-20C So I Recorded Some Vocals

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Yeah, dude... What a rocker. Loved it. My only nit is that the first verse, perhaps, wasn't a soulful, or biting as the rest of the song. I love the chorus's vocals, man. Nailed it hard there. The rest of the song was great. For some reason, I just didn't find as much passion in your voice in the beginning. Other than that - great rendition, my man.
 
It may just be myself but I feel that the kit sounds a little too dry. Perhaps turn up the over heads and throw some verb on the snare. perhaps you can simulate a room using aux channels and some verb to mix in with the dry kit. It just sounds that if the kit were more roomy it would open the song up more.

On the topic of the first verse what I found to be holding it back was the annunciation. It's very terse and short. In the 2nd verse you elongate the annunciation and it flows with the track more.
 
You should downtune the guitars to A flat and add more distortion. Add more double kick rolls and trigger everything. And then bark out the vocals and say Satan a lot.:P

Other than that it sounds ok to me. I agree with jghungerford on the drums. I would also like to hear a little more guitar in the mix.
 
I kind of agree with jghungerford. The kit is the weak link. It sounds to me like it's too much overhead and not enough close mics. The guitar and vocals are in our face, but the drums are small, flat, and timid. The vocals sound good to me. Guitars sound really nice.
 
PoeticIntensity said:
Yeah, dude... What a rocker. Loved it. My only nit is that the first verse, perhaps, wasn't a soulful, or biting as the rest of the song. I love the chorus's vocals, man. Nailed it hard there. The rest of the song was great. For some reason, I just didn't find as much passion in your voice in the beginning. Other than that - great rendition, my man.
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Thank Jason - Yeah - it starts out sort of slow, not the same phrasing. I like how it goes up a touch later on...

jghungerford said:
It may just be myself but I feel that the kit sounds a little too dry. Perhaps turn up the over heads and throw some verb on the snare. perhaps you can simulate a room using aux channels and some verb to mix in with the dry kit. It just sounds that if the kit were more roomy it would open the song up more.

On the topic of the first verse what I found to be holding it back was the annunciation. It's very terse and short. In the 2nd verse you elongate the annunciation and it flows with the track more.
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Thanks jghungerford! Yep - the clipping off vocals is a comment I've heard before about a few tunes. I think it's a conscious effort to avoid flat spots at the end of phrases.

Murdersgalore said:
You should downtune the guitars to A flat and add more distortion. Add more double kick rolls and trigger everything. And then bark out the vocals and say Satan a lot.:P

Other than that it sounds ok to me. I agree with jghungerford on the drums. I would also like to hear a little more guitar in the mix.
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HeyMurdersgalore! I was going to use line "The Power of Christ compels you!!!!" but I heard it was already taken lol...

Greg_L said:
I kind of agree with jghungerford. The kit is the weak link. It sounds to me like it's too much overhead and not enough close mics. The guitar and vocals are in our face, but the drums are small, flat, and timid. The vocals sound good to me. Guitars sound really nice.
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Thanks Greg - I defer the drums to you and Jason. I drop them in 'as is' - I like 'em. On my earbuds and AKG 271's the drums (especially snare) is pretty prominent. I like to keep it at the same level as the vocals if possible. The overheads is an interesting comment. Jason - you had some issues with the cymbals on my mastered track. They sound okay on this rough mix but I wonder if the mastering brings out more those frequencies? I should refer this to the mastering forum maybe. The drumming is fabulous BTW - pulls this song way up as they always do...

For those who like to know...
- Rhythm Guitars - 83 Kramer Pacer Imperial (L/R tracks at different octaves)
- Lead Guitar - 89 Clapton Strat with Lace Sensors (Middle Pickup) DBX Tone full open
- Guitar Amp - 80's Marshall 4100. High gain setting maybe 40% pre gain.
- Guitar Effects - GP8 with a bit of 250ms delay and mild comp.
- Mics - SM57 on amp, Rode NTK on vocals
- Pre's - alesis mixer on all except Lexicon U42S on backups.
- Lexicon Pantheon on the effect send (guitars/vocals).
- Drums - recorded and played by Jason Jones (aka poeticintensity).
- Bass - recorded and played by Mike Hamilton (aka mjhamil) Fender 400 (line out) and Rickenbacker 4002

This one is off to Denmark for mastering by finemastering.de this week...
 
No nits from me, sounds very good. I'm not too well qualified to comment on drums, but perhaps a little more punch on the mixing to make the fills stand out a little more?

Look forward to hearing the difference between this and the mastered versions.
 
