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My new production and mix


paczakers

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I imagine you're asking more for input on the quality of the mixing and mastering etc, but because I was so impressed with the first piece you shared, I can't help wanting to speak to the production this time. Overall, it's another fine track from you. Your work is at a high level and you have a distinctive touch. I love the little "bum bum bum" vocal section at the end. Is there a way to have this feature at the beginning of the song as well, perhaps in shortened form?

Your wife's vocals are a very special secret weapon. I'd love to hear a few darker tones within the instrumental tracks, maybe some distortion amongst the synth sounds to provide a little contrast beneath her voice. Nothing that would dominate or detract, but something "unknown, if not unsettled." There's a quote I remember from Harold Budd (by way of Brian Eno) that went something like "The problem with New Age music is there's not enough evil in it." I'm not pushing for evil, don't worry, but a little murky mystery in the mix is what I'd wish to hear. Regardless of whatever else I said, it's a lovely track and I'm glad you've shared it. 

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Thanks so much! 🙂 Yea, i will probably put vocalise melody also at the begining. 

About darker tones - there is a lot of saturation and tubes on lot of instruments - it might be to much - but i know what ure talking about and i agree with that 🙂 I will share another version soon.

 

thx!

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Wow. What a voice!! I love the song. 🙂 I agree about the puh puh puh at the end, very cool. I love the composition and the arrangement so I will comment only on the mix and production choices. That's a lot of personal opinions, so take it or leave it of course, just saying out loud what I would start doing if I were to mix/produce the song myself. 

As for the production, personally I feel like it could be a little more subdued, to better fit the song. It sounds a little too much, like... too loud, or too compressed, like you want it to be loud, but that doesn't really fit the vibe of the song that is more ethereal. 

Let's take the drums and bass as a reference. The bass sits nicely underneath the surface, unobtrusive, and yet it's solid and right there. I love that. The first rhythmic keyboard that comes in @0:03 could be a tad lighter. Perhaps just in volume, perhaps in sound as well, something thinner? I don't know, something to play with. I hear some distortion that is not welcomed here to my ears. 

@0:14 the guitar, like the bass before it, sits perfectly nicely in the mix. It's there, we can clearly hear it, but it's just doing its thing right there in the back without screaming "Hey check me out listen to my fancy guitar picking part". It's just doing its thing. Love it. The melodic keyboard on the other hand is too loud for me. Maybe too compressed? Maybe it's the sound you picked? But it's too upfront, or there's too much of it. 

I LOVE the reverb on only one note of the melodic keyboard @0:20. Very nice little production ear candy trick that keeps the part exciting. 😄

The organ part in the back is fine, not too loud, just adding texture to the arrangement. 

The vocals... ah that's a tricky one. They're absolutely stunning, but they could use a little TLC from a mixing point of view. They're a little too dry and just-upfront. I think they could benefit from gentle EQ to thin them out a tad in the low-mid department, to tame the proximity effect from the mic a bit, then bring in some kind of nice subtle reverb. I said they're "just-upfront", and what I mean by that is that I wouldn't stray away from having them upfront, but I also want some depth to them. So it's something to add to them, while keeping them upfront at the same time. 

So basically there's some fat to cut on some of those tracks, mostly vocals and keyboards, to remove some of the muddier frequencies, and that will yield more room to play with reverbs to give each instrument its place. 

I may be way off base but for me, a good influence for working with reverbs and placing instruments at different distances in a deep stereo field would be Trevor Horn's work on "Dream Within A Dream" by Propaganda. Just in case that helps for the inspiration: 

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10 hours ago, paczakers said:

Uh, thanks guys! Its hard to work on everything u say 🙂  ive made couple of corrections and now its sounds like this - what do u think ?

Wow! What a difference! I think that new mix is much clearer. I like the vocals better. You've really cut through the fat, that's exactly what it needed. 

I like the "pam.. pam pam pam" in the beginning as was suggested by @grumblepig but I would remove them the second time they appear in the song. 

I don't mind that you've decided against adding reverb to the vocals. If that's your style, that's your style. 🙂 

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