Mix help por favor

[elser]

I've been struggling to get this mix right. Could use some objectivity if anyone is so inclined. It's a co-write with Taxi member David Mau. The closest I can think of stylistically is Alternative, any suggestions on that end are welcome. I'm just wondering about mixing stuff, balance, eq, dynamics, effects, etc…

Gracias,
Jon

https://soundcloud.com/jon-esler/so-hopeless/s-9ZFWS

[ComposerLDG]

Wow, nice track. EQ sounds fine to my ears, honestly. I wouldn't change it. About the only thing that hit me is that I felt like I wanted to hear the percussion ever so slightly louder during that first minute. Not a lot, just a hair or two.

The other thing is during those time where the lead vocal echoes a phrase, I was thinking having the "echo" just slightly softer than the original.

Just a few humble suggestions on what I heard. I don't write songs with vocals, so I don't have experience on that end, but I do like to listen.

Really nice track!

-Loren

[burpo]

Hey buddy,

The tracking sounds good.

It sounds to me like the lead vocal and the main inst.
(guitar and keyboard seem to trade this chore back n' forth) are fighting for the same EQ bandwidth.

You could tweak one aside or (I would) nudge one up and the other down (again, EQ-wise, not volume-wise), just a smidge.

I'm no expert, just another pair of ears.

Hope that helps some. Best of luck. Sounds good!!

-b

[elser]

Thanks guys. I'll take another listen with your suggestions in mind. I appreciate the feedback!

[feaker66]

Hi Jon Long time no see. Very cool song. Unfortunately, I am no mixologist. I don't know how you would do it, but that great vocal has to cut through the mix much better. Lot of emotion there that is being masked. Keep updating your changes and good luck

sincerely

Paul

[singer1]

Me thinks you should post both mixes to give an 'A' vs. 'B' alternative. But to my ears, the vocalist rocks! lol!! D.B.M.

www.taxi.com/davidbradleymau
www.davidbradleymau.com

[andygabrys]

neat vibe on this.

if it were me, I would examine it from the perspective mentioned above:

the voice has to reign supreme. as it it, the sounds like there is a literal TON of 10K shelf added on the voice, which is making it feel a little scratchy to me. I would look at rolling that back just a touch so it sounds still larger than life but a little less scratchy.

Then I would look at the drums, getting them to sound wide in stereo. And look at filtering some high end off the entire kit - the cymbals are feeling like they compete with the voice in that 6K and up region which is almost entirely the cymbals.

The guitar - sounds like there is some noise in the guitar track - hiss / amp noise. I would look at filtering 8k and above out of the guitar entirely. If its an amp sim anyways, you aren't going to lose guitar tone, but it will sound cleaner and take up less of that high end that the vocal is fighting to cut through.

Then I would look at structuring the arrangement so that it starts with a solo guitar panned a little to the side, not straight under the voice, and then as the song goes on and hits the chorus, bring in a wide L and Wide R guitar playing the exact same thing (separate performances) so the mix has width with a big ol' doughnut hole in the middle for the voice.

HTH Jon and David.

[singer1]

I have an alternative mix on my homepage for this song. "So, Hopeless". You all should check it out. I did mix the vocals differently. D.B.M.

www.taxi.com/davidbradleymau
www.davidbradleymau.com

[elser]

Hi Jon Long time no see. Very cool song. Unfortunately, I am no mixologist. I don't know how you would do it, but that great vocal has to cut through the mix much better. Lot of emotion there that is being masked. Keep updating your changes and good luck

sincerely

Paul

Hi Paul, yea I kinda went underground for awhile. Just now creeping out of my hole, wiping the crud out of my eyes and getting back to work. Nice to hear from you. Thanks for the feedback.

Jon

[elser]

neat vibe on this.

if it were me, I would examine it from the perspective mentioned above:

the voice has to reign supreme. as it it, the sounds like there is a literal TON of 10K shelf added on the voice, which is making it feel a little scratchy to me. I would look at rolling that back just a touch so it sounds still larger than life but a little less scratchy.

Then I would look at the drums, getting them to sound wide in stereo. And look at filtering some high end off the entire kit - the cymbals are feeling like they compete with the voice in that 6K and up region which is almost entirely the cymbals.

The guitar - sounds like there is some noise in the guitar track - hiss / amp noise. I would look at filtering 8k and above out of the guitar entirely. If its an amp sim anyways, you aren't going to lose guitar tone, but it will sound cleaner and take up less of that high end that the vocal is fighting to cut through.

Then I would look at structuring the arrangement so that it starts with a solo guitar panned a little to the side, not straight under the voice, and then as the song goes on and hits the chorus, bring in a wide L and Wide R guitar playing the exact same thing (separate performances) so the mix has width with a big ol' doughnut hole in the middle for the voice.

HTH Jon and David.

Andy, I think you're right on. Dave and I have been going back and forth on getting the top end right. And I think you're right. it's coming primarily from the vocal and the drums. Strange, I haven't cranked any eq on the vocal but I think somewhere in the signal chain, maybe in the reverb or multi band compression it's kicking up those highs. And yes there is some noise coming from the guitar, for whatever reason it doesn't bother me. Excellent suggestions. Thanks a ton.

Jon