Hey Lets all rip this new guy!

C

Cosmic Pig

New member
It'll be fun. Okay let me know what you guys think of this tune. I recorded it on a VS 2480 and mastered somewhat in the computer with wavelab and waves gold.

Whaddaya think? I'm gonna do a remix soon cuz I think the guitar solos are too loud and the vox get a little buried here and there. The toms suck too.

Other'n that, any suggestions insults or compliments will be much appreciated!

Thanks guys! And don't be afraid to let 'er rip. I usually hang out at the VS Planet and I heard you guys were mean. hahahaha

Cos.

Right, the link. Name of the tune is Big Sky.
Or you can stream it http://members.shaw.ca/cosmicpigstudios/ibelieve.m3u
 
Too late to dive in tonight, but I will say--we aren't that mean here. Often, were a pretty good bunch who like to create just like you. Hang around. become part of the community. Listen to some others stuff. Comment. Get a feel for the place. If you are doing home productions, this is the BEST place on the internet to come to. Just don't expect to put up one post and have the whole BBS beat a path to your door. Nuff said. And , Welcome!
 
No probs Crawdad! Ya I'll be throwing my two bits worth on a few tunes here soon. I realize it's a you tweak mine and I'll tweak yours type thing. I suppose starting a thread for a first post is kinda bbs tactless too. haha!


Thanks for the welcome!

Cos.
 
Well.... for one thing, the guitars on the intro were severely overcompressed - and listening to the whole mix sounds like you squashed it completely.

There are some real problems with your mid-range detail -- mostly, it's completely missing!! - leaving your mix very thin-sounding and weak.

As well, the hole in the mids is also drawing attention to the high-end, making it sound unnecessarily bright (although it's possible you over-EQ'd the whole mix).

The vocal isn't sitting well - partially due to the lack of mids, but also that it's not well-placed in terms of space and level.

Space and ambience is another issue - there isn't much of it on your tracks -- everything sounds one-dimensional except for a few of the lead fills here and there.

You're in the ballpark, but you need to improve your mixing skills -- remixing is always a good exercise for sharpening your techniques.
 
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crawdad said:
... I will say--we aren't that mean here. Often, were a pretty good bunch who like to create just like you.
Click to expand...
Oh go blow it out your piehole, CRAWLdad.








(hehehee...see, in some alternate universe, I'm funny; I should go there now).

Hey Piggy, I like the acoustic tone a ton...it sounds partially DI'd but it's nice.

Vocals... Crap, this is a lot better than anything I've mixed in...well, ever.

Okay, this will piss you off, no matter how I'll say it, but the vocal reminds me of Emmy Lou Harris...To me, that's a very cool, honest sound.

that car thing almost made me jump out the window, lol.

Yeah, you could remix this, OR...You could just burn it to about 500 CD's and give it to me like this. Either way is totally cool with me, lol.

And Welcome. This sounds too good for me to help. :D
 
Okay, more like Neil Young and Emmy Lou Harris had a baby, and it sang this tune.

Honestly, I know this kind of tune isn't everybody's bag, but I've spun it more today than I do most tunes from anywhere.

BTW - I've always been a big fan of that compressed acoustic sound; I like the way guitars sound on the radio, lol. I liked this enough to burn it and check it out in the car...it's not going off the end anywhere, and it's pretty soft on the ears...it happens to be a recording sound that I like a lot, and try to shoot for. Everytime I turn on a commercial mix after listening to one of my mid-scooped homemade recordings, I have to jump for the volume knob and turn the damn vocalist down, lol. No trouble making out the vocal over here on monitors, on headphones, or in the car...The gentleman who posted before me is a pro, btw, and he knows what he's talking about...I'm just a music fan. Cool song.

*****

Btw - if you ARE gonna' remix this, I really don't think the lead is too loud...I think it's too dry for the recording. Soften it up a little, I think it'll sit nicely...especially those fills in the outro.

