I exported the song tonight to Live and added the extra space I wanted in between the first chorus and the third verse. Did a bit of primary mixing and panning and some volume editing to add a bit of shape to the song. I also pulled back the twinkly music box guitar until I can retrack it with more clarity.
Here is version 1b of “King Hippo.”
[audio:https://hellocomein.com/soundbox/hellomusic_mike/KingHippo_v1b.mp3]Things I still need to do:
1) retrack vocals to be more clearly defined melodically, the chorus catchier sounding and still in tune while still maintaining the spirit of the cracked grittiness. it would be nice to have a female vocal line here harmonizing.
2) retrack a bit of the music box guitar trying not to overuse. slide guitar also?
3) add some pianos and keyboards and general fullness to the song’s instrumentation
4) perhaps some drums from Greg? some bass from Aryn? perhaps some other instrumentation I am not thinking of here?
5) anything else besides general mixing and mastering of the overall sound? that distorted peak in the middle could use some better orchestrating.
UPDATE 4\24: Made some changes. You will notice that I pulled the vocals out for now since I plan on retracking. Also added some drones of synths and organs here but I might pull those back down in the mix as they seem a bit too hot.
Thoughts on version 2?
[audio:https://hellocomein.com/soundbox/hellomusic_mike/KingHippo_v2_novox.mp3]