Hey all!
I hope you are doing well and would like to help me out. I'm new to this forum and to mixing in general, so please bear with me I've been mixing this song for a while and it feels like I'm at a stand-still right now. The mix sounds good, but something tells me it's missing something. My ears aren't experienced enough to tell me what...Would you kindly send your feedback my way? Thank you so much!
Link:

Here's an updated link with some of your suggested changes as well as my own further work, let me know what you think:

 

Last edited: Jul 1, 2023

I personally find the reverb mix on the vocals too much by about 10%. But it's nothing necessary at all.

 

Second ever mix? You don't count all the training and/or formal education as "songs mixed", do you?
Good work. Two things you might feel missing are:
1) Arrangement and performance. Nothing you can do about it.
2) Too much center, too little left and right. To fix it, leave the drums, the bass and soloing instruments where they are, dial the voice back a few dB, bring up all the other instruments, pan them wider and make their spatial effects a little bit louder too. Maybe counterpan the solo guitar and sax just a bit too.

 

I agree, some stereo will drive the sax and guitar further. I believe blending the voice along the track, a bit, might work.
My 2 cents, but I'm quite sure you already thought about it.

 

I have had a minute to sit down and do this so here's what i got so far, mix is fine but,

- vocal needs some separation
- reverb needs some eq and a bit of compression especially that of the solo guitar.
- you have some frequency build up

anyways

here's my edit

 

Apart from what the others have correctly said, uploading a 128kbps mp3 is maybe not the best choice.

My approach

 

The song is ok IMHO, but there's no Funk in here....

 

I really dig your changes, and I've tried implementing some of them in my own mix. It's in the OP, if you'd care to check it out

Cheers!

 

That's fair, although I think the guitars are quite funky with the rhythms and stuff. Perhaps not funky enough though

 

It's funky/disco yes, not Funk.
You said Funk.
Unfortunately, someone, one day decided to use the word Funky to sell disco.

So Funk and Funky are very different. Funk have a flexible groove because not all beats are marked with the bass drum, funky is all beats on the floor, like rock, it is squared rhythm.

To understand what is Funk, listen to Maceo Parker "Shake everything you got", Average White Band "School boy crush" , Prince & The New Power Generation "Call the law", Bootsy Collins "The power of the one" etc...

 

Sounds defo better (though it's still 128kbps mp3 ). I'd open up the mix with gentle saturation. A tiny bit on the mid and a bit more on the sides.

 

Terrific answer! I hadn't realized that distinction, but you are indeed right. There is a difference between funk and funky. Thank you so much, man! I will make sure to spread the word about this misconception, cheers!

 

Thanks, that's great to hear! I will add the saturation and then bounce a .wav file. That was always the intention, but it has been my experience, that sharing .wav files with people online quickly becomes a hassle due to the file size. Therefore I have decided to sacrifice some quality for ease of access. Thank you for the help, No Avenger!

 

It's really unfortunate because at least part of your potential listeners who read Funk will expect something that if not there, they may turn their back on your music.
While if the description is right, they may listen to it.

 

@Floppi23, you could, if you want, change (edit) the title to '...funky Pop song...'.

 

@Floppi23 - can you share the artist?Great fresh singer!

Anyway, this is my try to uncover, and for that i somehow find 23 version, the frist one, better

I just tried getting that vocal out->

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hw987vzute32jkw/23 ver pmfx 3 PROJCT5.wav?dl=0

More top end version

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ek2j...fx-6.wav?rlkey=zcf0hn9x4lucuoaj0at0kuj0o&dl=0


i love the track, fresh fresh

 

Last edited: Jul 15, 2023

I believe there are subjective decisions regarding personal preferences, because I could tell you that I perceive the vocals as being within the music rather than upfront. Normally, vocals are often felt as frontal, as if they were right in front of your nose, face, etc. In your mix, both the vocals and the saxophone sound integrated within the music. How can I explain it? It's like listening to a live band where everything blends together. Do you understand what I mean? That being said, it sounds good, pleasant, with a good balance. To my ears, everything sounds fine. I have heard songs with that type of mix where the vocals sound "stereo" or within the music. I think it sometimes comes down to personal preferences. I don't detect any significant errors, but hey, I'm not an expert in mixing; I've just been doing it as an amateur for years. I hope this feedback is helpful. Best regards!