Slurpasaur - new VHS song

I like this. What FX are you using on the vocal in the spoken interlude? Is that on the whole vocal track?
 
Thanks!
Nope, completely different vocal chains between the interlude and everything else.

So that's a fairly noisy recording from Austin (I ripped the audio from a phone video of him doing the bit). I used EQ, an FFT filter, and compression; then I mixed that signal with the original one. (The ultimate goal was to get his voice above the background noise, but the aggressive FFT added artifacts.)
 
new mix!View attachment Slurpasaur.mp3

Changes:
More aggressive HPF on the lead guitars to get them out of the mid-range
Everything but drums and randomized elements down about 2 dB
Some stadium-style reverb on the snare to make it bigger
Oh, and I added dinosaur noises. Rar!
 
I listened to the version in the OP. Song sounds interesting. That bass intro is really cool. That "who can save us now..." chorus is catchy.

The mix needs more clarity and balls for lack a better word. I want to hear the bass and drums, that dum da da dum rhythm driving the song. Instead it's getting washed out in the mix and the ambiance that is engulfing everything, tangling things up with each other, and making it all sound indistinct. Notice how your snare is audible but the kick drum is MIA. It causes the snare to sound kind of floppy and disconnected. If you got the relationship between kick, snare and bass right, that would go a long way. I think there's too much ambiance--matter of taste there.

The spoken part sounded kind of lofi and lispy, if that's what you were going for. I didn't notice any FX apart from reverb.

PS, I see there was a new mix. Aaaargh! You should update the OP so the latest mix is always at the top of the thread. Okay, better clarity. Much better. The high pass helped a lot. I still think your bass and drums could come up more. That shrieky thing--was that the dinosaur effect?--sounds loud, grating, and harsh in this mix. You might need to lower it.
 
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I always like some vomit music. Puke Tunes? Ha

Guitars sounded cool. Vocal is very clear. Some words get lost here and there behind the guitars. I like the backing vocals.

The low end is a little light. But it didn't seem to bother me much.

The spoken stuff in the middle was a cool bit. The fidelity of those vocals wasn't the best. Maybe it was caught live, was unexpected, and not well mic'd? But it was cool.
 
Robus said:
I listened to the version in the OP. Song sounds interesting. That bass intro is really cool. That "who can save us now..." chorus is catchy.

The mix needs more clarity and balls for lack a better word. I want to hear the bass and drums, that dum da da dum rhythm driving the song. Instead it's getting washed out in the mix and the ambiance that is engulfing everything, tangling things up with each other, and making it all sound indistinct. Notice how your snare is audible but the kick drum is MIA. It causes the snare to sound kind of floppy and disconnected. If you got the relationship between kick, snare and bass right, that would go a long way. I think there's too much ambiance--matter of taste there.

The spoken part sounded kind of lofi and lispy, if that's what you were going for. I didn't notice any FX apart from reverb.

PS, I see there was a new mix. Aaaargh! You should update the OP so the latest mix is always at the top of the thread. Okay, better clarity. Much better. The high pass helped a lot. I still think your bass and drums could come up more. That shrieky thing--was that the dinosaur effect?--sounds loud, grating, and harsh in this mix. You might need to lower it.
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That is, in fact, a cheap dinosaur toy. Good ear! (hooray 1 inch speakers!) Is it harsh in all locations or just towards the end when I treat it as a keyboard rather than a crash cymbal?

TripleM said:
I always like some vomit music. Puke Tunes? Ha

Guitars sounded cool. Vocal is very clear. Some words get lost here and there behind the guitars. I like the backing vocals.

The low end is a little light. But it didn't seem to bother me much.

The spoken stuff in the middle was a cool bit. The fidelity of those vocals wasn't the best. Maybe it was caught live, was unexpected, and not well mic'd? But it was cool.
Click to expand...

Spoken part is a phone mic. Single take (as evidenced by the random cameo by a cat.)

Thanks, guys.
 
