reworking: need ruthless ears

i think it's a good song, i loved the ethereal effects of the guitars and vocals
i believe "I ching" is pronounced "ee jeeng" isn't it?
the piano seems to come in a little loud, other wise sounds good to me..

Another super tune… great lyrics and melody/chord changes. The mix is the weak point – I guess you know that already. I love your production ideas – great brain food, great ear food.

I wish I could help you sort out the mix – I’m not a tech guy – it sounds cluttered and a bit muddy to me. I’m sure others will be of help.

I’m commenting simply because I think your material is wonderful. This is very cool stuff.

I agree with kayehl that the piano is a bit loud and it's out of time with the others, but I assume that's one of the fixes you're referring to in the OP. Other than that, it's a difficult song to critique because it's got such a unique character. The psychedelic mushiness (for lack of a better term ) works well with the song, IMO. It's very catchy, by the way - one listen and the tune/lyrics stayed in my head!

Very unique feel to the song. I like the Vox FX, but maybe if you panned the effect a bit wider it would enhance the lead vocal. The piano did come in a bit strong as well.

Otherwise, what a cool song. I've been experimenting with putting hi-pass filters on almost every track and it seems to clear up things.

Best of luck,

Scott

Rick

When you have a piano join in with very low notes, it always helps to prepare for it. This comes in without preperation, which is why everyone says it is too loud. You can often get away with the notes in the higher register without prep, but rarely in the low. That is often true with any instrument. So you are left with 2 choices. Bring it in and then increase the dynamics or prepare in other ways, like with the percussion or the leads.

I like the chords being played here, it is more towards my like of dissonance.

Well done

Great lyrics Very clever phrasing & imagery. I love the idea of the paperboy saying 'Get over it dude' LMAO. I love the line "I'm all tangled in your hair / I can taste it like I'm there" Very visual, very sensory. This is a really cool song!

You want ruthless critique? Ok. I think your voice is great. I think you should keep it completely dry, no reverb, no doubling (except for those cool harmonies in the chorus). Keep the lead up front & in yer face with maybe some sort of subtle presence boost (a compressor might do the trick).

Your guitar is excellent. I've never done much guitar mixing, but is there a way you can bring it forward in the mix without making it louder? Guitar & vocals in yer face man!

About the piano... I actually liked it, although I see how it can seem jarring. But I'm like fox; I dig Tori Amos stuff where the piano jumps at you. I guess it's totally a personal preference.

Great lyrics Very clever phrasing & imagery. I love the idea of the paperboy saying 'Get over it dude' LMAO. I love the line "I'm all tangled in your hair / I can taste it like I'm there" Very visual, very sensory. This is a really cool song!

You want ruthless critique? Ok. I think your voice is great. I think you should keep it completely dry, no reverb, no doubling (except for those cool harmonies in the chorus). Keep the lead up front & in yer face with maybe some sort of subtle presence boost (a compressor might do the trick).

Your guitar is excellent. I've never done much guitar mixing, but is there a way you can bring it forward in the mix without making it louder? Guitar & vocals in yer face man!

About the piano... I actually liked it, although I see how it can seem jarring. But I'm like fox; I dig Tori Amos stuff where the piano jumps at you. I guess it's totally a personal preference.

Mr.S.Duck,
I appreciate you giving this an ear and your feedback. I actually lost one of the vocal tracks so it will have to be straight and not doubled this time around seeing as my house wont be quiet enough to sing for probably 18 more yrs. I'm extra glad you dig the song, you know, i played it for a certain person and that person had no response so i never knew if it was any good.....ahhhh...those certain ppl sell more tylenol and alkaseltzer than the county hospital.
Thanks for the compliment.

No How, I love you man...!
I don't want to critique any of the engineering or production technicalities as none of them interest me really when I hear your stuff.

What gets to me are the originality and intelligence of your song-writing and the sound of your voice.

Sure learn to use the gear the best you can for your own pleasure, but promise me to major in the REAL talent that you have that is your writing and performing. You are a uniquely talented man from what I've heard so far, own that and run with it.

Jon, Thanks sooooo much for the kind words! It helps a real lot to hear that. My ho-hum 9-5 life (like most of us in this forum) is fertile ground for chipping away at songs and tilted scenarios in my head. and my singing?...Gosh, I have never had any confidence in it so it's a real boon to hear good things about it.
Thanks, Jon, you guys made my day.

