[Music] Ok, so now the cool song ;-)

[Hurican]

It's called "Do you stand out". I had tons of fun doing this one.

Do You Stand Out

I know the mix is not finished but I'm really close to it. Here's what I can hear.

Kick is too "poppy", it sounds like it's overcompressed, but it's actually a mic setting within BFD2 that I have to tweak... haven't quite gotten there yet.
There is a transient between the Distorted electric piano, and distorted guitar which sounds like a too hot (digital distortion) signal, even though I know it's not.
There are two glitches early in the song. One is a "p", that doesn't actually pop the signal, but it's too tight against the poppy kick with bad results.
The other is a glitch a little later on that I didn't hear until I got home (plus my ears were trashed). @ 0:47

Intentional stuff:
Sax is supposed to be wallowing in reverb.
Sax solo becomes more distant as it goes along (like the sax player is walking away from you in a long hall).
Towards the end of the solo, things start to meld together before all the pads disappear into something more coherent.
The drums are there more for presence in the Chorus and take a back seat to the percussion.
[end of intentional stuff]

I'm going to get back to it in a few days or so, and try to loosen up the levels a touch, give it more bandwidth. But anything you guys hear that you think might need tweaking please let me know!

Thanks,
John
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I have PTMS- (Post Traumatic Midi Syndrome)

[FastnLoose]

I like it! Reminds me of Genesis and you even sound a bit like Phil Collins when you belt out certain phrases.

The bridge is real nice and I think having the sax swimming in reverb is fitting there.

Suggestions:
I can hear the bass fine, but I wish it were more well defined, and it may be the sound you've chosen that's not ideal
for me. I'm thinking something more like a bass guitar sound would add more character to this.

At the end of the chorus your voice trails off (and the bass pauses)- then there's a couple of beats of drum fill before the verse comes back in.
This sounds like a loose end to me - like you missed something. I wish the vocal note held a bit longer with the bass and the transition
was smoother to the verse. Maybe you did this for a reason, and maybe I'll get used to it after more listens, but that's the feeling I get
after 4 or 5 listens.

I'm not sure about the strong attack on the snare at the very beginning(though I like the interaction with the hats). I don't see the point,
except that it makes the softening more noticeable when the singing starts, but I'd think that the snare part simplifying there would be sufficient.
Have you considered having a subtle sax part on the intro? It might be a nice touch, and would tie the intro in with the bridge, so it wouldn't
seem as if the sax player were called in to play the bridge only.

Good tune, John!

Lenny
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[andreslinn]

I agree with Lenny
Interesting song when bass isn't playing. I would expect softer sound (some nice clean bass maybe). I had to listen carefully to hear other stuff in mix. All I heard was bass solo till the end.
Cheers,
Andres

[Hurican]

Hey Lenny, thanks for the comments.

[Hurican]

[Foolomon]

Try recording the bass track to MIDI first. You can render the MIDI to audio by soloing the MIDI track while recording the destination audio track and then pressing the Record button.

The advantage is that you're able to edit the MIDI to clean up any unwanted playing before actually rendering it to audio.
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[Sherz]

Nice track... reminiscent of a lot of stuff actually which makes it an immediately likeable song
AND.... for me the drums aint happening mixwise at all. They... eeeerrr.... don't stand out... in fact there are parts where I'm barely aware of them at all. Well, they seem ok in the intro, but after that - well... Now, I'm well aware, and of course frequently reminded, that snares are NOT my area of expertise, but I will go out on a limb here and say that I don't think the one you're using here is optimal. But hey, what do I know? Overall I just think the bottom end needs to be more defined, present and punchier.


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[Hurican]

[blueonblue]

I think its a cool song with nice progressions I remember and love. you've got a great voice for this, not an easy one to sing. I like the ambient break, could even be a bit longer. I guess you're going to do some more work on it so I'm sure it'll be even better. good luck
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[Robin Heuristic]

Wot they said about the bass, I agree, the drums need some more sparkle, otherwise, tis fine! I like it.

Respect to you!
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[douglas hazelrigg]

Terrific song, and well played! Maybe a bit dated, but... As others have said, the drums are obscured in the mix. I think this could be cured by some EQ, without having to bring them up any (although it wouldn't bother me at all if they were louder). The bass is muddy and also needs some EQ -- I'd experiment with that some. I've saved my biggest nit for the last: at the very beginning, the lead-in drum fill ain't cutting it -- it comes of as indecisive, even misplayed... I'd rewrite by either making it simpler rhythmically or even lose ot altogether. Otherwise, great tune, with a lot of energy. Oh by the way -- the vocal is quite good too!
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TOONS

[Hurican]

Thanks guys. I have some ideas regarding the intro... some of the ideas I had I think still fits, but some of it is weak (the synth startup), and some of it is overdone, the drum fills... I'll be playing around with it tomorrow to get it more cohesive with the rest of the song. And yeah the mix needs some work as well. Typically I'll EQ at the track level, and at the 2buss level... a couple notches at 1Khz and 4500Khz to remove that harmonic muddiness and whistle that is grinding to the ears, then a slight wide cut between 300Hz and 600Hz. Everything else done on the 2buss is by multiband comp. I found that squeezing the low mids a little extra really brings everything out well, but I haven't perfected the process. I'm still working on a combination of training my ears, and getting a good overall preset that I can save, then utilize in all my mixes.