This is great. I also listened to the OP mix first, until I read Robus' post. Newer mix definitely better. Snare sounds great. Background vocals sound nice and clean. Had to listen a few times to hear the cat, but found it! Hope she/he got paid for their contribution!

Nice job on the lead vocals too, they sound great.

If I had any nits at all, drums overall could use more high-end sparkle and shimmer, but it's a taste thing and sounds fine as is.

This reminds me of a tune from the original Battle Arena Toshinden from the very first Playstation.
 
Thanks JA.

The Flac link in the original is auto-updated to the latest iteration of the song. I was just too lazy to edit the post 'cause there hadn't been much feedback by the time I got to the 3rd mix.
 
Yeah the remix definitely cleared things up quite a bit. I'm having a hard time deciphering the bass line, though.

Well, I really like the chorus, though I think something should change there to give it a separate sound from the verse. It sounds like the same energy and nothing different. I would do something like have the hi hat play 16th notes (for sure) and become more prominent in the chorus. I'd drop some of those techno sounds and let the drums and guitars dominate in the chorus. It's a really catchy section, though not well differentiated from the verse.

The whole song is too uniform in its sections (obv aside from the speaking part) and the variety you're trying to impress is lost in the many, many sounds that create a constant swooshing and wash.
 
I like the song-reminds me of devo with they guy from pet shop boys singing. As far as the mix it sounds like everything is hiding behind each other. I think the vocals could come up and lose a little of the ambience. The drums could be more driving-more high end sheen on the drums maybe...the rhythm section in general..sounds like there's interesting stuff going on beneath the surface id like to hear it a bit more...I like the vocal mix coming out of the spoken section. It sounds like to much verb on the backup vocals also-the decay of the verb smears the clarity of the fast spoken vocals...I imagine there's a great distorted guitar in there somewhere, i'd like to hear it pop out more especially during the chorus and between verses...I really like the song i'm on listen 5 at least by now-i think the mix could be helped a bit but it has your particular unique sound and it's an interesting listen!
 
andrushkiwt said:
Well, I really like the chorus, though I think something should change there to give it a separate sound from the verse. It sounds like the same energy and nothing different. I would do something like have the hi hat play 16th notes (for sure) and become more prominent in the chorus. I'd drop some of those techno sounds and let the drums and guitars dominate in the chorus. It's a really catchy section, though not well differentiated from the verse.

The whole song is too uniform in its sections (obv aside from the speaking part) and the variety you're trying to impress is lost in the many, many sounds that create a constant swooshing and wash.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... That is a good point. There isn't much difference between the two sections. I'll have to ponder that...

Thanks!

stratomaster said:
several things that I'm too lazy to copy-paste here
Click to expand...
Thanks, Strat.
I can definitely see what you mean on the bgvox verb. i'd been thinking that myself.
Guitars are pretty buried. I always tend to view them as a filler instrument, so they're the first thing to get ducked.
I probably should bring the hats and high-end of the drums out some more. That'd help with Andru's thoughts too.
 
FWIW I haven't read any other comments. The initial bass sound reminded me of PIL. My impression is that the mix is cloudy, not muddy but just lacking some sparkle - this was the 2nd mix on your first post. Definitely a VHS jam. I'll listen again to get a 2nd impression
 
Hi VHS

This is a pretty interesting track... sort of along the lines of Primus with its kookiness (!?)

The vocal effects (call/response) are great... they sound clean and are at the right level for a call/response ... the spoken interlude throws me a bit though... maybe if you had the rhythm track (bass and/or drums?) playing behind it to keep up the drive... it's really cranking along and then suddenly hits the brakes which to me is a bit off-putting... listen to 'Rush' by Big Audio Dynamite (at about the 2:00 mark) .. it suddenly stops dead and you hit the brakes and go through the windsceen ... dunno... I'd put something behind it low in the mix.

Overall it's a great track ... maybe add a bit more beef to the bottom end but that's personal taste.

I like it ...nice work!
 
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