Drive Me Mad

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RAMI

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Just finished the vocals on this. Here's the first mix, of what I'm sure will turn out to be many.

Since the last thing I spent time working on was the vocals, I'm really not sure of the levels. Sometimes they seem to loud, sometimes they seem to low. I'm also not crazy about my snare in this, but I don't think it's horrible.

Fire away....please.

DRIVE ME MAD

Drive Me Mad (words and music by RAMI)


Running from the Boogy man
Hollow as a hologram
Critically tranquilized
Television overdose
Waiting until your head explodes
Mentally terrorized
I don't know what you're saying and I know
I don't even know what I don't know, you know?

Chorus:
All I know is you drive me nervous
All I know is you drag me down
All I know is it drives me mad

Sick of Democrats again
Tired of the Republicans
Sick and tired is all we got
I know what they're trying to sell
I know that it's lame as hell
Nothing's ever what it's not
I don't know what you're saying and I know
I don't even know what I don't know, you know?

Chorus:
All I know is you drive me nervous
All I know is you drag me down
All I know is it drives me mad

I don't know what I know but I do know
I don't know what I don't know, you know?

Chorus:
All I know is you drive me nervous
All I know is you drag me down
All I know is you drive me nervous
All I know is you drag me down
All I know is it drives me mad
 
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I don't think the vocals are too bad...maybe a pinch loud, but nothing bad.

The snare....mmmmm...not sure what you hate about it, but to me it just sounds like it needs a bit more of the "snares" to take out some of that "TONK", and it's too loud relative to the rest of the kit (not so much the song)...so maybe turn up the rest of the drum tracks.

Otherwise the song is pretty good...high-energy rock. Guitars sound good.
 
I think it sounds good too. The whole drum kit including the snare seemed to set well in the mix. Great drum work by the way. It is a very clean recording...almost too clean. It needs some type of ambiance or reverb somewhere. I know that's not a lot of help but I'm a dumbass when it comes to expressing myself sometimes. The levels on everything sounded good to me. I loved the guitar harmonies and it a killer arrangement IMO. Bottom line is its very good.
Great job RAMI I really enjoy your tunes.
 
miroslav said:
I don't think the vocals are too bad...maybe a pinch loud, but nothing bad.

The snare....mmmmm...not sure what you hate about it, but to me it just sounds like it needs a bit more of the "snares" to take out some of that "TONK", and it's too loud relative to the rest of the kit (not so much the song)...so maybe turn up the rest of the drum tracks.

Otherwise the song is pretty good...high-energy rock. Guitars sound good.
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Thanx a lot Miro. I made a few changes based on your suggestions. :cool:

jimistone said:
I think it sounds good too. The whole drum kit including the snare seemed to set well in the mix. Great drum work by the way. It is a very clean recording...almost too clean. It needs some type of ambiance or reverb somewhere. I know that's not a lot of help but I'm a dumbass when it comes to expressing myself sometimes. The levels on everything sounded good to me. I loved the guitar harmonies and it a killer arrangement IMO. Bottom line is its very good.
Great job RAMI I really enjoy your tunes.
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Thanx Jimi.

I can always add more reverb. I get a lot of comments on the percieved "dryness" of my mixes often. I think my idea of "alot of reverb" isn't what it should be. I A/B my mixes, bypassing and turning the reverb back on, and notice a huge difference. But I might have to re-think what I consider to be a lot of reverb.

Thanx a lot for all the help guys.
 
I really liked this. All the pauses really add to the song. Really cool arrangement. I can't give much advice on mixing/EQ because I am new to all that. But it sounded really good to me! I wouldnt change a thing! How did you get those drum sounds?
 
Craigocaster said:
I really liked this. All the pauses really add to the song. Really cool arrangement. I can't give much advice on mixing/EQ because I am new to all that. But it sounded really good to me! I wouldnt change a thing! How did you get those drum sounds?
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Thanx a lot Craig. :cool:

I record my drums with 4 mics (kik, snare, 2 overheads). Don't really do anything special other than tune them well, mic them properly (to the best of my ability), and then EQ, compress to taste. It's mostly more about having good sounding drums in a good room than anything else. :)
 
Sounds really good to me RAMI. From the instrumental version to this it has always sounded really good. Not what I was expecting vocal wise but very pleasantly surprised :D Great lyrics.

Still think those drums sound f'in awesome!!!!!

Good work.
 
Love the song. I'd say for me this is one of your best ones. I love the anti-political bullshit stance. I've written a few songs like that myself.

I think the vocal level is fine. I do think the drums are too loud overall. Yes, I said it. Lol. I think the whole kit can be reeled in some to let the other stuff out more without having to turn them up. Or maybe just bring the overheads down some. That, or I'd like to hear more rhythm guitars. I agree with miro that the snare could use more "snap", but it's not a deal breaker or anything. What you have is good. Great song.
 
