Hi all

I am busy on the Coursera music production course and one of the students offered to mix one of my songs to test out his music production skills. I asked him to start with “Its time (the last farewell)” since this was the first song I started with and the production was shaky to say the least.

So here is my original mix:

https://soundcloud.com/josiec-1/its-time-the-last-farewell

Here is the remixed version:

https://soundcloud.com/josiec-1/its-time-the-last-farewell-1


The tracks are
RealTracks in style: ~700:Bass, Electric, PopHalfNotesPush Ev 085
RealTracks in style: 1856:Cello, Background PopCountry Ev 085
RealTracks in style: 838:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm PopBalladClean Ev 085
RealTracks in style: ~703:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Spirited Ev 085
RealTracks in song: 1145:Fiddle, Background CountrySwing Sw 085 (Outside)
RealDrums in style: NashvilleEven16^5-a:Snare, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride
Any comments on the mix are most welcome.

Hi Joanne,

Gosh! There's a big difference between those two versions. I think you can safely tell your friend that the Coursera studies are working

All the best,
Noel

Joanne,

That IS a huge difference.

You could have done that! You've advanced considerably yourself since "those early days".

The song comes alive with the new production. It's BEGGING for harmonies in all the choruses.....

floyd

Hi Joanne,

yes, the remix adds something to the song.
I agree with Floyd that harmonies would be nice.
I enjoyed listening.

Guenter

Hi Guenter, Floyd and Noel
Thanks so much for listening and for commenting. I will pass the comment about the harmonies onto my colleague. Floyd, I am learning with the mixing. I have really enjoyed the Coursera course and learned all the time. It was nice to get another take on Its time. I had got so used to hearing the violin at the start so it took some getting used to not having it there.
Thanks guys, you are an awesome community.

Hi Jo
These two mixes are worlds apart.
It must be a great course.
A lot more "hwl" (a welsh word meaning Ooomph or something special).
Excellent.
cheers
ian

Hi Ian
Thanks for the comments. Nice to hear from you again!

Terrific Joanne! A full-on commercial mix which gives your song the punch and sheen it deserved. It sounds like some first class application of compression, EQ and limiting in there. The Coursera studies sound worth every penny. These techniques will take your songs to a whole new level.

John

Thanks John
I really appreciate it!
Joanne

Hi, Jo !

I am a little late as I have been busy
doing some covers lately !
I find this tune of yours very sweet
and well sung and produced (I listened to
the second version) ! Just great Jo !

Cheers
Dani

hi joanne wow big difference in mixes awesome job guys thanks eric

I agree with what's already been said. I'll just add the remix is much fuller, really a big sound.

Later,

The remix sounds better. I like the simple production. Losing the fiddle except in the turnaround further in the song worked well.

My biggest nit is that the vocal sounds like it's in a different room from the rest of the mix. It doesn't feel like it's as big a part of the mix as it needs to be.

BTW: you sound a bit like Joan Baez..... folk singer from the 60's war protest days.... that works for the song & style.

Work on getting the vocal to set better in the mix.

Hi Dani, Danny, Eric and Herb. Thanks for listening and for your kind comments. Herb. I will pass your comment onto my colleague. My feeling is that there is too much reverb on the vocal, especially when the vocal first comes in. Thanks for the comment comparing me to Joan Baez, she is one of my inspirations so that is a big compliment.
Regards

When I record vocals, I tend to keep them dry in the track and I want the level to be high enough that it is heard well. In your case, I'd increase the vox gain a few db or so....

At times I will use a slight....very slight reverb on the vocal but it's generally so low you really can't hear it and then rely on the reverb on the entire project located in the master output bus to provide the reverb to sort of blend the entire mix together.

In some cases, there is not separate reverb on the vocal at all. I seem to recall this is one of those examples>>> http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11903190

Try running the main vox dry in the track and bump the level a bit and see what that sounds like. Let the reverb happen in the master bus.

Thanks Herb. I will pass the information on.

Hi Joanne.

The re-mix is certainly a bigger sound and a massive change from the original, but there are just a couple of things I preferred in the original.

In the re-mix I thought that the acoustic rhythm had become a bit harder and electric sounding and that it was more natural in your mix. The other thing is my pet hate of the "instrument in each ear" panning routine. It sounds better on the main monitors, but a bit strange in the 'phones.

Interesting to hear the difference, though.

ROG.

Hi Roger.

Thanks so much for this. I do agree on acoustic guitar at the begining. It took some getting used to as well, as I was used to hearing the fiddle. I will ask him to have a look at the guitar.

I also agree on panning. Since your comments to Floyd on how you pan the delay and not the actual instrument it has got me thinking.

I will pass this information on.
Regards

Joanne,

Wow! What a massive difference! Good job, well done. You are certainly learning in this course. I find that I learn something(s) on every mix I do.

As to the reverb and panning suggestions, there are some very good tips there. But to me, the reverb is only slightly too noticeable at the very onset of your vocals. After that, I didn't think there was too much reverb. I've been listening to some George Strait lately (pretty much required by law here in San Antonio, TX area), and a lot of what I hear in his productions have some pretty hard pans.

For different genres, there are different "patterns" of mixing styles. Not rules, but patterns - if you listen to records from year to year, you will hear these patterns change. Everyone will have their own personal tastes/likes/dislikes. On some of my songs I will have quite a bit of reverbs/delays on my vocals. If you solo the vox, they are quite noticeable, but in the mix you really don't notice it. On some of my songs, I will have some pretty hard panning. (Like Rog has suggested, I will usually have some delays/reverbs panned opposite, offsetting the hard pan, giving a fuller sound, if only subliminal.

I think the key is to not be too extreme, so that the effects become the centerpiece of the song (unless you truly intend for the effects to be the centerpiece of the song).

One of our members has a signature that says "if it sounds good, it is good". To me, though it may not be perfect, this one sounds good! Thanks for sharing it.

Steve

Hello All,

I just wanted to register here and say THANK YOU for all the positive feedback on the work I did with Joanne's song! It really does warm my heart!!! Being a producer/mixer/master is something that I definitely want to do with my life besides being a pro-musician. I only have been doing it for a couple of years now with just my own stuff and decided to branch out when enrolling on the Courera class. Again, THANK YOU SOO MUCH FOR THE POSITIVE FEEDBACK! And thank you Joanne for giving me the opportunity to have a crack at one your song. I will work some more with the harmonies as mentioned, and try the panning ideas. Thanks!!

Much Love!

Dariel

www.soundcloud.com/darielalmeida

Nice!

Hi Steve
Thanks so much for your very thoughtful comments. I do agree that the reverb is bit much when it first comes in.

Dariel...my colleague..thanks for dropping by to comment. I am really looking forward to hearing the next version.

Mivision..thanks for commenting.

To all: the coursera courses are completely free and well worth the effort. I did the songwriting one and now the music production. I did half of Gary Burton's jazz improvisation but it was a bit beyond me. There are lots of up and coming courses that I am interested in. Drop by and have a look www.coursera.com