You Don`t Love Yourself

Hi there ,here`s a track done in cubase,written by my mate Richard Richie (rich) he did the bass the drums and keyboards and sent me that stereo file pre mixed for me to put on some guitar and vocals sung by Charlotte ,i then mixed the lot in cubase 8.5,any advice would be appreciated thanks

I liked the production a lot, it sounds well balanced. The vocals are good and the first guitar solo is fine too. I think there is some stray note on one of the guitar chords right in the beginning of the song, sounds like chord isn’t quite right (I would re-record that part, because the intro is so important). The second guitar solo sounds a bit problematic to me. In my opinion the solo is happening a bit too much in the background and I feel that it also lacks in focus. To me it sounds like the first guitar solo you planned/composed and the second one is based more on free improvisation. Maybe you could try building up the second solo more towards the end or have some more repeating/varied themes there and mix it more upfront.

thanks for your reply hko and thanks for the good remarks and the criticism,youll have to point out exactly where the bum note is on the intro, i might have a suspect but youll have to confirm it for me.The ending like you say was a bit of a problem, i did three solo`s in total the first was too flash the second was was less flash and the third was no flash ,i quite enjoy listening to the third but yes i should maybe try again .thanks

Listened to the intro again, I suppose you play octaves in the very beginning on the guitar. I think the F# you play at around 0:06 does not sound clean. The higher note seems to be off.

Maybe just try first mixing the latter solo more upfront.

Hi hko ,i think the note you were talking about was a G# which was a suspended 9 so i resolved it back to F#, i didnt replay it i just chopped it where the chord stabs on the beat and pitch shifted it down a tone ,see what you think and ive raised the volume and brightend up the last solo a bit maybe a bit too much ,it is going through the guitar plugin amp rack marshall ,i recorded the guitar direct so the tone is a bit iffy lol thats my excuse.

I think both the intro and the second guitar solo are better now. How about reducing the reverb a little on the latter guitar solo? Or maybe use a bit smaller reverb space?

Hi hko thanks for showing interest ,it was a delay in the amp rack plugin i had put it before the distortion in the chain so it was a dirty kind of echo which i like but anyway i took it off to see what its like .I also brought out some rock guitar chords on the last chorus to see if it lifts it anymore but it might give it too much cliche. thanks

I think the sound of the final solo is much better now.

Hi,
A high level production, well done. Good playing and singing. Ii’s groovy and a complex tune to mix and a lot of choices to be made.
Also a matter of personal style and taste. So giving a some valuable feedback is difficult.
For me the piano is a little upfront in the mix ( despite its nice voicings) and has a different ambience , i would like the smooth guitar licks to be heard a little better, the song is really nice when there is a lot of space ( opening in the arrangement) . On my mac speakers the low end could use a little more ( maybe not on headphones , i did not try) The bass lines are great.
regards Peter

Ah, nice stuff, Polgara. I really like the jazzy sounding guitar solo. And the vocals. The mix sounds great to me. A great production.

Thanks hko

Thanks for the listen and nice compliments Peter,i agree with you about the keys but there`s nothing i can do with the keyboards because i was sent the bass, drums and keyboards on a single stereo file. i feel the attack is way too heavy on them ,he maybe quantized the whole volume of the keys i aree with you about the bass lines ,he always comes up with killer bass lines,thats his main instrument.

thanks Leon

The song sounds fantastic.
I’m very impressed with the playing skill of all the musicians involved. And the overall sound of the song nails that funk/modern r&b style.

I listened to some of the other tracks you’ve posted. There is a lot of amazing lead guitar playing on the rock tracks. I’d almost think you hired Guthrie Govan as a session player for them, but I know that for every guitar hero whose name we all know, there are a lot of others who have amazing talent and don’t attain that level of fame. Nicely done!

He’s famous to me!

thanks That70srocker,thanks for liking the song and thanks for the wonderful comments,ill certainly tell the other guys. I went to see Dweezil Zappa in Manchester ,England a few years ago and guess who was guesting for about half an hour on guitar...Guthrie Govan , i was blown away the whole band was amazing, they were doing the Frank Zappa tribute set, ill tell you mate theres no way im a patch on Guthrie but thanks for the compliment anyway ,im getting more into fingerstyle acoutic guitar nowadays . thing is its even harder than how i used to play flat pick electric, lol.

Beautiful playing by you and the rest of the band. Your guitar solo was awesome. Great production also. My only issue is with the singer. She’s really pitchy throughout the whole song.
You’ve got a lot of delay on her voice and I don’t think that’s helping either. She has nice tone but you might think about some subtle pitch correction on her.

Thanks iluvstrats ,thanks for all the nice comments ,as regards the vocals yes ill look at the delay it does sound a bit ott lol ,as regards the vocal pitchy ness i gonna leave that cause it s natural and thats how shed do it live maybe even better or maybe even worse .in the past i have spent lots of time correcting out of tune vocals of people who just shouldn`t be singing. i recently heard a bit of live footage of don felder singing and he was going through a pitch correction fx it makes it sound like their life depends on it,what are they afraid of , very sad.

I agree with all of the kudos you’ve gotten on your own parts added to this, and I’m sure many would like the entire vibe this projects, but I also agree with Iluvstrats about the vocalist. On a tune like this, that’s what’s going to make or break a tune for a listener, and much of that will always be subjective. I’m sure many would like how she presented this, but I found it hard to get through it all happily.