I got hooked after the 1st chorus. With all the talk about the snare I thought I'd hear something really out of place, but the version I'm hearing (on ear buds) it fine. The fills at the end around the last "I don't know" are particularly fine. nice job. cmk
 
Tight as hell, like the "all I know is you drive me nervous"... tip of the hat to Alice? Great song , awesome playing on the changes......super tight....they dont write em like this anymore...glad you do! Rocks!
 
Mr Clean said:
Sounds really good to me RAMI. From the instrumental version to this it has always sounded really good. Not what I was expecting vocal wise but very pleasantly surprised :D Great lyrics.

Still think those drums sound f'in awesome!!!!!

Good work.
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Thanx a lot Mr. C. Glad the vocals didn't ruin it. I have some shitty songs that would be great instrumentals. :)

Greg_L said:
Love the song. I'd say for me this is one of your best ones. I love the anti-political bullshit stance. I've written a few songs like that myself.

I think the vocal level is fine. I do think the drums are too loud overall. Yes, I said it. Lol. I think the whole kit can be reeled in some to let the other stuff out more without having to turn them up. Or maybe just bring the overheads down some. That, or I'd like to hear more rhythm guitars. I agree with miro that the snare could use more "snap", but it's not a deal breaker or anything. What you have is good. Great song.
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Awesome man. Thanx alot, glad you like it. I'll bring the drums back down a bit. I brought them up after trurning down the snare. I should have just stopped at turning down the snare. :cool:

CMK said:
I got hooked after the 1st chorus. With all the talk about the snare I thought I'd hear something really out of place, but the version I'm hearing (on ear buds) it fine. The fills at the end around the last "I don't know" are particularly fine. nice job. cmk
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Thanx a lot Cmk.

queepy said:
Tight as hell, like the "all I know is you drive me nervous"... tip of the hat to Alice? Great song , awesome playing on the changes......super tight....they dont write em like this anymore...glad you do! Rocks!
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Thanx Queepy. Yeah, definitely a nod to Alice, but not planned that way. The first phrase that came into my head after I had the music down was "You drive me nervous", but I knew I couldn't call the song that, so I just made it a line in the chorus.
 
Wow, man. Sound great. I think the snare sounds fine. I think the overheads are a bit loud, but not by much. Your playing is so tight. Love it. Everything pretty much rocks hard.

Good stuff - again.
 
I'm not sure if you remixed this yet but I think the drums are a bit too loud. Other than that the song is great, and the timing is impeccable. Fabulous... :D:D:D:D
 
PoeticIntensity said:
Wow, man. Sound great. I think the snare sounds fine. I think the overheads are a bit loud, but not by much. Your playing is so tight. Love it. Everything pretty much rocks hard.

Good stuff - again.
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ido1957 said:
I'm not sure if you remixed this yet but I think the drums are a bit too loud. Other than that the song is great, and the timing is impeccable. Fabulous... :D:D:D:D
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Thanx a lot guys. I haven't got around to turning down the drums yet. Started working on another song and pretty much forgot about this one. I'll open it up and turn the drums next time I think about.

Thanx for all the help. :cool:
 
That's awesome!
Sounds great to me, very nice work.
I hope, someday I can achieve a sound like that!
 
wow...great song. I think I said something in another thread that this is like the "Machine Head" version...and if it was you, you know what I'm saying. Weird sound on the lead guitar at 3:18...like a comb filtering or a stopped flange effect. Intentional?

I think you said you prefer the dryer, more "studio" approach....and me coming from another background I suppose, hear this as a killer, balls to the walls, political statement that would make Joan Boez and Bob Dylan proud. Thunder guitars and drums with great timing between the instruments.

I'd love to hear the live version at 115dB Good job!
 
Sounds great to me. I like the snare sound cause its a different sound. Dry is a feeling not a fx.
 
Ah, the final version... nice.

If it were me I'd pull the drums in a touch, and I'm getting a definite "did he mean to do that?" moment at 3.02 where I think the volume on the rhythm guitar drops a bit much. The snare? Not my area of expertise but I'm with the others on adding a bit more actual snare sound (probably a bit hard now, hey!) or perhaps top end to it and I'm not a huge super dry snare person. But these are all minor taste nits...

Top song and I love the complexity of it all.. good stuff RAMI. :thumbs up:
 
mixmkr said:
what dat mean? Dry means no fx, wouldn't it? In swimmers terms...it's the feeling you have before you jump in the pool ;-D
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It's a saying we have round here with people who want to put verb and delay on everything. Sometimes dry is good its a feeling so don't try to make it an fx.
 
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