General Music Chat

I've been doing a lot of recording, lately, and I was just now mixing this song, "Blue Rabbit Jazz."
I was balancing all the tracks, and then I hit the saturation point . . . where I can no longer tell if the volumes of all the tracks are properly balanced or not . . . .
I THINK they are balanced, but I've heard this so many times, now, that I can't tell any more.
I was wondering what folks think about the balancing of this song, Blue Rabbit Jazz . . .
The tracks:
-Bass
-Drums
-Guitar
-Lead vocals
-Backup vocals/harmonies.
.
I'd like to eventually replace some of the vocals with female vocals . . .
. . . anyway . . .
Can you hear everything loud enough?
Is anything too loud?

When you hit that point, it's your ears that are saturated. Put it aside, comeback to it in a day, two or more.
I just listened on my 3" computer speakers, but gives me an idea, at least. Assume you are referring to the version on your profile (since you didn't give any other link).
During the initial bass intro, I could barely hear the cymbals in the background. Could not hear any drums/cymbals through the rest until the end part, a little cymbal then. The backup harmonies are probably a little too loud, they tend to overshadow the lead vocal. Didn't really listen to the panning, but I always slide BU vocals one way or the other in the mix, giving each 'voice' it's own physical location. So if there's two BU vocals, I'll pan one 20% left, and the other 18% right (for example).

Yeah, I DID set it aside . . . I recorded this (Blue Rabbit Jazz) a couple weeks ago.
Then I listened to it again, and immediately heard 3 things that needed fixing.
I fixed them, and then just continued fine tuning.
It was a last minute decision to cut back on the percussion.
I'll cut back on the backup vocals; I'd just boosted them.
I separated the backup voices by about 15% L- R . . . probably a good idea to expand them to 30-40% L & R, or maybe mostly on one side . . . I usually do that, just didn't happen to try different separations, this time.
So I'm thinking you're probably right on all counts.
I keep the computer speakers off at this time of night, so I'll make those changes tomorrow, and then listen, see what it sounds like.
Thanks for the input.

I deleted the old version, made the changes, and uploaded the new version of "Blue Rabbit Jazz."
Changes:
-Drums louder
-Lead vocals louder,
-Lead vocals moved slightly to R. channel, guitar moved slightly to L.
-backup vocals softer
-backup vocals moved more to L Channel
.
From where I sit, it seems like the drums are a tad loud, but . . . I dunno?
. . .
Anyone?

I listened to it twice last night, long with Jazz/ Blues thing and Bishop's pond.
I would have told you to bump up the bass and pan everything to their own corner of the sound image.
But I hit the wall. I'm learning how to do searches and stuff on this site. It's neat, but it's not set up like any other site I visit. I went to bed, instead.
Anyway, I enjoy your songwriting. The vocals still aren't quite my thing. You sound a little too earnest or something. I don't know. I'm used to artists these days, even if they're screaming, they still seem to be detached from the whole thing.
I would suggest (if you didn't add any more instruments);
Pan the bass and high range of the guitar to one channel
Pan the low range of the guitar and the percussion to the other
I would have liked a little more separation between the bass and guitar.
Nice song, though.

I listened to it twice last night, long with Jazz/ Blues thing and Bishop's pond.
I would have told you to bump up the bass and pan everything to their own corner of the sound image.
But I hit the wall. I'm learning how to do searches and stuff on this site. It's neat, but it's not set up like any other site I visit. I went to bed, instead.
Anyway, I enjoy your songwriting. The vocals still aren't quite my thing. You sound a little too earnest or something. I don't know. I'm used to artists these days, even if they're screaming, they still seem to be detached from the whole thing.
I would suggest (if you didn't add any more instruments);
Pan the bass and high range of the guitar to one channel
Pan the low range of the guitar and the percussion to the other
I would have liked a little more separation between the bass and guitar.
Nice song, though.

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it.
You said . . .
"Pan the bass and high range of the guitar to one channel . . . Pan the low range of the guitar and the percussion to the other."
Hmmm . . . .
This is something I've never done; sounds like an interesting idea . . .
(btw, I now think the lead vocals are too loud . . .)

Note: about half an hour after I wrote this, I got an email from Reverbnation that I should post this to "Spotify," (which has over 10 million listeners). I don't know anything about Spotify, when I went to the site it told me to hit a button to download the software . . .
Anyway . . . is it a good idea to upload a song to Spotify? - Alan
I'll also post this question separately in the general forum . . .

I know so little about computers. This is all a big crash course for me.
I would say go for it, if the software and process aren't too sketchy/ intimidating.
Almost everyone I know is following music on spotify, Pandora, whatever.
Wouldn't be bad, if you're seeking exposure.

I've always kep bass centered in teh mix because bass notes are not directional (that's why you only have one subwoofer in a 5.1 surround sound system).

As to Spotify - you can't just 'get on' Spotify, you need to be accepted onto it, or pay a service (like Tunecore) to get on it. Pandora requires submitting your music then sitting back and waiting for them to review it.

Once you have music on these sites, you can expext a revenue stream of 1/100ths of a cent for each play (meaning you need A LOT of plays to see anything at all.

I mix on analog mixers, so I don't know about computers, but yes, keep the deepest part of the bass straight up the middle. Then you can use eq to focus different parts of the bass's overall sound to different parts of the stereo image. I said sound image before, that was "misremembered". I was telling that thrash metal guy last month about this book that I learned all of this stuff from. It's called Guerrilla Home Recording:How To Get Great Sound From Any Studio (No Matter How Weird Or Cheap Your Gear Is). If you don't feel like buying it, I could post a picture of the illustrations. Or Google stereo image. I think you get such deep tones from the clean acoustic guitar, that it could be worth experimenting with positioning it opposite the bass.

One thing I love about Reaper's panning controls is the 'width' control. I use it a lot for drums. WIthout it, drums can sound funny when listening on a good set of stereo speakers - one cymbal can be heard way over to one side, and another cymbal way over on the other side due to panning the overhead mics full left and full right. A drum set does not sound this way in person unless you're sitting on the snare drum! So I mix to get the sound like I was watching/listening to the band playing in front of me.
One thing I have only started doing recently is check my mixes in mono - in Reaper this is easy to do, as the Master Mix section of the mixer view has a mono/stereo button. Doing this would, of course, remove the stereo EQ technique just mentioned. Using some delay techniques to make a stereo image wider can induce phase problems, and listening in mono will find these - some parts can disappear or change in volume due to the phase issue. It's important to do that these days as many people may be listening to your mix through one earbud and their cellphone, or it may be cranking through a house PA system (which are typically set up for mono playback, although they may be stereo capable - people may not be able to hear both sides of the system depending on where they are in the room, hence the mono output).

I learned a lot about mixing by listening to the recording on both a small pair of stereo speakers, 2 feet apart, and then through my Bose Surround sound.
The small computer speakers are about 2 feet apart.
The Big Bose system speakers are about 20 feet apart.
I listen to the computer speakers at about 5w or 10W or so.
I listen to the Bose stereo system at varying volumes from 50 - 150 watts or so.
Any problems with the recordings are quickly revealed this way.
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Also, during mixing, if I reach the point of saturation (where I can't tell if the mix is right) I spin my chair around and listen with my back to the speakers. This changes how the sound bounces and reaches my ears, and it also swaps left for right. I've picked up on a lot of things by simply turning my back to the speakers.
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Also, simply standing up (so the speakers aren't aimed at you) will change the sound. People set up their speakers so that the 'sweet' spot is right where they sit. But it's good to get out if the sweet spot occasionally, to check the mix, too.