Is this Radio-Ready? Without You

Is this radio ready? (14 day poll) www.pinkhumpy.com/WithoutYou_pinkhumpy_dot_com.mp3

  • Yes

    Votes: 2 33.3%

  • No

    Votes: 4 66.7%
  • Total voters
    6
  • Poll closed .
P

Paco

pH meter
Is this song radio-ready in terms of performance, songwriting, musicianship, and most importantly - recording quality? A simple yes/no will work, but I'd also love any suggestions/comments on any of these aspects!

Please be honest and brutal if necessary b/c I don't want to "go for it" yet if it's not really ready.

Thanks a million.
-Brendan

 
Wow. I always knew you for replying to others, but damn you're a good musician too :) OK, because its quite a large move to leap onto radio, I'll try and be as picky as I can. Good and bad things:

- Drums sound exquisite, nice solid beat.
- Rhythm guitar is decent enough.
- Lead guitar sounds good, nice and clean.
- Vocals are good, but I'd be tempted to pull them out a little, they do SOMETIMES get a little lost.
- On my cans I'm getting a VERY small amount of distortion/clipping at some of the climax points. It may just be my speakers though.
- Bass could probably come up a touch.
- Listening again, there seems more space on the right for the vox, I'd try a slight SLIGHT pan to the right, to make them stand out a bit.

Songwritings pretty good for what you want it to be. Nice Indie-Funk hybrid.

Last of all, remember I have crap speakers! I like it though, good job ;)
 
Very nice and smooth.
I would say that its ready for radio, if you got it mastered by a pro.
I can't really find anything to complain about on this mix.
great job
jimistone.
 
CanopuS said:
Wow. I always knew you for replying to others, but damn you're a good musician too :) OK, because its quite a large move to leap onto radio, I'll try and be as picky as I can. Good and bad things:

- Drums sound exquisite, nice solid beat.
- Rhythm guitar is decent enough.
- Lead guitar sounds good, nice and clean.
- Vocals are good, but I'd be tempted to pull them out a little, they do SOMETIMES get a little lost.
- On my cans I'm getting a VERY small amount of distortion/clipping at some of the climax points. It may just be my speakers though.
- Bass could probably come up a touch.
- Listening again, there seems more space on the right for the vox, I'd try a slight SLIGHT pan to the right, to make them stand out a bit.

Songwritings pretty good for what you want it to be. Nice Indie-Funk hybrid.

Last of all, remember I have crap speakers! I like it though, good job ;)
Click to expand...

How in the world can you make such distinct, specific and targeted observations about the piece, and then state you are using "crap speakers"??? I mean come on, dude. I think you owe it to ANYONE that you offer to opine on the audio quality of their music, to at least use decent monitors or any form of accurate audio representation regarding the piece in question. You waste folk's efforts and time, and can confuse them as well as to what kind of deficit's are going on. ---Lee

P.S. Brendan, did you get the e-mail I sent you???
 
Last edited:
Paco said:
Is this song radio-ready in terms of performance, songwriting, musicianship, and most importantly - recording quality? A simple yes/no will work, but I'd also love any suggestions/comments on any of these aspects!

Please be honest and brutal if necessary b/c I don't want to "go for it" yet if it's not really ready.

Thanks a million.
-Brendan
Click to expand...

Lot of potential here. As I have heard in a previous effort, nicccccccccce vocals. Hard to come by.

1) Needs much at the mixing stage regarding panning and some needed chamber here and there.

2) Very dry overall. It aint working for you in this particular styled effort.

3) Too much competition between vocals and the solo gee-tar line in the beginning and other similar locations.

4) The backround/chorus vocals should be "all over the place different" sounding than the lead vocals. Panning and fx could easily achive this.

5) The interplay in the last 10 seconds between the instruments sounds are off-kilter meter-wise and needs to be redone. The last riffs sound amateurish whereas the rest has the spring to get up to the "other" level.

6) Again, this absolutely will benefit from all the goodies that most of have right in front of our faces in terms of compression (mulitband and otherwise), EQ, FX, expanders....brain and ears and vision.

7) Far from radio ready/commercial release. I could get it there in 45 minutes, but it would be a shame that the above mentioned suggestions would remain just that, suggestions. ;)

Here if ya' need help, ---Lee
 
Can I ask what mic/pre you are using on the vocals?

I really dig the song, and the recording sounds great...sorry I can't go more in-depth, because I don't feel qualified to, and I'm not listening on monitors either.

keep it up!
 
SOUND DIAGNOSIS said:
How in the world can you make such distinct, specific and targeted observations about the piece, and then state you are using "crap speakers"??? I mean come on, dude. I think you owe it to ANYONE that you offer to opine on the audio quality of their music, to at least use decent monitors or any form of accurate audio representation regarding the piece in question. You waste folk's efforts and time, and can confuse them as well as to what kind of deficit's are going on. ---Lee

P.S. Brendan, did you get the e-mail I sent you???
Click to expand...

Hey come on your attacking me as if I insulted him. I'm only trying to help, whats wrong with that? I realise my opinions might not be valid because of my system, if so then it only takes 2 seconds to skip onto the next post. I'm not setting out to confuse him or anything. I'm sorry if it appears that way, but I don't think you needed to be so harsh. Either way, thanks for making this point, and making sure people realise my opinions aren't really valid.
 
