My Chemical Romance/Blink-182/The Used Type of Song. RIP IT APART!

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punkrocker

New member
Hey guys so this is one of the songs off my bands new CD that I think I am getting pretty close to where I want it. I've been working on it so long though that it is hard for me to hear it objectively anymore. So I'd like to hear your thoughts. Couple of things I am wondering about.
1. How is the overall level balance?
2. I added a slight boost to the guitars at about 10khz which made them sound much more commercial but maybe a little thin?
3. Are the Toms too clicky?
4. Is the reverse reverb in the bridge effective? Maybe a different verb?
5. How are the drums in relation to the guitars? Not sure if I like the kick sound?
6. Does the delay on the vox fit? I kind of like it but what do you think?
7. Anything else that pops out at you?

Thanks guys. Here is the soundclick link:
http://www.soundclick.com/themedication
 
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Hey there,

Pretty cool tune overall. Here are a few thoughts from me:

1) Guitars sound cool to my ears, but bass is a bit low in the mix for me.
2) Kick is maybe a touch too loud, and as such gets overbearing as the song goes on.
3) Bridge mix seems a bit off to me. The rapid picking guitar figure is buried.
4) Vox sound good, but also a bit too quiet perhaps.
5) Performances are good.

I like it! Just a few tweaks from being spot on I think. Good luck! :)

Chris
 
1) Good. I think that overall it's a good mix.

2) The rhythms sound great.

3) Yes. They're lacking boom and body. They sound like sampled overdubs. Not part of the overall kit image.

4) The reverse reverb seems fine

5) Like the toms, the kick has no body to it. It's all plasticky attack and no real power. The snare sounds flat and lifeless. No snap.

6) The vox are mostly fine. Autotuned? I hear some pitch weirdness in certain spots.

7) Keep working on the drums. Get them sounding more like drums and not so much like a lifeless drum machine.

Overall though, pretty good. :)
 
@bigmahon
Yes now that I think about it I agree with the kick being a little to loud. About the bridge being off, do you mean in timing, pitch, or mix? Ok I'll try slightly boosting the fast picking guitar. Yeah I thought the vox was a little low in volume as well but it is actually louder than most of the reference mixes I have been using so I am unsure about that.

@Greg_L
2) Ok maybe my ears were fatigued and I was hearing things :).

About the drums, yeah all of them have been sampled. Sampled hard. Well I'll go back and try and pump some more life into them or find some different samples. Unfortunatly I have to sample them because the orginal recordings suck.

6) Yes they are autotuned. Not ashamed to say it haha :D. Would you mind telling me specifically which spots?

Thanks so much for the replies you guys, it really helps me to have an extra set of ears so I really appreciate it.
 
Nice song. Very crisp and polished.

Greg's right about the kick not having enough body. The bass guitar could also be more present.

I heard some weird pitchiness during the vocal swoops in the first verse and the pickup to most of the choruses.

The reverse reverb on the bridge is cool.
 
I like the tune, kind of sounds like Ten Foot Pole (mostly the singer). The drums, however, are way too fake sounding for me. I would prefer shittier sounding real drums, personally. I guess with the fake drums, it doesn't sound "organic" enough for me. especially on the tom stuff. You don't get the natural nuances that you would normally get with toms on the samples. I think the vocals sit well in the mix, and the guitars sound good.
 
hey first of all ill say great sounding track!

i have a band thats pretty much in exact same style music as this.
care to share anything about how & what you used to record this? particularly the guitars? they sound great.
a guitarist i work with has been bugging me for months to get that sound and i just cant seem to make it happen.

i actually like the sound of "fake drums" for alternative bands. so that didnt bother me in the slightest.

i didnt mind the auto-tuned vocals either, very plesant and bright to listen to. which is the main thing overall isnt it?

good work on the song anyway
 
@VomitHatSteve
Ok cool I'll try and fix those pitch issues thanks for pointing that out.

@jimmy77611
Hey thanks. Listening again I am agreeing with everything you guys are saying about the drums. I got the snare a LOT better last night and I am going to work on the kick today. I'll repost with a new version soon.

@audio_leak
Hey thanks for the positive comments. I am in a rush right now but when I get back I would gladly post the details of the guitar recordings. :)
 
@audio_leak

Gear:

Guitars: Gibson SG faded edition, mid level ibanez w/upgraded pickups.
Amp: Mesa Dual Rec 2 channel older version not the fizzy newer 3 channel version.
Cab: Mesa 4x12 slant
Pedal: Maxon 808 tube screamer used ONLY AS A BOOST!
Cables: Monster mid level cables.
Mic: 1 SM57.
Interface: Firepod with built in pres.
Software: (this doesn't make a difference in sound but I use Sonar.)


