Distortion

[Bulls Hit]

I've always loved distortion. Been experimenting recently adding different types of distortion at different stages of the recording.
Too much?

You be the judge

 

[rob aylestone]

It depends on your criteria for liking the sound. The danger with people like me listening is that every element fails my own personal quality threshold. Every source is distorted, so all i hear is a mess, like it was just terribly recorded. Usually there are sounds in a mix that are clean and conventional, and then others crunched to death. I get that, and can hear it. What is the point having sonically pure monitors, mics, DAWs and great rooms, if every quality capable source is distorted?

As I said it could be me just not getting it, but in any test, the noise and distortion would be scoring terribly, quality and clarity would get 0 too? No doubt you piled love, care and attention into it, but you now need to find listeners who love the sound too. Its a danger when you invent a sort of new ‘sound genre’. Broadcasters would also struggle because how would they assess the quality? The engineers would be hearing everything distorted and looking for the malfunctioning bit of kit causing it?

The danger would be idiots like me hearing it and assuming it was just badly recorded?

 

[Bulls Hit]

Thanks Rob, great post!

"...every element fails my own personal quality threshold"

I never had the pleasure of working on old gear that engineers of the 50s 60s and 70s struggled to maintain, the sound quality deteriorating as time went by. Now those old valve compressors and 2 inch tape units are revered for the noise and distortion they added. You can spend $$000's on plugins that emulate every warble and rumble those old machines emitted.

Back in the day I can see how damaging all that noise was to the clarity and fidelity of the recorded material because sonic cleanliness was their, and your, criteria for a quality recording. But those aren't necessarily the only criteria for quality recordings.

Also there are different flavours of distortion, nasty bit reduced mp3 style commercial radio distortion, and beautiful warm overdriven valve amp distortion. There's plenty of variation, plenty of ways to ruin a perfectly good recording

But I'm guessing from your reply that yes it's too much

 

[TalismanRich]

Yeah, it's too much. It's nothing that I would want to listen to a second time.

 

[JimmyS1969]

The worst part for me, is the distortion on the cymbals.

Maybe try more sparingly distorting certain parts of the mix.

So yeah, to your question. Too much...

 

[markmann]

I think the distortion fits your music pretty well but I agree with Jimmy that it doesn't sound good on the cymbals and hats.

 

[JimmyS1969]

I would suggest try it without distortion on cymbals and the kick. Keep the low/high instrument drive more realistic and experiment on the mid range with distortion.

The tune is cool, but it just kinda loses feel with so much in the distorted mosh.

Best!

 

[Bulls Hit]

The cymbal/hats distortion is likely coming from the room mic that I smashed through a fast 1176 style compressor. I can easily unblend that, maybe keep it for a special occasion. Good tip!

 

[BTStudio]

It’s interesting that the distortion on the vocals and the primary guitar part although quite heavy I find ok. I think it’s because that is something we have become accustomed to. The drums on the other hand just sound real flabby to me. I kinda like the song though

 

[Papanate]

I've always loved distortion. Been experimenting recently adding different types of distortion at different stages of the recording.
Too much?

You be the judge

Guitars are interesting - have there own space - the rest of the song is too dense to me - the drums and cymbals are whacky - not sure if I like them or not - but everything having distortion makes it sound like a mistake in recording.

 

[60's guy]

I rarely comment on mixes because my ears are totally shot but the vocalist does remind me of Dogman's growling vocal style. Repost it sans vocal.

 

[Bulls Hit]

Guitars are interesting - have there own space - the rest of the song is too dense to me - the drums and cymbals are whacky - not sure if I like them or not - but everything having distortion makes it sound like a mistake in recording.

A mistake... or a happy accident?

Yeah there's also a lot of smeary delay in there which doesn't help the clarity.

I always remember being hugely impressed with the distorted drums on Foreigner's Head Games and Bowie's Low. But yeah the distortion on the drums on those albums never extended to the metalwork. So in some respects what's regarded as 'acceptable' becomes a question of degree

 

[Bulls Hit]

I rarely comment on mixes because my ears are totally shot but the vocalist does remind me of Dogman's growling vocal style. Repost it sans vocal.

You know now that you mention Dogman, you're quite right

 

[Bulls Hit]

It’s interesting that the distortion on the vocals and the primary guitar part although quite heavy I find ok. I think it’s because that is something we have become accustomed to. The drums on the other hand just sound real flabby to me. I kinda like the song though

Yeah it's obviously very subjective what we find acceptable vs offensive. We do become accustomed to certain sonic styles. I don't like autotune but I'm certainly used to hearing it.
Flabby is a good word and I would argue that flabby has its place. Although maybe not on this track

 

[RFR]

I liked it. Very unique. It breaks all the conventional rules.

You could be onto a whole new genre. Industrial pop punk.

Yeah, there are going to be people that don’t like it, but there was a time when if a guitar tube amp went into overdrive, and heaven forbid, distortion, that was a no no. Now it’s the norm. Just goes to show you you never know what will be cool.

I imagine if you made it big, other bands would be trying to copy your sounds.

Thanks for having the balls to try something unconventional.

 

[Papanate]

A mistake... or a happy accident?

Yeah there's also a lot of smeary delay in there which doesn't help the clarity.

I always remember being hugely impressed with the distorted drums on Foreigner's Head Games and Bowie's Low. But yeah the distortion on the drums on those albums never extended to the metalwork. So in some respects what's regarded as 'acceptable' becomes a question of degree

It’s a choice to be sure - but what about eliminating the Metals - and just going with the Drums?

 

[TripleM]

Guitars sound great. Everything is well played. Low end is perfect.

I noticed this mix is pretty narrow - not much stereo width.

The vocals are a little buried. Might be intentional.

 

[Bulls Hit]

I liked it. Very unique. It breaks all the conventional rules. :thumb

You could be onto a whole new genre. Industrial pop punk.

Yeah, there are going to be people that don’t like it, but there was a time when if a guitar tube amp went into overdrive, and heaven forbid, distortion, that was a no no. Now it’s the norm. Just goes to show you you never know what will be cool.

I imagine if you made it big, other bands would be trying to copy your sounds.

Thanks for having the balls to try something unconventional.

Hey thanks for the +ve feedback.
A lot comes down to personal taste. You'd probably be quite happy to listen to it again whereas if TalismanRich never heard it again it would be too soon

 

[RFR]

Hey thanks for the +ve feedback.
A lot comes down to personal taste. You'd probably be quite happy to listen to it again whereas if TalismanRich never heard it again it would be too soon

I’ve actually listened to it a couple of times.

 

[Bulls Hit]

It’s a choice to be sure - but what about eliminating the Metals - and just going with the Drums?

Yes actually I will try that, might be enough to drag it closer to the mainstream