My First Effort

[Clogiron Brian]

Once again thanks for adding me to the site..I would appreciate good honest critique of my song / recording if you would be so kind or other..
Its a simple set up of Cubase Elements 9, Focuswrite iTRACK SOLO , Zoom HN2 for vox, and JBL headphones for monitoring.
Its a country pastiche thang, I'm no country boy but thought it may be a little bit of fun peening a song in this genre with some absurd (or maybe not in some circles) lyrics..
Ta

Clogiron Brian


https://soundcloud.com/brian-dany-padle ... ave-250520

[Bubba]

Hi Brian

we normally put mixes for criticism/advice in the "Let's have a listen" section. I put your link in a soundcloud widget, which you can find by clicking on the orange cloud symbol in the message editing window.

[Bubba]

This sounds a lot better than the mix you put up on FB - the vocals are better recorded, but you've mixed them a little low, I think. The bass is somewhat loud and a little left-leaning on my system, is that deliberate? Also, it's played a little too staccato, I think. The slide guitar sounds good and your soloing/riffing has great tone and is played well. Darkly amusing lyrics, too!

[vomitHatSteve]

The slide leans right, so I suspect the bass is left to balance it?

The instruments sound pretty good. Bubba's right that the bass is loud.

The vox aren't quite sitting in the mix. They're a little boxy. What's your vocal chain?

[musicturtle]

Not a bad sound Brian.

I agree the bass is a bit loud and leans too far left for my taste. I usually like the bass to be more centered.

The bass sound itself is a little odd. I would round it out some by taking some of the mids out in eq.

I am assuming you are running straight into the Focusrite with the bass. Maybe try an amp sim of some sort to improve the sound.

I like your singing, but the sound is a bit boxy I agree with Steve. Maybe some reverb would soften it up some.

Good first effort though, you have a lot of stuff going on there.

[SweetDan]

[mention]Clogiron Brian[/mention]

...you've mixed [the vocals] a little low

Seconded - the vocals are low. I always have to ask "how much is enough?", though. A useful mixing "trick" to help determine where the overall level of each part should be is to turn down the master fader (or even the volume level of your computer if need be) until the vocals are audible, but just barely, and then set the levels of the other faders so they are slightly less audible than the vocal. When I do that with our mix here, I hear the bass and drums are a bit louder and clearer than the vocal; therefore, the vocal should come up a bit.

You can try this listening trick with commercial mixes as well (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... way+twitty ?), just to compare and see how the vocal sits in relation to everything else.

[WhiskeyJack]

I'm a (not-so) closeted old school country fan boy and i really enjoyed this [mention]Clogiron Brian[/mention]. great work on those slides i wouldn't change any thing there. Playing and performance wise you aced it.

I think i have have to echo MT on having the bass a bit more up the middle. The bass is also a bit more rock and roll sounding having a bit of a P-Bass grind to it for this kind of stuff. I think rather than re-tracking it you could safely just eq it a bit more to get it sounding like an upright bass or finger plucked traditional country bass sound.

Also i am not sure if anyone else is hearing it but some elements of this track are sounding like they were tracked really hot or maybe the gain staging got away on you while you were mixing but i hear a lot of clipping. Most notably from about 3:00 right through to 4:00 that lead solo thing is crispy and sizzly like it has been tracked too hot or mixed too high. I hear it other places as well.

regardless, the only way to know how to fix that issue is to know what the root of the sizzling is. Is it right in the recorded audio or was it produced in the post mix down from something pushing to hard?

[TripleM]

I love vibe and the song. Performances are good.

I thought (like others) the bass was pretty loud. It had a very heavy low end too. To me a bass sound with some low-midrange would work better in a song like this. The sound you have is really heavy in the low end. It's a little cold and sterile sounding. And I also think you could keep both the bass and vocal down the center.

The vocal is competing just a little bit with the guitars. They're kind of strong in the same frequency range (like maybe 1500hz - 3000hz).

At about 4:35 something weird starts up. Like the drums are pumping.

The drum programming gets a little repetitive.

[JD01]

haha, this is a great first effort.

OK, the off centre bass is a bit weird.
I like the tone, think it works well in this context. Stick it in the middle and turn it down a bit.

The rhythm guitar seems to be right up the centre and is really thin and jangly - stick it off to one side and use a little less reverb on it.
If you're not sure what I'm getting at, start with panning your rhythm and slide 50 50 each side and then when the guitar solo comes in, pop it up the middle. It might sound shit, but give it a go.

All the performances on this are great so you can sort this easy.

[liv_rong]

Sounds pretty good especially if this is your first time!

I agree, when I first listened right away the bass n the left sounded a little wonky to me, I didnt like it.

Nice work all around though.

[Clogiron Brian]

Great pointers here guys, thanks for the feedback (wrong phrase??)

[rayc]

GOOOOD song. as said...cntre the bass, scoop some of that loud freq away from it too the riffy guitar will balance the slide easily enough.
The voice sounds like it's missing some mids so a little volume and EQ boost please.
Oh, I'd love to hear the solo up the middle if possible - I'm old fashioned that way.

[Clogiron Brian]

A useful mixing "trick" to help determine where the overall level of each part should be is to turn down the master fader (or even the volume level of your computer if need be) until the vocals are audible, but just barely, and then set the levels of the other faders so they are slightly less audible than the vocal. When I do that with our mix here, I hear the bass and drums are a bit louder and clearer than the vocal; therefore, the vocal should come up a bit.

You can try this listening trick with commercial mixes as well (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... way+twitty ?), just to compare and see how the vocal sits in relation to everything else.

great feedback, very helpful! thankyou!

[Bubba]

here is a revised version guys, not sure if I have got the hang of the souncloud widget thing...

[Bubba]

LOL Brian.

To make it work you click on the orange cloud and when this comes up: [soundcloud ]your link goes here! [/soundcloud ], you paste your soundcloud link in the middle.

[Clogiron Brian]

sorry guys, Im stuffing up on the loading bit, but learning... Bri

here's a re mixed version of my first effort for you to feedback on.

[Clogiron Brian]

" I think I've got it..." !!

[Clogiron Brian]

Cheers Bob.....Dont leave me now!

[rayc]

There's also the rule of three that some use - snare, vocals and bass at the same level ... then the rule of fourths vocal, snare, bass & kick at the same level. The rules of levels are often genre specific. The ONE RULE in radio music is that VOCALS rule. My rule is vocals comfortably between inaudible and incomprehensible.
Have a listen the the music posted by folks on the forum and when you, consistently, hear the sort of levels you prefer ask that person.

[Bubba]

Cheers Bob.....Dont leave me now!

LOL. You can delete your others now.