First one, you guys be gentle, need input

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Ray J

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This is the first song I've ever put up, this is one of eight songs that I mixed on a borrowed Dat that had to be returned the next day. In other words, I had to rush it. I am aware of some of the problems with the recording/mix but please feel free to critique anyway. You guys may be hearing something I'm not and I do plan to remix, so input will be helpful. This is probably not the strongest track of the eight but its the one I've decided to sacrifice first to get any bugs out. Also, feel free to comment on the song itself, positive or negative, I'm ready to take my licks.

http://mp3.com/RJohnson

The songs called Where's That Gonna Get You? This is a brand new page not all of my info is up there yet.

[Edited by Ray J on 09-05-2000 at 16:35]
 
Wow, progressive R&B with just the right amount of funk...I listened twice....Guitar playing super good...the lead vocal to my ears had too much reverb,and the vocal is too good to muffle like that....but the harmonies were spot on, and had a cleaner sound for some reason....would like to hear a bass sound up more in the mix...didja write and perform it all, or was this a band thing...if it's all you, it had a band "feel"...enjoyed hearing this, do more....gibs
 
Nice song,

Sounded more like a live recording, than studio. Would love to hear it a little less live.

Keep up the good work!!
 
Thanks a million for the kind words gibs. Yeah, I am a one man show, wrote and played everything. You're probably right about the bass coming up, it sounds about right on my CD, but when I stream it, even hi-fi, there's not enough of it. I'll have to listen again to the vocals, now that you mentioned the verb thing, and finally, yeah, there's more coming. A lot of my stuff is along line of music, some a little heavier than this one and some a little bluesier, I also do a little Jazz and Reggae, but I'll be putting up some more soon. I gave this HR site a little plug in some of my artist info, but none of this has showed up on my page yet...thanks again.....Ray J

GT- I am very inexperienced at this recording thing and you nailed it about the live recording, thanks for listening.



[Edited by Ray J on 09-05-2000 at 19:06]
 
Heya-

That groove is killer, RJJ-

I like that intro/outro guitar lick. That's the key for me, and the break in the middle is very cool, indeed.

I gotta go with the comments gibs made.

As a drummer, I think you should take a look at the "tom shutdown" in that middle break. It's a good idea, but it doesn't sound as "real" as it could. Just an opinion. Take it with a barrel of salt.

Very nice feel you have on this.
__________
wawazzat?
groovy, man
 
Ray J, bro, that was some nice stuff... I'm trying to think of the artist that you're voice reminds me of... Very smooth... and I dug the groove of this song very much.

My comments on the mix would be:
As gibs said, a little too much verb on the vox. I'd say, not to get rid of it completely, but definitely get rid of some of it because it's making the vox sound "way back" in the mix... Maybe try it without verb completely, I dunno. Am I also hearing another effect on the vox? Is there chorus or flang on it? I thought I heard it... or maybe it was the encoding of the mp3 (?). Anyways, if you meant it to be there, it's effective, but maybe reduce that a little bit as well. You've got a good voice, no need to mask it with effects (my opinion).

I'd like to hear the bass guitar come up in the mix a bit, also the kick drum I think needs to come up...

The lead guitar might be able to go down in the mix just a bit (like in the beginning and near the middle, I think)... oh man, I'm starting to lose my memory... hang on... Okay, yeah, ever so slightly, just a tad lower in the mix...

The cymbals seem a litte to in front to my ears... especially the ride-cymbal...

I LIKE THIS SONG MAN!
 
I like the song. I really like the singing. I agree about the bass being too low in the mix and the solo lead guitar being a bit too up.

There are two things about it that I don't like, though... first, I think the lead guitar is not appropriate. You sound like a monster player, RJ, but in my opinion this solo does not serve this song. It's like a bull in the china shop of the vocal delivery and the somewhat placid feel of the groove. You need something that fits in the pocket of the groove rather than tears it off the pants, if you know what I mean.

The other thing, a little more generally, is that the feel itself sounds just ever-so-slightly flaccid. The drums sounded very MIDI drum-machine-ish to me. A little judicious editing or applying a groove template might liven it up a bit. Or possibly a more interesting, active bass line. Perhaps a little more stacatto playing of the rhthym guitars, with maybe a little slapback, might just make it move a little more confidently in that tempo.

But very much a fine effort, definitely in the ballpark overall...

-AlChuck
 
Thanks for taking the time to listen and respond fellas.

wawazzat- thanks for the compliments. Re: drums, well, uh yeah, that's my achillies heel. I play a lot of instruments but drums are not my strong suit and most drummers aren't to impressed with my stuff. One thing is the toms are a little too loud. On this particular track, as well as many of my others, I had to put the toms on the same track as the snare to try to save tracks. I didn't do a good job with the relationship of the levels of the two when tracking in addition to the fact that they have the same effects as the snare which left them a little dry. All this in addition to the fact that I'm not really a drummer by nature, makes for a shakey drum track. Thanks for the input. I will e-mail you when I upload my version of crystal clear.......Ray J

Teddie-Thanks for peaking in. You're right about the intro on the guitar needing to come down. It wasn't as noticable on a stereo or my monitoring system but as soon as I uploaded it I noticed it. RE: the vox. Their double tracked, and have some chorus on them. They are panned at about 9:30 and 2:30 CDT. The doubling is probably the other effect you're hearing, and it seems to be unanimous that I overdid something. Now, you really have me confused when you mention the ride cymbal being too out front, this is why. First of all, I wanted the ride pretty loud in this particular song, so what you're hearing might be the way it was intended, but that's not what I don't understand. What's confusing me is, (here we go again on this subject) when I play what I put on my hardrive from my CD, I here the cymbals very well, BUT,when I playback what I downloaded off of my page,(I don't have a high speed connection so I couldn't stream the hi-fi) the cymbals all but disappeared, as a matter of fact, I'm not sure if I can distiguish it from the lo-fi version. What's confusing me even more is the fact that you're hearing them hot. Any idea what's going on? In other words I don't think I'm getting the hi-fi version for some reason. In addition even though I didn't do a whole lot of panning on this one, it almost seems to be mono, even on the one I downloaded from my page. Is this common? Anyone? UPDATE: Disregard all this ranting, it is working correctly now, they finished with my page and all I downloaded again and it sounds about right. Sorry.

