Need Feedback on a Mix Please!

[Blooby]

One of the things I love about this site is its feel-good nature, but I am asking you to be brutal with your commentary on this. A friend of a friend Google-drived me some files to mix, and this is what I've come up with. This modern RnB is out of my comfort zone, so I need advice. This could actually lead to some more work down the road, so I'm trying my best here.

All 15 of the files were stereo, so I hard panned the main keys and threw a slightly askew copy to the other side for a wider feel.  For others, I just used a panning plug-in on to get rid of the stereo image. There's a couple parts with some ambient effects, most notably on the last syllable. There was no low end, so I put in the midi bass as well as the odd mellow cymbal hit for transitions. The files were all vocals, rendered loops, or rendered midi, so I can't change the instrumentation (other than the aforementioned bass and cymbal liberties). Other than that, I just tried to EQ to keep things out of the way of one another.  The female's vocal dynamics were all over the place (I assume due to being too close to the mic), so I tried to compress without squeezing the heck out of it. Every syllable of hers seemed to have a large plosive. I think I edited every one of her vocal lines to some degree and tried to automate the vocal as much as possible.

I have ear fatigue now, but I am wrestling with drum volume/tone and female vocal levels (especially when she's singing the fast part). Thanks for taking the time.

Administrators, since I only added a few things here and there, I understand if you need to yank this. I need to get it back tomorrow, so I thought it would be quicker to ask forgiveness than permission. No feelings hurt if this doesn't fall under the umbrella of an acceptable post and needs to be pulled.

I will say I really like the guy's voice.

Thanks.

Blooby

[Hook]

I wish I had more time to listen again but I have to get ready for a gig this morning. I like the mix alot, but I'm listening on computer speakers that don't get much low end. I think their voices sound great and sit well in the mix. Drums are tough for me to get right, I think they a little pronounced in the mix but I think to some degree they're supposed to be. That snare sound really doesn't do it for me, I want a little more crash & less thud. I will come back tonight with a set of can and listen again but I'd be pretty happy if you came to me with this!
Rock on!

[Geir]

I only have some cheapish earbuds to listen with right now, but is sounds rather fine to me. It's a bit hard to tell without having the possibility to tweak it myself, but I suspect that the vocals will be even more prominent on speakers and to me they are a tad high already. But, I might have ended up with the same levels as you have if I'd done it myself (but then I tend to get the vocals a bit high )

[Greeny]

Just my opinion.

Overall, it sounds pretty 'right' my ears. It's all nice and clear, and the lack of dynamic changes and instruments in the song isn't your fault!

But... the opening male / vocal parts sound a little bit too prominent. It's weird, because then the female part seems to settle back a bit to a more subtle level. Maybe tweak a bit?

If I was mixing it, I would pan the call-and-response vocal parts hard right and left (have the male and female parts in separate ears), but only on the bits where it goes back and forth between them. Might add some extra interest.

They should pay you to add some nice acoustic noodling on this too!

[Oldrottenhead]

i'm listening on a cheap set of pc speakers and it sounds fab.

some mild critique. it needs some bass guitar to drive it along and perhaps add some contrast. the guys vox i would bring down a tad they do sound more prominent than the woman's vox (which are fabulous). and like greeny sez i would add some noodling.

i would give them two mixes. one with a slight tweak on what you have with the guys vox a touch lower in the mix. then a second mix with the additions i mentioned. it's a great song but imho as a listener not a musician, it plods along a bit and needs some contrasts and dynamics to it's structure. perhaps some bass and guitar could provide that.

but i do like it very much and keep the vocal fade at end that really works for me.

[kenny mac]

It sits well in the mix but from a song point of view it needs a bit of direction.
I can hear strings sweeping in and out and a few things in my head.
It needs a slight bit of oomph ,just enough.
If you think of U2,s song one,it starts with the guitar and then bass ,then the strings sweep in and change the whole dynamic of the song.
Nice vocals from both people and nice song.

[alfstone]

My feelings:

- it sounds someway too much "dry", "empty" if you understand what I mean

- lacks of bass frequencies

- both voices are on the right

- male vox too much prominent

More in general, I would work a lot on the single tracks with specific plug-ins before mixing. THEN mixing is a completely different thing

My 0.00002 dracmas

Alfredo

[Blooby]

Oddly, I added a midi bass because of the lack of low end.  I will boost that.  I'm not comfortable adding any more than I have done instrument-wise, but I like the suggestions that are being put forth for the mix. I listened on the way to work, and the vocals do stick out in spots.

Thank you very much for the suggestions.

Blooby

[bruno]

Its really subjective - I could easily say that its just fine, or the vocals are a little dry (but I like it). One thing, there's not much spread, everything sounds like its in the middle - so perhaps, spread it a little more - but not easy to criticise it cos I really like it :-)

[Farrell Jackson]

Blooby, you've already received input on the things that stuck out to me but my similar suggestions might just verify them a bit more...such as pull the male vox back some and spread out ( left and right) the male/female voices a little more. The drums sound way too dry to me and the kick is kind of thin. They need to be brought up so the snare is just below the female vocal level and add some room ambiance (reverb) to liven them up some. It could also stand a little more bottom but if you give the kick some low end boost, that might do it. Just my opinion from my arm chair but it's a good song. Oops I see you posted this yesterday so as usual, I'm late to the party again 

Farrell