Very catch pop song.. 2 versions

barryshock

Hey lads

Which of these two mixes do you prefer?? It's for our bands new song 'Locher Avenue'

Mix 1 - Nonie
http://www.box.net/shared/6gcgda8zuf

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Mix 2 - Jack

http://www.box.net/shared/u3b7ki1vyi


These were the best 2 of the lot that we got back, I will pick the creator of the best mix to work with for all future releases of my material so your opinion counts.....

dav nagle

So who played drums on this track? I listened to both mixes. Sounds very Beck or I would go as far as to say very 'Reef', are they your influences? Either way the guitar is rattling and the drums are out of time so it's not as catchy as it could be. I would get that sorted. It sounds like it was recorded on a pro tools LE system where someone didn't know how to take plug in latency compensation into account. It's not synced. It sounds like you all smoked drugs during the session too. I could be wrong maybe you are all a bunch of nerdies like Brewer and his obsession with barrometers and measuring glasses and echo chambers and db's and that....

Well done either way

montane

dav nagle wrote: »

So who played drums on this track? I listened to both mixes. Sounds very Beck or I would go as far as to say very 'Reef', are they your influences? Either way the guitar is rattling and the drums are out of time so it's not as catchy as it could be. I would get that sorted. It sounds like it was recorded on a pro tools LE system where someone didn't know how to take plug in latency compensation into account. It's not synced. It sounds like you all smoked drugs during the session too. I could be wrong maybe you are all a bunch of nerdies like Brewer and his obsession with barrometers and measuring glasses and echo chambers and db's and that....

Well done either way

what are you basing that on?

DamagedTrax

im hearing more of a blur "tender" thing going on here.

i get where you're going with the loose feeling in the groove but i do agree that the drums need tightning up in places.

given the choice i'd go with mix 2. mix one is far too harsh and tiring on the ears.

barryshock

Cheers lads. I do agree with you that the guitars and drums are not perfect. It was recorded very quickly before everyone in the band had a chance to learn the song perfectly. It's only a first draft so it will be recorded again.

I'm more just looking to get opinions on sound quality rather than playing quality at the minute, because we will get tighter with our playing as a band as the months go on (we're only got together in January) and we're just looking for the proper guy for post production side of things.

Yes i did like reef back in the day (what ever happened to them!!)

We wouldn't be strangers to smoking the aul funny stuff either, only on the breaks ha...!!

Anyhow interesting to hear your opinions...

madtheory

dav is spot on except about the plugin latency. My guess is that you used a mono overhead and used some dodgy "stereoiser". Makes it sound seventies. First mix cuts the head off ya. Second one much better. Breakdown is cool. Vocals are not clear enough- diction/ drugs, whatever.

madtheory

And you're right, it is catchy, damn chorus is stuck in my head now!

barryshock

That's the madtheory idea;)

barryshock

I was thinking myself the better of the two was mix 2

Zombienosh

yeah mix 2

i57dwun4yb1pt8

mix two

mix one is like flossing your ears with a band saw, if thats even possible .

but i think the whole production would benefit from a roomier / livelier / more dynamic sound for this type of stuff.

good old track , like it.

drum timing is beyond brutal though.

drumdrum

Not a bad tune. Very Blur "Tender" which is good.

As for the mixes, agree that the drums aren't the best but they aren't as bad as I was predicting (I read the replies before listening!). They need tightening up, but its nothing that a few hours days with a decent DAW shouldnt be able to fix. (Assuming you multitracked the drums of course)!!

TBH, I would just re-record the drum take again. It'll sound way better.


As for the mixes, IMO, both have merits that I like about them.

The first is too harsh .... too many high frequencies in there. Also, the bass is a bit too thick for my liking. Maybe high pass everything but the kick and bass guitar? Overall though, I like the stereo image of it. Things feel in a nice place. The kick and snare are nicely centered which IMO aids the song.
It sounds louder to me also, so be careful of this yourself when A/B-ing the mixes. Louder things tend to sound immediately better, whether they actually are in the long run or not.

The second mix is nice, but the center of the image is (IMHO) a bit weak. Maybe move the guitars in from the hard panned positions or add more guitar tracks and pan them closer to the centre. Mix them down below the hard panned guitars. This could add a nice bit of balance to the centre without it overpowering the perceived panning positions of the guitars. Just a though....
There seems to be some sort of stereo echo on the snare which for me is a bit distracting. I would leave it centered. I would bring the kick up a tiny bit, but either way the rest sounds good.

Mix two is better overall. Its better balanced and there is more clarity in the mix. That said, there are some good points from mix one that I would incorporate into mix 2 to create an ultimate mix.


The source recordings sound like they were recorded well, so on that basis alone, you have the potential to make a great mix! Well done!

PMI

out of the 2 i would go with the sound of mix 2 if they are the only 2 choices....

it needs re-recording as the time and acoustic sound to me takes maway from me actually listening to the song, it throws my ears off. but I suppose I need to listen past 30 seconds to get a true feel.

Good luck with it anyway.

ZV Yoda

Catchy enough song. +1 on the Blur/Reef/Beck similarities too (not a bad thing)

Overall timing isn't great - the drums are out, but so too are the guitars. Sounds like there might be some loops in there.... as a drummer, playing needs to be 100% spot on if playing live drums against rhythmic loops... even minute timing errors will result in that flamming sound on kick, hats & snare. Does sound like there's some plug-in delays there too... on drums, that will also add to that phasey/flamming sound - especially on the snare. It limits crack/the bite of the snare.

If you’re not used to mixing (or your DAW doesn’t automatically compensate for plug-in delay) then ease off the plug-ins - or at least stick to the plug-ins built into your DAW – they tend to introduce little or no delay (that’s certainly the case with pro Tools LE). We fell into the trap early on of using multiple plug-ins & everything just got muddy as a result.

If you’re not playing to a click, you should think about it. If you are already playing to a click, then you need to rehearse with it a lot more (esp the drummer). At first it’s a PITA, but after a while, you won’t even notice it’s there.

krd

I don't think there's any real timing problem. You know - you're either making a Chris De Burgh record or you're not.

If it was tightened too much it wouldn't sound sound that great. Ragged and warm is a really good way to take it. Too much in time and tune, you end up with sterile bilge.

It really sounds like early Gomez - which is a good thing. It's the kind of music I'd really enjoy listening to.

Though in my opinion, the guitar is too tinny and sharp at the intro. And the voices could be sharper and more up in the mix.

You might be able to improve it by putting a soft pad sound in there to follow the chords. A soft pad is like a really thin organ note, that you can't really hear unless you know it's there. It's not there to be noticed - it's there to help the melodic elements sit well and take away some of the sharpness.

judas101

Nice tune!

But, the kick is all over the place.

Thats a much bigger issue than the mix at this point.