My Blue Eyed Son

R

rguagenti

New member
I have 4 songs posted on myspace.

Please check out My Blue Eyed Son and tell me what you think.

I'm going for a WB11 type of emo song. You know the thougtful, thinking about you type of acoustic song they would play on Smallville or OC or whatever.

www.myspace.com/rpginnj

Thanks
 
It's a cool song, and I can feel that Smallville or OC vibe, but the production is not there. What are you recording on and with? The song is good, don't get me wrong, but the recording quality needs some work. Just a few thoughts that jump out is to compress the vocals...good voice, but lots of variations in level. The music has an overall "white wash of noise" sound to it...not as 'in your face' as the tracks should be. The vocals are, but not the backing tracks. I would record them hotter.
 
Thanks Seeker.

I recorded this with Cakewalk Home Studio 2004XL(just upgraded to SONAR 6), with an Audiophile 2496 soundcard and computer speakers as monitors.
Computer running WindowsXP with enough RAM and memory to last.

Gits are natural, all else is MIDI.

Ghetto set up but it's been workable.

Yeah I know that my work is purely 'demo' quality and I should probably kick it up a notch in terms of production.

For instance you mention compression. I have played with compression but I just can't seem to get it. All I know is that compression levels out the volume so that I can pump it up without clipping et al. Maybe that's all there is, I don't know.

How do you eliminate the "whitewash". Is it purely a volume and balance thing??

What do you suggest to take this recording(or any other one for that matter) to the "next level". I was thinking about mastering.

Thanks again.
 
Proper mastering from a mastering house can do nice things I'm sure, but I think you need to start earlier in the chain. Are you tracking your levels with enough beef? I push mine to the upper greens in the HD24 when I track. Then when you mixdown do the same, keep them high enough to transfer a good amount of 'beef' in the music. I'll give it a listen again later and this is just from memory, but maybe it was the mix levels?
 
Alright, man...a partial second listen, enough to get an opinion again....

Now given I'm not a professional engineer, so I'm giving you the best my ears hear, and this is what that is in a nutshell:
1. Accent guitar, electric I believe, with the 'chimey' sound...too much high end freq.
2. Vocals...not enough in the high, mid-high freq range, NEED COMPRESSION to take out a lot of the highs and lows, level-wise. You have a great baritone voice, good tone, it just doesn't sit well in the mix, and isn't eq'd correctly, and probably more fundamental, is recorded through a chain that could be better. Your voice is good, and that is the first start. Anything else can be improved as long as you can sing and sound good doing it, and I hear that you can. Maybe a bit pitchy, but a lot of vocalists are. Nothing major, though.

3. 'Steady' acoustic guitar strumming, the base of the song....needs to be brought forward in the mix, level and frequency...the two can work in tandem done right.

4. Occasional 'accent acoustic guitar strums' to build the parts...I like these and think they sound good, if everything else is sitting right in the mix I would say these, proportionally, are doing well.

Just my opinion and hope it helps. I would look into some decent compression for vocals as a big #1 start. The rest is experimenting with what you have and adjusting it to get the results, until you're ready to take the next step up in recording environment and gear. :) :) :)
 
Seeker:

Thanks to you dude I'm actually getting together with a guy who does mastering later this week.

Appreciate your time and your constructive words.

Russ
 
Good songwriting. I agree with Seeker that something needs to be done about the vocal. Like he said, you've got a great voice and nice tone, but the recording is definitely lacking something in the mid-high range. What's your recording chain for vocals?

Anyway, it's a good song with a nice melody. I don't generally like the emo-WB11 market, and I wouldn't limit yourself to those lame target audiences. You're better than that! Also, any song that takes its title from "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" is all right by me.
 
Thanks HeyHey:

I am singing into a Shure SM58 hooked into a cheapy Bellari MP105 pre-amp into my M-Audio Audiophile soundcard into SONAR Home Studio 6.

I usually don't do emo(listen to my other myspace tunes) but this is what the guy is looking for, plus some of that stuff is not bad.

Yeah, the Dylan line just came out of me and was the springboard for the rest of the tune. When you start from greatness it can all go either downhill or inspire you to something decent. I'd like to think the latter.

Later.
 
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