie ragtime bands you would hear in New Orleans, which isn't a bad thing if that is what you are looking for. But the main difference in that music is that somehow they manage to step on each others toes just as the right time. Probably because they are all real players and interact. In this case since you are interacting with yourself you may need to be a bit more selective in the parts.
3. Strip everything down and see how each part interacts with each other and see what you can take out-not what you can add.
4. Nice happy effort.

Drums sound a little far back in the mix. The electric piano thing at the beginning is a little distored/harsh on my system. Overall very happy sound. The pros have given their advice.....just wanted to let you know I listend and enjoyed it.

Language? Polish maybe?

Gray

ORIGINAL: michael japan

like your voice. Uplifting feel.
Generally:

1.the music is kind of distant and small-l would work on one instrument at a time to make it sound a bit more "in yer face". The more that's going on, the less presence you get.
2. lots of cool ideas-maybe a few too many. I would look at the drums-make them a bit more striaght ahead. When everything moves, nothing moves. There is so much movement it's a bit like one of those dixie ragtime bands you would hear in New Orleans, which isn't a bad thing if that is what you are looking for. But the main difference in that music is that somehow they manage to step on each others toes just as the right time. Probably because they are all real players and interact. In this case since you are interacting with yourself you may need to be a bit more selective in the parts.
3. Strip everything down and see how each part interacts with each other and see what you can take out-not what you can add.
4. Nice happy effort.

Michael, thanks so much for your patience to listen and for your helpful advices. Especially to separate the different parts from each other. I will try to do this the best I can and will then upload a revised version of the song.
Thanks again and best regards

(BTW: I like your songs very much)

ORIGINAL: Gray Crosby

Drums sound a little far back in the mix. The electric piano thing at the beginning is a little distored/harsh on my system. Overall very happy sound. The pros have given their advice.....just wanted to let you know I listend and enjoyed it.

Language? Polish maybe?

Gray

Thanks a lot, Gray!
I am glad you enjoyed it! Will try to put the drums more forward in the mix. This will be not easy without increasing their volume. Or this problem will be solved automatically when I follow Michael Japan`s advice and take a bit of the other parts out (or down in volume).

Best regards

BTW: It`s the language formerly known as yugoslavian

after listening, i pretty much concur with other comments offered. the vocals is a little too up-front in the mix, and it seems a little bit muffled (that 800hz cut may help it out a bit). again, i would try mixing the song without the effects (save perhaps reverb) and then add them in once things are to your liking.

i noticed as well that you effectively applied three compressors on the final mix. instead of all that compression, you might consider sending a hotter signal into the master bus. you can clip every other bus except that one by a fair amount without introducing distortion. i actually try in my mixes to leave the tracks at 0db on the fader if at all possible so that the effects patches later on have the most accurate possible signal to work with before they start adjusting my bits. i route them to sub-busses which i adjust for volume and those are then sent to the master bus. my mixes generally peak out pretty high without a multi-band or compressor on the master bus.

-15db is not very loud at all, and compressing the heck out of it will not help. do what it takes (better daw, souncard, cables, room, etc.) to get the noise out of your signal so you have some good sound to work with. i personally have the hardest time keeping the noise out with vocals. i generally can't get more than a 60db separation even when i'm belting it out. i counter that by doubling the vocal track (if needed). i think it works better than tons of compression.