Another Deep Drag

[eddied]

MIX UPDATED SEP 16 - PLEASE SEE COMMENT 6 BELOW.

Hi there, Taxi Friends:

I would love some input on this song. It is not for a particular listing. Just wanting to avoid dated production elements. Anything cheesy. Get your take on anything that could make the song better. This is close to a final "Master" candidate barring whatever I decide to go back and change based on any input here.

https://soundcloud.com/ed-dobeas/anothe ... -a/s-9MZlx

The song itself was inspired by seeing a car flip over on the freeway in front of me -- luckily the driver suffered only minor cuts. But it sure got my attention.

Thanks so much for your input,

EddieD

[cassmcentee]

Eddie,
for me the subject matter asks for more angst between the drums and guitars
meaning... bring the drums up so that they hit you harder than where they sit now
that should then force your guitars to come up
I would also tighten up the vocal effects as the double/delay/reverb ring out to long for my ears.

My 2 cents
Good Luck,
Cass

[Robtoons]

Hi Eddie!
Your stuff is always so unique! It's cool!
I like the concept, but I think you could use some production improvements.
What drums are you using? The kick has such a long note/ringout, that it is interfering with the bass and muddying up the mix.
Enjoyed the listen. -Rob

[mikeymike2000]

Eddie!!

I agree with Rob, that you are always unique and I love listening to your songs.

I am prob the last person to talk about what modern is but I think you are close. Here are my observations:

The vocal lines get hard to understand from time to time mostly because of levels. Part of the reason is also the synth lead.

As a stand alone song I think it would be fine to keep that line in there (it is a really cool line) but I would consider making that a different sound cause to me that sound gives it a dated feel. (Hey, how about an electric violin?? Just a random suggestion)

As a production song I think that synth line makes it too busy and it would not work with a scene over it. - I think it could work both ways pretty well but the scene would have to be pretty specific.

With the drum and bass I am also with the previous comments. Not sure exactly how to say it or do it but I would describe it as making both the drum and bass more "crisp". At the moment it sounds like we are in a room and that is usually the goal but for this song my ear wants to hear it more "produced". I am surprised I am saying this but for this one I will use the word "sterile". That is how I would like to hear it.

[HectorRContreras]

Dear Eddie,

I find no fault in your very well structured Song called : "Another Deep Drag Mast Cand".

You are very good at changes and in the use of interesting Instrumentation and Orchestration. And the theme has originality. I am glad that this Motorist was safe after the accident, and I am glad that he ... inspired you !

[eddied]

Excellent advice -- I am really going to clean up the bass / drums as a starting point!

Thanks,

EddieD

[eddied]

Hello:

Thanks again for all the advice! I worked away on this mix and have changed things as follows:

1. Bass was vibrating car speakers, though it sounded full and great in studio. Rolled it off below 100 Hz (that was advice from Andy from a song of mine much earlier this year -- I am slow to learn!)

2. More Andy advice -- centered both tracks of the doubled lead vocals I had sung. Helps blend and define them better.

3. Spent a LOT of time on the drums. Changed the snare sound entirely (I am using BFD2.) Got rid of muddiness of kick and gave it a bit of a click. (Thanks, Rob!!) Ended up routing all drums (had elements separated as kick, snare, Toms, and cymbals) to an aux in Logic, and then applied some compression to that submix -- also boosted the snare a bit (Cass -- I hope you like this drum sound more.)

4. After mixing down, imported into "master" project and applied a Logic mastering channel strip there, boosting the volume with a limiter, and also running the entire mix through a Waves Compressor that seemed to make the whole thing a bit more cohesive.

5. Mike -- I intend this more as a standalone piece, not a production song, so I am not worried about the synth line being distracting for complexity. However it was definitely fighting with the vocal, so I dropped it a couple of db and it now rides behind the lead voc -- thanks for that!

Hector -- thanks for giving it a listen, and for the kind words, I appreciate it.

And here is that updated mix, which I am hoping is close to final. Any additional input welcome:

https://soundcloud.com/ed-dobeas/anothe ... nd/s-kDlV9

EddieD

[mikeymike2000]

hey Ed,

This is much better! High-five dude.

ya know, when I listened to this for the first time a day or so ago I only listened twice and your main melody was bouncing in my head for over 2 hours.
This time I only listened once cause I got to get to bed and hope that it does not come back to haunt me again like the first time.

Good stuff!

[eddied]

Hi, Mike:

Thanks for the feedback, man -- and you can never hear anything better than a song gets stuck in someone's head. If they end up silently cursing you as a result, even better!!

I got some PM advice that the electric guitar was jumping out of the mix. Dropped it down by about 1.5db. I would like to think this mix, with cleaned up drums, along with the numerous other tweaks listed in my Comment #7 is final. However I am now editing the video to go along with this song for the next two or three days, so any other feedback on the mix will be gratefully considered. Here is the latest (final?? mix)

https://soundcloud.com/ed-dobeas/anothe ... -j/s-VmLid

Thx!!

Ed

[Kolstad]

Very cool song. Quite unique, in the good sense!
Solid improvement in the second mix from the rough one.

I felt the lead vocal was a bit loud in both mixes.
It seems to sit much better after 1.54, so maybe you should automate the part up till then..