Deadlines

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dres

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Hi People,

here's a brand new song for you to comment on. This is for me a bit experimental and several times I considered shelving it because I was having trouble with it.... but I'm reasonably happy now. Experimental ? well guitar was printed with a heavy chorus and used the onboard picup... no mic at all... this set the basis for the song. The very straight rythm was intended to simulate the clicking of a clock... as was the inclusion of metronome (which I also usually never use). Fortunately the vocals came off well and really save the song. Tell me what you think and how it might be improved.

Cheers
dres

"Deadlines Mk1"

www.nowhereradio.com/dres/singles
 
The song and recording are very good. I think some kind of padding (EP or femal Bground vox) will add more demension to this, I think.

AL
 
I like the tune. I love the vocal harmonies and interplay. Very entertaining to listen to.

Something about the guitar bothers me. Its sounds fairly clear, articulate, and well performed. It has a space around it, almost like its in stereo, but it sounds mono. Is it a stereo reverb?

Listening in the cans the guitar sounds better- natural- but the wide panning of the vocals makes it sound smaller. It still sound like all the music is in the center with the vocals all over the stage.

It sounds good, but odd. Its hard to put my finger on. It may also be that the drums and guitar are pretty wet and the vocals are pretty dry.

If I were to make suggestions, I say lay a second guitar track and pan the two tracks right and left. That would widen the stage and give those beautiful stereo vocals a stage to play on.

Great voice, by the way. I really like your style.

Take care,
Chris
 
this recording has a lot of punch.........the guitar sounds pretty awesome....how did you record that?

the harmonies work well.......the drums sound great too........
 
Nice tune. I envy you cats that can whip up these tunes with lyrics and sing so well with yourselves.
 
A1A2: Yep I know what you mean. Good suggestion.

Chris Shaeffer: Thanks for the complements. I hadn't noticed the guitar sounding funny... but after reading your post I had a second listen and I can see exactly what you mean. I might have a bash at doubling the guitars or else perhaps widening the stereo spread of the guitar whilst shinking the stereo spread of the vocals a little. I'm kinda amused you think the drums are wet.. they are probably the driest drums I've ever recorded. Thanks for your comments... very perceptive.

powderfinger: Thanks for the complement. FYI guitar (Taylor 310) with B-Band AST pickup recorded directly into Joe Meek British channel. The chorus effect is provided by a Lex MPX-500.

Toki987: Thanks mate. I'm still trying to work out what to do with my voice musicly... I just sound nothing like anyone else on this forum.. I sound like a boy but I'm 31 ! I had always used a popper stopper when recording voice with my NTK but have noticed you get a much better sound without it. Also I'm recording very close to a diffusor these days which I think helps.
 
dres,

this is the strongest vocal performance i've heard from you yet! very nice.

here's my other thoughts:

1. the guitar is a little subdued sonically speaking. the chords aren't breathing enough in the mix. So the structure of the song just feels a little weak if you know what i mean.

2. i like the dry drums.

3. vocal panning was a bit much. maybe just center that a little. it was disturbing on headphones.
 
erichenryus : thanks for your comments. In reality this isn't my strongest vocal performance ... I'm just getting better at recording it and ditching the pop filter is the reason. I can see I need to work on the guitar. Thing is, late last night I realised the vocals are really what make this song worthwhile so I deliberately kept everything else low when mixing... and I guess the acoustic got a bit lost... it sounds great by itself !

Glad you like the drums. I nearly went crazy trying to get something that sounded right..4 entirely different versions actually. I just had to soak myself in it till I found something that was OK. ... it's basicly the standard "Dry" setting on your TD-8 with a cowbell and triangle added... and some weird "potdrum" (whatever that is ?) in the chorus. I like the "military" sound of the snare ... goes well with the notions behind the song.. In fact the more I listen to the song the more I see the relevance to the Iraq/US situation.
 
Nice.

I like the song. I can picture that sitting at my desk at work :D

I agree the guitar needs to be more prevalent in the mix (I can't explain it any better than that 'cause I don't know what the hell I'm talking about). :D

Nice job
 
Jagular : Thanks, glad you like it. I got one of those wallplanner calanders staring at me right now too ... and you guess it .. that's the inspiration for this song ! Esp since my scholarship runs out in Aug and I *have* to have my Thesis finished by then ! Which begs the question.. why am I wasting my time writing this ?? ... Therapy against stress !! ;)
 
this is a good recording man... nice and clean. It would have been nice if you had recorded the git with a mic (that woulda brought the whole recording up a notch), but over-all it sounds good. I think the "time is ticking" theme that you have going on works pretty well.

And I also agree that this is your strongest vocal perf. yet.


WATYF
 
WATYF: Thanks for the encouragement. The reason I purposely didn't mic the guitar was because I was afraid all my songs were starting to sound way too much the same. Therefore I dusted off my underused pickup and DI'ed it.. played with an effect till I got something that sounded good by itself and made this the foundation. Maybe it was a mistake but I wanted to think outside the square ... just a little.
 
I understand... but that "DI'ed acoustic" sound is kind of a pet peeve of mine... to me, there's nothing worse than ruining a perfectly good acoustic by recording it direct. :D


WATYF
 
Most of the time I'd agree with you. In fact you can blame Gunerica for this one. I've been listening to "Miracles" and really liked the git at the start... I thought "I think I can do that sound" and well the rest is history.... although as you can tell I sound nothing like him.

Funny thing is once I got the sound I felt like doing an entirely different type of song... I nearly shelved the song and started something else ! But I also figured there is value in being unique and not sounding just like other people. So I married his sound to my quirky song and this mongrel was born ;)
 
excellent...well put together..every instrument seemed to have its own space...

vocals were the stamd out part of the song...great interplay...reminded me very much of the Super Furry Animals (Welsh band - check em out http://www.superfurry.com ) in that respect..
 
Philby_Walsh: thanks for your comments ... I'll check out the animals.

No chance to remix last night but I'll repost a revision in the next day or 2

cheers
dres
 
I loved this one! It has a nice amount of "space" between everything. I'd like to hear a little more guitar, but otherwise I like the mix. Interestingly, it doesn't *sound* like a song that was labored over for a long time. It has a nice spontaneous feel. Real nice vocals - both the sound and the singing.

Chris
 
hey thanks groucho ! I must admit I'm surprised by the all the positive responses... I really struggled with this one. I think it's been good for me to try something a bit different.

But it's not over yet and I will do some work on the guitar and vocal panning.
 
Sounds really good Dres!

Acoustic sounds much better,less harsh.
Sounds like it needs a little more bite though.
Ever try recording it with the mic and the pickup and mixing them together?

Vocals sound a lot clearer and very intimate,I'm going right upstairs and throwing my pop filter in the garbage!haha

Has a good upbeat vibe to it,nice writing!

I enjoyed it very much,thanks for sharing,
Pete
 
Hi Pete.. good to hear from you. Glad you liked the song. How's the new harp going ?
 
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