Sounds good man! Clapton-esque. I can't remember if I heard you sing before, but that was pretty good. I kept wanting to hear you sustain certain notes. There would be a certain word that would cut through, hit the mic and compressor just right and I'd be thinking 'damn, I wanna hear more of that'. Then other times it seemed like you kinda trailed off. The drums could've hit a little harder with more attack. Which, coincidentally, is the same minute complaint I have with the guitar. I like the warmth of the neck pu, but found my self really wanting some bite. One last nit - I can't really throw stones here :o, but when I hear a song like this, in the Clapton style, I really want to hear slides, schwenckles (little licks), higher voiced chords, etc instead of hearing the same chords in the same spots over again ;). The solo was great, so I know you are plenty capable. I know its tough when you are wearing all the hats from songwriter to engineer. Still a well done tune here; sorry I rambled on so.....:D:):cool:
 
robgreen said:
No nits from me, sounds very good. I'm not too well qualified to comment on drums, but perhaps a little more punch on the mixing to make the fills stand out a little more?
Look forward to hearing the difference between this and the mastered versions.
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Thanks robgreen...I'll post so you can compare....

maximusbs said:
Sounds good man! Clapton-esque. I can't remember if I heard you sing before, but that was pretty good. I kept wanting to hear you sustain certain notes. There would be a certain word that would cut through, hit the mic and compressor just right and I'd be thinking 'damn, I wanna hear more of that'. Then other times it seemed like you kinda trailed off. The drums could've hit a little harder with more attack. Which, coincidentally, is the same minute complaint I have with the guitar. I like the warmth of the neck pu, but found my self really wanting some bite. One last nit - I can't really throw stones here :o, but when I hear a song like this, in the Clapton style, I really want to hear slides, schwenckles (little licks), higher voiced chords, etc instead of hearing the same chords in the same spots over again ;). The solo was great, so I know you are plenty capable. I know its tough when you are wearing all the hats from songwriter to engineer. Still a well done tune here; sorry I rambled on so.....:D:):cool:
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Thanks maximusbs - lots of good suggestions and comments. Slide is way beyond me but Statesboro Blues was on repeat throughout my teens. All I ever got was some thin awful sound.
 
Great chorus. Could surely use some better recording of the snare. Loved the harmonies in the chorus. I think it could use some more bite and edgy. Maybe raise the guitar or something? It just seems like its a little on the safer side stylistically.
 
What a great hookline you've got here, Gerry!
Yeah, the verses could use some more expression. The guitar playing's great. If Jan's gonna master this, I'm sure he'll make those drums punch more. Jason sure played them great though.
Nice tune!
PS: Jan lives in Deutschland.......;)
 
ConcreteSkyline said:
Great chorus. Could surely use some better recording of the snare. Loved the harmonies in the chorus. I think it could use some more bite and edgy. Maybe raise the guitar or something? It just seems like its a little on the safer side stylistically.
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joeym said:
What a great hookline you've got here, Gerry!
Yeah, the verses could use some more expression. The guitar playing's great. If Jan's gonna master this, I'm sure he'll make those drums punch more. Jason sure played them great though.
Nice tune!
PS: Jan lives in Deutschland.......;)
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Oops - wonder why I thought Denmark? Sorry about that. Thanks for the heads up!

I just got the master back from Jan and it sounds great! (Über Uns | fine mastering)

So if anyone wants to compare - here you go:

Mastered Mix:
http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/file.php?id=26665
 
Great song. I like the mix. I do hear what others have said about the first verse vocals, but it's a small thing to me. Sounds really good! Downright fascinating listening to the mastered and original versions side by side. I need to learn about this mastering thing. Seems like a bit of a black art, but man it does make a difference! At first listen is was downright astounding, but a lot of that was because the mastered version is louder overall - not "Volume wars" louder, but just straight up "higher peaks" louder, I think. After adjusting the volumes to the same "apparent" volume, though, there's still a huge difference. The mastered version is just clearer, cleaner, prettier (not meant as disparagement on your original mix, but as praise for whatever was done in the mastering). How do he do that?

Anyway, really good stuff. Thanks for posting both the original and the mastered versions... and thanks for the synopsis of gear/etc too. Enjoyed it!!
J
 
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Thanks J - I'm glad you like the tune. Yes - Jan has made it sound better overall - he has a great ear for detail and lots of experience. This retains dynamics despite being able to compete in the (*loudness*) wars...
 
Now I remember......finemastering.de - the .de threw me off. I stands for Deutchland (DE) not Denmark (DK) I think Canadians refer to it as Germany, so .de just looked like the beginning of Denmark. Canada is .ca for example..... so now you know.
 
Just echoing what jjjtttggg said really, but thanks for posting both versions. Enjoyed the original, but the improvement again on the mastered version is very impressive. Nice work all round.
 
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