a ballad? It's true - even rats can be soft and cuddly

rats

rats

New member
This one has a little bit of a country twang to it. I've been kicking this song around for a while. This is not the CD version of the song, but I like the take.

The song is 'Shaking Fruit from the Nicky Tree'.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1155&alid=-1

The music and words are mine, performance by the Blue Sunrays, recording and mix are mine.

I'd love to hear what you have to say.
 
Don't worry rats, if this was the only thing I'd heard from you I wouldn't think you're soft and cuddly.
Pretty cool! Nice blend of melody and noise.
 
Rats,

Not a bad mix but, the vocals seemed mixed only for the cleaner sounding parts of the track. When the extra heavy, distorting guitar kicks in the chorus, the singer didn't emote any differently, and his level stayed the same and got buried in the mix.

Was this heavy guitar an after thought and added after the vocal was done? If so, ride the vocal up a few db during that part to make it sound like there is some appearance of a live performance here.

Otherwise, the tune sounds good, if not a bit sloppy in spots on the players performance and not really much you could do about that short of making them re-do it until they were dead on through out the tune.

Cheers! :)
 
fecprod- thanks, melody and noise? I see what you mean.

ghost - so you think a little punch up on the db in the chorus will give the singer that extra oomph it needs to rise to the surface?:confused: Hmm. May want to give that a try. It seems to be a bit buried in that part. Yep. Yeah there's some slop in there, not too bad tho IMO. thanks for the feedback mang.

t-joe- I hear you.:p
 
Ok,

Opening is nice, When the heavy noise comes in, we lose the vocals. I think the noise is too washed out. It has no definition--just comes across as noise, turn the distortion down. Just my opinion.
 
Hey Buddy!

Very John Lennonish IMO.
I pretty much agree with the above comments re: Vocals getting lost in the heavy part.
I question if the distorted guitar is even needed........
I would like to hear a more practiced vocal.
What I mean is take 6 attempts at singing the whole thing thru then hit the big red button..
DANGER, (coming off like StudioViols now):D

You CAN sing, just take it a little more serious.
If I can(which is also questionable) then YOU can.

This ballad DESERVES a quality vocal because it's a good song:)
I better lighten up (the BP ya know):D

Love ya Man
(In a MANLY way);)

Dan
 
my opinions:
1. clean picking guitar during verse: a little out of balance with everything else. it kind of dominates my ear. a little ambience might help, i.e. some verb and a light delay.
2. pedalsteel-type guitar in the left channel during chorus: needs better balance with the rocking guitar on the right. love the way it's played though, compliments the chorus well.
3. vocals: already been covered in other posts, but i agree with the general concensus. more balls, more volume.
4. is there a bass guitar?

good song though.

edit:
i do have to respectfully disagree with heavyD:
What I mean is take 6 attempts at singing the whole thing thru then hit the big red button..
Click to expand...

always be recording. you never know when the "take" of a lifetime is gonna happen. it would suck to not record it... of course this happens to everyone at least once in their life... :)
 
I liked the song. Some well done rhymes. I liked the singer's voice. I always like doubled vocals. I liked the clean guitar on the right side (although it was a little dominant). But it was a real nice part. I liked the slide guitar.

I liked the parts where it kicks in with more energy. The distorted guit was maybe a little too fuzzy in those spots though.

A couple of vocal syncing issues near the begining.

Little pops at :13. :44, :46. 1:26, 1:28, 2:12. Probably a few others.

Perhaps some clipping around 3:04.

A few extra seconds of silence at the end that could probably be edited out.
 
no, no, not you too, rats. a ballard. you've sold out!!!!!!

Just kidding, very nice tune here. I agree with some of the suggestions folks are posting. But the tune is great. Clean it up.

Dan
 
Sorry,

rats said:
notes turn down the distortion in the loud part.:confused:
Click to expand...

Sorry, a little less distortion, not volume. If the guitars were just a little cleaner, the hard sound would still be there but it would come across better as tones instead of white noise.
 
Different kind of vibe, for sure

Cool tune - really pop-type intro and then cascading distortion. I like that glissando guitar part - But as 'Ghost' said, "When the extra heavy, distorting guitar kicks in the chorus, the singer didn't emote any differently, and his level stayed the same and got buried in the mix." - I kinda agree with that but I'm far from familiar with this take on the pop genre so I'm just typing away madly here with, perhaps, little valid input so............................suffice to say it's a cool tune and you did a nice job of recording.
Milan
 
Well written tune.Seems to have been tightly performed too.Might just need some tweaks in the mix.
You oughta have dtb throw some mandolin in there,maybe some banjos.The whole Hee Haw gang!
 
Good feedback. This is really good.

beeze yeah the performance could have been a bit tighter. Actually there's a bit of fiddlin' that will be going down on the CD version. I think I did mention earlier in this thread that this wasn't the CD version. More of a demo of sorts, although I hate that word as it always implies an excuse for sucking. Thanks for the compliment.


MC - your opinions are very valid. I don't consider this any "style" of music other than rock/pop. A lot of my personal influences may have been mavericks in their time, but have influenced so many now that a lot of this kind of stuff borders on mainstream. The only big thing lacking is the recording quality and soem points of the performance as I'm taking it. Thanks so much for taking thge time to listen and type out your thoughts on it.

sloopy - I knew what you meant. I'm a big fan of the fuzz myself, but I could see how it could grate on other's nerves. I'll take it into consideration on future tracks. Thanks though.

dan - we got high together in the woods man. You have free reign to say whatever you want. You're a cool guy and a friend. Thanks for the kind words brother, and thanks for listening.

MMM- you know I thought I noticed some pops in there when I listened today at work but I had to have it real low so as not to bother the work populace. It sounds like there is a common theme with complaints on the fuzz guitar being too washed out. Will go back and listen for those voc issues too. Big thanks to you sir.

volt - surprised you couldn't hear the bass. What kind of monitors are you on? I'm an impatient person when it comes to recording.
:(

hevyd- John huh? My favorite Beatle! Wow that's a major compliment, one I prolly don't deserve, but hell I'll take it!:) The distorted guitar is definitely needed, but the amount of distortion will be under scrutiny. Vocs...aiie carumba!:rolleyes: :D
 
First off. I enjoyed the song. Intro was nice. Picking guitar is nice but a little loud during the first verse. Maybe bring it down and/or slide it further right. Vocals starting to get lost. Distortion guitar was kind of cool. It just takes up too much sonic space IMO. Pan it way out to one side if you want to keep it that level and muddy/distorted. Vocals get more lost.

Lots of pops/clipping as Trip alluded to. It seems to come from the left if that helps isolate the culprit.

Nice work rats. Clean it up a little and you are good to go.
 
I like this. Musically it kind of reminds me of Dramarama a bit. Some good writing. I have to agree about the vocals during the heavy guitar parts. I listened to this in my car on the way to work and on headphones and had trouble making out the vocals on both systems.

I really dig that "space guitar" you have going on during the chorus.

There were just a few minor timing issues drum wise...I noticed one coming out of the chorus right about the 3:00 mark or so.

Songwise, though, I really dig this. Good job!

:)
 
Out of tune guitar, too much verb on the vocal and its level is too low, and that fuzz guitar on the right swamps everything when it comes in.

I love it!

Really - I think it's pretty good. It ain't polished, but it suits the song. dtb posted a guitar and mandolin tune here a week ago, and the mandolin might have been slightly out on a couple of notes. So what? It suited the song and it sounded fine.

Nice teenage romance song here.
 
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