Does this song suck?

[TexRoadkill]

I'm doing a demo for this chick and I can't decide if I like it or not. Everything I've heard her sing before she sounded really annoying so I tried to make her do something very different. This is an old song I had and we did this first just because it was the only original song we had so far that might work and was ready to go.

I'm not thrilled with a lot of the tracking and it was my first project with a bunch of new and gear but I'm mainly concerned about the song/performance as a whole. It's a rough mix and I want to add some real drums and maybe get a better solo guitarist if it seems like it's worth the trouble. Is this worth the time polishing up or am I beating a dead horse?

Be brutal, any comments appreciated.

It's a little country/pop tune Take Me Out http://www.nowhereradio.com/texroadkill/singles


Just out of curiousity does it sound like there's too much low end on the mix for you?

[GT]

Tex,

Very nice tune!!

DON'T BURY IT. Listened through phones, low fi.

Sounded very good for low fi.

The only thing that stood out as bad to me was tuning on the acoustic, at least I think it was the acoustic.

Low end sounded fine to me.

Polish this puppy up, and it will shine!!

GT

[jcmm]

Tex,
The first time I listened I thought I heard sumthin' out of tune on the acoustic too but on the second listen it seemed fine.
Go figure!

She sings well and its a nice tune!
Her voice seems a little thin to me mix wise. kinda raw, but you state its a rough mix.

Its worth finishing!!!

Jcmm

[Jagular]

Tune sounds decent enough to me. I think it would be worth polishing. She sounds decent singing it. I can tell she doesn't have a real versatile voice though. It sounds like you might be pusing he limits right here (could be wrong).

I was getting a little clipping. Don't know if it's on the song or on my end. I just installed a new 1010lt and I'm still getting used to have to set all the levels on everything .


Nice work.

[Smokepole]

Is that the RNC on the acoustic? And is that supernice if it is?

Sounds good to me. A little intonation thing between the two guits, but it's slight. Bottom sounds allright, I think it's a good blend.

I think it's worth polishing up. It's a nice song.

Listened 3x

I don't care for the last word, "tonight" in the chorus. It really dies out and drifts off a lot of times. You said be picky. Harmony would fit well here too.

Good one
Joe

[twist]

I think she sings this fine. She could do a good Cheryl Crow. You've come this far, I'd finish it. No, I didn't think there was too much low end. Did you mean the bass, or the whole mix? Either way, I thought it was fine.


Twist

[erichenryus]

it's an ok song that's really boring performance wise imo. how's that for honest? she sounds like she could get into trouble if she tried to do more but what she's doing right now is boring me to tears.

maybe get her to dig the song a little more, get some backups going, more uptempo guitar, real drums as you stated, although the drums aren't really what's dragging this tune. it's the singing and the guitar that are just a little too mellow and lethargic.

[M.Brane]

...it needs a good kick in the arrangement.

Tracking sounds good, except for some intonation/sibilance issues.

[mixmkr]

since you can't hear all the crap in this, I'd bathe it in $100 reverb ...especially to get rid of that funky vocal mic sound.
Don't sweat me...this kinda 3 chord music isn't my cup-o-tea anyway

so...is that your sister singing?

[chrisharris]

Listen to nobody but me...I haven't bothered to read anybody's post...or all of yours for that matter, lol.

She has one of those voices that COULD be totally fucking cool...her phrasing ABSOLUTELY SUCKS on this tune. The song's got enough cool lines to pass the test too. There is definitely a market for this stuff...a lot of people hate it, just like a lot of people hate Yanni, but there's a market for it.

I don't know what your role is in this in terms of latitude, but if a full on production (not gawdy, but full) with some tastey backups, a couple of subtle electric licks...it could be very very cool, but you HAVE TO GET HER TO CHANGE UP THE PHRASING some...like at the end of some of the lines...fuck, I can hear this thing in my head, and it's cool.

Can Jaimee sing it?

(kidding, kidding, ... I'll leave you alone now)

Good to see a post from you, btw.

[subtractor]

I'm doing a demo for this chick and I can't decide if I like it or not. Everything I've heard her sing before she sounded really annoying so I tried to make her do something very different.

Damn dude... I'm tellin!

I happened to see another pretty funny comment in this thread too.
I agree with the phrasing comment. I remember thinking that when you did it.
Otherwise, I think a nice growling synth part would be cool!

[Roker1]

tex,
is that you on the guitar? good playing, I liked it!!
Dunno about the vox...she's moving back and forth towards the mic a lot, might have to tie her up by the mic stand ....
mic isn't the top shelf either is it (don't take it wrong, you said to be brutal )
overall, the song could work...
thanks for givin' a listen

cheers

[homeuser]

People you're not hearing things, there ARE some tuning problems in the guitars and that's what is throwing things off a bit. It even makes her singing sound out of tune some times. I agree she sounds totally bored with this tune. I agree there's a market for this kind of music, but kick in some drums, some bass and a little more elec guitar towards the end to give it a big finish, PLEASE. And put some harmonies in the chorus. As an experiement I'd give her a few beers, make her giggle, get in a good happy mood and then sing this song again. It might put some more energy, dynamics to her singing.

[erichenryus]

Originally posted by chrisharris

Can Jaimee sing it?

You should take him up on that offer.

[dobro]

Okay, I'll be brutally honest. It's a beautiful song, nothing more.

I don't like the sound on the second guitar (electric) that much - it's all oogly-boogly-low-end-played-through-a-cheap-amp sounding to my ears. The playing's fine - it suits the song all the way down.

