The Idiot Goes Solo!

Village Idiot

Village Idiot

The Love Butler
Idiot Goes Solo

Is this a good thing or not?

If these tunes I am writing sound good, then I am gonna try to haul a band together and try these things out live.

I have 13 other new songs I am in the process of laying down tracks on now. Would like to eventually make a full CD of them soon, with other musicians and vocalists. (Help!)

Please be as honest or as brutal as your conscience allows.

Any tips or advice on the mix, instrumentation, vocals will be really appreciated.

This is the first time I have mic'ed up the Slingerland Kit.

This is another real "solo" attempt. I done dun everything.



"These Days"
http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1337&alid=-1
 
Last edited:
Hey VI

The drums have the potential to sound good.
Too buried right now.IMO
Pretty wild drumming though.
Bass sounds good, guitar sounds very 60's.
The whole thing has a Beatles feel.
 
VI,

There some pretty ambitious drumming on this tune which I really liked, BTW!

It's a little hard to make an objective diagnosis of any mix issues as a 56Kb mp3 murders any fidelity and stereo information that I am sure is there under all that data compression.;)

The only things that stood out as needing attention was in the secondary vocals on the back half of the track which seemed to have a war of levels going on between the main vocal and the back ups.

Great song too!

It doesn't really remind me of the Beatles directly but, more of the whole 60's AM pop era of music that I loved when it was new and now still as classics.

Fresh stuff like yours is a great thing to have and I offer my thanks to you for letting us listen and enjoy it.

Cheers! :)
 
HevyD: Thank you for giving it a listen.
Do you think the drum sound is too buried in the mix or too muddy? I was pretty happy with my drumming on it and I want it to come through the way it sounded when I recorded it.

It might have a Beatles feel to it...


In a Crappy way.

:D


Thanks for your help!


Ghosty!:

How did you know I am on a 56K dial up by listening to my MP3?
Fascinating...

Do you think I am wasting my time posting MP3's here until I get back on to a Cable line?

I'm using a good MP3 converter.

Thanks or the listen too, Ghost...

You are a great asset around here.
 
How did you know I am on a 56K dial up by listening to my MP3?
Click to expand...

I didn't actually know that!:eek:

But I do now! Muuhahahahahahaha!

Actually, I downloaded the tune and my Windows Media Player told me I was listening to a 56k bit, mp3 data file.

Try encoding the song at 128kb or 192kb for some decent quality that would be in stereo at least.

The 56kb mp3 you ripped your song to is a mono file that eats off most of the highs and many chunks of detail all over.

Peace! :)
 
while it is difficult to comment on the mix due to the 56k, I like the retro 60's groove!

keep writing

and, I think this music would be perfect for a live band
 
Maaaannnn...

THAT is why I come to this site for years now.

I can LEARN STUFF!!!

Thanks, Ghosty..

I will look for a REAL MP3 Encoder and re-post the tune.

Elephant:

Thanks for checking it out..

Hope I can get a better rip of it up and going tonight!


VI
 
Hey Dooogie! All your other toonz seem to be at 128K. Ya just need to change it back.

Downloading it on my Dialup. I'll give a listen in the morning.

Ya getting tired of playin Da Blues, Dooode???
 
Sounds like the 60's for sure. Surf drums!!! The drums need to be more present in the mix. I can see why you'd want them to be heard.....that's some cool busy stuff. So turn them up!!
Is that a 12-string?
 
Hey Lt. Bob!

Yup..That is my 12 String electric that is taking the guitar solo.
Maybe the first 12 string surf solo ever? :D

I thought the drums were up enough in the mix...
But consensus so far says they are too buried.
And I'm here to learn, so the drums go up!

Thanks for taking the time to check it out, Lt.



VI



How is the quality of the Encoder?
 
VI,

The higher stream sounds much better!

I can really hear the vocals now and understand the words much more easily.

There does seem to be a Mic placement issue with how you are recording the drums as I am hearing a fair bit of phase cancellation of the higher frequencies here.

You might want to try an alternate Mic position and different microphones. Maybe a matched pair of overheads placed about a foot apart and aimed out at a 45 degree angle about two feet higher then your tallest cymbals and a third Mic inside the front of the kick drum mixed mono with the overheads panned at 9:00 and 3:00. This will most likely improve the sound quality of the kit and make your mixes jump out much more with a wider sound stage to the kit.

Maybe go easy on the overall compression too. The mix seems a little squished.

Still a great tune, though.

Cheers! :)
 
you may be right, the drums are there, the mp3 compression is peeling the sizzle off of them kinda.
I usually overcompensate the highs and get too much. Nice straightforward upbeat clean song.
 
VI,
I liked it a lot. Drumming was cool. The picking guitar work was nice. You always have a cool vibe in your stuff. Things seem a little muddy from here. Just not hearing everything as clean as I would like. Not sure where to start, but that's what I hearing.

Cool song. Maybe a cooler ending! :) Actually if you just added another strong chord with tom and cymbal rolls after a beat delay. That's what I hear anyhow. :D
 
Nice tune. The recording has a cool live feel to it. The vocals seem very thin and the guitars get a bit lost in the jumble. I think it's arrangement issues that make it hard to mix. Everything is going full bore and there isn't much room for anything to really stand out.
 
:cool:

Doug;

I like the tune! Cool message, Bro. :) The mix needs some work as per all the suggestions concerning the 192k mix. The mix needs more separation IMHO.

As far as the idea of a new band of Solo thing goes, what's Da Man upstairs tellin ya?

I like the idea of you putting out a CD though. ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top