something different...

[maryslittlesecret]

...for us at least. We passed on the aggression on this one and went for something much more understated and moody (but still dark and kind of eerie).

Since this is not our typical sound, I'm not sure how this comes across and if it has the right 'sound' for this style. Please take a listen and let me know your thoughts and suggestions. The track is called "Lullaby" and is at http://www.mp3.com/30SoS.

Looking forward to your suggestions. Thanks as always!

J

[Alaking]

Great work! I was kinda getting a bit of a NIN feel from it.

That bass sound works beutifully. I also kinda like the simplicity (of tracks #'s/instruments used)

What kind of setup are you working with?


I diggit.

[TripleM]

Pretty cool song. I thought the guitars (bass too) were very cleanly recorded, as were the vocals. Some cool processing to everything. The keyboards that came in at 2:29 were a good addition.

The thing that sticks out most was that the bass and guitars are covering the vocals. When they come in, the vocals are difficult to hear.

A little pop at 2:30.

Some harmonies in spots would be cool I think.

My thoughts... Trip.

[ashulman]

If this was recorded at home, I'm doing something, make that everything, wrong. Excellent recording and mix. I love the guitars.

[WATYF]

Nice recording. Nice production too. Vocals are a little quiet. (Get buried at times).

You should be signed by now. I say... fire your manager.

(Unless it's your mom or something, in which case, just hire a better one behind her back. )


WATYF

[fprod south]

The recording is great, and the playing is nice and clean. You guys obviously know your stuff.

To be honest, the mix sounded a little empty to me, like more stuff was supposed to be happening. It might not feel so empty in context of an album (if that's your plan for this), but standing alone it felt like it was missing something.

I was intrigued though 'cause I can tell you guys are good. I'm listening to "Scarecrow" now - awesome!

[maryslittlesecret]

Very cool, guys! Thanks for all the input...

Alaking -- normally, we try to capture our own sound, but I can't deny the NIN influence on this track. God bless Trent Reznor The setup for this track is pretty basic: Sonar, POD for guitar and bass, DR-660 for drums and some keys. Let me know if you want more details and I can dig up an old gear list I posted out here...

TripleM -- thanks for the input. I battled with getting the guitars to come in big but still not cover the vox. I agree that the guitars squashed the vox a bit though (had to opt for the big guitars!) I need to listen again, but I think the pop may have been the vocal compressor(?) And if I had a better ear for harmonies (or voice in general), I'd definitely add some...

ashulman -- very cool of you to say, but I disgree. the only live mic on this track is the vox -- evrything else is direct, which makes it an easy track compared to a lot of what's out here...

WATYF -- yeah, I tend to undermix vox, so I'll plead guilty to that. No manager, agent, etc. right now so we only have ourselves to blame for our indie status -- too much time recording, not enough time pimping ourselves to labels...

fprod south -- I agree with the emptiness, but it was kind of intentional with this track. a lot of our stuff is more aggressive so I wanted to set this apart with an empty, almost cold kind of sound. I think it would come across better in the context of a full CD...

Thanks again for all the awesome comments. Any other thoughts or suggestions?

J

[participant]

LULLABY --

Bet you could do a hellagood cover of "Closer". It's uncanny the resemblence between your lead singer's wind and our own "groucho's" (chris).

A critique of the recording would require an extra careful listen or 10 in a nicely treated monitoring room with nicely treated monitors... neither of which are at my disposal right now...

A lot NIN and a pinch Love N Rockets. Very professional sounding arrangement. Would like to hear this thing just smash some mouths in and get mofo aggressive for about 16 bars. The tension is all there underneath. Cool listen. Thanks. Show off


Chad

PS: Agreed. Scarecrow... nice! Esp. the aggressive vocs. Sam would enjoy.

[sloop]

But it sure fits you--what a great tune. Keep doin' what you're doin'.

[Toki987]

bass and kit was cool, tight, and well played, got a bit grating after a while though, straining a little to listen to the vocs. Guitar was fat and powerful. very good stuff and well recorded.

[Khompewtur]

Everything was very crisp. Very well done. Writing was all solid. I'd like to hear a little more melodic variation on the part of the vox. Liked the way the guitar darted in and out so quickly. The writing did not blow me away, but you've solved at least half the riddle because this is definitely one of the best produced tracks i've heard so far on this board.

[Khompewtur]

Just listenend to Scarecrow, what did you guys break into Korn's studio late at night to record that?