Al Chuck-You are in the majority when you say the bass is too low and the guitars too loud. This is actually the one thing I was hoping wouldn't happen. I think next time I will have a better understanding of how my mix will translate when uploaded and can hopefully guard against this. On CD it sounded about right, go figure, one more learning experience. About the guitar being inappropriate, well, that's one of those things where, when I originally did it, it sounded a little out of place, which should have told me something, but I got used to it and started liking it after a while. But because I remember it sounding awkward at first, this tells me there is probably much merit to what you are saying. I'm ranting now, thanks for listening, I really appreciate it, all of you guys have been helpful ....Ray J



[Edited by Ray J on 09-06-2000 at 16:23]
 
Gibs and I seem to share a pair of ears. It's funny to listen to stuff and then read his comments since he almost always finds the same things I hear. Along with a general ditto, I wanted the lead to "stand out" a little more. Not necessarily louder, but something to make it more dimentional... I hate trying to describe music with words :(. But good playing and a cool song. It sounds like you'll get the hang of the recording side in no time.
 
Ray J:
Listened to "Where's That Gonna Get Ya", and thought it was a cool song...I liked the way you built up the intensity in the lead solo...Only whine I have..Thought there was too much of a chorus effect on the guitar, and you too good to bury yourself in so much of that effect.
Otherwise, dug it.
DJ
 
Cool tune man... any chance of a quick run down on your gear you used to record it?

That was some tasty lead playing and a great vocal hook on the chorus! I think everyone else had pretty much covered everything else.

Teddie said your voice reminded him of someone.. to my ears and only really on the verses you sounded like the singer from Corrosion of Conformity - I don't know his name...
 
Thanks for listening fellas, I really appreciate all of the input, critique, and compliments:

pglewis-thanks for checking it out, I really like your song Sleazy Detective and still listen to it. Glad you liked the tune.

Doug "we share the same last name" Johnson-glad you dug the song. Funny thing about the vocals, everyone agrees there's too much effect on them, I guess I've been hearing it this way for so long I've acclaimated myself to it. This many great minds can't be wrong however, and I will address it. Thanks for listening.

Cooperman- I don't know who the singer for corrosion is either, but thanks. Re: my gear, entry-level stuff. All hardware, Yamaha MD8 recorder, NT-1 for vox, Fender Squire, a borrowed Peavey Foundation piece of shit with a huge bow in the neck(bass), SR-16 for drums, pod, nanoverb, not 1 but 2 (ouch), so much for not making the same mistake twice. And finally an Art MP (mic pre). Glad you liked the song. I've been hanging out in here for a while now reviewing other stuff, glad I finally have something to put up here.
 
Ray J;
We share the same last name?
Aw man...You know I ain't gonna go there with that
"You can call me..." Thang!
DJ
 
Yup,i dig it too.nice groove,kewl melodies.sure the bass could come up,but i don't know how many times i've mixed down thinking the bass was just right,only to have it bury the kick drum,on a normal stereo.i say good job:-)
 
I'm checking out the other tunes too, I'll get back to ya. "Sleazy" is my friend Austin's song, I just added bass and mixed it. I like that one a lot, too.
 
Late Entry

Damn, I hate getting into a conversation late because I have nothing to add that hasn't already been said. I usually find myself agreeing with Gibs, and this is one of those times. I also agree with what pglewis said about needing a little more dimension. But all in all it's a good sounding recording. Great playing & I dig your voice.

Mark
Alpha Dog
http://www.mp3.com/alphadog
http://alphadog.iuma.com
 
Dougie boy- you're showing your age with the, you can call me Ray or you can.....,stuff, do you know what it's like going through life with the name Ray Johnson? Can be devastating during childhood. Anyway, thanks again for checking out the tune.

Bill- After hearing your stuff I say, thanks for the generous compliments. Your right about the bass, my worst nightmare realized; a groove recording without enough bass. sounded just right until I uploaded. I played it on a million systems.

pglewis- If you and gibs are sharing the same pair of ears as you say, it must get awfully crowded in there. All that brainpower you know. Seriously, I've heard a few of your recordings, and I respect your opinion.

CMiller-aka alphadog, I was a little conservative with the panning, and compression, and I think this is one of the many problems with this mix. I now wish I would have held on until I remixed because this song is (OBLIGATORY SELF PROMO) #10 on the groove charts as of this writing,(go figure), but I don't know if it will have the staying power because of the lousy mix. I don't use my computer to mix, so remixing for me means, borrowing a dat, (not an easy thing to find out in rural Louisiana), and going down to the local studio and getting them to burn a CD for me to upload. In addition to finding the time to mix, while juggling a million other things. Can someone give me a dat? (joke).

Peace, fellas, you guys are the coolest. I love this place!
 
Hey Ray,i know what you mean about remixing and borrowing a DAT(we had to do that too!)as far as staying power,dude,don't worry about your mix,it's fine.email all the stations on mp3.com and ask them to check you out and post your tune!that's what i do and we've got two songs in the instrumental metal top 40.i posted your tune on my station "Vonrubick's Picks".start a station of your own and trade spots with other artists.you'll do fine!
 
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