Friday After Breakfast (here's the new mix with bass)

Hey there quirky chord man, sounds good, lyrics are suggestive and sly.
 
I absolutely would bring the bass up, you can barely hear it. Is there bass on this? I think you'd need the bass to drive the tune. It's a good song, kind of Al Stewart-ish maybe? I'll have another helping of bass, please!
 
cheers,
-Tom
 
 

Enjoyable tune nice played and sung Doug, For the mix perhaps a little to all down the middle a little subtle panning of the guitar and flute anywhere between 10 to 20% of centre just to open up a cleaner space for the vocal.
 
Nice job though thanks for sharing.

I really like this Doug - just my cup of tea.
I am a big fan of Kings of Convenience and I'm getting their vibe from this.
Would you be interested in doing a song together sometime? 

Nice chord changes + vocal melodies... very cool, good stuff.   The acoustic sounds really good, as does the flute solo.   Some of the drum parts sound a little off-time but nothing drastic.
 
Mix-wise...  I'm really missing that bottom end.   I think get what you were going for but it sounds like type of song that could use the whole band.   An acoustic or fretless bass (real or otherwise) might work nicely in this context.
 

Nice song Doug....the chords/rhythm remind me a bit of America (Ventura Hwy.). I agree with what most said on the lower end and even possibly bringing up the acoustic a dB or 2.....(at times the drums/cymbal crashes) seemed louder than the acoustic.  The vocals came out very nice....listening via my H-phones.
Thanks for sharing.

I don't comment on the mix of music....... that can always be done and done again
I really liked the song.......... good writing

Reminded me of America also.  I like the chord changes and the tune concept.  It sounds VERY mono to me...why not open it up with some creative panning?  It also sounds very low volume compared to other songs I've been previewing... do you use any mastering software such as Ozone?  And as the others have mentioned, it is really missing low end.
Did like the vocals.  Cool tune my friend.

Tony- No, I don't have any mastering software, I just use the Boost11 to bring up my volume. I can bring it up some more. And I'll work on the stereo spread. I hope to post a new version this weekend.
 
Freddy- I think I agree with you about the addition of the bass giving the song a less intimate feel. I've been working on a bass line this week but I keep paring it back further and further because it seems to compete with the guitar. Maybe that's going to come down to the right EQ and mix.
 
Do you think that just EQing the guitar might bring up the low end enough so that it sounds fuller without adding a bass?
 
I'm glad you guys like the song. Thanks for the feedback.

Lynn- Interesting that you think the drums sound like they're in a different space. This is the first time that I stripped the native reverb off the plugins and ran everything through the same reverb bus to get them all "in the same space". I'm not sure what else would affect that aspect of the mix. Any suggestions?
 
As far as the bass and snare choice, I didn't over-think that; I just used the default SI Drums. I think there are only a couple of choices for those sounds. I also have Session Drummer and EZDrummer, but I started with SI and just stuck with it.
Depending on how much more time and patience I have with this song, maybe I'll audition some other kits.
 
I'm glad you like the song.To me, that's just as important (or maybe more important) as getting critiques on the recording.
 
I was never a big fan of the whole engineering/mixing aspect of the recording process. The big thrill for me is the creative process- coming up with an interesting chord sequence/ rhythm/ melody line, etc, and then getting it down and embellishing it. After a certain point in the mixing phase it starts becoming a chore. I like this song a lot and I'll consider everyone's suggestions (that's why I posted here) and try again, but to be honest I don't have the system/room/ears/patience/time to really get it right. After all is said and done, I'm okay with settling for a decent recording/performance of my songs that friends and family will enjoy, accepting the fact that they won't be perfect. (The songs, that is.)
 
Doug

Thanks, Lynn.

Someone mentioned mastering with Ozone. I think that would add to a great tune. Also a little bass. Very good as is, though. Enjoyed the listen.

Thanks for the kind words James and Chas. Please check out the new mix that I posted.
 
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=13073028
 
Doug

Thanks, Phil.

Yes definite improvement overall, it was nice before but you have just added some icing on it.

I like the direction the new mix is taking, Doug. Here's what I'd do next if it was my song...the mix is unbalanced by the acoustic guitar on the left, which needs something in the right channel to balance it out. Maybe another acoustic guitar track duplicating the first, perhaps with a 12-string. But that's just one possibility. Sometimes a percussion instrument can serve that purpose, such as a shaker (the song might benefit from some subtle pushed-to-the-back percussion, e.g. congas/bongos). Being a keyboard player, I usually end up using piano or organ to balance a hard-panned acoustic guitar.
 
But whatever you do, keep that great clean vocal right up front and personal like it is. It's the best thing the song's got going for it.