Hi all.
It think this is coming along. But how could it be improved?
 
https://soundcloud.com/wo...-2/poolside-jazz-draft
 
All civil comments welcome. I'm especially interested to know what you listened to this on.
 
The underlying WAV file is downloadable from Soundcloud; not only will it sound better but you'll avoid the jarring effect of Soundcloud playing a completely random track from someone else right after my track ends.

Anyone? It won't bite, I promise!

The playing is OK but you need to create a much better sound-stage for your individual instruments  ...
almost everything is coming up the middle and the levels are off making your song sound weak and muffled ...
Indecently i do find that odd because if your track was mono it probably would sound punchy  ...but in this case I think you have EQ problems
so while being civil I would suggest that you make your master buss mono and while you are there EQ each and every instrument while they are all playing at the same time in mono ....
once you can hear each instrument distinctly then I would suggest that you  un mono your master buss and pan your guitar and keys on opposite sides of the sound stage  ..leave the bass up the middle or put it at 2 O clock  and put your drums up around 11 o clock and create a space for your horns near the almost middle of your sound stage ...
 
is that civil enough for you ?
 
Kenny

Dude, you're mistaking me for someone who's just fishing for pats on the back ;-) I'm far too old for that ...
 
Civil and candid are two different things. This very candid and useful; it's exactly the kind of reply I am looking for. (By "civil" I just mean really "non-personal"; just a sort of garlic wreath to ward off trolls. They do exist.)
 
As for your comments, yeah, I have to say, guilty as charged for the most part. Folks on a few other forums say the same, it either needs to be mono or stereo, not the mostly mono state it's in, and there are some clarity issues. When I did this some years ago, I had a lot less experience, told myself then that I wanted this to sound "retro", masking a few mixing sins in the process, got used to it, and that's where it's stood until I dusted it off just now. I'm not sure whether I'll go for mono or stereo, but either way, yes, mixing in mono first I agree is the way to go, I started doing this last year and it has made a world of difference on newer stuff. This just needs a fresh look.  
 
So again, no offence taken; on the contrary. What I've read here and elsewhere today have given me some things to think about. I think the track will be better as a result. So .... thanks!
 
 

Yes, it has not too much going on, and just as your title suggests a nice summer chill-out feel. 
The horns in the middle all come in at the same time and this is a little over-crowding at least all at the same time), I thought. There's some nice riffs going on, especially the organ/guitar section. May be earlier on you need to introduce a real staple identifiable theme to recur and anchor the whole piece together, based on that recuring chord structure.
 
jdf

lingyai
Dude, you're mistaking me for someone who's just fishing for pats on the back ;-) I'm far too old for that ...

 
My name is Kenny ..not Dude ...
 
How can you possibly know or even think you can assign a motive as too why I even attempted to try to help you ..
 
You asked for help , I decided to help you ...it is really that simple ....
 

lingyai
 
Civil and candid are two different things. This very candid and useful; it's exactly the kind of reply I am looking for. (By "civil" I just mean really "non-personal"; just a sort of garlic wreath to ward off trolls. They do exist.)
 

I'm glad that you have the wisdom to know the difference because I'm not here for a social lesson .....
when I have problems in society I discuss them with a good friend or my therapist .
As far as what people do on the internet I have no control over that .
 

lingyai
 
As for your comments, yeah, I have to say, guilty as charged for the most part. Folks on a few other forums say the same, it either needs to be mono or stereo, not the mostly mono state it's in, and there are some clarity issues. When I did this some years ago, I had a lot less experience, told myself then that I wanted this to sound "retro", masking a few mixing sins in the process, got used to it, and that's where it's stood until I dusted it off just now. I'm not sure whether I'll go for mono or stereo, but either way, yes, mixing in mono first I agree is the way to go, I started doing this last year and it has made a world of difference on newer stuff. This just needs a fresh look.  
 

I'm not here to judge you or grade you on how much progress or lack of progress you have made in your musical journey ...
I have always gone back to old projects that done in various times of my learning development and say to myself ..
" What the heck was I thinking " lol
 
Going back to what I suggested ,
It doesn't matter much to me when or how you recorded your song , the simple fact of the matter is all the EQ's of all your instruments are stepping on each others toes....
When you factor in the volumes of each instrument and panning every thing is turning into a blur or something  like a big cloud in the sky  where nothing is getting through the sonic cloud cover ...
 
The only reason I suggested that you should  make your master buss mono was you would be much better able to hear the EQ clashes ....
if you were to do what I am suggesting you would be able to hear that you have way too much low end on all your instruments and that once you carved out some of the unnecessary frequency's that are eating up the space in your track you would be much better able to dial in your song...  
I have never said your song should be mono ...I have said that if you were to listen to your song in mono you would be able to hear all the frequency clashes ....
I happen to think that your song should be in stereo once you carve it out and re mix it ...
 
I'm not gonna post a link to my music in your song thread ...
if you are inclined to listen to anything I would be suggesting , I would say go to my soundcloud page and listen to Late Night Tele ...or check out Two Dudes Defense on my soundclick page ....
both of those tunes could serve as an example  of how to deal with a dense Jazz style mix where all the instruments have their own space  ...
FWIW , I have suggested that because those 2 tunes are in the same type of musical vibe as to what you are doing w your tune ...
 

lingyai
 
So again, no offence taken; on the contrary. What I've read here and elsewhere today have given me some things to think about. I think the track will be better as a result. So .... thanks!
 

I honestly hope not ,
All I have done in responding to your thread was to offer an honest opinion of how you can dial in your song .
....nothing more nothing less...if you don't like what I have to say ...by all means listen to somebody else .
 
Kenny
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sounds like the title implies, a chill Poolside Jazz song.   I like the song, you do have a few EQ challenges to overcome but overall a solid production.   I would tweak your EQ's and stereo field and then repost for further comment.  One other suggestion would be to make sure your instruments all sound like they are in the same space.   
  
Regards

This wouldn't play for me at the weekend, now it works...? Soundcloud is strange sometimes. Nice tune with lots to enjoy but there are mix issues, all of which Kenny covered in his replies. I would add that the track is very quiet in comparison to others I've just been listening to, but also seems to be clipping in places, so there is a gain staging/routing issue somewhere.

Cool tune, fits the title.   I particularly liked the guitar and EP lines... 
 
Mix-wise I think it's all been covered.   The only thing I would add is that I didn't care for that "clicky" sound that's playing a syncopated rhythm throughout.   For me it just didn't seem to fit the feel of the tune, which is very retro (like the SC image ).