Takes What's Free

[JD01]

Here you go - managed to get one song tracked this weekend anyway! I think I was planning to do too much really!

Take Whats Free Mix 1.mp3

[rayc]

Sounds like a lament that's very common in Oz now - natural resources ripped, packaged & sold to citizens at overseas prices - natural gas is the biggest issue at the moment.
Your voice is MUCH better now.
The guitar tones are no where near as "dark" either.
The change between the guitar & dub sections is pretty sudden but not sudden enough if you get my drift - needs eitehr a guitar bleeding from one to the other or a delay enhance short sharp halt.
Thus far it's COOOOOOOL.

[musicturtle]

JD,
I really like the energy of this song. It changes up nicely and I never get bored. The chorus is very catchy. The vocals are good.

The only thing that really bothered me was the last words before the chorus(apology and transaction I think) sound sort of cut short like you are needing to jump into the chorus. I think if you let those words end more naturally even if they every so slightly overlap it will sound better, but that may just be my opinion.

Also did you double the vocals or that just an effect? It kind of threw me at first,especially on the longer notes in the chorus, but it grew on me after a few listens.

Anyway, good work, very tight production.

[JD01]

Sounds like a lament that's very common in Oz now - natural resources ripped, packaged & sold to citizens at overseas prices - natural gas is the biggest issue at the moment.
Your voice is MUCH better now.
The guitar tones are no where near as "dark" either.
The change between the guitar & dub sections is pretty sudden but not sudden enough if you get my drift - needs eitehr a guitar bleeding from one to the other or a delay enhance short sharp halt.
Thus far it's COOOOOOOL.

It's actually about the creeping privatisation of the NHS. cheers ray

[JD01]

JD,
I really like the energy of this song. It changes up nicely and I never get bored. The chorus is very catchy. The vocals are good.

The only thing that really bothered me was the last words before the chorus(apology and transaction I think) sound sort of cut short like you are needing to jump into the chorus. I think if you let those words end more naturally even if they every so slightly overlap it will sound better, but that may just be my opinion.

Also did you double the vocals or that just an effect? It kind of threw me at first,especially on the longer notes in the chorus, but it grew on me after a few listens.

Anyway, good work, very tight production.

Cheers MT. Yeah, I noticed that little mistake at the end of the bars before the chorus on a later listen. I'll have to see if I can sort it next time I'm doing vocals. I've got another song that needs vocals, so I'll do this at the same time.

The vocals are double tracked all of the way through.
In the verse they're quiet with a fair bit more reverb than the lead and in the chorus they're a bit louder with only a tiny bit more reverb than the lead.

I tried adding harmonies and shit to this bit it just didn't work.

[rayc]

It's actually about the creeping privatisation of the NHS. cheers ray

Yeah, the lament is common the specifics not. Our version of NHS was in dire peril coming into the last election. Too expensive so they wanted to cut back and sell off chunks. Private health insurance is pushing people away by having it's lowest fee increase in year for this year - ONLY 4% when salaries haven't moved generally and public service jobs increases are set to lower than inflation so about half or less than the fee increase. On top of which the Govt has decided - since the pushback and almost lost election - to raise the national health care, (Medicare), tax levy to 6% for all workers at the same time as pushing a Trumpian Corporations & Rich Folk tax cut. The privatization - or long term leasing - of national resources is berserk at present. A Chinese Govt affiliated company has lease Darwin's port for 99 years!!!

[JD01]

Yeah, the lament is common the specifics not.

True... the next tune is about paying to watch sky news!

[vomitHatSteve]

Sounds pretty coherent.

There's a few stylistic changes I would make, but those are really just my opinion. I'd probably not double the vocal during the first verse so that it has somewhere to build to. I might also shorten the intro a touch and possibly thicken up the lead guitar during the intro. (It sits fine when the vocals come in)

Otherwise, maybe nudge the vox down a little, but otherwise no real mix nits on the first listen.

