Sensory overload

Sounds good for a guitar demo. I kept expecting a full production to kick in (drums/bass/etc...) but it never happened...

The song sounds well recorded and your singer has a fine voice for this. Good playing. Everything sounded well placed and I didn't hear any eq issues or anything.

Nice job. :)

p.s. I can only listen on cheap speakers, but it sounds good over here.
 
Michael,
I'm not real sure what you're looking for here. But the one thing that hits me first is the guitar tone. The absence of other instruments just leaves it sounding a little thin. The song itself is ok.........just a little anticlimatic. I'm sure with some additional instrumentation and creative production, it could turn out pretty good. Just my first impression, the recording is very good.


bd
 
Its not me singing or playing.
The guy was just looking for a guitar demo. I agree that a more robust production with added instrumentation, particularly drums and bass, could do wonders for this.

The client used some sort of Line6 modeling amp, and a Line6 modeling guitar. He was dead set about going DI with the amp. I could NOT convince him to mike the amp. :(
And he used a set of phones from the amp which killed any room ambience and bleed from the amp to the vocal mike.
So what I end up with on the vocals is, his vocals of course, and the ... raw strumming of an un-amped electric guitar, which I think made it sound thiner than it would have if the amp were miked.

Anyway, he's happy with the rough mixes so far. I think it could have been a lot better by miking the amp. But I guess the customer is always right, huh?

I dunno. My ears are fried right now.
 
Hey, as long as he's happy and he paid his ducketts.....you're both good to go, Right? Like I said, the recording was good! I could tell something wasn't quite right, your post put everything into perspective. Good job.


bd
 
bdbdbuck said:
Hey, as long as he's happy and he paid his ducketts.....
Click to expand...
Yeah, I know, I know. You do the job and you bank the fee.
Nothing wrong with that.
But there's more to it than that. Its about doing the BEST job, and delivering a product that YOU'RE proud of.

-Thanks for the input
 
I wasn't fussy on the sound of both guitars strumming the rythm, the two sounds didn't compliment each other in my opinion.
As a matter of taste I'd like to hear a thinner electric tone or a crisp accoustic. Vocal track sounded pretty good.

Song needs a band or more intimate accompaniment to hold down it's full length.
 
k, I just read the thread, I suspected the guitar tone was something like that but didn't want to say.

I thought It might have been an accoustic track fed thorugh an effects processor to fill out the mix.

Pretty good performance for a solo take.
 
I heard a couple of clicks around 1:35 and 1:43, power source maybe?

I see what you meant by sounding a little muddy from your other thread, is the wav file less muddy? I think this mix could be brighter overall, but if the client likes it, it should be the way it is...


Al
 
That demo would have been better using a mic'd acoustic - no question.

That particular guitar tone *may* work in the context of a full-production (then again maybe not - it's pretty flat and dull!), but as a raw demo it just doesn't have the punch or impact to be effective.

Vocals seemed slightly woolly and also sounds as if he was moving in/out from the mic as he was singing.

If the client absolutely refuses to reconsider the tone, then I think you need to get a little more wild with some realistic ambience on both the gtr/vocals to add a bit of dimension.

At least it's a good clean recording though! ;)
 
Thanks for the input Blue. How do you tactfully convince a client that maybe you know more about getting a good tone than he does??

I'm not going to dwell on this one too much, but for next time, in the future?
 
I usually try and get them to hear the potential excitement by trying to describe it... for example -

"...yeah - that's not bad, but ya know what would really make this jump out? An acoustic guitar... can't you hear it starting quietly, and then building in dynamics and hearing the attack of the strings as you play it harder for the chorus? And then you back away again for the verse... and you get this nice build/slowdown effect that will really capture your expression... it would really "sound!"

By this time, if I've described it well-enough, their own creativity kicks in and they see what I'm getting at and they get excited about the possibility, OR they've got their head up their arse and they flat-out reject it (at which point there's nothing you can do -- but thankfully that hasn't happened too often!)...

The other thing I find I say often is "...listen -- it's completely your decision, but honestly - that part doesn't have the impact I think it could have, what about if you did ___ , etc......"

Both these approaches usually get the client to think about it and reconsider...
 
There's a few gtr chords... some chorus... some lewd lyrics about pulling out his "gun". Hmmm....

Vocals are pretty bad, to be honest... his note choices in the melody are uninteresting... hmmm...

How can we be constructive here....

Recording is clean enough, not much to mix there... "You kiss my finger when it hurts"... the second time that comes in, it's quite loud... maybe some fader riding/compression. Gtr has some fast/fast compression on it now.

Think working on the melody some more would definitely help; changing up the instrumentation from chorus to verse w/some breaks may yield more of a song and less of a wank

Sorry ... trying to be honest here... surely these lyrics mean something to the artist. Suggestions about the melody & arrangement, tho.

Thanks for sharing it. There sure is some scary stuff to go thru out there. You guys who do this for a living have my respect :)


Chad
 
Michael Jones said:
Thanks for the input Blue. How do you tactfully convince a client that maybe you know more about getting a good tone than he does??

I'm not going to dwell on this one too much, but for next time, in the future?
Click to expand...

by just going ahead and improving on his sound. Not to be sarcastic, but if you can "whip around the board" QUICKLY and make "positive" adjustments, you'll demonstrate your abilities without having to be "polite"...so to speak. Even if it is just a lousy "room" reverb sound on a DI source, it may jump out to your client. Trying to negotiate your "better ways" always seems to be the dead end in THIS KIND OF SITUATION, no matter how tactful you try to be. Prove yourself with your actions, not your spoken desires.

..and honestly, this was a pretty run of the mill, plain jane recording, I wouldn't worry too much about maintaining a reputation and trying to make him sound like Leo Kotkee and Barry Manilow. Just do what the dude wants, do YOUR best and move on. Wait for the talent to show up before you start worrying about this and that.
 
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