ALICE Says The Clouds Are Coming Down

rayc

retroreprobate
The link goes to a 2012 recording of a song that Eric & I wrote in 1976. Eric supplied the 12 string, electric lead lines and vocals whilst I did the other guitars and bass.
The vocals aren't strong and will need to be retracked and the drums are my old mid 80's Roland drum machine and could happily be replaced.
Given the above how does the mix sound?
Would female backing vocals be any good?
Any commentary is most welcome.
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ALICE
Alice says the clouds are coming down
They will wash the tears from your eyes
But what will you do when I am gone?
And the clouds are coming down
What will you do when it’s all gone
When your supply is finished?
What went wrong?
Alice says the clouds are coming down again
Alice says the clouds are coming down again
A figure in the rain
A life alone
Thoughts like rain
Fall on the ground
Alice says the clouds are coming down again
Alice says the clouds are coming down
I can’t find a light
To illuminate your life
Alice says the clouds are coming down.
One ruined picture on the mantelpiece
Cracked in glass and cracked in brain
Splinters on the floor all that remain
Alice says the clouds are coming down again
Walking on a misty night
And stepping in my tears
Alice says the clouds are coming down
Waking on a moonless night
And sleeping with my tears
Thoughts of you are painful
Bringing forth the rain of years
The moon a globe reflecting light
The light of life and love
Alice says the clouds are coming down
Eclipsed the moon no longer shines
But I resist the cold caress
Alice says the world is coming down
Alice says the world is coming down
 

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Ray, I'm wondering if any treatment has been applied to the track as a whole? My reason for asking is that pretty much everything has similar peak characteristic which is not helping the track to deliver some snappy dynamics. I like the song and the instrument arrangement and think that some smart panning and EQ to put a little more edge on the various takes would put the balls back into the performance. There is in some bars a low wallowing bass which seems to sit a little under the track. The overall impression is little like viewing the world with a pair of the wife's tights pulled over my head, which obviously needs to be thought of in the context of sound, by the way I don't often wear her tights that way. A lot of good stuff happening which is dying to come through in a more concise manner.

All the best

Tim
 
Agree the vocals are a little buried,I like the 12 string, and the little flanging guitar that appears at times....would like to hear the bass guitar a bit more prominant as at times some cool lines are coming thru, and it might give the song a bit more swing....nice lyrics
 
I love the lyrics on this one ray. I assume you wrote them, right? They seem a little more straight-forward to me compared with some of your other tunes and I'd love to hear them sung with a little more authority. This sounds really timid and buried.

The mix sounds ok, particularly the guitars, but the bass is largely absent for me (it pops out on some runs and then recedes again). I don't mind drum machines, but this is so minimal and distant that I really don't think it's adding much.

I really like the song a lot, but I think you'll need new vocals and drums, then bring the bass up a bunch and see how it plays with new drums, then go from there. I hope to get to hear this evolve in the clinic...thanks.
 
This is not a happy song ray. Alice? I usually think "drugs" when I hear that name invoked...pop culture conditioning.
I like the words and also think they're also a little less cryptic than your usual fare. Do I hear a little bit of a Go-Betweens influence?

Mixwise it could use some work here and there. It seems like there's a lot of instrumentation going on all the time and it gets a little soupy...Try, say, having one guitar part during one part of the song and another during a different part, rather than both running all the way through the song. I'm not talking about any two specific guitar parts, just saying that the instrumentation could be thinned out a little to give it some definition. Hope that makes sense.
 
Ray, I'm wondering if any treatment has been applied to the track as a whole? My reason for asking is that pretty much everything has similar peak characteristic which is not helping the track to deliver some snappy dynamics. I like the song and the instrument arrangement and think that some smart panning and EQ to put a little more edge on the various takes would put the balls back into the performance. There is in some bars a low wallowing bass which seems to sit a little under the track. The overall impression is little like viewing the world with a pair of the wife's tights pulled over my head, which obviously needs to be thought of in the context of sound, by the way I don't often wear her tights that way. A lot of good stuff happening which is dying to come through in a more concise manner.

All the best

Tim
Hello Tim,
I had a Limiter on it for volume as well as some reverb - it sounds much more open without them.
I've brought the bass up a little and changed the compressor. I hope v2 is a little clearer. Thnaks for your thoughts - I've put most of them into practise.
 
Agree the vocals are a little buried,I like the 12 string, and the little flanging guitar that appears at times....would like to hear the bass guitar a bit more prominant as at times some cool lines are coming thru, and it might give the song a bit more swing....nice lyrics

Queepy,
The vox are a little buried as we were both a little nervous of them. Bass is up. The flanging bit is a preset on a Yamaha FX500 (mid 80;s) and is quite "space rock". Thanks for you thoughts.
 