Okay, I'm done posting in your thread.
 
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Man you guys rock! Exlint ears! I guess you guys aren't all mean after all LOL!

Blue Bear! Thanks dood! I'm going to have your post handy when I remix. Verbs and definition I think is a weak point with me, and looking in the mids is a good place to start. I also agree I over squashed it. I think it's waves c4 abuse combined with having compression on every track in the 2480. I think I got lost in the amount of instruments I was mixing, three guitar trax in stereo and three keyboard trax in stereo. Do you have a link to something you've done or recommended listening? I'd like to hear it and I might gain a better understanding. I really appreciate your comments. Compression and mids are my nemesis. I think I have the potential to become a decent engineer but my ears need a lot more edumication. You nailed all my weak points! Exlint!

Chris! Thanks! You are correct, half DI'd. Good ears dood. It was Cosmic Wifey who sang this, and she's totally flattered that it reminded you of Emmy Lou Harris. And I will definitely try too soften the guitar solos, thats a good idea. I like that compressed acoustic sound too, but I think in the remix I'm going try for the other direction and see what happens.

Thanks guys! I totally apreciate it.

Cos.
 
I guess I like overcompressed guitars too. I thought it sounded nice. Good singing. Nice lead playing. Not my favorite style or tune but I thought it sounded good.

I do think the vocals aren't sitting just right. You need to get the guitars out of their way.

Good job.
 
Hey Cos

I'm certainly not a pro - but here goes.

Good tune. Great vocals, liked the harmonies, BUT, they were sorta buried by the elec guitars. Bass could have used some more punch. Does definitely need some mid boost. Liked the organ and piano, but you could have let the organ build up a bit more. It did sound a bit like Neil Young, but - as opposed to Neil's usual vocals, yours was on key. :)

mutt
 
listening to the first link...

I don't think the guitars sound too compressed just a little over...uhh...direct. The mix isn't bad at all, the song well...

Your voice needs a different mic or less high eq boost. It needs some mid meat. I will say this sounds really mid-shy.

The general balance is very close, in the ballpark for sure. Nice, if generic, lead tone.

Not bad, very decent.

Don't be afraid of us it only makes things worse.
 
Hey Bear.....good sounding horns on here again. I virtually never hear horns mixed real well.
And the sampler tune is pretty cool...especially the first one.

I never am foolish enough to make mix comments whenever the bear is around. So whatever he said.....;)
 
Why do all the newbies get the Blue Bear and Sonusman reviews? ;)

I need help too! :D

I'll download this tonight....gotta jet now....work!
 
Damn! These people were dead on from that Neil Young thing...It's a higher pitched and on tune Neil Young. Anyhoo, I'm really liking this tune. It's got nice commercial appeal on one of those stations that do the the "current and classic rock" People will be digging through their old records trying to figure out where they've heard this before. I like it...really nice.
 
Hey Dr. Cosmic! Told you I'd return, so here I am. Truthfully, I wasn't expecting the high quality you delivered on this. I thought the track was tight--good playing on the guitar, organ and rhythm section--all around nice. Boston came to mind first. Vocals are sung well--perfect intonation--and always something I listen for.

On my system at home(studio monitors), there was a real lack of presence, which my guess has something to do with the mp3. I had the feeling it (the real deal) was clearer than what I heard. Sounded like everything from about 3k on up was rolled off, so I hesitate to critique the mix any further. I did think the levels were pretty nicely mixed--maybe I wanted a bit more vocals, but I ALWAYS seem to want more vocals! :D

Anyway, i thought this showed a lot of hard work and musicianship. Very nice.
 
the mix seemed to be OK...the guitars didn't bother me and didn't sound harsh, which is good ..i guess..:)
One thing I didn't like too much is probably the snare sound, but again...it's a good job....keep at it:cool:
 
crawdad said:
Hey Dr. Cosmic! Told you I'd return, so here I am. Truthfully, I wasn't expecting the high quality you delivered on this. I thought the track was tight--good playing on the guitar, organ and rhythm section--all around nice. Boston came to mind first. Vocals are sung well--perfect intonation--and always something I listen for.

