Hard Rock song- NATION OF ROCK!

Wireneck

New member
Im currently recording this band and I just wanted to get some feedback on the mix so far. Im sure most of you will notice how bad the drummer is. His timing/tempo is all over the place and his hits are incredibly inconsistent. I have been editing what I can within my personal time to make it sound a little better. At the end of the day a better drummer/drum track is the only real solution. The band knows this but has opted to move forward with what they have.
This particular mix is dry (no verb or anything on the drums) and only the scratch Vocal. We will start tracking vocals this weekend probably.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=3299&alid=-1
Nation of Rock

Btw...I didn't play on any of this. I only did the recording.
 
Good spread on the guitar(s)

Drums are a little dead, reverb?

Vocals could be put a little more out front, possibly with a little reverb

The leads need something, they sound sort of dead and mono. Maybe some reverb and floating in back of the tune? They lack salt n pepper. No spice.

The bass at break beginning at 01:04 is too loud, you listen to it instead of guitar, and the bass has nothing to offer.

Not the mix but... this song sounds like it needs harmony vocals. The drummer (as you said) has to try again.

I have listened through headphones via a Roland ua100. I have no idea what it sounds like through the big speakers!

Good work!
Jon
 
Soudns real good Wireneck.
The bass doesnt seem to fit at times although it is a nice bass tone. Maybe use some volume automation on the bass track.
Nice guitars man. Vocals are fine and present but not too up front so the guitars get their chance to rock through.
Not totally digin the kik, but prob the source at fault. Kick actually need alot of compression as the dynamics are all over the place. Could be the drummer though.
Nice work man.
 
Gibson_Eb2d Thanks for taking the time to listen. Most of your comments concerning the dryness and vocals are right on the mark. I pointed that out in my original post.

This particular mix is dry (no verb or anything on the drums) and only the scratch Vocal. We will start tracking vocals this weekend probably.

Thanks for pointing out about the bass. Thats definitely always the hardest part for me, finding the right balance.

Ecktronic thanks for the comments. It definitely seems like I need to bring the bass back in some places. The kick and the drummer was/is a total mess. He would kick real hard on the first beat then let the beater flop against the head and then like the next 2-3 kicks would be nearly in-audible. Its like he only kicked hard on the one downbeat. At any rate thats after i've edited out most of the bad hits. I can't find it in me to reconstruct every single hit etc....Thats what it needs but im just not into that. Its still going to sound screwy regardless IMHO. Thanks again
 
I agree that the bass kinda pops out at times. Not a bad tone to it tho. Overall the whole thing sounds good to me. Once some effects are added in on the drums and leads I could see it getting really good.
The only thing is I hope during final tracking of the vocals, he decides to leave out the puking little "yeaaahs" after the chorus part....haha...it just sounds funny to me. :D
 
Wireneck said:
Im currently recording this band and I just wanted to get some feedback on the mix so far. Im sure most of you will notice how bad the drummer is. His timing/tempo is all over the place and his hits are incredibly inconsistent. I have been editing what I can within my personal time to make it sound a little better. At the end of the day a better drummer/drum track is the only real solution. The band knows this but has opted to move forward with what they have.
This particular mix is dry (no verb or anything on the drums) and only the scratch Vocal. We will start tracking vocals this weekend probably.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=3299&alid=-1
Nation of Rock

Btw...I didn't play on any of this. I only did the recording.

I think your recording is very good. The instruments sound good with good seperation detail and depth. What's sorely lacking is the talent to play them.
 
Metalhead thanks for the listen.

The only thing is I hope during final tracking of the vocals, he decides to leave out the puking little "yeaaahs"

Im pretty sure the guy was just having a good time and trying to be funny. He was laughing after those parts but I cut it out before it made it to the mix. The part made me laugh so I left it in there for the scratch vocal.

Zed10r thanks for listening. I agree that the performance could be better. At the prices I charge I seem to get less than stellar bands. Thats ok with me though becuase I am still learning and I wouldn't exactly say that Im getting stellar results. With a solid drummer this band would already be much better IMHO.

Vspaceboy

overall volume/comp issues.

Do you mean the dynamic issues with the drums? Just making sure I understand what your saying. Thanks for listening.
 
Wireneck said:
Im currently recording this band and I just wanted to get some feedback on the mix so far. Im sure most of you will notice how bad the drummer is. His timing/tempo is all over the place and his hits are incredibly inconsistent. I have been editing what I can within my personal time to make it sound a little better. At the end of the day a better drummer/drum track is the only real solution. The band knows this but has opted to move forward with what they have.
This particular mix is dry (no verb or anything on the drums) and only the scratch Vocal. We will start tracking vocals this weekend probably.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=3299&alid=-1
Nation of Rock

Btw...I didn't play on any of this. I only did the recording.

Decent song. Nothing I can add to help, that hasn't already been stated. Drums aren't horrible, but could use some work. They didn't bother me though. Guitar tone is cool, and sits well. Vocals are good. Not much else, but cool tune. Thanks for posting it, and hope you get things working, as It has some potential.
Ed
 
Wireneck said:
Thanks for pointing out about the bass. Thats definitely always the hardest part for me, finding the right balance.

