New (oldish) tune - "Undone"

famous beagle

famous beagle

Well-known member
I found this recently when going through my "unfinished projects" file. Apparently, I had planned on doing something more to this, but now I can't remember what it was. (Maybe it was just the curse of naming a song "Undone" or something.) Anyway, so here it is. Any comments are welcome.

Thanks for listening.
 

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I like the song. Bass sounds great. I like the openness of your mix. The placement of the vocal in the mix seems inconsistent. For the most part, it's right, but there are sections where it seems to jump out front, and others where a word or phrase drops too low. I'd start there. Two things: This song is crying out for harmony vocals. Second, thought about dropping in a lead guitar? The synth sounds great overall, but that horn patch isn't quite cutting it for me. I ask because I've heard your guitar playing.

Good work beagle. Glad to see you back at the Clinic.
 
Robus said:
I like the song. Bass sounds great. I like the openness of your mix. The placement of the vocal in the mix seems inconsistent. For the most part, it's right, but there are sections where it seems to jump out front, and others where a word or phrase drops too low. I'd start there. Two things: This song is crying out for harmony vocals. Second, thought about dropping in a lead guitar? The synth sounds great overall, but that horn patch isn't quite cutting it for me. I ask because I've heard your guitar playing.

Good work beagle. Glad to see you back at the Clinic.
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Thanks for the input Robus. Harmonies! Maybe that's what I was planning on adding! :) I can certainly see what you mean in that regard.

I was trying to restrain from a guitar solo because I was wanting to branch out a bit. Plus I think I had just gotten my Korg Volca Keys and wanted to use it. :)
 
Sounds good overall. And it's a nice song. I just thought the vocal track had a very strange top-end. Like there's a whispering/hissing sound all the time behind the voice, i don't know. Sounds strange to me. Maybe it's my ears.
And maybe the synth could have some (or more) reverb?
 
The bass does sound great.

Robus is also correct the vocal level varies. It sounds way too loud at times and okay at others. Some of the guitars (the R clean one) get spiky at times. Could maybe use very gentle compression on it.
 
Dr.SpringReverb said:
Sounds good overall. And it's a nice song. I just thought the vocal track had a very strange top-end. Like there's a whispering/hissing sound all the time behind the voice, i don't know. Sounds strange to me. Maybe it's my ears.
And maybe the synth could have some (or more) reverb?
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I noticed that too and forgot to mention it. I assumed it was a compression artifact.
 
I definitely hear what y'all are saying regarding the vocal level. It definitely needs some automation. I haven't looked at the project in a long time (I just wanted to get people's opinion on the mix I found before doing that), so I don't know what compression is on the vocal at this point.

I agree the synth could use a bit more verb and/or delay.
 
Nola said:
What bass and settings are you using?
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Oh yeah, that's another thing, you jerks! :) I don't get too many compliments on my bass stuff, but this time I've already gotten two different people mention it! What's wrong with that, you ask? Well, for one, it's not even a real bass! It's MIDI! I guess I still haven't learned how to record bass and make it sound better than a MIDI one. :)

Granted, I did spent a lot of time programming it to make it sound as good as I could, but yep ... that's what it is. I think it was from IK Multimedia SampleTank, if I remember.
 
famous beagle said:
Oh yeah, that's another thing, you jerks! :) I don't get too many compliments on my bass stuff, but this time I've already gotten two different people mention it! What's wrong with that, you ask? Well, for one, it's not even a real bass! It's MIDI! I guess I still haven't learned how to record bass and make it sound better than a MIDI one. :)

Granted, I did spent a lot of time programming it to make it sound as good as I could, but yep ... that's what it is. I think it was from IK Multimedia SampleTank, if I remember.
Click to expand...

Wow, that is especially hilarious b/c I think the last song you posted was a ukulele song, and I commented how it sounded midi.
What's goin' on over there, Beagle!?
Midi sounds real, real sounds midi. Check your cables' wiring. : P

That's the best midi bass I've ever heard. Does it sound that good solo or does the mix cover up its flaws?
 
Nola said:
Wow, that is especially hilarious b/c I think the last song you posted was a ukulele song, and I commented how it sounded midi.
What's goin' on over there, Beagle!?
Midi sounds real, real sounds midi. Check your cables' wiring. : P

That's the best midi bass I've ever heard. Does it sound that good solo or does the mix cover up its flaws?
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HA!!! That's really funny ... I'd forgotten about that.