[JD01]

Cheers Steve, nudge the vocal down is always nice to hear! I'm have the mix with me on my work laptop so I'm hoping to listen to it a bit on a mate's monitors this afternoon.

Yeah - the lead guitar in the intro is quite thin, that's what I have it quite quiet too. It sounded better played with single coils but also got a bit grating too. It just sounded too much like everything else when I used a humbucker.

[Bubba]

I've had a better listen just now, JD. I think mostly the mix is on point. You've lost the clackiness of the bass which is good and your vocals are very much improved. I don't find myself enjoying the doubling that much, it's a little too obvious. One thing that I would recommend is thinning the mids and low mids a little on one or both of the vocal tracks. They're a bit too "solid" next to the guitar tracks. Do it slightly, see if there's an improvement, then perhaps a bit more if that seems to be doing the trick.

[JD01]

I've had a better listen just now, JD. I think mostly the mix is on point. You've lost the clackiness of the bass which is good and your vocals are very much improved. I don't find myself enjoying the doubling that much, it's a little too obvious. One thing that I would recommend is thinning the mids and low mids a little on one or both of the vocal tracks. They're a bit too "solid" next to the guitar tracks. Do it slightly, see if there's an improvement, then perhaps a bit more if that seems to be doing the trick.

Cheers, I'll look into this tomorrow. I've got my decent tracking cans that I know well here and access to a decent pair of monitors.

[WhiskeyJack]

hey JD. I really like this as a song. I'd probably buy this. haha. aspects of it really speak to me. the intro almost sounds like something i'd cook up in my dark little laboratory in the basement.

I am going to second Bubba on the 'solid" thing with the double tracked vocals. It's just a lot of vocal all at once and it feels like a wall. no real break from it. I'd either be a bit selective of where i had doubled vocals and also mix the "backing" double track a bit more breathy. Performance wise man your vox have come along way. Probably the most solid and confident performance i have heard from you for sure.

Do you back off the mic at all when you hit those long trail off notes in the chorus? just curious.

I'm hearing nuances of EZ drummer in the drum tracks more so than some of your other songs i have listened too. Some of your other tunes you had them pretty convincing where i had to ask myself if they were real or not, but this tune i am really hearing the EZ drummer thing. I can't really tell if it is that the tracks are so dry i can pick up the vibe of a canned drummer or if you have some weird gate thing going on on the cymbals / overheads or it has been so long since i have listened to anyones mix maybe it's normal? I think i'd also stir it up with a hair more kick and little less snare if i were driving the DAW.

You have a pretty nice marriage between the bass and guitars going on dude. enough of a gap to know they are separated but still kind of joined at the hip.

[SweetDan]

JD, very nice overall, tight, sounds good, close to professional-sounding.

...One thing that I would recommend is thinning the mids and low mids a little on one or both of the vocal tracks. They're a bit too "solid" next to the guitar tracks. Do it slightly, see if there's an improvement, then perhaps a bit more if that seems to be doing the trick.

Seconded. At times, I found myself having to listen to the vocal with enough attention* that I was distracted from the other parts -- I had to listen hard to the vocal to hear it well. I know cutting mids will help lift the vox up in the mix (it's not muddy, and I don't think the vox level is too low), but to my ears it seems like the vocal needs a bit of "sheen" on it. So, maybe in addition to mid/low-mid cut(s) on the vocal as Bubba suggested, try a tiny (0.5-1.5 dB), wide boost somewhere along 2-5k.

(*For comparison, which is nice that it's all in the same song, I didn't feel the need to devote extra listening attention to the guitar solo.)

Your EQ tweaks might end up looking something like this, deep-ish and narrow for the cuts, and very broad and shallow for the boosts:

Screen Shot 2018-02-05 at 9.29.38 PM.png

[JD01]

hey JD. I really like this as a song. I'd probably buy this. haha.

Half price to you, mate! Thanks.

