New Mellow Tune...

Robertt8

Robertt8

New member
Okay, I've got two mp3s up on my little page (not a pretty page mind you, but you don't need to sign in or anything to download). One's old and one's brand new. The new one is "Silly Words". Let me know what you think, both with the song and mix.

http://bob.birdsallinteractive.com/

Thanks!
 
So far so good! Listening now. Mix is great and preformance very good too! Great vocals ya got there and way out in front where they belong! Nice work, Charva:cool:
 
I like the interplay of the guitars and the bass, as well as the percussion. Nice string sounds. Really good eq (or non-eqing) on the bass.

I have problems with the vocals. I think you are too close to the mic, leading to distortion when you sing louder, and leading to too much mouth noice. The performance itself is strained and flat at times also. Also sounds like a bit too much eq on the high end.
 
Wow. This is so very cool in an understated way. I say this all the time but it's true. I really, really like this tune. I hear distortion in the vocal too.
The panning of the guitars is almost too extreme. Then again, maybe not. Any technical jabs I could give you on this are far outweighed by the cool factor. Great tune.
 
I quite like the style. That sort of Dylanish half drunk, super lose almost falling asleep thing... but I like it. The guitars sound great and the voice certainly fits the mood but I agree is a bit overpowering in places. Although with this style a bit of distortion of vocals isn't really out of place.

I always hate mediocre synth imitations of real instruments. My guess is the drums and panpipe are produced by a synth ? Considering how simple the song is I think you'd be better off with some real instruments... OK panpipes might be hard to find but you could do your own percussion to replace the kick and snare.. they sound very artificial to me and detract from what is otherwise a great song. (have a look in the kitchen to see if you can find something to hit that makes an appropriate sound)

My 2 cents
 
Thanks people!

Charva: Thanks for the praise!

LI_Slim: I actually recorded everything without any compression or eq or anything. I added a little compression when I transferred the tracks one at a time to the computer, but other than that there is nothing added to anything. You're right, I think I peaked here and there on the singing. I tried to accommodate by backing up a bit, but didn't work so good. Thanks for the feed back.

Track Rat: Thanks

dres: again, thanks for the comments! And you are also right...The drums and the pan flute are synths. The drums are a little easier to tell. I was debating wether or not to program more complicated drums, but kind of liked the simplicity...but maybe I'll give it a go. Unfortunately, I only know one drummer, and we tried once to record and the drums came out sounding like he was banging on some empty oatmeal boxes...bad mic'ing. Maybe I'll give that a shot too again.

So, with this feedback, I'll probably redo the vocals with some compression on the recording side, and do something with the drums. I might pull back the vocals a bit here and there so they're not so "in your face".

Let me know if there is anything else bugging anyone out there.

Thanks for the comments!
 
I really dig the performance & the overall mix is solid. I didn't really notice anything I'd change with the vocals.My main problem is the snare drum, which sounds a bit distorted each time it hits, and kind of distracts me from the other fine things going on here.

I really don't think the synthetic nature of the drums is a problem here, because they're used very sparely & tastefully. If the snare sound could be manipulated a bit, it would sound fine.

Chris
 
Thanks Groucho. My mix down is done in a pretty primitive macintosh program called SoundEdit. For some reason, I really need to double my mix volume, or else it mixes more quite...sometimes I'm really not sure how it's going to sound until I do the mix, but your probably right as well, I think I'm peaking on the snare. Nothing another mixdown won't handle.

Also, I've been messing with Protools, so maybe I'll try and mix down there. The problem is it really doesn't sound much different in protools vs. soundedit.
 
Hi Robert.
Like the song.
Good job on the recording.
I like the way you handle your vocals.

Good work.
 
good tune..


it sounds a little loose to me.. like the drums or something.. (by loose I mean sloppy sounding)

I liked it though..
 
badgas: thanks for the kind words.

b.sabbath: again, thanks. it is a little loose and sloppy, but for some reason, it seemed like that's the way in needed to be to me. the drum is just a simple loop, so that shouldn't be it. i think i'm just a sloppy guy.

zeke sayer: yet again, thanks! the mic was a shure sm58 and the pre amp was just an audio buddy.

thanks for all the feedback...it can only help...although some of it is a bit contradictory...
 
