Ok. Have a listen. Abandoned at the point that I think it says what it needs. If you like it, great. If not, well then you have all the answers you seek (at least from me) https://soundcloud.com/pbissell/domm-bissell-mix

Paul, that really sounds fantastic! Especially the solo and the bass guitar - I have a million questions but have to go right now. Thanks a lot for doing that :) cc

OKay here are some questions about the mix you did, Paul. yes it is my song, btw - wrote it in early 2011. I entered an acoustic version into John Lennon songwriting contest but it did not rate. I was gutted. can I have a copy - if not - is the sound cloud link permanent and can i link to it from my blog at cows tongue.com? did you play the bass guitar? it was much better than my midi controller attempts and sounds fantastic In the break between verses 1 and 2 - how did you get that sound with the rhythm guitars? like an old radio? What did you do with the guitar solo? Or how did you make it sound so good? What I hear is increased volume and more reverb but I suspect there's more to it than that. My brother will be very impressed - he was saying that that part should be more aggressive and I just didn't know how to do it. Regarding mixing/ panning/ volume levels did you see anything that you thought was done very badly on my part?

I wrote down everything. Everything. I pushed play and while I listened, I just started to type my thoughts as they arrived. I always approach things like this with a single question "What do I hear?" That is most important - i don't 'look' at the project. i don't care how the sound was made, I just care about the sound. Then if I hear something that isn't what I wanted to hear I think "If this was my mix, what needs to change?" I organized that document in chunks that made sense from an organizational standpoint and included comments about the sound of the raw tracks, the processing used, and then how you brought it all together. The final part just says what I did and why. I would bet there are LESS plug-ins used on my version. So.... if you want I can upload it here so that anyone who wants to A/B the two versions we linked to on this thread can follow it, or I can send you privately the notes. Your call - let me know. By the way, the song has really grown on me. The lyrics - especially the bridge - have excellent imagery. And while the title and subject matter could be given a once over, there is enough 'meat' there to make it work. (IMHO) Paul

Wow! I will interested to read it. Sure - you can upload it here - that's fine with me. I'm glad the song is growing on you. FYI my brother hates the bridge. I think the title is pretentious but aside from that, I'm happy with the lyrics. Christian (Hasdrubal)

Ok. Here is the running dialogue of my mind :) I hope that the words and comments are read as "friendly conversational" and not demonstrative or anything like that. It wasn't meant to be an article, just quick reactions and gestures as they came. I didn't mention your question above. The filtered guitar sound was whatever the EQ was on the guitar plus a huge hi pass around 500Hz and a low pass around 4K or so. Some would call this a "telephone voice" sound. It just needed something before the guitars came back in. Yes - download the song. its yours not mine :) Again, the mix was abandoned once I thought the gist was secure and the obvious issues solved. Details, like diamonds are forever. That is pretty much your bass part. I learned the notes you played and rerecorded the part 'through' your notes; if an extra note was needed or whatever it was played. [url]http://www.gofishmusic.com/DOMM%20Impressions.pdf[/url]

This is really excellent. Can I reply right here on the forum - quote some of your notes and answer them? I'll assume I can but it will take me a day or two. It will be a long post though so if this is discouraged can someone let me know? Paul, thanks again! That is exactly what I needed. cc

Christian, it's very much encouraged :) Paul - incredible attention to detail. Thank you!!

If Rounik says its good, its good. Can't wait! Paul

Okay - I'm quoting Paul's comments here [i]"I hope that the words and comments are read as "friendly conversational" and not demonstrative..."[/i] Of course. Paul has obviously worked hard with my song and his criticism is constructive and helpful. I am very grateful for this. I'll be going over everything he wrote and did with a view to making a better mix than my first try. [i]"[b]First Impressions:[/b] Wow, this is a loud mix for such an easy going tune. Why? Its very effected for sure, but it has a vibe that I like. Old school in a new way. The voice is really forward and intense from 500hz to 1.5K. Those guitar string squeaks. Ouch. That is a lot of low end – is that why the loop doesn’t sound cohesive? There is something about the rawness that I really dig and don’t want to lose whatever I do. Keep it simple. That guitar bend is too flat. “Nails on a chalkboard” – I can kind of hear that. It really pushes on such a simple tune. "[/i] The mix is loud because I thought it was the thing to do at the end of mixing. I'll be careful this time to ease up a bit on that. I would not have spotted the voice EQ thing, but agree it is forward and intense. Probably I was too close to the mike and also mixed it loud. I will look at the vocal's EQ as well tho' I despair because, to me, EQ is tougher than Barbie's math class. The guitar bend is off – I need to re-record it, along with the vocals and acoustic guitars [i]"Taking a look and listen: OMG – there are EIGHT plug-ins on the master bus. The Gain plug in isn’t doing anything so I bet was used to check it for mono compat. I would have put that last in the chain after the other stereo-ness junk. Hmmm, he has the MultiMeter BEFORE the Directional Mixer which is widening the mix. Therefore, as the phase starts to get mucked up with the DirMix, it won’t show up on the MultiMeter’s correlation meter. Assuming that is why it is there. But wait, there is a second MultiMeter at the end of the plug-in chain! Ah ha. Ok this one is post Multipressor, Direction Mixer, Exciter (eek), and an AdLimiter. What was the first MultiMeter for? Let me bypass all the plugs and take a listen. Hmmmm, it gets a lot warmer and the squeaking guitars aren’t as squeaky. Too exciter excited? God knows I’ve binged too hard before. But when it’s bypassed there are some good qualities of the mix that go away as well, so I will have to revisit that. "[/i] I blame Logic's 'Final Hip Hop' preset and my dependence on it. This will be the first of many examples of my using effects presets and mix presets without “looking at” what they are doing. DirMix and Exciter will go and if I use the Gain, I will try and make sure I know why. [i]"[b]Backstory and low end:[/b] I have a system with NS10s and a subwoofer. The subwoofer handles 80Hz on down. I can monitor with just the NS10s, just the subwoofer, or both. I check to see what is in the subwoofer. Mostly a lot of kick. A huge whole heck of a lot. " [/i]I have $70 Samson RH600 headphones and $40 Logitech speakers ($25 tin ears).