On my system at home(studio monitors), there was a real lack of presence, which my guess has something to do with the mp3. I had the feeling it (the real deal) was clearer than what I heard. Sounded like everything from about 3k on up was rolled off, so I hesitate to critique the mix any further. I did think the levels were pretty nicely mixed--maybe I wanted a bit more vocals, but I ALWAYS seem to want more vocals! :D

Anyway, i thought this showed a lot of hard work and musicianship. Very nice.
Click to expand...

Perfect intonation indeed. Very good. Mix was OK too.

Suprisingly I didn't hear a lack of presence, I even heard an abundance of presence. I would personally cut some out on the vocals. I agree with Jake on this. Funny Jake.
 
Pedullist said:
Why do all the newbies get the Blue Bear and Sonusman reviews?
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That's what I wanna know!! :mad:


:p


I've been here for fifty years :p and I've never gotten a comment from any of "those" guys.. ('cept for mixmkr, of course... but he comments on everybody's stuff. :p) But somehow, every newbie with 5 posts who throws up a song gets all the heavy-hitters throwin' em EQ tips. What's up with that? :p



As for the recording... I agree that there's a bit much compression, but that wasn't the main issue for me. The primary detraction was that the acoustic sounded way too "direct". You have some pretty good presence goin' on... but it had such a "plastic" sound to it, that the presence didn't really matter. Still... not bad, by any means.


As for the song, (you did ask for "brutal" honesty on VSPlanet... as well as promising one billion dollars.. so I'll be expecting that pretty soon. :p) I would say that it's pretty dated and kinda mediocre. I think the recording has more merit than the song itself. The voice makes it even more "dated". (I'd say about 1989 or so.) I thought it was a guy until you said different. :p And that DI'ed acoustic doesn't help either. :p


Anyway... definitely in the semi-pro recording bracket. Sure, you need to take care of some issues in the EQ dept (and that Acoustic. :p ) but over-all, this is a very good homerecording.




WATYF
(the mean one you heard aboot. :D)
 
Thanks for all the comments guys!

Blue Bear! Thanks for links! I A/B'd them with my tune and all of a sudden I understood compression like 100% better than before! It was light a light bulb turning on. I can't thank you enough. Your post has ignited a quest for the Holy Grail of Compression. I didn't realize it till now that compression can be as crucial to a mix as EQ. I just glimpsed an inkling of the potential. In fact I'm gonna give you ONE BILLION DOLLARS!!! when I get some money.

Crawdad! I don't know why it sounded like that. I believe I mp3'd it a 192 kps, so it should be semi-accurate. I agree with you on the vocals! And thanks for the compliments!

Watyf! Thanks dood! Haha! At first I was gonna rip you back, till I listened to Interogating Angels. Great tune! So I'm just gonna rip you a little. You couldn't tell if the singer was male or female? Dood. And I thought my ears needed edumication. LoL! Don't worry tho, you're still in line for the promised ONE BILLION DOLLARS!!! when I get some money, but Blue bear is ahead of you now. That'll learn ya. But seriously, I agree with what you said about the DI'd acoustic.

Thanks hugely for all the comments everyone! It's so cool to get honest opinions and be able to learn from you guys. All the comments are really helpful to keeping a healthy perspective on both opening my ears and trusting what I hear. Absolutely invaluable.

Thanks and I'll post the remix when I get it done in the next week or so.

Cos.
 
To me it sounds like a fairly commercial recording, apart from the vocals, which don't quite sit in there, as Blue Bear said. Maybe its over compressed and thin and sounds like its being played over a radio, and thats why it sounds commercial to me. All that being said, this is way over my head, and not something I could even approach in my little home shack. Nice job. With some of the experts help it could sound perfect.
 
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