Swiss rock mix feedback request.

[DPower]

Hey all,

Been a while since I've worked in this genre. Could use some fresh ears. Unmastered. Knives out...

[Tim Halligan]

I was initially intrigued by the thread title... WTF is Swiss rock?

Now I know...it's full of holes. :Confused:

OK..knives out from the head...

The intro is 2 progressions too long, and the bass is late in off the top.

Verse 1...where the song gets its title from could use some percussion hand toys to help establish momentum.

Verse 2...holy boxy drumsound Batman! The OH's/fizzy end of the spectrum is OK, but the actual drums themselves sound small. There is no sense of lushness or expansiveness about them.

1st break...this is where the chorus would go...but as the song doesn't seem to have one, this has to suffice. There's a little more happening here..the interplay between the gtrs is okay...if a little safe and pedestrian.

Then it goes into another intro. FFS why? There is way too much time with nothing going on. Lose the re-intro and get straight to the verse.

Verse 3...aha! Double tracking. Having it all the way through the verse isn't really helping. Pick the important words or lines to double...leave the rest alone.

2nd break...boy, is this a whole bunch of not much. I can only imagine that this was an instrumental solo section which you somehow omitted from this mix. There's no drama building...it just drones on and on. The piano tries to build.

Then we get to the dirt guitar section at the end...it just feels like it's been chopped on from a completely different song. This dirt gtr just appears from out of nowhere just to play some rhythmic chords - which by the way are not tight with the toms - and then the song ends with a "big rock finish" which seems completely opposite to the style of the body of the song.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that this band have not played this song in front of a drunken pub audience. It's naiive. It's introspective nerd-rock.

There are serious arrangement issues that need to be addressed. Get a producer.

Overall, the sound doesn't seem to quite "sit" for me. It's like it's nervous or something... It certainly isn't a full, lush aesthetic...it's kind of small and angular.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Tim

[DPower]

I was initially intrigued by the thread title... WTF is Swiss rock?

Swiss rock... Heh, what more to say.

BTW, there's no producer on this project other than the suggestions I as engineer made and no time or authority for rewrites/edits.


Verse 1...where the song gets its title from could use some percussion hand toys to help establish momentum.

Suggested, tracked and rejected by the band.


Verse 2...holy boxy drumsound Batman! The OH's/fizzy end of the spectrum is OK, but the actual drums themselves sound small. There is no sense of lushness or expansiveness about them.

OK, this is what I'm looking for. I was thinking that I killed the drums through overcompression of the OHs and the room, which was needed to compete with the guitars which the band wanted louder. Arrggh. OK, I'll tackle them again. Any suggestions?

The unprocessed sound is beautiful. 5 mic setup: D12 on kick, 414 on snare, XY TLM103's just above the drummer's head for OH and U87 for room about 20 feet from the drums and up by the ceiling.


Verse 3...aha! Double tracking. Having it all the way through the verse isn't really helping. Pick the important words or lines to double...leave the rest alone.

This I can probably do and get away with without the band noticing.


2nd break...boy, is this a whole bunch of not much. I can only imagine that this was an instrumental solo section which you somehow omitted from this mix. There's no drama building...it just drones on and on. The piano tries to build.

Heh, heh, I wish it was as simple as unmuting the brilliant guitar solo.


There are serious arrangement issues that need to be addressed. Get a producer.

Yeah, I'm aware of the major arrangement and songwriting problems. I'm in the process of convincing the band to take me on in that capacity. I spent enough time already trying to teach the singer to pronounce words in a reasonably english sounding fashion.


Overall, the sound doesn't seem to quite "sit" for me. It's like it's nervous or something... It certainly isn't a full, lush aesthetic...it's kind of small and angular.

This is the kind of critique I'm after. Any suggestions to open it up?


Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Tim

Thanks Tim, I appreciate the honest critique, it does help for when I tackle it again Monday (Now after having turned the guitars up and squashing the drums to accomodate, they now want the vocals louder. It's quickly becoming a "more me" mix.)

[Mixerman]

Hey all,

Been a while since I've worked in this genre. Could use some fresh ears. Unmastered. Knives out...

I think you have the drums mixed too loud for this arrangement, mostly because I find them to be a bit boxy. Round. I'm not sure what the best adjective is. None of the instruments have any weight in this mix.

I would mix that piano that's on the left a bit louder. And I'd mix that bass considerably louder. The heavy guitar in the outro is too dark and too soft. Perhaps you could EQ a little punch in the kick. It's a bit pillowy, although it might be alright with a louder bass.

The mix is also in desperate need of stereo buss compression.

Mixerman

[DPower]

Updated mix. Thanks for suggestions. I've tried to implement them and keep the artist's desires intact. I think the drums are better now, bass is up, double tracking on the vox has been refined, and I tried to add some more upper crunch to the dist-guitars at the end. Give a listen, let me know if I've succeeded in improving it at all.

Thanks again.