I posted this song a while back and got some very good feedback on the mix and song.  Herb Hartley contacted me by PM later and offered to add a different Lead Guitar track to the song.  I loved the idea and sent him the wav file.  After tracking a new part and having it sound fantastic, Herb asked if I would mind him taking a stab at remixing the entire song. I instantly took him up on his most gracious offer and forwarded the entire song project to Herb.  

Herb tuned my vocal a little, added some back up vocals in the chorus and worked with EQ to warm up my original vox.  He added his magic to all the tracks, adjusting eq, compression and levels.  Herb also took a stab at reworking the drum track, but I ended up going back to my original Steven Slate tracks for drums. I guess, sometimes you just get so used to hearing a certain track in a certain way that it is really hard to go in a new direction.  That was the way the drums were for me; I just couldn't get used to a new drum sound.  Herb was kind a enough to send me a mix minus the drums and I have worked the SSD into this final mix.  

Something else that may sound just a little different to Herb is that I sped the entire track up just a little.  It seemed like the song was dragging ever so slightly.  This mix is the result.


https://soundcloud.com/michaeljhanson

Mike, this is an improvement over the last version, if I recall it correctly.  This is so close to being finished that it's getting down to subjective opinions rather than objective ones.  The only minor thing that I would change would be to make the snare drum a bit more crisp in the mix and less "boxy".
Otherwise, I think you and Herb have a winner on your hands.  Cheers!

Unless I'm just hearing things, it sounds to me like things are sharing the same space, or at least sharing close together, at least the guitars and competing with the vocals a bit. It might just be I'm having a bad day. I did listen to it twice to be sure in my own mind, and so this is what I heard. The vocals are up front good, but something is in direct competition with them IMO. Trust  me, I'm not always right. If anyone else hears this , please do tell. Just trying to be helpful. Nice song though.

Peace and blessings, John

Lynn,

Thanks for listening.  I will give the snare a listen again.  I may have a boxy sounding reverb on it that could be pulled back in a little.

John,  

Thank you as well.  You could be right on guitar and vocals competing.  I will listen to this some more as well.  I know that Herb originally had the electrics lower in the mix and I asked for them to be more prominent.  There is a blend of acoustics and electrics, but I want this song to be primarily an electric guitar song with acoustics used as a subtle base or "pad" so to speak.  It might be something that could be panned a little one way or the other and help the separation.  I guess we can see what others think yet.

Glad you like the song.

One thing about adding a drum or other instrument to a mix after the fact..... the new track will not be treated with the same FX that are in the master bus. 

Trying to get it to set properly and sound like it's part of the original can be done, but it's a bit tricky at times. I've spent more than a few hours to try that very thing.... 

I tend to put music I write and work on (for others) on my MP3 player and listen to them during the day as I drive from one job to the next. There are a few nits I have heard that I might would have done a bit differently. 

As it stands, I pretty much worked on this as Mike sent it. The changes are:

I replaced Mike's drums with Jamstix and he in turn replaced that with his again. I sent 2 mixes.... one with JS and one with no drums.

I added the harmony electrics. They are panned out a bit... not centered. 

I added one high harmony track vocally. 

Everything else was Mike and his musical tracks.... I did "fix" to a lesser degree, his lead vocal track using melodyne to tweeze a few places but I wanted to leave some of the character in his vocal performance. 

The tracks original FX were all removed and I started with the stuff I use..... since Mike & I have different plugs, that was the only option. Most of this is cake default reverb and EQ.  I did use Ozone 4 in the master and possibly on the vocal bus...I'd have to look in the project to be 100% sure.  

Anyway, we had fun working on this.... 

Mike,
 
Sounds pretty good.   I think John is right, you need a bit more separation on the guitars, they sound like straight mono.  Everything else sounds good.  I think adding some more dimension to the guitar stereo field would really take it to the next level.   It does sound good though...
 
Regards

Mark,

Thanks for listening and the comments.

I have posted a new version of this one rolling back the reverb on the drums substantially.  I think this helped the boxy-ness to the snare that Lynn was hearing.

great song... nice job Mike & Herb...

" I think this helped the boxy-ness to the snare" I'm personally a fan of the box... However, we could be on different trains of thought?


I didn't hear the previous versions, but this is spread and sounds pretty good to me. Herb is right about the processing on the master bus. Specifically the limiter and or MB Compression ala Ozone.

Pretty good job here.  But it's hard to go wrong with Hacker Herb.

Notnat,

Thanks for listening.

Robbie,

Absolutely, Herb is right.  Optimally, you want to pass everything through the same signal chain.  I think the adjustments I have made to reverb on this version of the drums has helped, though.