Me too. Especially in metal.
The bass usually does about the same fretting as the guitar.
It makes it tough.
I had a metal band in here last friday and the bass player played fairly softly with his fingers!

Lol, Theres no way in hell im gonna be able to make his part stick out.

Tried to make him play with a pick too. He couldnt do it.

Oh well.

"Here in the land of demo's......."

-Finster
 
Ok i just listened to the track.


Reverb dude. We need some reverb strapped across a Snare and Toms Bus IMO.

The genre just begs for some Hall type verb.

Also, maybe strap a compressor across that same bus to keep those toms in order, theyre fairly incosistent in attack.

The saving grace for this track is the guitars sound, good job on that.

At first, as the bass n drums come in youre thinking....
"ok everything sounds really dry and dead"
And then the gtrs come in!
Them the song takes a sonic leap forward.

Now that ive heard it the bass just needs some trimming here and there IMO.
Itll fit ok once you eq a bit more i'd bet.

Best of luck.

-Finster
 
(computer speakers)
Good song. Will sound better with finished vox. I especially like the guitar sounds and performance. Nice bass tone too.
I'm not exactly sure why bands put up with mediocre-to-poor drummers. He's OK--just some timing issues. I guess there are only so many drummers with good timing to go around. There's also the 'friend-factor'. It's hard to fire your drummer when he's your buddy.

As a sort of unofficial member of the 'Reverb Police', I think you only need to add a very little bit to the drums. On the other hand, this style usually has audible verb, so you (and me) have to factor that in as well.

Thanks for letting us listen!
 
xfinsterx said:
I had a metal band in here last friday and the bass player played fairly softly with his fingers!

Lol, Theres no way in hell im gonna be able to make his part stick out.

Tried to make him play with a pick too. He couldnt do it.

Yeah, if you can get a bassist to use a pick then it makes our jobs that bit easier to define bass notes in a mix.
Ever tried multiband compression on the bass track? means you can control the lo and hi end seperately.
 
Wireneck said:
Metalhead thanks for the listen.

Zed10r thanks for listening. I agree that the performance could be better. At the prices I charge I seem to get less than stellar bands. Thats ok with me though becuase I am still learning and I wouldn't exactly say that Im getting stellar results. With a solid drummer this band would already be much better IMHO.
Vspaceboy
No thanks needed....I actually feel bad for saying they lacked talent enough to play. I've just been around SOOOO many bands that suck ass I have perma bad attitude. What YOU did as a recording engineer was very good I think. I understand they were dry tracks. As far as accepting less than stallar bands in order to get experience......imagine how good you will be with a great band if you are able to get the ass sucking bands to sound good. :D That should bump up your salary..... :D
 
Wireneck said:
The kick and the drummer was/is a total mess. He would kick real hard on the first beat then let the beater flop against the head and then like the next 2-3 kicks would be nearly in-audible. Its like he only kicked hard on the one downbeat. At any rate thats after i've edited out most of the bad hits.

Well, on the bright side - the drums sound more like Keith Moon than Kenney Jones :D
 
Dogman thanks for the listen and encouragement.

finster thanks for the feedback. The guitarist was a bit of a pain because he just couldn't conceive that I could get a usable tone out of his peavey amp. I made the mistake of mentioning that I owned a nice Marshall and a Mesa head as well as 3 different 4x12 cabs. Of course I wasn't about to lug my stuff somewhere for this dude to play on it (I went and recorded them at their practice space) but he was bound and determined to find a reason not to use that amp. I think it turned out pretty good considering what we used. In the end the guitarist was relatively happy I guess i should mention.
Any suggestions on the bass? I've got it hi-passed around 40 hz i think and theres a boost somewhere around 1000k to bring some extra string noise in.
The drums definitely are still all over the place. In one sense I warned them that this was going to happen because of the way he was playing. I've done some minor editing but I guess I may have to get into it big time. For what the band is paying and what they are planning to do with the final product im not sure its worth it. I guess I need to call them up and see what the general consensus is.
Thanks again

Incanus Definitely the friend factor in this situation. They know the guy blows but im not sure they realize how much. Some of it seemed to be nerves on the drummers part. He would be cool and then the band would get on his case and it would get worse. I did what I could to keep them from ganging up on him and attempted to coax out descent takes. As you can hear Im not the best negotiater haha.

thanks for the listen

Zed10r

As far as accepting less than stallar bands in order to get experience......imagine how good you will be with a great band if you are able to get the ass sucking bands to sound good. That should bump up your salary.....

Well it certainly makes me appreciate the good ones. They all seem to be hanging out in the real studios though. LMAO

Updated with some verb on the drums and mucked with the bass level

same address as original post.
http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=3299&alid=-1
 
Wireneck said:
Any suggestions on the bass?

If eq is failing you then maybe try an overdrive box into some seriously hard limiting. Or alot of times a little overdrive and some nice chorus will pop a bass out too.

-Finster
 
Back
Top