Nice!

I like your use of imaging wiht the guitars. The vox do have "right there in your ear" intimacy. It might be a notch too close, especially considering the relatively "distant" sound of the drums. I was talking to chris harris about his song's lack of perceived depth of field, well this one has maybe a smidge TOO much, like the singer is 2" from you, the guitars are right at 8', and the drums are 30' away.

Anyhow, the song itself is really sweet. I wish I could sing. I wish I could write lyrics. I'm jealous.

I need another bite of cake now.


:)


Cheers,
Phil "Llarion: The Jazzinator" Traynor
www.llarion.com
Smooth Jazz
 
Re: Nice!

Llarion said:
I was talking to chris harris about his song's lack of perceived depth of field, well this one has maybe a smidge TOO much, like the singer is 2" from you, the guitars are right at 8', and the drums are 30' away.
Click to expand...
Aaahhh... I was too embarrassed to admit that I didn't know what you meant, Llarion. That makes sense.

AS FOR THIS SONG!!!! Okay, you have recording issues or something, but this is an emotive and totally wonderful song. It's a little "left" heavy b/c of that cool low endy acoustic on the left, but I'm a HUGE fan of ridiculous panning. It's hissy on the right. (obviously, I'm listening on headphones).

I have no problem with your voice, that's for damned sure. It's obvious to me you can freaking belt, and you're holding back a ton to give the vocal some intimacy...I think. lol.

Dude, I love this. downloading. I have no idea what the lyrics are, but that'll come to me later...(that's not a diss, by the way...the song is engaging me without me even knowing what it's about...that's a VERY good thing. Ever hear the song "Bother," by Stone Sour? I have no idea what that tune's about either, but I've listened to it probably 150 times in the last month.

You're really talented.

Bye
 
really dig the guitar riff....very nice...and the fade in is realy nice..
man i already feel sad and you havent started singing yet....thats a good sign.....unless its a happy song...........ok its not....lol..nice vocals ..wow...man really a really great vocal on here..i can almost smell the empty bottles littered around your couch.....
excellent....there are some vox just on the verge of being off key....but it sorta works on this. silly words ...great lyric.





nice work
jamal
 
Like the song... this is my first review... which I shouldn't post because it's late and I can't listen through my main speakers now. I noticed the drums could be improved. They sound very "power ballad" to me, almost too big? If I were using that drum sound I might try a plate reverb on the voice, ya know, kinda go for broke as it were. I hear a different drum part in my head... for what it's worth I heard no bass drum. I hear a marching snare in the distance. I'm not a drummer, so I don't know how to describe what I hear... I'll listen again tomorrow.
 
Llarion: Thanks! I definitely have some issues with things being to loud or too soft. I do think that the vocals need to be eased off a bit, and the drums are faded back just because I figured they we're just a simple loop and fairly unimportant to the song. I think I'm gonna try and program some new drums for the song that are a tad more complex...or get a drummer, which seems to be much more difficult.

chrisharris: I'm not sure why it's hissing on the right...maybe too much compression or there might have been some background noise. I'm recording in a noisy old apartment and my roommate may or not have been home at the time of the recording, possibly picking up some background noise (could be a flyers game). Oh, and thank you very much for the comments!

jamal bucket: thanks! also, ya, I noticed being off a bit here and there...mostly on the last verse, but I just kind of left it...not sure why. A little imperfection seems to give it a little more grittiness.

gorbyrun: thanks for the feed back! nice and constructive. as I mentioned in above, the drums are just a simple loop programmed on my Boss Dr. Rhythm...or whatever it's called. you also mentioned it sounded kind of "power balled" just out of curiosity, is there a beat in a song out there that you could see fitting better? It sucks having to do the freakin' drums myself...especially because I'm not a freakin' drummer, and there's really no way to mask that. I also had the vocal originally with a TON of reverb on it, but yanked it...just too damn much... I'm also a recovering reverboholic, so there are quite literally no effects on any of these tracks besides a little compression.

Thanks again everyone!
 
Cool tune,very mello.
The acoustic guitar was real nice,what mic did you use on it?
I dig your playing.

The melody was good,well put together song.

I enjoyed it ,thanks,
Pete
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top