Dancing with Debbie - A Work in Progress

[Chaps]

I've been fiddling with this one for months. Lots of things in it I am not happy with but can't seem to get it right. Maybe someone could offer a suggestion that will create an epiphany for me and help me on my way. All comments welcome.

https://soundclick.com/song/15155752

Edited Monday at 01:48 AM by Chaps

[Larry T.]

Nice melodies arranged really well. Dreamy vibe that grabs the listener right off. The vocal sounds good a bit up front, the way you have it. Nice chorus kicks in about 2:30. Nice guitar solo's. Nice fade on the outro.

I'm hearing the right channel a lot louder than the left for the first minute or so. The balance gets a bit better around 2:00. I think the song needs work on the mix levels and stereo balance. A bit of work on the instruments EQ'ing as well. The drums all seem to be panned 80% right. Really cool song. Enjoyed it.

[Chaps]

Thanks for the listen and the comments. For sure the snare drum is much too bright. I have four drum synths playing the snare part (pretty much everything except the vocal and the Desolate Guitars Fragment part in the beginning is being played with multiple instruments with minor variations in MIDI velocity and placement) and just a minor change in the balance can have major consequences in the sound. I wish I had listened to the exported file before I uploaded it or I would have redone the mix before posting. I know the panning is off but that was a conscious decision that probably didn't work the way I wanted it to. The guitar solo, or as I think of it, the interlude, over the verse is made up of me playing the same part six times as well as being doubled by two synths playing the same line. I spent a lot of time on that and I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. I always have a hard time mixing my vocals. Maybe because I'm too focused on getting the lyrics across instead of how it blends in. 

Thanks again for your comments and I will keep all of them in mind when I get back to that project. It is still very much a work in progress.

[KSband]

Agree with Larry's comments. I would use less reverb to tighten things up. It seems like the instruments are all very close in frequency so they mush together a bit. Like the song though.

[Chaps]

Thanks for the listen and the comments. For sure there is a lot going on in there and I have been having trouble balancing separation and the dream-like quality I am trying to express. Maybe I should stop listening to so much Hope Sandoval and Mazzy Star.

[Wookiee]

Can confirm channel imbalance, which is present throughout the entire song, sorry probably a good song just needs  the mix tweaking.

[Chaps]

1 hour ago, Wookiee said:

Can confirm channel imbalance, which is present throughout the entire song, sorry probably a good song just needs  the mix tweaking.

Thanks for the listen and comments. Yeah, I've already been working on addressing those issues as well as other things in there that are bothering me about the mix. I'm also working out an outro guitar solo while trying to improve my guitar playing technique that is currently inadequate to perform that solo. Those years of not playing guitar after almost cutting my left hand in half in an industrial accident have really affected my ability to play the things I hear in my head. I didn't do any singing during those years either and that vocal track really reflects that. It was just a scratch vocal anyway so I'm going to work on improving that as well.