Hi everyone,
 
After about 3 years of watching my computer gather dust I finally got back into recording some music. I have to say, I really like some of the new features Sonar offers that just weren't there back in the old days.
 
Here is my song, "Need to Know" - 
 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=afM_1TJG7ks
 
 I was quite different this time around with my use of panning. In other projects I would always duplicate every track and spread the panning slightly, whereas on this occasion I haven't done that, so each guitar is just one track. I'd always heard that this wasn't best practice, but I found that if anything, it helped me out.
 
I think I am too light on the bass. I always seem to be too light on the bass but I only ever realise it after mastering. It must be something I do wrong in mixing, my monitor setup or something which causes it. Any tips for how to get round it are most welcome.
 
I'm starting a new song soon so any feedback on things I can do better would be really appreciated.
 
Many thanks in advance,
 
Ed.

That's a nice song Ed. I like the drifty feel and your vocal delivery is quite contemporary to my ears. Cool little electric guitar break too.
 
Here's the vid if that helps people get to it;
 

Nice, I really like the vocals at the beginning, and then they seemed to get pulled back.
 
Nice arrangement, very nice mix, great choice of drums, nice use of reverb and panning.  Great Lyrics and vibe.
 
Love it.  Seems to get a little thick around 2:39, but still a great effort.
 
Thanks!
 
Jesse Q Screed
 
 

Nicely sung, played and recorded.
I think you have a great mix and arrangement.
The only thing regarding the bass is perhaps it is a little indistinct, maybe a bit tubby.
 

Youtube is not a great reference point for judging audio however listening on my headphones it was clean and distinct. It's never easy to judge bass on headphones anyway although it was a little shy. So I turned on the Hi-Fi curve button on my headphone amp. The actual song is good and the YT compression doesn't detract from this,
 

Go get a label, if you don't already have one.  :)
 
Very contemporary, very well put together. Lyrics I think are exceptional. The vocal mixing is pretty stellar!
 
The bass gets a little amorphous but it's a fretless I think? I don't think it hurts a song like this to have the bass guitar be a little "ambient"
 
You might consider pumping the guitar solo up a tad in the mix when it comes.
 
I'd say this is way more than 20% ready.
 
nice one!
 
cheers,
-Tom
 
 

Very nice song - thanks for sharing. I like the vocal performance and there really are some very well-crafted lyrics in there - well worth a repeat listen. I agree with @Tom - the guitar solo is too low in the mix for my taste and I'd like it to be more prominent but these are all creative choices that we make so you may prefer it as it is. Top work! Andy

A different style than is often heard here.  Really refreshing.  Based on my furry ears, the song sounds well-produced.

Yeah, that was really good.   Catchy but not poppy, nice clean mix, and the vocals + lyrics IMO are a standout.   On cheap headphones I thought the guitar solo sat nicely as-is.   I also liked that trailing pad... nice touch.  

Hi everyone,
 
thank you all for the feedback. It's interesting that you picked up on the solo as being quiet as I was quite happy about the level of the guitar, however I have always listened to the track on a loud volume. Listening back to it today at a "sensible" level, I can see that the presence of the solo is much less and could have done with something more. If I was to simply turn the solo up in the mix though, wouldn't that just make it too loud if ever the song was played on full blast?
 
Also with regards to the bass. Is it as simple as me bringing it up in the mix or is there some more processing/conditioning that I need to do in order to get it to stand out?
 
Finally, I noticed that the hyperlink for youtube doesn't work. I thought before that it was just my browser playing up, but now I realise it might be that youtube links are blocked here on the forum. I apologise if I broke any kind of etiquette. It for sure wasn't intentional.