We get nowhere in this world in terms of learning and improving our art/hobby when we try to "help" folks out who work damn hard at their craft...and look for opinions...and then get a bowlfull of what probably will amount to numerous misleading and erroneous observations. Although this is " art" and it is subjective and the like, there is no excuse to offer a review on a piece of music looking through a window that is small, mottled with gunk, and has deformities. Shit, my old decent quality JBL 3-way hi-fi speakers fooled the shite outta me when I tried mix stuff, and it did not feel right to offer opinions on others work with at least a decent system to make judgements/opinions on. So I invested in near-fields for that purpose, but especially for my mixing/mastering needs and you should do the same...whether you are a homerekker, or in a more advanced environement.
Dude, I really KNOW you meant well as 98% of respondants do in this great MP3 clinic, and I do humbly apologize for jumping down your throat, but apparently I am human (a pissy one today?) and have seen enough of this type of activity going on here and other forums and something needed to be said. I really feel for the artists here. It is a tough business, music, EVEN if your are a weekend warrior or just a hobbiest. Accept my apologies, sir, and have a great Holiday and New Years to all of you guys and gals out there! ---Lee the HUN.
 
Cool no problem. Your point is valid, I should carry some sort of warning about my validity of opinions :) Anyway, whether the song SOUNDS good or not, the songwriting and playing sounds great to me :) Happy new year to you and everyone else too :)
 
Anyway, whether the song SOUNDS good or not, the songwriting and playing sounds great to me
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No shit, Sherlock. There is "something" real sweet going on there, and you need that quality out there in the bidness'. Thinking outside the box, I would think a George Martin-esque production/arrangement/kinda guidance is in order. Am I wrong? :) ---Lee
 
George Martin production? I need THAT much help? I better just pack it in and go back to playing pro roller hockey! hehe :)

Uh oh, I hope I didn't start a fire with all this talk of the "business"! Maybe I shouldn't really be asking if stuff is radio ready on this board since it seems more geared to hobbyists, but from the song posts I've heard and reviews I've read, I've gathered there are plenty of awesome musicians and professionals here who know their stuff. I started out doing this home recording for fun, but feedback from my EP got me started on "the dream" again. Damn dreams! :)

CanopuS - thanks for the feedback. I see where Lee is coming from about listening on bad speakers, but I certainly wasn't offended in any way - I value everybody's opinion, even those without the fancy speakers. If you ever decide to upgrade, I would surely recommend it. I couldn't believe my ears for myself when I upgraded to my KRK nearfields and Hafler amp. Night and day. And I have good headphones too - akg k240's. When I first hooked up the hafler/krk's, I sat there in front of those speakers and listened to every Steely Dan CD I own and couldn't believe how different it sounded!

Either way, I like opinions from everybody - even those without super duper speakers. Lee would know better than me, but I think the theory is that you should listen to mixes in the car, in a crappy boombox, and on the professional speakers to really get a good mix. Hmmm ?

Lee - thanks for the detailed tips! I'm going to give your suggestions a try and repost. You surely know your stuff! This song is tough b/c I recorded/mixed it two years ago before I upgraded to the 24bit Echo Mia and all that. I've become accustomed to the song as is and it's hard for me to still "hear" it with unbiased ears.
And I did get your email - at least I see it in the inbox. The web mail client won't open it, so I'm trying to get my Outlook POP configured to retrieve it that way...

About the vocals - thanks for the compliments! This song was recorded with entirely Marshall MXL mics - 1006 on vocals, 603 on guitars, through an Art Tube MP preamp. I used a SB Live soundcard at the time (that's one reason for the loose feel at the end - the clock drifted on that soundcard and the drum machine would go out of synch after 3-4 mins! I now use a Rode NT1 to an Echo Mia soundcard (still with the Art) and am on the fence on whether to spring for some better mic's and a Hardy/GreatRiver/RNP preamp, or spend the money on this Goodall acoustic guitar I really want (my Taylor 410 sounds unimpressive on some solo acoustic songs I'm working on).

I guess that's another reason for asking - I don't want to spend all this money if I really don't have a chance of going pro! :)
 
Guitar solo needs work at about 2:20 right when the vocals come up its a bit messy. Actually its just that one slide up at 2:27 that doesnt sound like it was played with full confidence.

Im not a judge of radio ready at all so I dont know about that, but I would definateley fix the solo right there.

In general,
Such a nice sound man. I really like it, all around. So cool.
 
I thought this was great. The mix is very warm, the drums sound as if I were in the room where they were recorded. A very solid song too, I especially loved the verses and the guitar diddies :).

Excellent job.
 
Smooth man, real smooth. I'm really diggin your stuff, I'm not sure if I would change anything in this mix to be honest, it sounds real good to my ears. Great job.
 
Lee - thanks for the detailed tips! I'm going to give your suggestions a try and repost. You surely know your stuff! This song is tough b/c I recorded/mixed it two years ago before I upgraded to the 24bit Echo Mia and all that. I've become accustomed to the song as is and it's hard for me to still "hear" it with unbiased ears.
Click to expand...

Hey, I dealt with a real decent Turtle Beach Santa Cruz soundcard for the longest time, and boy did I hear a difference when I got a pro-card installed. The increased dynamic range ALONE was easily appreciated. The "stuff" you say I know I know because of studying, trial and error and critical listening. There is so much more to learn, and there are folks out there that are like walking encyclopedias compare to moi'. Good luck, man! ---Lee

PS----I am going to try your other e-mail addy.
 
HEy very smooth vox.

I enjoyed this, a little different compared to most of the stuff here.

I don't really like the effect on that lead guitar - sounds like its the only thing thats being played in another room. But that's a matter of opinion i suppose...........

I think the vibrato you put on your voice is very effective - makes it sounds very heartfelt.

well done.

yiordanaki
 
Very clearly defined vox and guitar lines. The production job is very well done, no sign of distortion anywhere. Some mellow lines going on. I like the recording clarity very much.
 
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