This song is an active submission, so getting it better fast would be really beneficial to me. Your input helps more than you know. The drums for the chorus will be the toughest. I don't need them to be out front to make it work (the percussion kind of takes over for that part), but I do need them to at least be heard.

I'm hoping that I can clear it up in a couple of days time, then I'll post the update here.
Thanks again!
John
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[Hardware] - Antec P183 Case / Biostar- TA890FXE / XFX GT 240 / AMD Phenom II 6 Core - 3.2 Gig / OCZ Reaper DDR3 1333 12g
[(main) Studio Hardware] - Presonus StudioLive 16.4.2 / Fantom X8 / Alesis QS8 / Yamaha CS6r / Samson Monitors / Various Mics, assec
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I have PTMS- (Post Traumatic Midi Syndrome)

[Sherz]

[Hurican]

Bryan is the guy singing on this song. My voice would (without any semblance of a doubt) ruin it.

He has had professional training at Juliart, plus some Operatic training as well. He fell from glory when he got into R&R, heavy amounts of drugs, sex and all the other depraved habits that rock stars tend to get into, along with the typical hard work and no sleep. It eventually triggered Type 1 diabetes (which apparently was genetic but dormant... because when he had his daughter, she also had it).

He's a nice guy but has had a hard life. He handles it with sarcasm and a type of humor that would make a dock worker wince. I have a lot of respect for him and he still has a great voice though it has been roughed up quite a bit from the "rock star" era.

I'm hoping that he'll be working with me steadily once I start getting returns from these media submissions. He definitely has the voice to give me that unique edge in my music.
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[Computer] - Windows 7 (64) "Dedicated"
[Hardware] - Antec P183 Case / Biostar- TA890FXE / XFX GT 240 / AMD Phenom II 6 Core - 3.2 Gig / OCZ Reaper DDR3 1333 12g
[(main) Studio Hardware] - Presonus StudioLive 16.4.2 / Fantom X8 / Alesis QS8 / Yamaha CS6r / Samson Monitors / Various Mics, assec
[(main) Studio Software] - Cubase 5.5.2 (64) / QL Goliath / Atmosphere / Izotope Ozone-Spectron / Antares / BFD2 / Speakerphone

I have PTMS- (Post Traumatic Midi Syndrome)

[slipstream]

Hi John,
Really cool tune! vocalist is good too. I'll try and listen critically later, but initial impressions are two thumbs up. I don't care that it may be dated

[douglas hazelrigg]

[Hurican]

Ok, so here's the latest Mix. The new version is called Do You Stand Out (F4)
I left the old version up there for comparison.

Here's an overview of what I did. (Thanks to FastnLoose and everyone for the tips... I made a lot of changes based on your advice).

Brought the drums up in level... alot.
Tweaked the kick so it doesn't sound so much like a flat basketball.
Changed the snare sound.
Moved most of the pads to the background, but automated for emphasis in certain spots.
Re-did most of the intro. Removed some of the snare frenetics.
Re-played the bass parts (I actually had to program a bass sound in my Fantom to get something I liked).
Changed a couple of fills.
Removed Ozones mid-side setting, and just used a stereo multiband... most of the sounds were tweaked already and the song is pretty full, so didn't really need the extra muddiness.
[edit] Oh, there were a couple odd distortion transients and a glitch in the vox... now fixed as well.

That's why it took a while. It needed a lot of work. I think the vox need to come up a notch or two, but does this one sound better?

Cheers!
John
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[Computer] - Windows 7 (64) "Dedicated"
[Hardware] - Antec P183 Case / Biostar- TA890FXE / XFX GT 240 / AMD Phenom II 6 Core - 3.2 Gig / OCZ Reaper DDR3 1333 12g
[(main) Studio Hardware] - Presonus StudioLive 16.4.2 / Fantom X8 / Alesis QS8 / Yamaha CS6r / Samson Monitors / Various Mics, assec
[(main) Studio Software] - Cubase 5.5.2 (64) / QL Goliath / Atmosphere / Izotope Ozone-Spectron / Antares / BFD2 / Speakerphone

I have PTMS- (Post Traumatic Midi Syndrome)