New Original - My Way
- Thread starter Live42
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dewhitt
Dave DeWhitt
Hi Mike,
Very nice. I like your voice a lot. A couple of minor nits: the acoustics sound a little thin/weak, especially the low strings. How did you record them? The acoustic lead part sounds really nice, so I'm wondering if that was recorded the same way or did you do something different? The Rhodes/electric piano in the choruses is nice, but it's stepping on the vocal part. I'd maybe pan that off center somewhere...probably not too wide, since you have your acoustic rhythm guitars sitting out there, but maybe somewhere in between? You could also double it, shift it slightly, and spread it out left and right, but the doubling might be too much. I'd at least try it though
Drums are weak sounding, but I was going back and forth on whether or not I liked them that way for the song. You certainly don't want them to come in and be loud and in your face, but they might be tweaked to sound a little better and still be nice and subtle in the background. Same with bass guitar. I think I heard a bass guitar in there in the end, but it's really difficult to be sure because it's really, really low, and almost seems to come in and out. Subtle compression would help, but maybe there isn't a bass? Not sure...
Minor, minor, minor nit...I hear a pop at about 1:14. Maybe a comp'd vocal or something where the wave forms didn't line up right. I get those all the time in my vocal tracks, but my songs are usually louder and full of stuff so they don't stick out as much (or at least I think they don't...lol).
I really liked it overall. The song has a good structure and like I said, I think your voice is great.
Best Regards,
Dave DeWhitt
SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads
Very nice. I like your voice a lot. A couple of minor nits: the acoustics sound a little thin/weak, especially the low strings. How did you record them? The acoustic lead part sounds really nice, so I'm wondering if that was recorded the same way or did you do something different? The Rhodes/electric piano in the choruses is nice, but it's stepping on the vocal part. I'd maybe pan that off center somewhere...probably not too wide, since you have your acoustic rhythm guitars sitting out there, but maybe somewhere in between? You could also double it, shift it slightly, and spread it out left and right, but the doubling might be too much. I'd at least try it though
Drums are weak sounding, but I was going back and forth on whether or not I liked them that way for the song. You certainly don't want them to come in and be loud and in your face, but they might be tweaked to sound a little better and still be nice and subtle in the background. Same with bass guitar. I think I heard a bass guitar in there in the end, but it's really difficult to be sure because it's really, really low, and almost seems to come in and out. Subtle compression would help, but maybe there isn't a bass? Not sure...
Minor, minor, minor nit...I hear a pop at about 1:14. Maybe a comp'd vocal or something where the wave forms didn't line up right. I get those all the time in my vocal tracks, but my songs are usually louder and full of stuff so they don't stick out as much (or at least I think they don't...lol).
I really liked it overall. The song has a good structure and like I said, I think your voice is great.
Best Regards,
Dave DeWhitt
SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads
First of all, thanks for the comments. Some very valid points raised here. As far as the guitars go, the rhythm guitars were recorded with a stereo spaced pair. AT2020 behind the bridge angled toward me, and a samson c02 pointing at the 12th fret. I think they sound thin because of the EQ. I think, but can't remember for sure, that I put the AT2020 on the 12th fret for the lead part. I normally cut the bottom end out of acoustic rhythm guitars to make room for the bass. My acoustic preset is set up this way, and I kinda just went with it, without thinking.
Which brings me to my next point.. the (absence of) bass guitar. Its not there. I just couldn't get it to sound right. I'm not a bass player, which may have something to do with it. What you heard in the last chorus (right?) was me playing octaves on the electric piano. I knew it needed some low end, so thats what I came up with.
Now that you mention it, the piano is stepping on the vocals. Its already panned slightly right. I may push it a little further, and drop it a db or two. I had it much lower in the mix, but brought it up at the last second, but I think I went too far.
The drums sound weak because, uhhhh, ummm, not sure I want to admit this... they are samples from garageband. I played them with the trigger pads on my MIDI controller. I actually just picked up a snare drum on ebay this week, and Im going to get some brushes. I'll see if I can figure that out... should be fun at least.
I'll try putting some bottom end back into the guitars, compress the vox a little more, drop the piano a db or so, and pan it a little further. As always, some very insightful stuff from this board. Thanks guys.
Which brings me to my next point.. the (absence of) bass guitar. Its not there. I just couldn't get it to sound right. I'm not a bass player, which may have something to do with it. What you heard in the last chorus (right?) was me playing octaves on the electric piano. I knew it needed some low end, so thats what I came up with.
Now that you mention it, the piano is stepping on the vocals. Its already panned slightly right. I may push it a little further, and drop it a db or two. I had it much lower in the mix, but brought it up at the last second, but I think I went too far.
The drums sound weak because, uhhhh, ummm, not sure I want to admit this... they are samples from garageband. I played them with the trigger pads on my MIDI controller. I actually just picked up a snare drum on ebay this week, and Im going to get some brushes. I'll see if I can figure that out... should be fun at least.
I'll try putting some bottom end back into the guitars, compress the vox a little more, drop the piano a db or so, and pan it a little further. As always, some very insightful stuff from this board. Thanks guys.
I really think that this could be a really great track!
Echoing what everyone above has said, it's lacking that depth/bass - at around 1:45 it feels like it should be coming into a bit of an epicy (not cheesy) chorus, but it just doesn't happen! you gotta make it happen! Really like the vocals, there's minor flaws to pick but you can sing 10x better than I so I make no comment there
I'm listening to this in my head adding my own bass etc as I listen and it's got so much potential! The drums are very weak (to the point they're totally overshadowed by the other instruments - need to bring those out (don't have to be obtrusive) along with getting that bass in there too, thinking of more upbeat tracks like Bruno Mars' recent Amazing - I know it's a different style, but the verses are much softer than the main choruses when they come in and I think you could do something quite similar with this
Great stuff!
Echoing what everyone above has said, it's lacking that depth/bass - at around 1:45 it feels like it should be coming into a bit of an epicy (not cheesy) chorus, but it just doesn't happen! you gotta make it happen! Really like the vocals, there's minor flaws to pick but you can sing 10x better than I so I make no comment there
I'm listening to this in my head adding my own bass etc as I listen and it's got so much potential! The drums are very weak (to the point they're totally overshadowed by the other instruments - need to bring those out (don't have to be obtrusive) along with getting that bass in there too, thinking of more upbeat tracks like Bruno Mars' recent Amazing - I know it's a different style, but the verses are much softer than the main choruses when they come in and I think you could do something quite similar with this
Great stuff!
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