I love the lyrics on this one ray. I assume you wrote them, right? They seem a little more straight-forward to me compared with some of your other tunes and I'd love to hear them sung with a little more authority. This sounds really timid and buried.

The mix sounds ok, particularly the guitars, but the bass is largely absent for me (it pops out on some runs and then recedes again). I don't mind drum machines, but this is so minimal and distant that I really don't think it's adding much.

I really like the song a lot, but I think you'll need new vocals and drums, then bring the bass up a bunch and see how it plays with new drums, then go from there. I hope to get to hear this evolve in the clinic...thanks.

Heat,
Yep my lyrics - old, old lyrics from when I was still 18. We're looking into rerecording the vox - possibly with fem bvox or even fem lead vox.
Drums & bass are further UP in the mix this time. I'll do some investigation into replacing the drums. Thanks for your ideas.
 
This is not a happy song ray. Alice? I usually think "drugs" when I hear that name invoked...pop culture conditioning.
I like the words and also think they're also a little less cryptic than your usual fare. Do I hear a little bit of a Go-Betweens influence?

Mixwise it could use some work here and there. It seems like there's a lot of instrumentation going on all the time and it gets a little soupy...Try, say, having one guitar part during one part of the song and another during a different part, rather than both running all the way through the song. I'm not talking about any two specific guitar parts, just saying that the instrumentation could be thinned out a little to give it some definition. Hope that makes sense.

FF,
Pop Culture is pretty powerful - gets your towels fluffy too! The Gobies hadn't released anything in Sydney when this was written but I've certainly bought & played to death all their albums since so I think the translation is very likely in this reworking.
I've cut some holes in the carpet so you can see the floorboards a bit on occasion. Let me know if it's too little or too much.
 
Dammit, I keep meaning to listen to this, but I keep forgetting, and then when I remember I'm not in a position to listen. I'll try again tomorrow.
 
I've cut some holes in the carpet so you can see the floorboards a bit on occasion. Let me know if it's too little or too much.

Definitely an improvement, it's still a little soupy though. Are these the vocals from the original recording? You might consider redoing em, depending on how far you want to go with this...
 
Ray, the instruments sound a lot better, the 12 string could do with very slightly less jangle maybe fill their mids by a whisker, the vocals need lifting by a reasonable measure and maybe add a little EQ at around 1k and 3k. The drums EQ by a couple of db@ 1.5k, and 3.5k, the bass bring the whole throb thing up by a couple of db. The song is definitely growing on me with each subsequent playing of it. The secondary vocal, might be worth copying the track and having that panned left with a small amount of delay. I like this.

Regards

Tim
 
Agree that the 12 string could be less bright. I can hear some string buzz where a few chord weren't fingered just right.
The bass is clear but I'd like a lot more full bottom.
And any tune would benefit from female backing vocals.
Did you intentionally make it fall apart at the end? Kind of odd there.
Nice tune.
 
I can hardly distinguish the lyrics. But that kinda vocal placement sorta fits the feeling of the song. It's a pretty cool song man!
 
Ray, the instruments sound a lot better, the 12 string could do with very slightly less jangle maybe fill their mids by a whisker, the vocals need lifting by a reasonable measure and maybe add a little EQ at around 1k and 3k. The drums EQ by a couple of db@ 1.5k, and 3.5k, the bass bring the whole throb thing up by a couple of db. The song is definitely growing on me with each subsequent playing of it. The secondary vocal, might be worth copying the track and having that panned left with a small amount of delay. I like this.

Regards

Tim
Tim,
Mostly done though I moved the EQ for the vox a bit and took down some top end in the 12 as well as giving a mid boost. Followed your recco re bvox too.
 
Agree that the 12 string could be less bright. I can hear some string buzz where a few chord weren't fingered just right.
The bass is clear but I'd like a lot more full bottom.
And any tune would benefit from female backing vocals.
Did you intentionally make it fall apart at the end? Kind of odd there.
Nice tune.
Manslick,
I put back the chucnk I'd cut from 100hz. Did it fill out the rump?
fall apart - yep that's me & my planned chaos.
 
I can hardly distinguish the lyrics. But that kinda vocal placement sorta fits the feeling of the song. It's a pretty cool song man!

CrowsofFritz,
Thanks for the kind words - I've boosted the vox because otehrs called for it. I rather like 'em buried in most music I listen to.
 
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