Seriously, that is just hard hard hitting.. pro or home. I see you've managed to garner 27,000 listens already are you still trying to mix it or just promote? 27,000 would be enough to garner some royalties already I would hope for everyone's sake.


So since you've posted here I think you're now obliged to divulge your signal chains. What are you using for this stuff? What the gear in place? What did you guys record it on?

[skids]

Production was very nice. I really enjoyed the guitars and bass was very nice as well. Very appropriate for the style. Cannot mistake the NIN sound there.

Although I think it is great as is, here are few things I would like to hear: some low/low-mid cut in the vocals or a small boost in the highs to separate them a little more. They are pretty low now and they don't move up and down that much in terms of melody. I also would love to hear you go to town on the guitars and everthing as kind of a angry build up, then crash and burn, but that is total preference as the song is yours.

Super sweet. I look forward to the next.

[maryslittlesecret]

Wow! I never expected this tune to get this kind of response -- very cool, though...

participant -- thanks for checking this out. you'll have to let us know what you think if you get the chance to check it in the right environment. in terms of getting 'mofo aggressive' , I kind of intentionally avoided it with this tune. I wanted to do something unexpected -- you can hear the tension building, so you're waiting for it, but it never comes. I agree it's almost kind of a let down to not hear it blow up, but I kind of like the tense 'boiling point' vibe without giving in to the expected 'formula' (of which I'm trying to break my reliance) . Just my opinion...

sloop -- thanks for the support. we really appreciate it.

Toki987 -- agreed that the vocals are maybe a little soft and that the tune may be a little redundant. wanted to keep it very simple on this one, but may have still left it short. glad you like the guitars, bass and kit. they were the easy part (see gear list below).

Khompewtur -- glad it sounded good. i'm still very much working on my vocal parts and skills. i agree that the vox are not very dynamic. it was partly intentional to keep a low-key mood of the song, but again, I think I may have left it too simple. ditto with the writing -- trying for basic, almost primal (in an electronic sense), but maybe too much that way. On to Scarecrow -- same studio -- just a very different tune. And we're still very much trying to mix. We're not totally happy with our sound yet and there are a LOT of knowledgeable and helpful people out here who have and continue to help us improve. THIS BOARD ROCKS! In terms of a gear list, I pulled this from an old post and updated it a bit.

PC -- Dell 1.6 Pentium 4 PC w/ 512MB RAM
Soundcard -- WaMi Rack 24
Software -- Sonar 1.02/Sound Forge 6
Drums -- Boss DR660
Bass -- Ibanez SG 5-string, also through the POD
Guitar -- ESP EC300 through a POD 2.0
Keys -- Roland RS-5, Alesis QSR
Vocal -- Studio Projects C1 into a dbx 286A with an ART DR-X for effects

Let me know if you want/need any more info and I'll do what I can to oblige...

skids -- thanks for the EQ tip on the vox. that's exactly what we're looking for. can you hear/suggest any specific frequencies to tweak? Vocal performance -- see my response to khompewtur. Song structure -- see my response to participant (yes, i'm lazy)

This has all been very cool. I don't feel like I have much to offer in return in terms of how we do things, but if you have any questions, please let us know... Thanks much!

J

[skids]

Originally posted by maryslittlesecret

skids -- thanks for the EQ tip on the vox. that's exactly what we're looking for. can you hear/suggest any specific frequencies to tweak? Vocal performance -- see my response to khompewtur. Song structure -- see my response to participant (yes, i'm lazy)
J

I am not sure exactly what frequencies as I am definetely not the expert there, but I would just play with those areas a little and see if that helps out. It never hurts to turn some "knobs" and see what happens. You may do that and find the vocal peeking out a little better without having to raise the overall level too much. Plus I just would like a little more high end on the vocal. That might be just preference.

By the way I listened to Scarecrow. Very nice as well. Again the vocals seemed low in the verse (I mean lower in frequency) making it hard to make out some words when it clashed with guitars.

All in all, these are really good, better than I could ever do, especially on the equipment you listed. You are getting the most out of that POD. Nice work and you may just want to ignore everything I have said.

[erichenryus]

very nice.

[lynx]

This is really cool man, great mix, great song. Thumbs up.

[maryslittlesecret]

skids -- that's the downside of computer recording - no knobs I'd be much more likely to sit and tweak stuff if it wasn't all pull down menus and dragging my mouse...

erichenryus and lynx -- danke!

We really appreciate everyone's input. I hope to give your advice a spin on our next tune, which I should have wrapped up in a week or two... Thanks again.