And ... there you have it ... :facepalm: I've been plugging my mic cord into my MIDI port and my MIDI out cord into my audio input! I guess that explains it. :)

I suspect if you heard it by itself, it would be more obvious. One thing I remember dealing with is that there was no sample for a dead note, which of course is used all the time on bass. So I had to get around that by using nothing but actual notes, even when a dead note would have sounded much more natural.

Another issue was legato. I remember spending a good amount of time dovetailing some notes to try and make it sound like a hammer-on or a pull-off because it wouldn't do that by itself. Every single note would sound "plucked," which I didn't always want. You can hear this clearly at around 0:11, when the bass plays two notes by itself (pretty much). I tried to make those sound like a pull-off and purposefully placed them there by themselves as kind of a test to see if I thought that MIDI trick (i.e., imitating a pull-off) would cut the mustard. Of course, I forgot to erase it later. :)
 
haha. that's interesting. well, it sounds great.
but I have to ask: why didn't you just use a real bass instead of trying to program all that legato?
 
Interesting intro :guitar:

Love the guitar tones. The one on the right sounds killer. Love the vibe; peaceful, open... nice keys tone too. The bass sounds fantastic for midi. If I didn't read it I would have thought it was real. Vocals are a tad inconsistent at times as others have mentioned. Also agree the keys could use some verb, they might even be a tad loud, but don't quote me on that, they are a lead so maybe that's where they should be. Nothing else really sticks out, I think its a pretty good mix.

Wow, nice ending.

I have tons of older recordings too with titles like 'Undone', 'Unfinished', 'Untitled", 'No Lyrics', 'Raw'. etc... So I definitely know the feeling. :)
 
Nola said:
haha. that's interesting. well, it sounds great.
but I have to ask: why didn't you just use a real bass instead of trying to program all that legato?
Click to expand...

At that time, I didn't have access to one, but I really wanted to get the song recorded while it was still fresh. :) So I did a scratch MIDI bass track quickly to track the song with, and then I went back afterward and fine-tuned it.
 
JohnnyAmato said:
Interesting intro :guitar:

Love the guitar tones. The one on the right sounds killer. Love the vibe; peaceful, open... nice keys tone too. The bass sounds fantastic for midi. If I didn't read it I would have thought it was real. Vocals are a tad inconsistent at times as others have mentioned. Also agree the keys could use some verb, they might even be a tad loud, but don't quote me on that, they are a lead so maybe that's where they should be. Nothing else really sticks out, I think its a pretty good mix.

Wow, nice ending.

I have tons of older recordings too with titles like 'Undone', 'Unfinished', 'Untitled", 'No Lyrics', 'Raw'. etc... So I definitely know the feeling. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks much! I'm pretty sure that was my Epiphone Dot (semi-hollow) on the right.

Yeah, I gotta level out the vox and add a bit of depth to the synth.
 
Nice tune tune. I was immediately pulled in. For a midi bass it doesn't sound bad but with a real you could get some really cool runs in there just to add to the atmosphere of the vibe. The biggest thing was definitely the vocal levels...sounds like you were close to the mic and not staying still when singing. Regardless, great sounding song. I would definitely put this one back in the cue to finish.
 
Bruthish said:
Nice tune tune. I was immediately pulled in. For a midi bass it doesn't sound bad but with a real you could get some really cool runs in there just to add to the atmosphere of the vibe. The biggest thing was definitely the vocal levels...sounds like you were close to the mic and not staying still when singing. Regardless, great sounding song. I would definitely put this one back in the cue to finish.
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Thanks Bruthish. Glad you dug it, and I will definitely address the vocal issue. I may end up re-tracking them altogether (and probably add some harmonies).
 
I liked the clean-ish guitar on the right. It was balanced well with the keys on the left.

The bass sounded nice, but might be a db or two too loud.

The drums sounded decent. I'd go for just a little more definition on the attack of both the kick and snare. Now that I listen, the toms need a more defined attack as well. Cymbals sounded terrific.

The vocal had a definite harshness to it. It's a bit sibalent too. It sounds far out in front of the band.
 
I think the mix sounds pretty good. The midi bass and kick blend very well. Makes for a really solid bottom end. Do a bit of level automation on the vocal to smooth it out and you would have a great mix IMO
 
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