Down That Long Road (was "Raven") - Song in Progress

[David Cuny]

One more change to the mix: I had picked up the Room360 room simulator, but hadn't tried using it yet.

Since one of the issues was that the instruments didn't sound like they were in the same room, I decided to finally try the room simulator out. Hopefully this fixes some of the harshness of the mix as well.

I'm still trying to figure it out, so I might have the scale all wrong.

 

[David Cuny]

More tweaks to the mix.

Because of the issues with the excessive high frequencies, I've changed some vocal and room FX, and adjusted the placement of tracks in the Room360 plugin.

There have been some adjustments to the vocals to try to get them to sit a bit better in the mix. I've also changed how the lead vocal sang the final "down that long road" to add a voiced release on the final /d/ so it was more clear what the word is.

Hopefully, the result is a more natural sounding, less hyped mix.

 

[Nekujak]

Oooops. I put a mono EQ on the mix buss and failed to notice.

D'oh! At least I know my ears weren't lying to me

I've gone through the main vocal and manually edited it so the volume of all the lyrics are normalized. I do this by slicing up the syllables and then normalizing each chunk.

This is how I always do it. It's tedious, but it's the only way to guarantee all issues are properly addressed, plus I find it's the most effective way to deal with plosives and sibillance.

That said, there are parts of the vocal that still seem a little unbalanced to my ears. One example I can point to is the line, "...watching him die". The word "die" seems too soft compared to the rest of the phrase.

There are other similar instances, but I didn't note them down. Casually listening to the song, paying attention to the rise and fall of the vocal volume should reveal them. It's nothing drastic.

I've also tweaked the vocal EQ a bit and added in a bit more room ambience.

The vocal still seems a bit spikey to me. I feel like my ears are getting stabbed on certain words. It's not horrible, but I think the vocal could be smoothed out a bit more.

Since one of the issues was that the instruments didn't sound like they were in the same room, I decided to finally try the room simulator out. Hopefully this fixes some of the harshness of the mix as well.

The stereo spread is much better now. This is a matter of taste, but I might pan the background vocals left and right, instead of all to one side. But that's just me.

Hopefully, the result is a more natural sounding, less hyped mix.

It's getting there. Personally speaking, I'd consider pushing the lead vocal and the violin solo a little further back in the mix. But it's really up to you and the sound you want to achieve.

I might be wrong, but I'm hearing some notes in the guitar fill right after "...watching him die" that don't seem to fit harmonically. It's pretty subtle, but it grabs my ear every time.


Overall, I think you've arrived at a good point with this song. If it were me, I'd make some final tweaks to get the mix to where I like it, then I'd step away and revisit it in a couple of days to see how it sounds, and then decide if it needs further tweaking.

 

[David Cuny]

This is how I always do it. It's tedious, but it's the only way to guarantee all issues are properly addressed, plus I find it's the most effective way to deal with plosives and sibillance.

That said, there are parts of the vocal that still seem a little unbalanced to my ears. One example I can point to is the line, "...watching him die". The word "die" seems too soft compared to the rest of the phrase.

There are other similar instances, but I didn't note them down. Casually listening to the song, paying attention to the rise and fall of the vocal volume should reveal them. It's nothing drastic.

OK, I'll isolate the vocals and listen.

The vocal still seems a bit spikey to me. I feel like my ears are getting stabbed on certain words. It's not horrible, but I think the vocal could be smoothed out a bit more.

The lazy part of me wonders what would happen if I put Vocal Rider in the chain.

I know better, but I can wish.

The stereo spread is much better now. This is a matter of taste, but I might pan the background vocals left and right, instead of all to one side. But that's just me.

The background vocals are panned left and right.

It's getting there. Personally speaking, I'd consider pushing the lead vocal and the violin solo a little further back in the mix. But it's really up to you and the sound you want to achieve.

My old ears always put the vocal too far forward. I'll push them back a bit more.

I might be wrong, but I'm hearing some notes in the guitar fill right after "...watching him die" that don't seem to fit harmonically. It's pretty subtle, but it grabs my ear every time.

