I'm a punk who's written a pop song.

Bubba po

Bubba po

Tiny Stonehenge Moment
The song is called "Lifeline (Yellow Allegro Man)", and is one of my few attempts to write and record something tuneful. :D

Caution - may be slightly cheesy; in case you were wondering, the "Yellow Allegro" refers to a crappy British-built car that was ubiquitous in the late 1970s in England. A low-rent dungheap of a car. :D

The song was recorded on a small Boss BR-800 free-standing digital multitracker, using the onboard rhythm box and stock guitar sims. I intend to record it again with a real drummer,

Comments good or bad, please. :)

https://soundcloud.com/bubba_po/lifeline-demo
 
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Not too bad for how it was recorded. I'd like more clarity and separation. It does sound kind of all smashed together. I really struggle to make out the vocals. I like all the guitar bits, but again, a little more clarity and separation would help I think.
 
If you pulled the guitar back a bit, left the vocals where they are, I think this start to sort itself out. I am a big believer in using the full stereo field, to Greg's point, spread some love across the stereo field.

Pretty good recording and tune. I was surprised it was much better than description made it out to be.
 
Greg_L said:
Not too bad for how it was recorded. I'd like more clarity and separation. It does sound kind of all smashed together. I really struggle to make out the vocals. I like all the guitar bits, but again, a little more clarity and separation would help I think.
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Absolutely, Greg, my wife said exactly the same thing! I think that because I know the words, I have a biased perception of whether they're clear or not, so pulled the vocals too far back out of embarrassment! The lead guitar is interfering with the vocal track, too - which has been picked up on by....

DM60 said:
If you pulled the guitar back a bit, left the vocals where they are, I think this start to sort itself out. I am a big believer in using the full stereo field, to Greg's point, spread some love across the stereo field.

Pretty good recording and tune. I was surprised it was much better than description made it out to be.
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I think you're spot on, there. Too much ambience on the vocals, too. I'll bear that in mind for the next recording. There are issues with the composition, too. I think the bridge vocal should come before, not after, the guitar break, plus I'd like the guitar break a little longer, with a better lead-in. Not a fan of long solos, though!

Both comments are very appreciated. :thumbs up:
 
DM60 said:
Of course you're not, you're a punk. Punks hate that sort of stuff. :D
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Don't tell that to The Toy Dolls. Olga will play most rock guitarists right out of their pants. El Jefe from NOFX too. Great guitar players....punk rockers.
 
Greg_L said:
Don't tell that to The Toy Dolls. Olga will play most rock guitarists right out of their pants. El Jefe from NOFX too. Great guitar players....punk rockers.
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I was always under the impression the whole punk scene was against that over the top, long "guitar god" embellishment of the music. I.E., Jimmy Page, Roger Waters, the whole 70's anthem rock scene.
 
DM60 said:
I was always under the impression the whole punk scene was against that over the top, long "guitar god" embellishment of the music. I.E., Jimmy Page, Roger Waters, the whole 70's anthem rock scene.
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That's true. Punk music generally rebelled against those pathetic rock dinosaurs that sucked everything good out of rock and roll and turned it into over indulgent shit. Not so much Jimmy Page, but bands like Pink Floyd, and Yes, and ELP, and ghastly awful 70s shit like that was the very reason punk got started. And thank God for that. My comment was more about solos in general. Tons of punk music used guitar solos. Tons of punk players could actually play very well. And the ones that couldn't unfortunately got famous for being stupid and outrageous.
 
DM60 said:
Yea, I noticed that, you're a punk and you play pretty damn good. (See what I did there?):p
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Lol. Thanks, I think.

A lot of metal and hard rock bands do punk covers....and it never goes well. Metallica doing the Ramones is about the worst thing I've ever heard. You just have to be wired a certain way to do it well. Theoretically, punk music is generally very simple at heart, but it can be very difficult for some people, even great players, to pull it off.
 
Greg_L said:
Lol. Thanks, I think.

