"Consumption" -- out of the box

K

K-dub

Well-known member
Consumption

I just put this through a complete makeover ...

The mix may still on the rough side -- it's a headphone mix after tracking and comping the vocal -- so certain sonic decisions may sound funky. I've not yet heard it through speakers ...

I thought I'd put it up anyways ... to solicit comment and opinion while things are still in formation/production ...

Any/all thoughts appreciated ... this one is a little different for me ...

Best (and thanks!),

Kev-
 
What I don't like:
Vocals from about 0:40 to about 1:05 are mushy and unintelligible. I know they're supposed to be distorted but if you want anyone to understand those lyrics, I'd change it. I don't know, maybe just a different flavor of distortion.

What I like:
I Like the undistorted vocal that comes in around 1:09 good performance.
I Like the doubled electric tracks right and left
Guitar solo at around 2:58 sounds AWESOME. How did you get that sound?
Drums sound just about right.
Bass level is good.

Excellent job.
 
I like the song. It's different and cool. I think you need to keep tweaking the phasey vocal, it's too muddy and undefined right now and doesn't work. The clean vocal sounds good but might be a little too present in the mix. I love the ahhh vocals a lot, but they and the organ are eating up the mix. The high hat is too loud and disconnected from the mix. I think you might need to put it on some speakers and give it a pass. Everything is almost there it just needs some db pushing here and there. Excellent ingredients all of them.
 
I don't like the guitar sound - it sounds like it's out of tune. It may just be the effect.

OK, the sound is growing on me, lower the effect level and turn the guitars up a little.

I agree that the vocals up front are unintelligible. Horses for courses. It may be exactly what you're looking for.

Choruses - The background vocals need to come down and the guitars need to come up.

I really like the chord structure and arrangement. Great guitar solo. I'm not sure the piano should be happening during the solo. Organs sounds good. Drums have a little too much room. Overall this is a very very kickass song.

/jealous/
 
Interesting. Very cool effects. I really like double lead guitar harmonies like this. Excellent work there.

The vocal "ahhs" in the chorus felt a little awkward to me. It seemed like the should have been sustained through the rest of the line instead of stopping just after the melody line started.
 
THANKS everyone! You are all correct.

I finally got a chance to listen through speakers and determined the mix wasn't aggressive enough ... I was holding back on a number of things ... items the good ears here heard.

The ahhs were too loud ... the drums were too roomy and back ... certain element levels bordered on tame.

The verses were unintelligible and buried ...

So I pulled all the faders back to bottom and started from the ground up.

I changed the verse effect and brought it forward. (How do folks like it? Are the lyrics more clear?)

Kicked the drums up to "in the face" level ... Brought the bass forward to drive things along better too.

Spiced up the guitar motif ... kicked the piano up top ...

I left the B4 alone.

:D

New mix is up at the link above.

It's a bit more aggressive ... louder and more obnoxious ...

Closer?

Thanks again!

Kev-
 
Now we're talking! Excellent. I'm listening on my laptop (yesterday it was on proper speakers) and everything sound great level wise. Now there's a real transformation and release from the verse to the chorus. There's a cool Blue Oyster Cult quality to the verse, I like your voice (Bowie?) in the chorus and that guitar hook is very catchy. Awesome.
 
Needs some work Dub.

I'm not hearing nearly enough bass. Not close.

The phasey vocal effects are cool. But it's too wet. I'd back it off.

The distorted rhythm guitar that plays in those sections is on the thin and fizzy side.

I'd like to hear more snare. Tone is great, just need it to be louder.

The "ah's" with the effects on them sound great. What's the effect? The problem is that the song sounds lofi until those backing vox come in. Then the whole mix switches to a more robust sound. I don't know if thats what you were intending or not. If you were, it takes the song too long to get there.

I think the switch from lofi to hifi is caused by the combination of weak bass and fizzy rhythm guitars.

The lead riff sounded great. Liked the tone. Liked the harmony guitars.

Not sure what the drill seargent at the begining adds to the song. It's different though, and cool enough I guess.

I liked the little cut-off ending.
 
Yup -- absolutely correct Trip -- I agree completely ... but you're still on Keversion 1.0 my friend ... and your comments are why I changed it.

Not to fret, though ... the new version (above) is only one out from where you are.

Thanks bud!

K-
 
Sounds damn good overall. The vocals are hard to understand at the beginning because of the distortion but that is fine. A bunch of music has singers parts that are hard to understand.
 