Rick

ORIGINAL: Jonbouy

ORIGINAL: No How

I actually lost one of the vocal tracks so it will have to be straight and not doubled this time around seeing as my house wont be quiet enough to sing for probably 18 more yrs.

That sounds a bit of a worry.

This sounds like you're either in detention or you have young children...

If the first scenario is true, good behaviour may get you paroled early, if it's the second I'm afraid you'll have to do the time...

...Yes, I could do with some good behavior.

Song is remixed
I tried to tweak to all the constructive comments.

Let me know if i went overboard and ruined the darn thing.

Thank you mucho.

kayehl,
Thanks for the listen.
That buzz is from the guitar amp. I couldn't get rid of it. without killing the effect of the guitar.

I'm glad to hear it's coming along.

Hello Max,

I'll download that de-esser but I sure don't know how to use those things.

I'll experiment and see what happens. (Would I be using spitfish or blockfish for this?)

Thanks for the ear.

Max-

I tried to PM you but you disabled it.
I didn't want to take up room on the forum for my pesky annoying questions but alas, i have to...

@.50 you'll hear the guitar amp buzz come in. I know the best fix is to clean up my gear hygeine but I couldn't figure out how to get that buzz out. (It's far worse on different pick-ups). Soooo....is there a tool or way to lesson the buzz without losing too much of the dynamic in the guitar?

Thank you for the time.



spelling edit.

Have you tried a noise gate on the guitar amp? You can set the threshold to cut out the noise whenever the guitar is not playing, that could be an improvement.

i agree the vocals are mixed just perfect, plus a wonderful balance between the guitar and key parts.

Rick,
Tried to send (lengthy) reply but something went wrong..I think I timed out. (at work)
Then tried a short PM that I had trouble and got message that your box is full.

I'll check this and try back this eve.

Michael

And my apologies to all for having to do it this way.

I will not attempt to nit pick the mix, I think folks have that covered. I do really dig the tune, very original vibe comes through, not enough original sounds these days IMHO. Cool kind of haunting fele to it.

Not sure which guitar part our mic take has the line noise but I'd find that. It was intermittent. starts at 00:25, 00:34/35 so you know what I'm referring to.
I'd seperate the guitar parts and hard pan L/R and then work the middle and then pan them "in" if needed. Maybe two work together better on a side away from the third -idea.
Get reverb of the acoustic track. (start) Not using stereo on the guitar parts that don't need it sure cleans things up.
Reverb and L/R panning seems to me the biggest changes I'd make.

Sure like the tune.
Michael

Michael, I did as instructed. dumped one acoustic, lessoned the reverb, split the elec and acoustic to wide apart (did nudge a clone elec for ping pong). i think it cleaned it up a bit. Thank you for your kind help on this.

Much improved version on this.. A lot clearer and the vox is up front and cohesive. Ya done good Rick! I would say that little bit of guitar buzz in the beginning is a high-end fx plug that emulates those classic amps from the 50's & 60's!! I think it gives the song character! I love this song even better after the remix.

Hi Larry, The buzz is from my single coil strat copy. There's no getting rid of it i guess so I'm MOST happy you don't mind it Thanks for listening again and posting the kind comments.

I will not attempt to nit pick the mix, I think folks have that covered. I do really dig the tune, very original vibe comes through, not enough original sounds these days IMHO. Cool kind of haunting fele to it.

Chazdaddy,
Thank you for taking a few to listen. It means a LOT to me to get such feedback.

I really like the tune and your ideas in this. The chord progression is cool and I really like the lyrics. The ruthless criticism I'll offer is that I would like to hear a little tighter recording. In places the keyboard seems to be dragging a little behind the rest of the instruments. I don't know whether you used a click track. I agree with other comments made about the need to de-ess the vocal. Don't get me wrong though--I think it's a great song and overall the recording sounds pretty good. The backing vocals are really well done.

Clark

Clark, Right on!!! It is sloppy with the timing in many spots and I even had to cut and paste a few bass notes to remedy what was even worse before. I decided not to redo because of some personal reasons and focused on honing what i had to the best of my beginner abilities. Cool thing is I've had Soooooooo much help with mixing that it's come Far from what I could have done on my own. Thank you for listening and being ruthless. It's what makes songs better.


Rick