Great collaboration.
The vocal is a little strident and could be EQ'd to deal with that, (some where between 750Hz & 1.2Khz), though it might also be the result of limiter clipping - it's a hot mix.Lots of dunamics - so not brickwalled or crushed but HOT.
Shigeki's strings are cool & inventive as always, Marty's bass is solid with the right notes in the right places and cool phrasing, Deej's voice and expression are always a joy.
Very cool song Andi.
The backstory made me think I was reading a Justanoldmuso post for a moment but it didn't end in caveats so was refreshing.

Lyrically the "...I'm still loving..." bothers me as it suggests impermanence or, even worse, a situation that'll change if circumstances don't suit the narrator.
That's just me grinding against modern idioms like impermanent verbs and "being there".

The whole mix is solid though the rhythm section does come in quite strongly & suddenly plus the rim shot is really loud and dominant.

The intro sound FX were, to me, vaguely amusing/ominous given that The Maldives is slowly, but inexorably, being inundated by rising sea levels.

I came back to listen again as it's a sweet song. I tried to tame the distortion/clipping and the rim shot with EQ across the stereo mix.
It was interesting that with everything flat and no gain it popped into the red a fair bit. with the EQ subtraction it wasn't as often so the unpleasant sounds may be in the player rather than the mastering but the high level would cause that in most players until the volume is reached for. I've inserted an image of the EQ I used. The deep notch for the rim shot is over doing it but all I could do in a stereo mix...in the mixing project it's be a simple level thing I assume.


Attached Files (Click to download or enlarge) (Only available when you are logged in)
paradise.JPG (34 KB, 982 downloads)
Last edited by rayc; 07/18/22 05:30 PM.
Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe