What if Alvin and the Chipmunks started an emo band? New VHS original.

VomitHatSteve

VomitHatSteve

Hat STYLE. Not contents.
Hi folks! I'm working on my next EP using the concept above. I've got the first draft of the first song ready for critique.

Turbo Emo - Regdar and the Fighters.

I'm sure I can do better than this mix, but I'm starting to run into a wall. So please be ruthless in your critiques!

(Content warning: the lyrics are kind of violent. I don't know if anyone's concerned about that?)
 
The voice is... unsettling at best. There is something unnerving about hearing that voice down the center and as backing vocals in stereo. I guess that's what you're going for?

The snare sounds very weak. No body.
Couldn't make out much of a kick.

The guitars could be a bit brighter.
 
Yep! That is the vocal tone I'm going for on this project.

More body on the snare and get more kick out of it somehow. Dang. That's what I've been having trouble with.
I could probably brighten the guitar without too much difficulty at least.
 
Now that was kooky! I agree that the snare lacks body, but it seems to fit the song. The kick definitely needs some volume. I can't decide if the bass should be a smidgen louder or not. Probably ok where it is. I was fine with the guitars.

Those lyrics aren't violent... they're sad! The protagonist is in pain because his girl left him. Maybe she'll come back after his testicles drop and he lays off the crank! :)

I mistakenly hit the play button instead of the proper link when I got to your page and heard the song "amiga". That was like really good video game music. I'll assume that is your normal singing voice... you probably considered this already, but how about the verses in that voice and the hyperdrive part in the chipmunk voice? Of course, if one of the main things you like about the song is the incongruity between the seriousness of the lyrics and the levity of the sound, you're better off the way it is.
 
To be honest the vocals are too fast in the chorus - I could only pick up a few words.
The main vocal does sound like you singing falsetto rather than Chipmunking.
The bass could do with a boost up until the tag at the end.
Snares fine for me but kick needs oomp.
 
NotThatBright said:
Now that was kooky! I agree that the snare lacks body, but it seems to fit the song. The kick definitely needs some volume. I can't decide if the bass should be a smidgen louder or not. Probably ok where it is. I was fine with the guitars.

Those lyrics aren't violent... they're sad! The protagonist is in pain because his girl left him. Maybe she'll come back after his testicles drop and he lays off the crank! :)

I mistakenly hit the play button instead of the proper link when I got to your page and heard the song "amiga". That was like really good video game music. I'll assume that is your normal singing voice... you probably considered this already, but how about the verses in that voice and the hyperdrive part in the chipmunk voice? Of course, if one of the main things you like about the song is the incongruity between the seriousness of the lyrics and the levity of the sound, you're better off the way it is.
Click to expand...

Thanks, NTB. I figured some might find the blatant self-harm in the lyrics off-putting. Yeah, Amiga is much more my "normal" style all around.
The other songs in the project have a bit more dynamic contrast. I started with this one because I usually try to mix one of my least favorites in a project first.

rayc said:
To be honest the vocals are too fast in the chorus - I could only pick up a few words.
The main vocal does sound like you singing falsetto rather than Chipmunking.
The bass could do with a boost up until the tag at the end.
Snares fine for me but kick needs oomp.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Rayc. Yeah, it's all falsetto. I was inspired by doing the chipmunk effect on terrible emo songs and decided to see if I could do it all live. (Hence it being too fast too.)

Alright. Consensus seems to be more kick and maybe more bass. I'll put up a new mix tonight.
 
I'm generally a fan of your weirdness, but this is lost on me.

Anyway, yeah, kick and snare as mentioned already. I'm fine with the bass as-is, but more kick might interfere, so if you do more kick, make sure the bass stays good. The good....the guitars sound good. The overall balance and clarity in the whole mix is much improved over your older stuff. Way better.
 
Pretty much what Greg said. Plus, I'd like to be able to hear the lyrics. The rhythm guitar sounds great!
 
Thanks guys. I've got a ducking compressor from the kick to bass, so it probably will get knocked down when I bump the kick. :D

Jonny, when you say "hear the lyrics" do you mean they're buried, incomprehensibly delivered, or just that you're losing a few words here and there?
 
Alright. Mix 2 is up: Turbo Emo - Regdar and the Fighters.

I bumped up the kick by several DB, increased 250Hz on the snare, removed a 150HZ notch from the main drum bus.
Bumped 2k and 5k (I think?) on the guitar
Bumped the volume on the bass by a few DB.
Automated the vocals to bring up the overdubs on the verse and bring them down on the chorus for clarity.
 
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I'm a fan of your weirdness too. And I wasn't really turned off by this one - I might be the only one. Probably not a song I'd listen to a hundred times. But I still liked it.

Agree that the snare and the kick sounds kind of suck. But the rest of the stuff sounded good to me. I think you could probably turn up the bass jsut a bit.
 
Thanks Trip and Phil.
I mean, it doesn't sound much like A&tC, but would you have listened if I hadn't labeled it like that? :D
 
VomitHatSteve said:
Jonny, when you say "hear the lyrics" do you mean they're buried, incomprehensibly delivered, or just that you're losing a few words here and there?
Click to expand...

I can't really make out many of the lyrics either to be honest Steve, so I don't know whether that's important to you.

I like your arrangement, melody and instrumentation - everything sounds like it fits well in the pocket, but I just couldn't warm to the falsetto at all I'm afraid. It's what you clearly have in your mind for the song though, so that trumps all else!

Good to hear something new from you - chipmunks notwithstanding :)
 
Thanks, Rob.

Lyrical clarity is usually pretty important to me, but I fear it may have to be sacrificed a bit on this project for the sake of the ludicrous falsetto.

I'm not seeing any obvious way to improve this mix, so I'll probably do the other two songs in the project and come back to it. (Those two aren't entirely falsetto...just mostly. :D )
 
Mix 2...
The music sounds better.
Maybe you should do the traditional thing to chipmunk the main vox.
 
rayc said:
Mix 2...
The music sounds better.
Maybe you should do the traditional thing to chipmunk the main vox.
Click to expand...

Yeah... I've seriously considered it throughout the process. I think chipmunking it in post probably would sound better in general (and certainly be way easier! Imagine playing these songs at 120 bpm? Trivial!) It's an artistic thing though. It's "can we reproduce this effect live", not "should we".
 
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