Here is a new song that I have been working on.  I would appreciate any feed back on the mix.


Revealed

https://soundcloud.com/michaeljhanson

Hi Michael, 

Guess I'm first in.  Good playing and arrangement.  Mix sounds good.  
Some friendly comments:
The guitars are good.  The snare could use some compression to make it pop.  I would add a kick with the cymbal at the very end.
For your lead vocal, I would not double-it at all.  It has alot of character and for a song like this, I would let that character stand out.  Not mixed louder but just one voice - you singing to your audience.  Maybe use doubling for effect.  I know John Lennon doubled his voice a lot.  These days, I really enjoy listening to the lead singer without too much effect that might color the emotion.  Just my thoughts anyway.

Rimshot

+++1 ---- ditto on comments above

Mike, you're getting better all the time.  The fact that your voice can stand on its own is very telling.  I also liked the guitar in this.  The performance was smooth and fluid.  I also enjoyed the song that followed, HANGING BY A THREAD.   The acoustic was right in the room with me.

Well done Mike...I like the sound of the guitars... the lead could use maybe a little more bite... The acoustic is good too... The vocal is pitchy, but that's why we have V-vocal or melodyne or whatever... The trick, is learning to use pitch-correction efficiently without eating up too much time, or making things worse... Melodyne Editor 2.1 works great for me as a plugin... but I still have to cuss at it occasionally...

Hey Mike, I'm inclined to agree with Frank on most counts.  It's a good tune and message for sure.  The vocal is a bit pitchy, but, I've heard pitchier (is that even a word? ) on the radio.  On some types of tunes it almost seems to be the norm to have the vocal approximating a melody line.


I recently posted a tune called Homeland which I had my friend Robby sing because, quite honestly, I felt the tune deserved a better vocal than I could do.  I still posted my vocal on my Soundclick page for my friends and family to listen to.  It is quite pitchy in places but I opted not to correct for fear of losing the feel I had for the song.  These are tough decisions for us to make when we're performing our own material.


I liked your tune though and thought you did a bang up job on it overall. 

Rimshot,
Very useful advice here.  Once you mentioned it, yes the snare needs just a little more snap.  I also like your advice on the doubling.  I have the VX-64 Doubler engaged right now.  I will either back off a bunch, or turn it off completely.  I like the presence control on that plug, but I can probably push the vocal forward enough with just a bit more gain.

Biabdude, thanks for listening.
 
Lynn,
Thank you as well.  Yes, I really like the flow of the guitars in this one.  My vocals are finally getting a little better.  I will probably never quite get used to my own sound.  I guess that is why I always reach for a few effects.
 
Frank,
 
Thanks for the kind words.  I have and use Melodynne Essentials.  I have gotten to where I try to do correction by hand, only where I feel I need it, much as you have recommended.  On this one, where the graph says that I should be 100% in tune, sounds overly sharp to my ears.  I was off just a touch according to the graph.  So, I am just sliding the bad areas up and listening by ear.  When it sounds right, I stop.  So…. It has to be my ears that are off.  If you want to point out any specific spots to work on, that would help me tremendously. 
 
Philz,
 
I am seriously thrilled that you like the song.  Thanks for listening and your vote of confidence.

+1 to what Frank said. Mix is really good overall, so be very careful what you tweak. From my end, the only thing I would change is the pitch correction on the vocals. Great song.

Thanks for listening Foxwolfen.

I hear you on not messing with the mix too much.  I tried a couple of Rimshots suggestions this morning and have posted a new version.  Took the vocal doubling out of the lead vocal.  I also added just a slight more punch to the snare.  

I still need to work on what you guys are hearing for pitch issues.  I can't pick them out yet.  I am going to try listening on my small set of crappy speakers at work on Monday.  They seem to highlight pitch issues more easily than any other speaker I listen too.

 Really cool tune Mike and mix sounds spot on.