Track in progress: Hey Dive

I'm working on an instrumental track, titled Hey Dive. I always have trouble naming my instrumental tracks.

This one was named after a headlong dine my wife did in the pool at Calamigos that was so impressive it has etched itself indelibly into my memory. I made most of the track while at Calamigos while the others were at the pool. I simply can't do vacation for more than a few days, then I have to be creative again.

After putting it aside for a few days, I was just listening to it again in the taxi to the airport. Here are my notes for what I want to change about it:

Intro:

• Birds too loud
• Pad more in tune
• Shaker awful ... find another shaker sound
• Fill way too much

Verse/Build:

• Kick too plump
• Snare too sloppy
• Fill and Rise & Hit is too much
• Snare roll too sloppy
• Pluck is awesome!

Drop:

• Pretty good soundscape & groove
• Fills a little on the loud side
• Could have more in the left front side of the mix
• Try carving out midrange EQ space for voices other than the main vocal hook

Arp section:

• 2nd half: Put rim or snare or clap on 2 & 4
• Bass dropping out: Try just highpassing it, or dropping one of the voices

Call & Response section:

• 4th time call lower, let response be the same
• 2nd time response da-da-dum doesn’t work
• Delay on response too heavy
• Response could be a bit more processed

Bridge:

• Try messing with the rhythm of the call & response
• The hats/shakers are a bit much ... one too many sounds, a bit too loud, too much movement?
• Fill a little much

Build:

• Hook comes in a little abrupt ... bring it in filtered in the bridge already
• Bass has a sharp attack on the fourth bar, doesn’t fit
• Fill the style
• Kinda like the organ but doesn’t sit great in the mix
• Beginning of snare roll doesn’t groove
• Could we use a drone to build tension?

Final drop:

• Again, lead hook drowns a bit
• Mid-way fill stops too much ... we want to keep the momentum going
• I like how the snap comes in the last 8 bars
• Hi hat could lose a hit