Wow, thanks everyone. It's always a pleasure to come back to HR.
erichenryus - I really appreciate that you always listen and post - thank you.
The level on the intro lead guitar has been up and down like a yoyo - looks like it should come down a little.
Yes, the post-mix processing (aka "mastering"
) was done in Ozone. I love it - I don't pretend to understand it all, but I can make my songs sound better with it than without, which is good enough for me
On this one I added a bit of air EQ, did some very gentle 3-band compression, added a TINY bit of reverb, and limited the mix to get a bit of extra volume in there. I don't like to squash all the dynamics though, so it isn't mega-loud. Ozone is a great thing - well worth persevering with.
lynx - thank you for the kind comments.
songbird - you are very kind, and I really appreciate it. James have done some great stuff, so that's a real compliment. Thanks again for listening.
Khompewtur - Cure references always cheer me up! And "commercial radio friendly" is good - I'm going to try and sell this stuff when I get an album's worth, so if it floats some folks' boat, all the better. Thank you for the confidence boost.
HevyD47Ca - thank you very much. Pop sensibility - cool, I always wanted one of those!
Thanks for listening.
TripleM - nice to hear from you, and thanks for listening. The "woo hoo hoo"s are really badly sung. The range is half falsetto and half not, so I find it completely impossible to sing properly.
It's funny, I was thinking about double-tracking the chorus vocals, so I might give it a try. Thanks for the idea.
Harmonies - usually I love lots of harmonies, but on this one I kind of resisted it. A close harmony that follows the chorus melody might sound a bit cheesy, and "oohs" could be a bit "soft" for this song. I really don't know - do you have any suggestions for what kind of harmonies you think could work?
sloop - thank you. The oohs are a bit buried because they're not very good
I'm going to ask my wife to sing them instead...
skids - it's funny, my brother said something very similar, that it took him back to his student days. I'm really glad you enjoyed it. Not sure about the "kazoo electric" though - that's a real valve amp, I'll have you know!
I'm really bad at choosing good guitar sounds - any tips on how I could improve it?
Thank you so much for the comment re the vocal. I deliberately kept the early part softer, then gradually roughened it up. Do you think that works, or should I go for rockier from the start?
Pedullist - Great to hear from you. Get some sleep! I've got a LOAD of listening to do - your recent trip into electronica is on my list...
CanopuS - thanks for listening. Here's a brief gear list:
PC, Windows XP, SONAR 2.2, TC Powercore, Ultrafunk plugins, Izotope Ozone, Autotune
Mics:
Superlux CM-H8A,
Shure SM58
Behringer MX1604A mixer
Laney LC15 valve amp
Fender strat, custom Jim Moon acoustic,
Yamaha RBX270 bass
Alesis M1 Active monitor speakers
The bass is DI-ed. The strat through the Laney is miced with the 58. The vocals and the acoustic are miced with the Superlux.
The drums are a Sonic Implants soundfont, some SlicyDrummer/FillinDrummer loops, and a bit of manual tweaking.
I always record LOADS of takes, and comp together something workable. I find it really hard to "nail" a good complete take, especially with vocals.
Acoustics have lots of bottom-end removed, and a bit of air added. Bass is very compressed. Electrics have lots of bottom removed.
Vocals are compressed and EQ'd, plus lots of Autotune.
The bits of feedback are actually fake - I did them with the Tassman synth, because I can't turn up my amp loud enough to feedback without frightening the neighbours.
Cheers
AB
