In the name of Paradise

Third time I have posted this song but I have been very unhappy with the mix.  Have I nailed it this time?  Not sure.  What do you think?  I keep at it because the song seems to be worth it.

http://soundcloud.com/sun...n-the-name-of-paradise

Gosh. Thank you for the feedback.  I am going to have to google aliasing before anything. I did hear the noise at the start but felt lazy.  So noted!  There is reverb on the acoustic guitar so removeable.  Thanks man!

Thank you.  Any more specifics?  I am googling aliasing and getting heartily confused.  What are you hearing that is not right?

Thanks.  I know that there is a problem with the mp3.  It doesn't reflect what I am hearing in the wave file.  Few questions.  What dither algorithm do you use?  I used power 3/ 16 bit.  But something is screwing up.  I have never had this issue before.

Would you mind giving it a listen.  Have cleaned it up (I hope).

http://soundcloud.com/sun...n-the-name-of-paradise

I like the sound of the vocals .. nice and crisp. The echo works for me. nice writing job too. 

The instrumentation is still kinda heavy and lacking definition it should have when the band kicks in. 

I agree on the acoustic. It's thin and has too much room sound.  Getting a good acoustic sound has been a trip of trial and error .... use a condenser mic and play around with the placement. I tend to record it about 12 inches or so placed near the sound hole straight on. 

cutting the low end of many of the instruments is your biggest friend in a mix. especially the ones like guitars and bass and even drums because they all have lots of presence in the mids and lower end. when you throw all that mid/lo energy into a mix it overloads and muddies things up.  It might seem counter-intuitive to cut the low end but it really allows all those things to live in harmony down there and keep it clean. my cuts are normally from around 100hz sloping down as the freq descends.  by the time I'm in the 40hz area the levels are down significantly on vox and guitars and piano. bass and kick must be considered on a project by project basis.... what sounds good and what works. 

I hate to point to my own work as an example however, I think in this case it might show you exactly what I am talking about. In this thread>>  http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2699743   I have links to 2 versions of the same song. The first version has lots of mid & low energy in it.... the new version has the EQ cuts I speak of... and with 5 acoustic guitar tracks you would think it would be a mess sonically in the mids... the fiddle and dobro lead are the same tracks in both...EQ makes the difference. 

In any MP3 upload.... always convert to 320 from wave..... and upload that 320... the site will often reduce that to 128 or whatever they use. But give them the best they will accept. Only time I upload lower is if the 320 is too big and exceeds their file size. 

You also have a serious guitar out of tune at 2:56

I use envelopes to get rid of noise in my mic recorded tracks.  I also use Process Audio> Gain> MUTE and apply it to the track to make the lip smacks and breath noises and other stuff go away. I use this a lot right up front so the first instrument comes in from total silence. 


The mix is good... try working on the EQ in the tracks individually and see what you can do there. The mud is a fairly easy fix.  You shouldn't have to re-record very much at all..... 

Cool song Sunny. I'm listening on crappy computer speakers so I'll have a better listen in the studio later.
The only problem I have is where the solo/fade comes in - the energy in the song goes flat. Maybe beef up the lead guitar effect and pump the volume a tad.

munmun

daryl1968


Cool song Sunny. I'm listening on crappy computer speakers so I'll have a better listen in the studio later.
The only problem I have is where the solo/fade comes in - the energy in the song goes flat. Maybe beef up the lead guitar effect and pump the volume a tad.

Thanks!  So you mean the chorus leading upto the guitar solo?

No sorry, the outro - around 2:50 - there's the big drum roll then the lead guitar sound falls flat for me. If you use a meatier sound on the guitar and turn it up a tad, it would be a more fitting end to the song and the fade (IMHO)

I'm not going to repeat what others have said, but I do like the song.  At the 2:58 point in the song, the guitar turnaround is off pitch, but other than that, it's OK.  You fixes appear to be quite doable, and a few hours spent mixing, and you'll have a gem.

Starise


   Great job Sunny. The song and mix have a certain feel and I think you  nailed the feel. The smaller things have already been mentioned.Maybe it is my ipod headphones but I am not picking up on a whole lot that is bad. I thought I heard something flanged but maybe that was what others have described hearing. You could maybe get more feel to it by using some volume increases/envelopes, although I get it and like it.

 FWIW you can also upload to soundcloud in 24bit wav. Uses more space though.
 

Sorry, to correct you Starise but it actually doesn't - Soundcloud is based on minutes not mb which is great - it means that you can upload 24 bit. Takes a bit longer but you can definitely tell the difference. 

Guitarhacker


I like the sound of the vocals .. nice and crisp. The echo works for me. nice writing job too. 

The instrumentation is still kinda heavy and lacking definition it should have when the band kicks in. 

I agree on the acoustic. It's thin and has too much room sound.  Getting a good acoustic sound has been a trip of trial and error .... use a condenser mic and play around with the placement. I tend to record it about 12 inches or so placed near the sound hole straight on. 

cutting the low end of many of the instruments is your biggest friend in a mix. especially the ones like guitars and bass and even drums because they all have lots of presence in the mids and lower end. when you throw all that mid/lo energy into a mix it overloads and muddies things up.  It might seem counter-intuitive to cut the low end but it really allows all those things to live in harmony down there and keep it clean. my cuts are normally from around 100hz sloping down as the freq descends.  by the time I'm in the 40hz area the levels are down significantly on vox and guitars and piano. bass and kick must be considered on a project by project basis.... what sounds good and what works. 

I hate to point to my own work as an example however, I think in this case it might show you exactly what I am talking about. In this thread>>  http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2699743   I have links to 2 versions of the same song. The first version has lots of mid & low energy in it.... the new version has the EQ cuts I speak of... and with 5 acoustic guitar tracks you would think it would be a mess sonically in the mids... the fiddle and dobro lead are the same tracks in both...EQ makes the difference. 

In any MP3 upload.... always convert to 320 from wave..... and upload that 320... the site will often reduce that to 128 or whatever they use. But give them the best they will accept. Only time I upload lower is if the 320 is too big and exceeds their file size. 

You also have a serious guitar out of tune at 2:56

I use envelopes to get rid of noise in my mic recorded tracks.  I also use Process Audio> Gain> MUTE and apply it to the track to make the lip smacks and breath noises and other stuff go away. I use this a lot right up front so the first instrument comes in from total silence. 


The mix is good... try working on the EQ in the tracks individually and see what you can do there. The mud is a fairly easy fix.  You shouldn't have to re-record very much at all..... 

The Eq'ing you mention made a HUGE difference!  Will try it.

 na, na, na, na, naaaaaaaaa, na, na, that hook is stuck in my head. Love the echoing guitars towards the end. I'll leave the mix suggestions to the pros and just say GREAT JOB!

Kev

I like the song and I like your voice.

First I want to say thank you to everyone for some very considered and very helpful feedback.  Now the question is whether I have been able to put the feedback to good use.  I hope so.  What do you think?

http://soundcloud.com/sun...n-the-name-of-paradise

I agree! THere is much more to learn.  I still find that my tracks sound rather brittle compared to some of the other stuff I hear here.  I need to understand why.