Listened to the new version. It's definitely better. I like the transition from lofi to hifi now. Not sure I like it when it goes back. I'd go back to that same harmony guitar riff, but with a full sounding bass and a thicker, lush guitar tone.

I still think the bass can come up quite a bit.

I'd still like to know the effects on the lead vocal in the "weird" sections and the effects on the "ahs". They sound cool and I'd like to maybe do that some day.

One nit... It sounds like you have something on the kick to bring out the attack on it. But whatever it is, it doesn't sound like the attack of a kick drum. Most people probably won't notice.

The other nit... in the intro I think there needs to be some kind of pad instrument. The harmony guits, bass, and drums I don't think carry it. A keyboard or rhythm guitar supplying some underlying padding would do the trick.
 
Thanks Trip! Your comment on the early section needing a pad is exactly what I wondered ... for I thought it a little sparse too ... but kept saying to myself, "It's the beginning ... does it really need it?" Now I know you hear it too.

The distorted vocal is created by employing Amplitube as a track insert, and dialing in a distortion tone. I then compressed the vocal w/ a limiter after that (also on the track insert).

There are 2 more effects via aux sends ... one is a delay to "widen" the vocal across the stage, the other is a patch out to a pitch harmonizer set a major third up.

When the vocal goes clean, the same delay aux is employed (to keep the vocal sound in the same space), and the same limiter is channel inserted ... the harmonizer and distortion is simply dropped.

The ahhs (6 tracks) are all sent to a stereo summing bus, where fairly heavy chorus and flange are added via 2 aux sends. Almost all the lows have been rolled sharply off the sum bus (and the applied effects) ... and the highs accented ... to give the ahhs an airy quality -- and prevent the dense lows from muddying things up. The result is a dense, yet thin and airy sound - swirling sort of sound.

Hope that helped! Thanks for the insights, bud!

Kev-
 
Pretty good rock song. I like the 70's kind of feel of it. I don't like the beginning vocal effects much. They're cool, but too thick. The backing vocal effects are cool, but a little loud. Guitars and keys sound fine to me. Cool solo. Bass is a little buried and lost under all the wet stuff going on. The drums are kind of weird. They're played well, but you have a clear and dry kick, but a roomy and distant snare. That's very unnatural sounding. The snare needs a cleaner presence to match the kick. The toms are kinda quiet too. Overall a cool song though and I look forward to hearing it finished. :)
 
The ahs are sounding much better now. It sounds like they're fading out more smoothly and less abruptly.

I also would like to hear more bass, but my opinion there may not count since I'm a bassist...
 
I have only heard the latest version and it is sounding pretty good listening on headphones. It has a similarity soundwise to the group 'Styx' especially in the vocals-personally I like you're vocals better than their's.
It is a rather stripped down sound, the guitars mostly coming in for the melodies, harmony parts and solos with the keyboards filling in the rest. And the lead solo tone is very wicked sounding-I like it a lot-what are the guitars & amps or whatever used on there?
Nice song and sounds!
 
Does remind me of some vintage Bowie vocal wise. Gotta be tough getting such an "epic" type sound, but you did a good job. Harmony guitars were sweet. Good song man.
 
Thanks folks!

Sorry about the delayed reply ... I attended the wedding of an old friend (who I've known since I was 1 -- we grew up together) ... in Saratoga Springs NY, this weekend. I didn't have a chance to get to a computer.

I totally value and agree w/ the input and accordingly worked on a new mix:

Bass too low (check)
BGV's a smidge too high (check)
Drums in different space (snare particularly) (check)
Piano too loud at end -- stomps too much on lead (check)
Toms a little buried (check)

And stuff I noticed:

Verse vocal -- too much energy in the 3k range (wince inducing when loud)(check)
Verse vocal -- harmonizer too low (check)
Organ needs a smidge boost (check)

And the minutae that Trip always notices:

Kick -- too much 8k eq bump (beater click noise) (check)

Still to be done:

Opening pad under guitars (haven't found right sound yet)

New mix at up at the link above.

Thanks ALL!

Totally valued (and appreciated) input ...

Kev-
 
btw ... anyone hear a pop somewhere? It was reported in RP ... but I'm not hearing it repeated on my listening equip ... I fully trust the ears who pointed it out though -- but I'm wondering if it's in my upload under certain conditions or not.

Is it "popping" on anyone else's system? If so, at what point in the piece? What player are you listening through?

Thanks for the help!

Kev-
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top