Really nice singer, really nice delivery - she sounds like she listens to Sparklehorse a lot or something. "I'm just so wasted." The vocal gets lost a bit sometimes. Does she really sing: "I sit on your face"? I hope so. It would make the song special.

[dtb]

I like it. Needs a mando. he he he he

[TexRoadkill]

Thanks for the comments guys. I'd agree with everything but the growling synth part You pretty much confirmed most of my thoughts.

There are some intonation issues and I was curious if they would go unnoticed but apparently not. I've only been playing guitar seriously for a couple years and I had too light of strings on and I was pressing too hard on a lot of the notes. That and the fact that I suck at lead were the big issues. I was hoping the double tracking would hide it but it's not hiding it enough.

I started this about about 6 mos ago (yes it's my sister you fuck ) and I was hoping by now to find some decent musicians to replace my parts with and add some drums. So far no luck though. That lead guitar sounds like ass so I buried it and added some delay (that fixes everything right?) just because I was tired of retracking it for the 30th time.

We recorded the vocals in a few different sessions with two different preamps on a C1 (starting to hate that mic) and that was a comp from about 15 takes. She lives out of town so we only had a few hours here and there for her to learn the song and do it. She had a real hard time getting a feel for the song and I think it shows. I'd like to find a song that is a little more natural for her (she actually has a pretty good range) but she just doesn't have that much experience outside of school choir/showtune bullshit. She had never recorded before so there were a lot technique issues that forced me to use takes that had worse phrasing but the sound matched up better.

I'd kill for Jaimee to record a vocal for it for my own producer demo. I have no doubt she would nail it. With her vocals and a decent band playing it would probably come alive.

I forgot that mix wasn't the bass heavy one. I think I like my bass heavy one better, not as tinny sounding, more punch. I'm working on an album for a guy who's pretty good so I want to get that done and work on this as time and patience allows. I'm so fucking sick of it I was hoping you would all say it sucks so I could just move on.

Thanks again everyone for your honesty and any other comments appreciated.

[TexRoadkill]

Originally posted by dobro
Okay, I'll be brutally honest. It's a beautiful song, nothing more.

I don't like the sound on the second guitar (electric) that much - it's all oogly-boogly-low-end-played-through-a-cheap-amp sounding to my ears. The playing's fine - it suits the song all the way down.

Really nice singer, really nice delivery - she sounds like she listens to Sparklehorse a lot or something. "I'm just so wasted." The vocal gets lost a bit sometimes. Does she really sing: "I sit on your face"? I hope so. It would make the song special.

lol, that lead guitar does sound like shit. It's the same LP/Marshall as the rest of the tune but my first leads had a much better tone but shittier playing. When I finally played the part right I had been messing with my new Blues Driver pedal and realized later that it just sounded like crap.

The line is "I know you get mad, I SEE it on your face" lol.

Dan- Every song should have some mando. Is there any chance of you heading out west over the next couple of months? (We have the Cactus Baseball League all summer!) We are finally working on the album for that tune you helped out on and I'd love to record you on a few songs for it. I'm kinda weird about the whole internet collaboration thing because I'd hate for somebody to go through all that trouble and then I'd come back and say "That was great but..."

[JR#97]

Is this recorded and mixed on the new RADAR? Sounded good sonic wise. The song itself was ok. Nothing about it jumped out at me. I felt it really needed to go somewhere. Something you could probably fix with arranging. Her voice reminds me of the chick from Cowboy Junkies.

I also listened to By the Way and When I'm Home. Those were great. Were those you?

[chrisharris]

Originally posted by JR#97
Her voice reminds me of the chick from Cowboy Junkies.

Yeah, you nailed that one. That's probably why I can hear it being KICK ASS!!

[JMarcomb]

sounds like a good sound.. i second the mrs. crow vocals.

the theme rythm might be a tab overused, but im sure if there were variations with the themes it would carry the listener.

have an eagles swing to it.. which i like

cool tune.. I think you can do alot with it!

[jake-owa]

Geez, it took so long to load that I accidently read half the comments....I'll try to take a fresh approach.
Sounds killer right off the bat!

I think people expect too much out of a song sometimes.
This has good sonics, a great laidback feel and ....some slight sillaban...well you already know that.

I don't think her phrasing is horrible...oh..the word THIS is too loud on one line... She has a very nice voice.


How long is this thing?

Ok...the ending. I think it needs a bit of a solution and it will be fine. I don't know, maybe a little chordal backup and a strumout...

Ya know?

Good work.

[Terriel]

This is really a pretty clean mix. I did hear the loud 'This' and was gonna say something and then saw somebody else did, so anyway.

I loved the song, the singer has a good, strong, pleasant, alto voice. The song seems to be in a good comfort zone for her singing. The only negative thing I would say is it is a tad long. but I loved the guitars and the feel of the song.

Wonderful job!

[chrisharris]

Originally posted by TexRoadkill
I'm kinda weird about the whole internet collaboration thing because I'd hate for somebody to go through all that trouble and then I'd come back and say "That was great but..."

You really oughtta' get over this one, lol. 99% of the people who I've worked with via internet have either:
1) asked me to redo something; or
2) asked me if THEY could redo something; or
3) been asked to redo something.

It's no big deal, though...just another take. And if it's not right for the song, people usually realize it mutually.

DavidK probably sent me a total of 15 string tracks over the course of recording 2 tunes; and it just kept getting better. If it had sucked, well...lol...it wouldn't be in there.

COLLABS RULE...DO THEM, AND DO THEM OFTEN!!

(yeah, joro & mbuster ...I'm working on it, I'm working on it, lol)

[wes480]

i like the verses but i don't really care for the chorus...doesn't do anything for me.

the ending is cool.