Hi

I'd really appreciate any and all thoughts/advice on this:

 

Hi @JohnOS, nice song with a lot of love and feeling.
A little more speech intelligibility would be good.The reverberation rooms are not perfect.

 

I'll let others speak of the mix while I focus on the vocals. The performance of the vocal is sloppy with inappropriate sliding into notes with many flat notes and whole phrases abounding. If you cannot help her to achieve a "better" take than in what I am hearing, then throw it into a correction software such as Melodyn and manually fix it if you have the chops to do so. Sorry.

 

Be careful not being too generous with the volume of reverberated guitar melodies..
It's good if they stand out, but at some parts they could be lowered, leaving some room for other elements..

The voice could also be more reverberated with a lush Hall..

I would change the drum type,
both Snare and BD are more adequate for modern Rock/Pop,
but this is more Xmasy, not intense, so it could have a more Natural/Acoustic type sound, specially the Snare..

Cymbals and bells are ok,
and I like the Synth bells decoration in stereo

 

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it. I've tried to take some of it on board in this revision:



@BEAT16 - hopefully it is more intelligible. I don't understand about the reverberation rooms though (and I've changed them again), if you could explain a little it would be great.

@Lois Lane - vocals are the most imprtant thing and my weakest area, so I am grateful for your input. I can't claim to have the chops (and possibly not the best tools- I'm using logic pro with stock plugins) but is it a little better now?

@Ŧยχøя - you're right about guitar volumes and I've tried something with the reverb. I think I want to keep the kick and snare sounds but they were too loud

 

Hello @JohnOS, Reverb as @ Ŧ ย χøя already explained.

The song has gotten a little better.

 

The vocal performance is what it is and is rather flat and with those slides and flat notes still. Maybe a bit of harmony would help.

 

Sounds a bit too bright, but as in "too many things trying to be the brightest at the same time".

Both versions sound overcompressed, i think it's mainly the individual compression on the vocals and drum bus. the attack and release seem to be okay, but there's just too much of it imo.

If you have a reference, it would help if you shared it.

 

Thanks everyone for your help - I have learned so much from your feedback, and I think the version below is significantly better.

Can I ask anyone who can to have one listen please, as I need to finalize this in the next few days and get to a distributor? I really need to catch and all the big "unprofessional" problems, but I'd appreciate any comments on absolutely anything.

thanks again @mk_96 (unfortunately I don't have a reference - it was too compressed and bright, so I have worked on that
thanks again @Lois Lane - it will never be perfect and I have left most of the slides, but I think it is a lot better thanks to you
thanks again @BEAT16
thanks again @Ŧยχøя

 

what have u done to the vocal make it as before or better or change mic and record it again

doesn't sound clean

 

the vocal is very nasal. also sounds like a doubler/chorus is on it? change the drumkit, be a little more creative with the beats.

 

No tamborines/sleigh-bells until at least the first chorus, 'cos imho right now they're a bit too much, too soon. They're also slightly jostling with the vox. As mentioned above, the chorus/whatever fx definitely do seem to be smearing/aliasing the vox in a quite unnatural way, so perhaps dial the chorus/flange/phase fx back a lttle?

Overall the track still sounds somewhat shrill/brittle - given the theme this of course may be intentional. However, a yule log or two (i.e. a bit more warmth here'n'there) wouldn't go amiss.

To me, there's some similarity with The Pretenders' song, '2000 Miles':

Notice how they managed to eq the tambs/sleigh-bells to not jarr with the vox. The use of a rimshot instead of a snare (especially on the verses) was also a very sound move...

Anyways, good luck with your endeavour!

 

I can defo hear the improvements, specially in Balance
but since we're getting nitpicky..

You're playing the Bells on the right channel at the same time as the Snare. (2nd and 4rth beats)
Have you tried the opposite?

Maybe try puttin the Bells at the 1st and 3rd beats, so that Snare and Bells don't compete/collide,
this could make it be more airy..

Or be more Creative/varied with it,
you can try/mix different patterns, and combine 4th notes and 8th notes..


-Also again you could be more accurate, or creative with the Drum pieces/kit you're using..

I would use a more Acoustic/Natural sounding Snare alla Craviotto, Bleifuss or Brady snare..
Not the best for Rock, but this type of sound could be more adequate for a Xmas song.

Or you could try other types of HiHats like a Zildjian Jungle Hihat, or a Sabian Sick Hat..

There's also non standart types of cymbals, like Cymbs with a resonating Chain, Sick cymbals with holes,
Hexagonal and odd shaped cymbals.. etc

Some of the Effect/sound of those cymbs could match a Xmas track

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone - I really appreciate it. I agree with most suggestions (even one or two that I just can't implement) and I've decided on the last few changes and I'm going to send it off into the world (I hope it's ok to post a link when it is out there).