Can a Ghost actually tan?

  • Thread starter Thread starter The Ghost of FM
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The Ghost of FM

Banned
A while back, I took a trip down to Cuba for a cheap winter getaway. (yes, Canadians can go there!) and, the island inspired a song that is now available at the NWR site.

This is song is more or less finished but, I am not completely sure about the mix and wanted some fresh ears on the tune to see how far off the mark I am on the track.

Oh Cuba

Any and all feedback is much appreciated!

Cheers! :)
 
Man, the whole mix has got good volume on it for sure, it's hot as a firecracker.
Gimmie two seconds leader if you would next time :D
The guitars are a bit too loud, the panning on the guitars is damn near perfect. The whole song is well-framed by the guitars.

A bit too much verb on the snare maybe ...

The vocal has a touch to much verb, I'm getting a touch of 'flanging'. I think you wide tape dudes have a big advantage in general 'warmth' that we digi-heads are always reaching for in our virtual boxes ...

At 1:08, I'm giggling, at 1:16, yes, I don't know why, the backup vocals are humorous ... did you wear a grass skirt when you did these ... no wait, that would be hawaiaaaa ... arrrrr matey !!!

2:07 ... i want to wave my hands above my head ? ;-) as we cruusing away on der luf boot ja !

At 2:25, when you are really going to need to bring the guitars up, if you bring them down a bit when the lead vocal is present , you will have some headroom to do that then ...

These spoken vocals are almost difficult to understand.

The steel drums are well written, and this change in harmony, at 3:27 is very nice. Take the bass and guitars down and let that shine.

Perhaps you can switch us out, let the steel drums be more supportive at times, and then bring the guitars back in ...

The ending is very humorous ...

Overall there is some boominess in the guitar bottom end, and almost this fawking *slap* ... *crack* sound on the strum ???

In the end, is there a Kenny, and a Willie, and an Elvis ... I mean what is going on in that damn bar ?
 
Haha, I like it. :D

The solo/Elvis part is hilarous. And so are the steeldrum samples. Very cheesy. But cheesy can be very effective.

Mix is a little hot indeed, especially the vocla.s Guitars could use some warmth. I also hear the crack in the guitars Studioviols is referring too. The bass is very clicky. Could you try adding some warmth in there too?

I think you could do a good parody for the HRC5....of whatever. I don't know why, I just think you could. :)
 
Yo man -this is FUN! I like that steel drum - very believeable.
So the King is living in Canada? Who'd a thunk it?
The background vocals make me reach to hear them - but you know me, "Mr I gotta have my harmony."

The kick drum seems like it's distorting - can't explain it. It obviously isn't happening on your system. Did you play it on other equipment? Yep - it's really prevalent in my headphones, too.

Other than that - this is a cool tune - I think you guys don't have any real problems with taking yourselves too seriously. Loved that guitar solo!

"There's no need for your clothes." Gets my vote everytime.
Milan
Smokes only Cuban hand-rolled
 
this is a fun tune.. cool steel drum sound. I don't remember anyone in the clinic using that sound yet!

it sounds a little clippy to me.. :D funny stuff around the solo.. this sounds pretty good except it seems too light in the bass guitar range, and the clippy sound.. that bass drum is nice and punchy but it sounds almost like things start to distort after awhile.. the vocal towards the end sounds very clippy/crackly.. the vocals sound a little crisp..I like the tune but my ears got fatigued by the end..

you need to soften the sound up somehow before you put it to rest imhop..
 
Thanks, everyone for the feedback!

studioviols

No grass skirts were harmed in the making of this production! The song was indeed supposed to be a fun one and we have several in our portfolio that run on a similar bent. You vocal critiques were appreciated as always as well as your time and effort to document them. Thank you!

Pedullist

Glad you enjoyed the tune! Cheese is my middle name!:D

MC Gitarz

I think you nailed it about the thump and clipping. Listening to it again on the mp3 version, the kick is way out there. Probably too out there. Good call and glad you enjoyed the track. Elvis (my buddy, Doug), says; thank you very much, man!

B.SABBATH

You, as well had the proper ear to catch the clipping in the kick. Well done. I think after listening to the vocals, I have to agree with you that they too were getting a wee bit grating on the ears. The song was actually full of un-watched levels when we tracked it as we were having too much fun in the studio to really be as scientific as we normally strive to be.

Glad you enjoyed the track.

Any other suggestion out there? All are appreciated and welcomed.

Thanks again. :)
 
Pretty cool! Yeah, I'm getting a lot of clipping from the kick. And I swear I could hear someone talking in the background at :13. Lead vocal is nice and strong, but the background vocals are a little thin, I'd retrack them if possible. Nice Elvis impersonation.


Twist
 
Nice mix. backing vocals were quiet. Drums sound great, so do the rest of the tracks. Good chorus.

After listening to the whole song, the lead vocal was kind of gruff, not the singing but the overall tone.

Excellecnt accoustic playing. Guitar lead was cool, but kind of out of place IMO.
 
Man, the mix is rough the vocal needs work but wow! I really liked the tune and the production. 2 or 3 more voices on the BKG vocals.

The island feel probably should have less reverb on the drums. Pretend the band is playng in a small hut on the beach, kind of a dead ambient sound. The steel drums are excellent.
 
twist

Excellent ears you have there! You are right. There was some un-intensional talking that got picked up by the slate microphone from the console. I knew it was there all along but have been too lazy to go back and re-do the mix just to get rid of it.

Now that I have some feed back from the gang, I am gaining inspiration to go back and fix up the entire mix.

Thanks for giving it a listen!

Doug H

The backing vocals were a last minute idea on my part and I just quickly double tracked the falsetto and didn't have time to work on it further as my band-mate, Doug had to drive back home and wanted a CD of what we had done so far so, the mix was hurried, now that I remember the day a bit better.

As for the guitar solo, you're right. A wild fuzz guitar whaling away in the middle of a happy acoustic number is out of place but, we were going for a comedy/fun tune so, the contrast seemed appropriate at the time. Perhaps a clean slide guitar might have been better if the song was more serious?

Also a note on why Elvis showed up in the session

There were actually two main vocals done for this song on the 16 track. Mine, which you've all heard and my friend, Doug's, doing his Elvis impersonation all the way through.

We made a snap decision to go with mine as Doug kinna lost it about half way through and couldn't decide on whether to go for the young Elvis or the fat, drug crazed Elvis and kept cracking up during his takes.

We really had a blast putting it together and as I have said before, fun is what it's all about.

Cheers! :)
 
That "Miami Sound Machine" beat there, at the beginning... yep...
Cuban, eh? That "Make it Happen" song by Gloria Estefan...

Can't tell, but it sounds like the kick-drum might be clipping...
it's definitely loud... nice ambience... can hear some players
communicating in the B.G...

Your voice is a bit... um... "Heavy Metal" for this type of song :)
Interesting anyway... sounds like Pirate Joe argggg of the Carribean
singin', full of rum.

Steel drum has room to come up in your mix, IMO. Really cool bassline.

Sounds like some clipping (1:05-1:06) on the 2-mix. Again around 2:23.
2:40... 3:55...

Snare... when the electric gtr comes in... becomes harsh (between 2k & 3k)... In the outro the vocals may be too loud... the midrange becomes
pretty harsh during that section (buildup between snare, voc, gtr).

Nice song


Chad
 
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