I am going to second Bubba on the 'solid" thing with the double tracked vocals. It's just a lot of vocal all at once and it feels like a wall. no real break from it. I'd either be a bit selective of where i had doubled vocals and also mix the "backing" double track a bit more breathy. Performance wise man your vox have come along way. Probably the most solid and confident performance i have heard from you for sure.

I'll look into this this evening - as I think this track is the closest one so far to sounding right, so it could form a good template for me when I re-track the others.

[JD01]

Do you back off the mic at all when you hit those long trail off notes in the chorus? just curious.

I'm hearing nuances of EZ drummer in the drum tracks more so than some of your other songs i have listened too. Some of your other tunes you had them pretty convincing where i had to ask myself if they were real or not, but this tune i am really hearing the EZ drummer thing. I can't really tell if it is that the tracks are so dry i can pick up the vibe of a canned drummer or if you have some weird gate thing going on on the cymbals / overheads or it has been so long since i have listened to anyones mix maybe it's normal? I think i'd also stir it up with a hair more kick and little less snare if i were driving the DAW.

You have a pretty nice marriage between the bass and guitars going on dude. enough of a gap to know they are separated but still kind of joined at the hip.

I've no idea about mic technique exactly - I did notice kind of automatically backing off on the higher louder bit and stuff like that though. I don't know if that's good technique or not - it just happened.
I was looking at this last night and I think the drums on this track aren't as humanised as normal - I was discussing MIDI triggers last night with a mate and when I was showing him my MIDI strip everything was very close to the grid.

[JD01]

JD, very nice overall, tight, sounds good, close to professional-sounding.

Thanks, cheers mate.

Seconded. At times, I found myself having to listen to the vocal with enough attention* that I was distracted from the other parts -- I had to listen hard to the vocal to hear it well. I know cutting mids will help lift the vox up in the mix (it's not muddy, and I don't think the vox level is too low), but to my ears it seems like the vocal needs a bit of "sheen" on it. So, maybe in addition to mid/low-mid cut(s) on the vocal as Bubba suggested, try a tiny (0.5-1.5 dB), wide boost somewhere along 2-5k.

(*For comparison, which is nice that it's all in the same song, I didn't feel the need to devote extra listening attention to the guitar solo.)

Your EQ tweaks might end up looking something like this, deep-ish and narrow for the cuts, and very broad and shallow for the boosts:

Thank's mate. You, Bubba and Shan are all pretty much saying the same thing and that graphic is a place to start even if it isn't where I end up.
I've not really EQ'd vocals much before (all my previous vocals were probably so badly recorded they were beyond help anyway) but I've got things a bit more set up now where stuff should be repeatable.

[Bubba]

Thank's mate. You, Bubba and Shan are all pretty much saying the same thing and that graphic is a place to start even if it isn't where I end up.
I've not really EQ'd vocals much before (all my previous vocals were probably so badly recorded they were beyond help anyway) but I've got things a bit more set up now where stuff should be repeatable.

Sweetdan's graphic is kind of what I had in mind, although I would gently shelve away towards the bass from about 600Hz. The bass can shelve away to nothing, your voice won't have any useful energy in that range, anyway. Try it on the vocal double first. That should help with Shan's "breathy" suggestion.

[musicturtle]

I'd either be a bit selective of where i had doubled vocals and also mix the "backing" double track a bit more breathy.

I agree with this here. What I try to do sometimes is do four or five different takes, just trying to change my voice slightly. Make it more breathy, or more rhythmic, softer, louder. Then listen to them together and see what works. Maybe add some chorus to the backing one(s) that you choose to use to give them some depth.

Just some thoughts. Doubling and trying to match exactly is sometimes very difficult.

[ocnor]

Pick one of the doubled vocal tracks and remove the effects. Then on the other track boost the effects a bit and lower the level by a few DB. I did notice on the chorus the vocals seemed to drop out in a couple of spots. It sounded like you may have backed off of the mic too far. The rest of the mix sounded really good.

[JD01]

Cheers Ocnor.

I think I'll just work on the next mix for this on the weekend when I can be on the same headphones and monitors that I did this mix on.