The Suffering Of Aiden - alternative rock track

andrushkiwt

Well-known member
Hey everyone, can I get a mix check?

Looking back, I would turn the gain down on all the guitars by a hair. I've wondered if the verse/intro guitars would be better clean, but I originally wanted a touch of darkness/cold/chilling-gain on them. Not sure if they came off that way.

Are we punchy? Good dynamics? Let me know what you think, please.



I took awhile on the black hills,
it took awhile for me to think.
From way up there I saw the whole world.
I thought I knew you.

Slipping on the weathered concrete,
losing patience in my room,
back and forth, away and resting,
I thought I knew you.

Of all the places I've been looking over,
there you were...

The suffering of Aiden, I can move you -
I see right through you -
The sun breaks your love.

Scattered rays of the sunshine,
a sacrifice we made too soon.
When down is up and up is testing,
I thought I knew you.

I never met somebody all alone,
you never cared at all.
 
First, great vocals. I wonder if they shouldn't couldn't come up some. (See if others agree, borderline)
Guitar distortion could be dialed back a hair, just seem over saturated to my years.
A little more thump in the bass.

Great performance, great energy, very good mix, if you notice most of my comments really were more on the production side. That is a first class song I could see playing on mainstream rock.alternative. Really good sound.
 
Man, dude. You can sing, serious. This song is a pop/metal anthem.
The bass has a great tone but is just a bit loud in the verses. It's great in the choruses.
That guitar in the beginning has that Vox fizz on top that I so desperately try to keep in check....
The fade out at the end makes me jealous...I never have the patience to let my notes hang out that long, and even when I do, I fade them quickly because artistically they never sound as good as this one does.
This is the whole package, man. The voice, the guitar playing. Good writing. The drums are great. Are they programmed? and more importantly, Are you still mixing in CANS???? This is REALLY good. I love this song.
 
Guitar distortion could be dialed back a hair, just seem over saturated to my years.

I agree. Wish I had the patience to go back and change it all. :) I bet the whole sound would be cleaned up nicely. Thanks for the listen and comment dude
 
This sounds more refined than the versions I heard before. I get the comment that the bass is loud, but personally I like it. The rhythm guitars seem lower than before, which is a good thing. It lets the lead parts be heard better, and gives the vocal space without needing to be overly loud. All in all, the levels are right on for me. Good song and performances as always.
 
The drums are great. Are they programmed? and more importantly, Are you still mixing in CANS????

Yes, programmed. Superior Drummer with, mostly, the Rock Warehouse kit and some exceptions. I took A LOT of time writing those drums out. Probably two weeks and some changes up until mix down time. Played around with which cymbals sounded best during each part, moving each hit by hand before and after the time line (a more detailed "humanize", i guess).

And yeah, Sens HD280's. I check the mix every other day in my car. Make mental notes, then back to the headphones. Repeat for 3-4 weeks. lol.
I need monitors.

Thanks so much for the listen and kind words. Glad you like it. I liked the chorus melody when I came up with it and I hope I wrote something that portrayed what I was hearing in my head. Thanks man
 
This sounds more refined than the versions I heard before. I get the comment that the bass is loud, but personally I like it. The rhythm guitars seem lower than before, which is a good thing. It lets the lead parts be heard better, and gives the vocal space without needing to be overly loud. All in all, the levels are right on for me. Good song and performances as always.

Yes, I turned the guitars down overall and more so the heaviest pair. What isn't helping the vocal "space" in the middle is that the intro guitar actually plays all the way through and is not doubled. Just a single take but hard panned onto two tracks; each with a different cab and mic. So, it spreads it out a little bit, but clearly not as far apart as the heavy guitars are...those are true doubles. I then added a third set of hard panned distorted guitars but have them turned WAY down. They are copying the main heavy pair. It's the reason the second section of the solo part is slightly louder...that's the third set of guitars playing along with the solo.
 
I think it sounds really good.

What's your bass chain and treatment?

Also, "Last One In The Room" is one of the most melodically hooky things I've heard from the "amateur" ranks in a long time. You mix guitars like the Smashing Pumpkins, which may be a super dated reference, but that's what it reminds me of.
 
Thanks Chris, much appreciated. I use Amplitube for all guitars and bass. I start with a couple stomps (compressor and flanger) and then into the SVT Pro amp. Bass and Treb at noon, compression up a quarter, gain all the way up, mids at about 10 o'clock. Then that goes into the Ampeg 8x10. Mics a good foot away from the cone, 414 and 57. Then, outside of Amplitube, I EQ some more low mids out and give a few various small cuts. Then I compress it a lot more; about 12 db GR with the DC1A compressor on "slow" setting. I may compress it again with another flavor-enhancing compressor, or I might use a limiter. I think I used a limiter on this one.