Recording Process:
I used a single sm57 point dead on about an inch or 2 to the right of the center of one of the speakers almost touching the grill. I surround the amp with absorbers I built and elevated it with a mail carton. The settings on the mesa were something like master 12:00 bass 11 presence 12:30 mid 1:00 treble 1:45 gain 11:30-12:00. I had it switched to vacuum tubes and spongy. Also I switched the red channel to vintage instead of modern and it sounds wayyyy better. Much less fizz. Most people go straight for the Silicon Diode/Bold/Modern settings this is only when you want your guitars to sound sterile and your in a crappy metal band. So my advice is to stick with vacuum tubes for recording. But Diodes are cool for live IMO cause they're LOUD! So before the boogie I put a Maxon 808 with the volume set to max, distortion off, and the tone at 12:00. This is used just as a boost to combat the flabby low end mesa's have and makes the palm muting much better.


Track Layout:
Guitars are quad tracked. 1 of each guitar on each side so left= gibson and ibanez and right= other gibson track and other ibanez track. This might have been over doing it though. I probably could have gotten by with just double tracking and many of the songs on this new cd that were making I did only double track.

Mixing Process:
I sent everything to one bus for processing. Ok if I remember right I had a low cut filter at around 100hz to make room for everything else. Sounds bad in solo but make a huge difference in the mix. I had to do a surgical cut with a q of about 3.00 at 130hz because of the boominess I encountered. I pulled about -8db there. Next I took out about -4db at 400hz for tighter palm muting and I kind of cranked the mids more than i would when I recorded so I was expecting this. Had a boost of about 3db at 2khz for bite and cut. Boost 6db at 8khz for sheen and a sort of hi freq richness (looking back I would have boost more presence and treble on my amp to get this instead of doing it in the mix but it turned out ok.) Then did a 3db boost at 10khz for a more commercial sound but I am still not sure if I like that or not. It got a little fizzy when I did that. Then I added a compressor. Something like 5ms attack don't remember the release, 4:1 ratio, and about 6db of reduction.



Concluding Thoughts:
So yeah if your trying to get good guitar tone these are the universal rules that I learned on this forum and others:
1. PUT NEW STRINGS ON AND TUNE YOUR GUITAR!
2. Tube amp. Do it. If your going to record a live amp just go tube otherwise just do a guitar sim.
3. Decent pres, decent mic, decent cable.
4. Many people think that the room doesn't make much of a difference in recording close mic'd guitar amps but I disagree. Just make some absorbers to toss around the amp, I made mine for about $80. Makes a world of difference.
5. Check out this video. Someone posted it in this very forum a while ago and it has really helped me. Even though it says heavy metal guitar tone its really just a guide to good guitar tone.
http://www.imperialmastering.com/guitartonevid/


Hope this helps you.
 
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great stuff...really enjoyed the performance, guitars did sound great...autotune wasnt enough to annoy

drums are boxy and fake sounding...not sure if they need to sound really real though?? anyway youre on it


good job all round :)
 
I like it. It looks like you already have some good feedback.

The only thing I noticed right away is the snare. Looking forward to hearing the next version.
 
I have just posted an updated mix in the link in the original post. This new mix I focused mainly on drums. I really think the kick sounds good now the word I would use to describe it is almost...liquid i guess? lol.
 
awesome thanks for taking the time to write it out so well.

the new mix sounds good, the chorus is very catchy! kick sounds good.
i like it, no complaints here.
 
The song is cool. But I cant stand samples, they change the entire sound of the song. Maybe a bit out of place. The kick well you know:) the vocals dont seem to fit for me at least. over all nice mix.
 
punkrocker said:
I have just posted an updated mix in the link in the original post. This new mix I focused mainly on drums. I really think the kick sounds good now the word I would use to describe it is almost...liquid i guess? lol.
Click to expand...

The kick seems louder, but I'm not sure it's better. It still lacks body and power. Sure it's loud, but it's all attack and no substance. The whole mix is lacking bottom end.
 
agreed with G the kickmeister lol


try giving the kick a boost around the 50Hz range and a little extra reverb of its own over and above the kits 'verb...it'll give it some "boom boom shake da room"..

what programme are you using as there may be tweaks in the drum programmes mixer which may help too??

I can help with SD2..not much else mind you :D
 
I think the song is really good. If I can make one suggestion it's to change the name of the song. "Gunshots and Memories" sounds like it came straight out of the "Emo encyclopedia". Substance over style: You've accomplished that with a nice original song so come up with am nice original song title too. Think of some way to break the mould so you can expand on your genre rather than fall into it.

Kerrio
 
@Greg
Yeah I am beginning to think the reason the samples are standing out so much is they are too loud. Perhaps there is also a problem with the bass if it is lacking bottom end. I will try and add more meat to the kick.

@kcearl
Ok I'll try a bit of a 50hz boost. I am pulling samples out of superior 2.0 and then putting them into drumagog. They samples already have a good amount of OH/room sound mixed in.

@kerriobrown
Hey thanks for the postive comments. Unfortunately I am going to have to leave the song title the way it is because it the title track of our CD and this is a semi-conceptual album that sort of revolves around this idea of "Gunshots" (War) and "Memories" (Love).

@ Clark Grizwald
Thank you sir!


Well guys thanks for the advice I think it has helped me a lot. I am going to work on some more songs and I'll come back to this one later. I realize that the drums are really my weakest link, and maybe next CD ill get to a proper studio and get the drums done right ;).
 
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