A lot of metal and hard rock bands do punk covers....and it never goes well. Metallica doing the Ramones is about the worst thing I've ever heard. You just have to be wired a certain way to do it well. Theoretically, punk music is generally very simple at heart, but it can be very difficult for some people, even great players, to pull it off.
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As an example to your point, I remember once I read that John Bohnam couldn't do a reggae beat. Some people aren't wired a certain way. Often I think like you are saying, if you don't get it at the base level (feeling it), it comes off all wrong. I think ability is only one part of music. Feeling is as important (maybe even more) than just ability.
 
DM60 said:
As an example to your point, I remember once I read that John Bohnam couldn't do a reggae beat. Some people aren't wired a certain way. Often I think like you are saying, if you don't get it at the base level (feeling it), it comes off all wrong. I think ability is only one part of music. Feeling is as important (maybe even more) than just ability.
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Yeah I think so. It's gotta be believable. It has to be genuine. Anyone faking their way through any style that doesn't suit them usually doesn't go over too well. Celine Dion doing that AC/DC song was just atrocious.
 
Greg_L said:
Yeah I think so. It's gotta be believable. It has to be genuine. Anyone faking their way through any style that doesn't suit them usually doesn't go over too well. Celine Dion doing that AC/DC song was just atrocious.
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Yea, kind of funny I don't think I could even look at that.

It is like those two cello players (in period costumes) doing an AC/DC song. They had the attitude and it (at least to me) worked.
 
DM60 said:
Yea, kind of funny I don't think I could even look at that.

It is like those two cello players (in period costumes) doing an AC/DC song. They had the attitude and it (at least to me) worked.
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Just spent an hour and a half watching a pretty amazing couple of cellists with an outstanding drummer waking up a bunch of stiff Russians.
 
Back to the music at hand... Good song and really good performance (except drums lol)

I agree with a previous comment that this is much better than let on to be; mix-wise. I'm on headphones and thought the bass was a tad too much. I think bringing it down could bring the vox out better and provide some definition. But, again, headphones, so who knows.

Enjoyed the listen. Interested in hearing with a real drummer.
 
I think the constant running guitar melody competes with the vocal a lot, not sure if lowering it or EQing might help on that. On the song itself, the repeating chorus line is a bit monotonous, could use some more lyrics (a hook only works when it isn't hidden in among a ton of similar hooks!)
 
I liked it, but I agree that the guitar line during the vocal is kind of burying the vocal and making it hard to understand the words. The lead guitar tone, on the solo, sounds very processed. Good song and performance.
 
1st post link
The vox seemed buried - what effects have you thrown on them? Ditch 'em & try again.
With some tweaking this'd be very TRB2. they had a very good punk pop sound.
 
Hi, all. Thanks for all your input, I agree with pretty much everything that's been said, especially dropping the volume of the lead guitar line. The only processing on the vocal is too much reverb and it's too low in the mix. I'll bear all this in mind for the final recording. This first attempt was to get some idea of how all the bits that were in my head might fit together, and so my son can learn it and write and play the drums on the final rcording. Jimi, none of the lead guitar Amp sims on the recorder are very good sounding, I just picked the nearest to what I needed in order to get them down. All the guitar tracks will be recorded with a mic'd cab eventually.

I'm on my holidays in Portugal right now, so I'll get back to it in about a week! :D
 
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Bubba po said:
Hi, all. Thanks for all your input, I agree with pretty much everything that's been said, especially dropping the volume of the lead guitar line. The only processing on the vocal is too much reverb and it's too low in the mix. I'll bear all this in mind for the final recording. This first attempt was to get some idea of how all the bits that were in my head might fit together, and so my son can learn it and write and play the drums on the final rcording. Jimi, none of the lead guitar Amp sims on the recorder are very good sounding, I just picked the nearest to what I needed in order to get them down. All the guitar tracks will be recorded with a mic'd cab eventually.

I'm on my holidays in Portugal right now, to I'll get back to it in about a week! :D
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Yeah, I just opened t he thread, listened, and posted my comment before actually reading your initial post saying it was all sims. Sorry bro
 
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