I'll have a listen there. I highly doubt you're wrong.

Overall, I think you've arrived at a good point with this song. If it were me, I'd make some final tweaks to get the mix to where I like it, then I'd step away and revisit it in a couple of days to see how it sounds, and then decide if it needs further tweaking.

Yeah, I've almost reached my remix limit for the day.

Thanks!


This doesn't preclude anyone else from jumping in with opinions!

 

[Nekujak]

OK, I'll isolate the vocals and listen.

I'd listen to them in the full mix, which is the only way everyone else will hear them. Listening in isolation is helpful for certain things, but listening in the mix is more relevant to the final product.

The background vocals are panned left and right.

Hah! Well, in this case, I guess my ears deceived me! As I've grown older, I don't hear higher frequencies as well, so I'll use that as an excuse for missing the high harmony on the right

The lazy part of me wonders what would happen if I put Vocal Rider in the chain.

The spikey-ness I was referring to has to do with harsh hi-mid freqencies that seem to poke my ears unpleasantly. Taming the volume won't necessarily address that.

 

[David Cuny]

I've made some small tweaks to the song.

Most importantly, I've changed the pronunciation of "Appalachian" to a more regional pronunciation. I was wondering if anyone was going to call me out on that.

The vocal is pretty forward in the mix, but I'll call that a production choice.

Since I've mostly finalized the mix, I'm changing the link to a permanent link.

And - to the surprise of no one - I've changed the name to "Down That Long Road".

Thanks to everyone for all the feedback - it's been super-helpful!

 

[BDT]

I just found this forum via a link from David in the PG forum, and I must say that I am impressed by how much valuable and detailed feedback you guys provide here

 

[Nekujak]

I've made some small tweaks to the song.

Most importantly, I've changed the pronunciation of "Appalachian" to a more regional pronunciation. I was wondering if anyone was going to call me out on that.

The vocal is pretty forward in the mix, but I'll call that a production choice.

Since I've mostly finalized the mix, I'm changing the link to a permanent link.

And - to the surprise of no one - I've changed the name to "Down That Long Road".

Thanks to everyone for all the feedback - it's been super-helpful!

Great job, @David Cuny !!

You even did away with the fadeout!

I will leave you with one last nitpicky comment... at around :18 all audio abruptly cuts off for a millisecond. The abruptness makes it sound like a glitch. As I was listening for the first time, I had to stop and rewind the song to make sure it wasn't my computer that was causing the glitch.

The development of this song was a fun and interesting journey, at least from my end of things. Thanks again for opening up your songwriting process to such intense scrutiny on this forum.

 

[David Cuny]

Great job, @David Cuny !!

Thanks - but it was a team effort.

Thank you for stepping outside your comfort zone and keeping me on the straight and narrow, and not letting me skip important steps in the process.

You even did away with the fadeout!

Ha! But only because you were right... or "right enough", because much of this is subjective. And my daughter is firmly on your side on fadeouts, so I was outvoted.

I know there are still issues, but those stem mostly from my inability to hear some things, like the guitar clashing and the vocals not sitting properly. But I'll be working on developing those skills.

I will leave you with one last nitpicky comment... at around :18 all audio abruptly cuts off for a millisecond. The abruptness makes it sound like a glitch. As I was listening for the first time, I had to stop and rewind the song to make sure it wasn't my computer that was causing the glitch.

Wowf! You've got impressive ears. Even when I listened for it, it didn't register!

You're right - normally the strings would be ringing out until the next strum. I've stretched out the prior strum so it's still playing through to the next strum and uploaded the fixed version.

The development of this song was a fun and interesting journey, at least from my end of things. Thanks again for opening up your songwriting process to such intense scrutiny on this forum.

I enjoyed the process!

The reality is that's the level of scrutiny you put on your own songs under, right?

And the resulting song is much better for that input and being patient enough to go through this process with me.

So again - thank you, and everyone else on the forum for this opportunity.