Universe

[Chili]

Great job all around. Everything neatly has its own space. I didn't think you had a lot of room for improvement from the first mix, but you found small tweaks that really makes this song shine.

It sounds very bowie-esque to me. The vocals particularly. I enjoyed listening very much.

 

[Tadpui]

Listening to mix 2....

Shit, sounds fine to me. Nice guitar tones. Yes! Feedback. I'm not the only one anymore using beautiful amp feedback in my mixes. Well done. Actually, maybe a little more bass gtr would be good to me.

New mix. Sounds good good good. I like the feedback and the vocal level. I think the bass could do with a little more definition or level so that it's not being masked by the kick drum.

Thanks fellas! I really appreciate the feedback (well, yours and guitar feedback too). I tend to lean on a guitar feeding back quite often, there's just something about it. It's controlled chaos, especially when you're in the same room with it. It's different every time, and I love how it layers. There's that push/pull when more than one guitar is feeding back, and you can't do it the same twice. Friggin awesome.

I did another mix after reading your feedback, but I'm not going to post it until I've had a day or two to sleep on it. Gotta make sure I didn't push a fader too far, and listen on another system or two. My room is still struggling in the bass frequencies, so am I.

 

[Tadpui]

Great job all around. Everything neatly has its own space. I didn't think you had a lot of room for improvement from the first mix, but you found small tweaks that really makes this song shine.

It sounds very bowie-esque to me. The vocals particularly. I enjoyed listening very much.

Thanks Chili, I appreciate the Bowie reference. I've got a stack of his CDs that I've damn near memorized in the last 20 years. The only reason anybody knew my name in college is because I was the guy that sat next to the keg and played Bowie songs all night

 

[Bubba po]

Great song. No criticisms, really, everything sounds good. I particularly like the drums. I assume they're programmed, but the programming's good, and works well. It doesn't sound mechanical. Good guitar tones, nice use of space.

 

[jonny deep]

This is really good. I don't have much more to say than that - sounds really professional to me!

 

[hmorris]

Really nice stuff, reminding me of lots of favourite things like Floyd Bowie The Who .... and nicely recorded too!

 

[heatmiser]

I think this sounds really good. You've got a nice, full crunchy guitar tone going there.

Drums sound sufficiently heavy for a slower rocker like this.

I like the lower lead guitar part following the more traditional solo section.

Bass sounds good, maybe could be more distinct? Vocals are nice. I like the background vocals in particular. I guess myself, I might actually bring down the lead vocal level just a tad.

I haven't read any of the other comments though, so I'm sorry if I'm being redundant or off base here.

 

[Tadpui]

Great song. No criticisms, really, everything sounds good. I particularly like the drums. I assume they're programmed, but the programming's good, and works well. It doesn't sound mechanical. Good guitar tones, nice use of space.

Thanks Bubba, the drums are programmed. It's a cobbled-together kit from pieces of SSD4 Platinum. I had tucked it away for months because I don't get along with the interface very well. I pulled it up while working on this song and I had forgotten how good the actual samples sound. I triggered them from a little Yamaha e-kit, then used liberal amounts of quantization to get it in time. I'm getting better but my timing is still pretty terrible. Thanks for the listen & comments!

This is really good. I don't have much more to say than that - sounds really professional to me!

Thanks, I appreciate it!

Really nice stuff, reminding me of lots of favourite things like Floyd Bowie The Who .... and nicely recorded too!

Thank you very much!

I think this sounds really good. You've got a nice, full crunchy guitar tone going there.

Drums sound sufficiently heavy for a slower rocker like this.

I like the lower lead guitar part following the more traditional solo section.

Bass sounds good, maybe could be more distinct? Vocals are nice. I like the background vocals in particular. I guess myself, I might actually bring down the lead vocal level just a tad.

I haven't read any of the other comments though, so I'm sorry if I'm being redundant or off base here.

Thanks heatmiser! The fellas in the tone thread helped me hone in on a good tone from my new DSL40. I'm definitely in love with this thing now, it's the tone that I've wanted to put to this music for a long time.

I'm still working on a bass tone, I can tell that's going to be my achilles heel for the time being. I'm still trying!

I appreciate the listen and kind words.