Thanks for asking and for the kind words.
 
Also, "Last One In The Room" is one of the most melodically hooky things I've heard from the "amateur" ranks in a long time.

ha, thanks dude. I like that one. Think "Starlight" is my personal favorite. I focus on melody more than anything else, by far. I'm glad to hear comments on melody, that means a lot to me.
 
Been listening to this a lot. Really like this song. The melodic between the first "The sun breaks your love" and the 2nd verse (and again toward the end between the choruses) could be louder. It's quite catchy and should be a little more prominent (personal opinion)...
 
I focus on melody more than anything else, by far. I'm glad to hear comments on melody, that means a lot to me.

I don't know why a songwriter would focus on anything else more than melody. Lyrics matter, the length of the song matters, dynamics matter, the mix matters a lot..it all matters, but if your melody isn't memorable, none of the other elements matter at all. If I'm honest, most things I hear in the clinic or on reddit that aren't commercial releases rarely get a 3rd listen from me.

I think your production is very good, and that definitely helps, but if you songs were like most of mine, decent mixes wouldn't save them, lol.

Thanks for the bass information. I'm going through kind of a minimalist phase right now - meaning only that I'm working on getting a sound out of my instruments and microphones and amps as close to what I want without having to use plugins, but bass guitar is definitely an exception.

Back in the old days, drums were a dead giveaway on home recordings. That's becoming a less obvious immediate "tell." To my ears, the differences now are more subtle, but they include sibilance on vocals and the depth/separation of bass. Many people have figured the bass thing out out using nothing more than a laptop and a direct bass. I haven't...yet
 
I don't know why a songwriter would focus on anything else more than melody. Lyrics matter, the length of the song matters, dynamics matter, the mix matters a lot..it all matters, but if your melody isn't memorable, none of the other elements matter at all.

Many people have figured the bass thing out out using nothing more than a laptop and a direct bass. I haven't...yet

Lyrics are practically an afterthought for me. Aside from wanting to use the name Aiden, everything else was jotted down minutes before singing. I had some vowel sounds worked out for the chorus, but no actual words. Don't forget that the quality of the amp sim is a big factor. They aren't all created equal. I'm working toward a better sound with Amplitube on each mix. Things like mic distance and input gain helped a bit, but there's no point if the sim is crap to begin with.
 
Been listening to this a lot. Really like this song. The melodic between the first "The sun breaks your love" and the 2nd verse (and again toward the end between the choruses) could be louder. It's quite catchy and should be a little more prominent (personal opinion)...

Yeah I noticed that too. I have the lead guitar playing it dead center (but with lots of effects and flangey things to spread it out) and then the background vocals are "do-do-do_'ing along with it, panned hard L&R. I agree it could be more prominent. Good ears
 
Sounds great-electric panned center first section? I think a slightly distorted sound is called for with the choruses so full and heavy but I think the guitar sound is a bit fizzy to use a meaningless word. Nice thick sound pre chorus--chorus-very smooth vocal, nice melody. Really sounds great-melody-arrangement keep it interesting all the way through to those nice sustaining guitars at the end. I only hope you aren't old and over the hill before you get to record with a great drummer! This would sound huger than huge with a great drummer playing. Enjoyed it.
 
Sounds great-electric panned center first section? I think a slightly distorted sound is called for with the choruses so full and heavy but I think the guitar sound is a bit fizzy to use a meaningless word. Nice thick sound pre chorus--chorus-very smooth vocal, nice melody. Really sounds great-melody-arrangement keep it interesting all the way through to those nice sustaining guitars at the end. I only hope you aren't old and over the hill before you get to record with a great drummer! This would sound huger than huge with a great drummer playing. Enjoyed it.

The verse guitars (as they're called in the session) are panned hard, but it's one take so it brings it in almost dead center. I use different cabs and mics, but both tracks have the Soldano amp. They are a tad fizzy, yes. A little notch down on the treble/presence would prob fix that. Ehh... mid 30's, so getting there. Recording live drums is NOT a challenge I'm putting myself up to. :) I'll try to master this thing for a couple more years.
 
I think it sounds great just like it is. It rocks man. I wouldn't change a thing. Killer vocal on this. I agree with Robus that the bass is loud during the verses and should stay that way.
fantastic work!
 
I think it sounds great just like it is. It rocks man. I wouldn't change a thing. Killer vocal on this. I agree with Robus that the bass is loud during the verses and should stay that way.
fantastic work!

hey thanks for the listen and comment. :D
 
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