Castlerock Drive Acoustic Mix

I'm not a technical expert. I can only tell you how I feel about the song from a casual listener's perspective. Typing as i listen.

Guitars sound nice. I really liked it when the female vocals came in. Nice touch. You two sing well together.

I'm expecting something... more... to happen, I guess. The whole song sounds like an intro to a song. This is just my opinion, but if it were mine, I'd bring some light, easy drums and a quiet bass in at :16 or :28. Just something to give it a "total song" feel. Do you plan to add anything to it?

But the biggest thing I've learned from recording and posting music on sites like this is that not everyone wants the same thing out of a song. If this is your vision, it's recorded pretty well. There are some pitchy vocals here and there, but they kind of fit the feel of the song. It has a real college-rock feel that is endearing and fun. Brings back memories of, like, a Violent Femmes song or something like that.

Really enjoyed the tune! My first listen just had me wondering, "when is this going to turn into a song." Doesn't mean it's bad. Just not what I was personally expecting. Thanks for posting!
 
I agree with [MENTION=199744]NerveBag[/MENTION] comments, though I'd spend more time addressing the things that stick out in this mix before even thinking about adding anything, if that's even something you'd want to do.

All comments IMO, of course.

It was hard to tell if you just did a quick fade in of a bigger track or that was really the beginning. The first thing the listener hears is a bit tentative.

The vocals are nice and do work together. But the lead/male (yours I'm presuming) has a number of plosives and general noise around it that suggest maybe a bit too close to the mic and not enough editing to really clean it up. That wouldn't be wasted time here.

And, yes, there's some pitch issues with both vocals. You might get away with just addressing one or the other where it kind of sticks out, and I mean just a single word/syllable here and there kind of thing - not the entire track. (Though, it's always a learning experience - the analysis part - to see whether there's an overall tendency to sing just a little flat, and figure that out in the future.) I'd also probably tinker with a couple timing parts - again, not make every single syllable in sync, but a few.

I liked the song. Please post another!
 
I love this. Like the vocal melodies a lot, and as a fan of low-fi stuff I don't care much about some of the technical complaints others have mentioned. Good work.
 
Nice song, well sung. I agree that it could use a little extra instrumentation to help it along, but if you're happy with the stripped down sound, that's cool too.
 
Ok, well it's a Dashboard-type style, and it could work just vocals and acoustic, sure. But I agree something is missing from it living up to its full potential, and I believe it's the arrangement and performances. Vocals are rather pitchy, female more so in that regard. Guitar sounds good as it is, sure. Nothing wrong with it, it's a nice sounding acoustic guitar mic'd pretty well. But even that is lacking something for holding attention for this tune. Maybe more top shine?

So, I guess I'm saying that yeah everything was recorded well and sounds ok, it isn't the best combination of sounds for this particular mix and what the song is trying to deliver. It's a really good song and catchy, for sure. I also hear a lack of edits in the vocals, as someone else mentioned. The line "together" and "forever" near the end are really out of tune.

I think recapturing the guitar with an emphasis on top end and re-performing the vocals for pitch corrections would help this mix a ton.

Just my thoughts. Good writing.

Did you know "castlerock" was the made up town in Stand By Me? (taken by Stephen King from Lord of the Flies). Rob Reiner used it for the name Castle Rock Entertainment when the company was formed.
 
I'm missing dynamics, the whole thing feels totally static to me.
There's no intro, the guitars just start hammering away with the doubled leads, the female vocals don't add anything unheard yet...
I'd add in some kind of intro, drop the doubles (or the doubler) in the verses, vary the intensity of guitar playing and layer in some harmony vocals during the choruses, arrangement-wise.
And I'd back of compresssion to keep it breathing.
My 2 cents. :-)
 
Re Round 2 : I have to say I like the addition of hand-claps and "fiddle". I think if the "fiddle" had more of
an acoustic fiddle sound, and took on a Celtic flavor, it would be a nice improvement. Something went awry
with the BU vocals at the closing - just fell to pieces. I'm sure that will be an easy fix.

I hadn't commented earlier so.. I also like this song. There. I said it.. ;)
 
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