 

[famous beagle]

I missed this one when it first came around. (I have times where I get to check out a decent amount of stuff and others when I don't at all.) Killer tune! I love the vocals, the guitars, the melodies, and the chord progressions. I especially love the lyrics. Ha! This shit is right up my alley. I think I've watched every scientific documentary on the subject of the cosmos that I could find on Netflix and Amazon Prime. My wife is always giving me shit about it because it's the only TV I watch. I especially loved the line about the ring that's "made of things that used to be a sun." Somehow the word "sun" or "star" seems to end up in every other one of my songs.

For instance:
https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...ew-album-theory-relativity-361440/?highlight=

or:
https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...ndie-rock-ballad-fireflies-380314/?highlight=

Anyway, very cool stuff! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Tadpui]

I missed this one when it first came around. (I have times where I get to check out a decent amount of stuff and others when I don't at all.) Killer tune! I love the vocals, the guitars, the melodies, and the chord progressions. I especially love the lyrics. Ha! This shit is right up my alley. I think I've watched every scientific documentary on the subject of the cosmos that I could find on Netflix and Amazon Prime. My wife is always giving me shit about it because it's the only TV I watch. I especially loved the line about the ring that's "made of things that used to be a sun." Somehow the word "sun" or "star" seems to end up in every other one of my songs.

For instance:
https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...ew-album-theory-relativity-361440/?highlight=

or:
https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...ndie-rock-ballad-fireflies-380314/?highlight=

Anyway, very cool stuff! Thanks for sharing!

Hey man, thanks, I appreciate it a lot! This was definitely my inner science geek coming out...years of a Discover magazine subscription and then-new access to the Science channel boiled over I've got another version or two of this that I've done based on the input I got here. But I ended up in a stalemate on all of the songs of this album...I can't get the vocal sound right. I got frustrated and moved on to other things, but this whole album has constantly been in the back of my mind. I think I need to dedicate a week and retrack all of the vocals, and spend more time getting the sound right. I've learned a little since this was tracked/mixed, so maybe I could do better now.

Anyways, thanks for sharing your links, I like those songs a lot. You've got a great natural voice like the dude from Voxtrot, and the music reminds me of Grandaddy, who penned one of my all-time favorite albums (The Sophtware Slump). A little whimsical, maybe a little twee, but 100% great. Your vocal FX are perfect in the Theory of Relativity. That's the slapback echo I was shooting for in this song but missed. I can't find a subtle setting that still gets the job done, you did it perfectly. I don't know how I missed that 2nd song in the clinic, it was just this May. I suck at participating in the clinic overall, sorry I didn't catch that one.

 

[Supercreep]

It is a great composition. I like the lyrics, thanks for posting them. The harmony/main vocal lines are well balanced. The pitchiness, such as it is, is just part of the scene and I can totally live with it.

This is my favorite rock tempo, too.

Nice lead. Who's playing what?

 

[famous beagle]

Hey man, thanks, I appreciate it a lot! This was definitely my inner science geek coming out...years of a Discover magazine subscription and then-new access to the Science channel boiled over I've got another version or two of this that I've done based on the input I got here. But I ended up in a stalemate on all of the songs of this album...I can't get the vocal sound right. I got frustrated and moved on to other things, but this whole album has constantly been in the back of my mind. I think I need to dedicate a week and retrack all of the vocals, and spend more time getting the sound right. I've learned a little since this was tracked/mixed, so maybe I could do better now.

Anyways, thanks for sharing your links, I like those songs a lot. You've got a great natural voice like the dude from Voxtrot, and the music reminds me of Grandaddy, who penned one of my all-time favorite albums (The Sophtware Slump). A little whimsical, maybe a little twee, but 100% great. Your vocal FX are perfect in the Theory of Relativity. That's the slapback echo I was shooting for in this song but missed. I can't find a subtle setting that still gets the job done, you did it perfectly. I don't know how I missed that 2nd song in the clinic, it was just this May. I suck at participating in the clinic overall, sorry I didn't catch that one.

Thanks much! Even though I've been in the north Dallas area (4 hours from Austin) since 1990 (save for a few years when I moved out of state), I'd never actually heard of Voxtrot before. I just checked out a few tunes, and I dig it. I can hear what you're saying. It's funny that you mentioned Grandaddy too, because the bassist in my last band used to say I sounded a bit like Jason Lytle.

I can't take credit for any mix decisions on "Theory of Relativity," because that was recorded and mixed at Valve studios in Dallas--he's recorded the Polyphonic Spree, Bowling for Soup, and a few other fairly-well-knowns. It was my only experience working in a "pro" studio. We tracked to 2" tape, I got to sing into a Neumann, a Neve console, the whole enchilada.