2nd tune for the demo: New World (Histor) - Fresh ears please!

[famous beagle]

Ha! Made a typo in the frickin' song title!

Hey everyone,

Here's the second tune for our band demo (first was "Freedom of Youth"), and I'd love to get opinions on this one. Any comments/criticisms are welcome.

It's called "New World (History)"

Thanks so much!

 

[rayc]

Apart from the cymbals there's seems to be alack of top end - it could be me & my headphones but the sparkle end doesn't seem to be there.
The song, arrangement and performances all sound fine. The guityar solo could be a little louder - the synth was actually attracting my attention becasue the levels were similar and it was on a less obvious trajectory and the change in dynamics could be emphasised a little more.

 

[JimmyS1969]

Agreed, the guitars all seem quite dull. After brightening them up, I would suggest some volume automation between verse/bridge/chorus to give some buildup to chorus. Solo definitely needs out front like the vocals.

Good tune and solid performances man.

 

[famous beagle]

Thanks for the comments Ray and jimmy. I like the idea of volume automation to give the chorus a bit more of a push. I'll have to try that.

That seems to be a common thread running through my mixes: "dull," "sounds like a blanket over the mix," etc. I must say, I don't really know what my problem is. I follow the advice of countless others with regards to miking amps---i.e. SM57 about 4-6 inches away aimed near the cone but off axis, etc. It always sounds good to me at first, but then when I compare it to a commercial recording, out comes the blanket to lay over the sound. I know those have been properly mastered and all and that makes a big difference, but there seems to be a fundamental issue at hand for some reason.

I've experimented with EQ --- and ridiculous, severe boosts at times --- but I still can't seem to fix the issue. Back to the drawing board, I guess. Thanks!

 

[rayc]

If it's a common problem look for a culprit - monitoring system?

 

[Manslick]

The song sounds good. Vocals are great.

The drums sound very compressed then excited. The transients are sky high.

Some hits like at 00:30 sound like a rim hit rather than a skin hit. At first the drums bothered me but after about 10 runs thru looking at the wave in Audacity they grow on me.

The tune is like Ben Folds 5, especially the singer. Really nice and modern sound.

 

[greenascanbe]

Well written song... it seems the snare is driving the song, only thing I would add is bring some more snap out of the snare.

 

[famous beagle]

If it's a common problem look for a culprit - monitoring system?

I've thought about that recently. I use Yamaha NS10s and check with Sony MDR-7506 headphones at times too. And I frequently reference against commercial tracks on both. For some reason, I can just never get my stuff sounding as bright and open as the commercial ones.

I've treated my room with bass traps and absorptive panels at the reflection points.

I got the Yamaha's because ... I mean ... I saw them everywhere and read about how standard they were. They have a clear sound, but they have very little bass (or at least in my room). Even commercial recordings have low bass through them (though it definitely sounds more present than in my recordings).

I've thought about getting some powered monitors because the power amp I use (Alesis RA-100) hums when it's on. It's not really loud, but it is clearly audible. So it's kind of annoying. It doesn't really hum through the speakers; it's more of a physical hum from the unit itself. It's still annoying.

Anyway, definitely something I've been thinking about.

 

[famous beagle]

Manslick: Thanks! I've never heard the Ben Folds comparison before, but I certainly dig their stuff, so that's cool. I think most of the hits are actually rim shots. I struggled to get a decent amount of pop out of the snare because of that. I did compress the drums a good bit, but I didn't add an exciter. There was EQing for sure, though. I go back and forth thinking the drums are a bit too loud and then not.

greenascanbe: Thanks for the listen. See above regarding the snare. I tried really hard to get the amount of pop out of the snare that's there. It's EQed pretty heavily. Maybe I could adjust the compression a bit to see if that would help as well.