New Song Up

[ToneAddictJon]

Just finished mixing my band's new song. Take a listen and let me know what you think.

www.myspace.com/paradoxcrossing

www.myspace.com/toneaddictjon

 

[Elpelotero]

thumbs up here! I like the acoustic with those drums. Voice is smooth also.

 

[ToneAddictJon]

Thanks

 

[dodger916]

Excellent. Very musical. I like the mix, especially the bongos up front..adds an element of intimacy nicely counterpointed with the screaming guitar in the background. And most importantly, excellent vocals.

The guitar sound was great, but the solo in the middle was a bit busy for my taste. I hear something sparser with more feeling, more lyrical, especially given the lyrics. I think less would be more there. I felt the busier solo fit the ending better. The solo scale (major pentatonic ?) I think compliments the feel and message of the song.

There's a great vibe at the end, and I was kinda expecting an extended fade out...sort of "You and I together, drifting into the sunset" kind of a thing.

Again Jon, I think it's excellent. If not, it probably would not have evoked a response!

 

[ToneAddictJon]

Thanks dodger, I completely agree with the solo being to busy, but I was having a hard time devoloping something more lyrical, hence the "lets make some noise here" type pull offs. I was also trying to find something to mix it up a little and connect the two halves of the song. I was going back and forth on how to setup the ending, but the conga drifting off by itself seemed fitting.

 

[CoG]

Hey man--

Great song, seriously. Nice parts and great arrangement.

All my advice is mix-related. I think the (excellent) vocals need to come forward a little, and you might want to eq the guitar tracks a little 'thinner'. There's a lot of guitars going on and it's a bit muddy if you aren't a guitar player We hear all the tracks individually but most people don't!

Finally, I checked it out on my good headphones, crappy headphones, monitor speakers, and laptop speakers, and you definitely got too much bass happening across the mix. It sounds like you really pumped the bass itself, and the bass on the bongos, didn't cut any lows out of most of the guitars, and then boosted the bass again in a mastering plugin. You aren't using KRK RP-8s to master, are you? I do, and I used to have the same problem until I learned that what sounded like enough bass in the monitors was actually too much.

 

[ToneAddictJon]

Thanks man, I'll go back through and see what I can do with it. I actually use eartools rp-21 isolation headphones for the initial mixing, then use my $30 3 piece speaker set from wal-mart for more mixing to make sure it sounds good on regular stereos. I was listening to it last night on my friends system that he uses in mixing/mastering in his studio and it sounded really good, but then again, those are flat response monitors. I appreciate all the advice a lot, thank you.