which version is better?

Clean recording...good marks on that! The vocals sit a little better in your 1-12 mix, virtually lost in 1-18. But even still, could not make out enough of them...which I think is significant to you in your choice of instrumentation. I think I heard some reference to a "UFO" in the lyrics, which I think inspired the spacey effect in 1-12. If that's important, then you need to lift those vocals. Might be something as simple as the volume slider, although you may also need to EQ the acoustic guitar a bit so it's not masking the vocal frequencies.

I should tell you what I felt as I was listening, though. When the song first started, I thought, "Wow! An excellent home-brewed recording...I can't wait to see where this goes!" The quality and textures you've developed are first-rate. But the monotony of it got to me, and by the end I couldn't wait for it to be over. Sorry to put it like that, but I think you've got more musical elements to go before you're finished. I can't really comment on the lyrics, because I couldn't make them out.

Really needs a simple drum track, too. Maybe bring it in after the first verse.

Great start, though! Best of luck!

-Bruce
 
cheers for the feed back. do you think its the structure of the song that needs work or do you think it needs some aditional instrument parts to varie it?
 
Both...don't know what sort of recording setup you have, but I think it would benefit from some layering. I mentioned the drums, and it could probably use a subtle keyboard of some sort...maybe electric piano? Strings might help relieve some of the choppiness as you approach the end...but keep them light. You don't want to go too far with layering, because the style you've got started is closer to "folk" than "highly processed."

And structure as well. Without listening to it again, I seem to remember a couple of long breaks where there was nothing going on other than the rhythm of the acoustic guitar. These were distracting. I think you need to make a choice whether the lyrics are the most important, or the instrumentation. If it's the lyrics, then bring it in line with a more conventional verse/chorus structure. If you want to make it a more interesting instrumental project, then ditch the loops (if that's what you're using) and add an instrumental break either halfway through, or end the song with a tasteful guitar solo.

I, for one, am a fan of using a bridge in pop music, because I'm a musician at heart and want to be surprised by a song. I also quickly become bored with most music because I hear patterns quickly, and want the writer/composer to continue to show inspiration from the beginning to end. Loops, and highly-programmed music, have a tendency to homogenize the end products.

Hope this helps.

-Bruce
 
thanks again. think im gonna use the 1-18 mix (but changed). i know what you mean about it sounding loopy but suprisingly its actualy just raw takes. the acoustic you can here is just one guitar track and then theres an electric guitar and a melodica on there as well. what i think i'll do is varie the electric guitar part throughout the track, add some harmonies and make the melodica on the chorus more interesting. i'll make the lead guitar more of a lead part on the outro, intro and instrumental prechorus.

hopefully it should sort it out, otherwise i'll have to change the song structure

cheers again

rick
 
Hi

I like 1-18 better...

What I would do is bring the vocal up just a bit - and ride the fader a bit.. in places it's OK, in other's it's a bit low.

I'd also uncompress it - a simple acoustic song like that really (IMHO) shouldn't have a waveform like that... the acoustic sounds way overcompressed to me.

I don't think you need to add anything extra, actually... it's an atmospheric song, works fine as it is.

PM me with any revised version, I'd like to hear it again... I like it a lot.

Cheers
 
cheers man, I know what you mean about the compression, I'll have a fidle before i post the finished copy. for some reason I go nuts on the compression and it sounds good whilst im looking at the cubase screen but when i do a mix down it sounds awfull. I'm basicaly in the proces oc changing the lead guitar part from a repeating riff into something that plays throughout the track but doesnt repeat. so far its sounding prety good but isnt worth posting yet. i'll make sure i stick a copy up and let you know when its listenable. cheers for the advice, very usefull.
 
No worries rick, I look forward to hearing it.

We work in similar genres it seems... I rarely compress acoustics themselves... I like the dynamics of them. I'll put a bit across the mix mainly as a "normalising" type function, to get the volume up, but otherwise I tend to leave the compressor off them.

Cheers
 
yea thats what i've generaly been doing, putting a some compression on as a master effect to level out the track. sometimed i find a bit of compresion does work on the guitar because i tend to play in a style where i finger pick but do a kind of percusive flick/slap on the 3'rd. do you have any recordings up online? i always like to have a listen to peoples stuff.
 
Wow...the way this mix has evolved is amazing! Nice job on the additions! Your vocal track is where it should be, however, there is still something in your processing chain "muddying" it a bit. I can make out more words, but only a few.

I hear something reminiscent of a stringed instrument in there now, which is nice, but it would be better if you could vary the notes so it's not repeating the same lick over and over.

One other thing: I heard an effect that sounded like you had added a tambourine throughout the song, but when I still heard it ringing along on each beat at the end, I realized it was probably some sort of digital artifact. I hope that wasn't an intended instrumental effect! A tambourine with a cavernous reverb might be cool if added in occasionally.

-Bruce
 
Love the track - I'm not sure about the tamborine sound...
There is a slight "ducking" on the vocal, is that intentional or is it as a result of overall compression?
I think the reverb on the vocal is perfect but has too long a decay for my taste
It has a really cool vibe
 
hia guys

everything duely noted, i can lose the tamborine, the sound quality should improve once i do a more advanced mix down and the delay on the vocal can probably become less obvious. As for varying the guitar part... your probably right but it took me ages to do that guitar part and i doubt i could do anything better (call me a quitter if you wish).

Bruiser, what does ducking mean?
 
I think the tambourine could be useful...but try it on only beat four of each measure, and adding some depth to it. Is that the best tambourine you can get out of Cubase?
 
I'll try re-recording a different tamourine loop. do you think the reason you can't make out the words is because of sound quality or pronunciation?
 
"Bruiser, what does ducking mean?"

Its an effect where the compressor controls the overall volume - for example - maintains an even level on the backing track until the vocal comes in then reduces the backing track to make room thus keeping the overall balance the same. (the side-chain can be used for this)
I felt when your vocal came in the background stepped back a little.
 
I listened again. It's a combination of several issues. The main thing is a sibilance problem, that may be coming from your mic. Sometimes a pop filter will help here, but usually this has to do with the quality of the mic itself. One thing you're doing that's accentuating the problem is that you have a tendency to pronoune "s" words with an "sh"...coupled with the sibilance and the delay, it just overpowers the vocals. Lastly, the delay is cool, but can you turn down the level on the effect? I think the length of the effect is OK, but it's too close to the volume level of the vocal track.

How are you singing into the mic? Is it a USB mic that sits on a desk in front of you? Probably not, but I had to ask! You should be singing standing, with your head tilted slightly upwards into your mic somewhere between six and 12 inches (or 15 and 30 centimeters).
 
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