Appreciate thoughts on the mix
This is a young lady named Bree DeMoss, whom I met through some mutual acquaintances. Found out that Bree writes and sings her own songs, plays piano and guitar too. I was really taken by her voice. This song was an acoustic guitar demo she had posted at her Web site and I thought it would be fun to work up a full production for it. On this version, I did all the instrumentation (some live, some programmed) and sent it to her to add vocals. Not sure that this is a final mix, but it’s too good not to share.
Bree Demoss (and me) - “Highway”
You can hear the original version and other songs at Bree’s Web site.
Bree’s music page
wow, awesome voice! and a really good song too.
i listened and compared the two versions of this song. what i REALLY like about the new ver is the harmonies. the guitar on the original was out of tune… BUT you’re probably not going to like this: i kinda like the natural sound/feel of the original better. the new recording is a bit busy and synthentic sounding in comparison (i think the snare in the verses is what bugs me). just my personal taste.
even though that original guitar is a bit detuned, i’m a sucker for a good song in it’s rawest form.
i’ll probably listen to more of her demos. thanks for posting.
I’m not shure if it’s my speaker system but it sounded “overloaded” in high frequencies, specially the “sss” and the cymballs.
The reverb (maybe because of the high frequencies) sounded artificial.
Because of that it was difficult to me to have one correct idea of instruments and vocal positioning inside the song and to provide you with a better comparision with the original one.
Thanks for the replies. This new mix isn’t quite the way I wanted to finish it. I sent out the backing track and got back a mixdown with vocals, but the vocals were disproportionately loud. Preferably I had wanted just the vocals sent to me, so I could integrate them into the mix in a more balanced fashion. Instead this was what was available to work with, so to compensate, I used some compression, limiting and an exciter to try to even things out a little, but as you can hear with limited success.
I’m not concerned with trying to compare this mix with Bree’s original. These are going to be two much different types of recordings. You’re welcome to compare the musical arrangements if you’d like. What I’m mostly interested in is seeing if the general mix of the new version sounds okay or not. What are some obvious mixing or recording things that might need attention. My thanks to anyone who wants to provide some feedback.
Hi
Once again, I like to song and the lady can sure sing. I agree that the new mix is a bit overloaded and synthy, perhaps the song needs a more minimalist interpretation to complement its delicate nature?? I wasnt too keen on the drums sounds either really, a bit artificial for my taste. I think you have some good raw material to work with though so stick at it. I would steer away from that lush celine dion type production and just let the performance shine though. Just my preference really…some people like the grand stuff.
Best of luck, and please post again when you have a finished piece.
I appreciate the replies and I don’t want this to sound wrong, but there was already an acoustic version of the song, so the effort was to do something different with the arrangement. Wouldn’t have been much point in just redoing the unplugged version of the song. I guess if it can compared to a Celine Dion type of production, then I was somewhat successful in what I was trying to do. At this point, this may be as finished as the song is going to get because of some other obligations that have come up. Thanks again for the replies and listens.
Wow! Her voice sounded WAAAY better in your mix. Dynamite, Indeed you accomplished a fairly whole new take on the song, although I agree it’s a little overloaded -a lot going on at once in there. I would have liked her version more if the quality of the recording was better.