Please give me some feedback on my 2 new mixes

[evt]

Hi everyone,

I have the last 2 songs tht I've finished posted on my band's website. I have all the recording info. there as well.

Song names are "this ghost", and "hopeless".
Please let me know what you think.

http://www.corrientesmusic.com/EVT_recordings.html

thanks,

evt

[John Jeffers]

These mixes don't do anything for me. They're just...lifeless. Nothing seems to really serve as a focus in the mix. The drums are just kinda there without driving the song. Same with the vocals. It sounds like you have some decent tones to work with. A better mix could help these songs immensely.

[Jeremy Garber]

I agree with the above. I like the tone of her voice, but I think the rest of the instruments are kind of weak. I know they should be light for this style of music, but they could use a little more 'life'. Arrangements are good.

[evt]

Thanks for the feedback.
This was my first attempt at micn'g up a drumkit. I've only used drum machines in the past.

What would be some suggestions as far as bringing more "life" into these mixes?

evt

[;ivlunsdystf]

I think (and perhaps Sleepy Brite Eyez would agree) the songs need more arrangement work to distinguish the different sections. Ie, the "a" section of a song, which is usually the verse, should sound a little different from the "b" section (usually the chorus). If I could change one thing in each of those mixes, that would be it. It's not so much a mixing issue as an arranging issue though. The songs as you have them now tend to just keep moving along in the same way from start to finish. Use dynamics, different instrument sounds, and anything else you can think of to create little musical 'events' within the song as it moves from section to section.

I am a hypocrite for not cutting the above paragraph into little sections. Had I done so, it would have been much easier for you to read. Catch my drift?

[magnito]

It's pretty much a drums and vocals mix (hopeless), you should bring up the other instrumentation quite a bit. Tune up the guitar and the harmony vox also - if you're being meticulous. The guitar on the 2nd song needs to be scooched forward a bit, it's pretty behind the beat and slows the feel of the song down a little too much.

There's bigger issue at hand though...

The band isn't ready for the sound. It's too close and clean. Next time, try using some room mics on everything (including vox) to set the mix back a bit on the 'z' axis. Some room harmonics will help give the your song the spark and depth previous listeners are asking for.

You've got a good technique for getting a close sound. Nice job on that.

[Jeremy Garber]

It's too close and clean.

Exactly. It's very dry. I also kind of feel the instruments are just sitting on top of each other. I think it's a performance thing. Tone wise the tracks are pretty dead, and arrangment wise there isn't much dynamics. Those two things are kind of what sucks the life out of an otherwise good written set of songs. The singer has a good voice, she needs a good band to back her up.

[syrupcore]

I like the arrangements. I agree it's a little lifeless. Was this all tracked part by part? If it's all in there, you could experiment with sounds by sending tracks back out into the room and rechambering them. you could also do that with the whole mix to fake 'room mics'.

I run into this a lot in my own mixing - things sounding kind of lifeless. Sometimes, I turn everything down and do a 'remix' where I try to do every everything different. This will often sound like a pile of shit on a grill but some of the tracks might survive a blending with the original mix.

Will

[valverec]

I think some room sound on the drums would help. I think everyone has covered pretty nicely the lifeless quality here. The song starts and finishes kind of at the same level. It would help to pull out the synths or something during certain parts, and have them kick back in maybe. The guitar is too low and maybe a bit too clean for my taste. I like to drive amps a little bit, even when you're going for a clean sound. I'd also mix in some bottom snare. It almost sounds like there was only a top mic on the snare.

Also making the bass amp grumble a bit would do a lot, in my opinion.

Nice first effort on the drums though.

I'm listening and commenting. The guitars need to come up especially during the chorus.

[Get Thee To A Nunnery]

Had a listen to ?Hopeless?

The drums sound like a drum machine, very flat sounding, one intensity all the way through. That?s not a bad thing in itself, The Strokes have made a career out of it.

But the drums and bass aren?t sonically connected, sounds like they are in two different places.

And the bass is way, way overplayed, it?s too preoccupied with playing pretty melodies rather than driving the feel of the song. The drums are playing the beat, the guitar is playing the off beats and with the bass wandering around so much nothing is playing the actual rhythm of the song.

Listening to the song as a whole I sometimes don?t have any real idea of what its feel is, just sounds like a jumble of notes. The players don?t sound like they are hooking in together, sound like they are all off doing their own thing.

I think the singer is fantastic and I think any good producer would get the band to give her more space and let her be the focus. She could totally capture people?s attention and draw them right into the song, if she has the focus. But she can?t do that nearly as well if someone is in the background jumping up and down saying ?look at me I can play clever notes?. Especially at the start of a song that is when people are really listening.

Maybe try taking the drums totally out of the ?And it doesn?t really matter? bit.

The song seems to want to really build in intensity towards the end, but the band doesn?t sound like it is following. They are just politely tapping away rather than really driving it home.

[evt]

thanks for all the suggestions and feedback.
I'm going to remix these songs.
I'm the singer and play the guitar, record, and mix.

evt

[nutate]

I'd say on 'hopeless' it sounds like someone listening to a frente's marvin the album in a car, and I'm outside the car. Maybe the window is open a crack.

Turn up the instruments like crazy, I think the vocalist is holding her own with her frequency range so the other stuff shouldn't step on her. Secondly put reverb on the entire mix, this sort of goes along with having a room mic (or multiple) that would catch everything and tie it together. Also I don't sense much panning going on, but I could be wrong.

And you know what... this is it... prosody. The song is so damn down, lyrically, yet it sounds like people are just jamming in a cantina or something. "take me erase me, replace this face inside of me..." it's like trent reznor or something but being sung like it was kindercore... (don't get me wrong, I love kindercore, it's just that the song itself is not conveying dark hopelessness, it's just the music seems too happy)

[I'm Painting Again]

the sound on hopeless doesnt bother me a micron as much as the fact that the music doesnt change in volume from the quieter sections to the more louder sections..

it seems like this style should be played live in one take..maybe it was but it should sound more like that then..

this is just what I want to hear..you may like it as is or have a completely different pov..It comes down to what makes you happy..unless your trying to please others..in that case I have no idea how to do that..