Guitar Ballad

C

chandlerhimself

New member
Here is an instrumental ballad I've been working on. It sounds a little 80ish, but I tried to make the instrument sounds a little more modern. I wanted to make the guitar parts heavier, but they sound a little weak to me. I also tried not to compress this mix too much, should I add more? I was also thinking of redoing the guitar solo. Opinions? Any comments about the song, mix, arrangement are appreciated.

 
I love the lead tone (and the playing--nice chops!). The drums are a little off to my ears: the cymbals are thin and harsh, and a bit loud compared to rest of the kit. The drums might be a bit thin overall, but I can't tell for sure--it might just be the volume/balance issue I just mentioned.

When you say you wanted the guitars heavier, I'm assuming you mean the rhythm guitars--I like 'em right where they are. I'm listening late, so I can't crank it up, but other than what I've mentioned, it certainly sounds good at this level.

What's your lead guitar rig?

I'm typing as I listen, so I just heard the strings come in--nice touch. The double leads are handled nicely as well.

I'm a guitar guy myself, and this hits me right where I live. The lead really "sings the song." Great stuff...
 
Thanks, for the feedback, I'll dial back some of the high end. I added some because I though the mix was too dull, but I'll take it out and maybe try to beef it up a bit. I wanted to make this song punchy, so added treble thinking it would make the mix punchier, but maybe I went a bit too far.

The guitars are all Scuffham s-gear. After spending time micing my amp and trying other modelers I decided to get a new audio interface and try a software amp sim. IMO it's the best one available. Although it only has 3 amps all 3 sound amazing and for $75 the tone-to-price ratio can't be beat. I've gotten better results in 10 min with s-gear than 1 hour micing my amp. Anyway thanks for the kind words, I'll try to fix the drums today or tomorrow.
 
think main problem with the drums is there in a tiny room,they need to be in a bigger one to fit with the rest of the track,they sound to tight and could do with some breathing space ... love that lead tone ..nice playing to what did you use for that ?
backing guitars sound a little out of place in the intro,in the main part they fit right in :),maybe a tad to loud,could be that that's throwing out the whole mix .. maybe a re think of levels ? ...
id be tempted to cut the intro off and start the song with the quiet part,2 reasons 1 it solves the hassle of mixing it and 2 i think the riff has more impact being introduced later :)

really enjoyed listening thanks :)

looking forward to hearing how you recorded the lead guitar :)
 
chandlerhimself said:
Thanks, for the feedback, I'll dial back some of the high end. I added some because I though the mix was too dull, but I'll take it out and maybe try to beef it up a bit. I wanted to make this song punchy, so added treble thinking it would make the mix punchier, but maybe I went a bit too far.

The guitars are all Scuffham s-gear. After spending time micing my amp and trying other modelers I decided to get a new audio interface and try a software amp sim. IMO it's the best one available. Although it only has 3 amps all 3 sound amazing and for $75 the tone-to-price ratio can't be beat. I've gotten better results in 10 min with s-gear than 1 hour micing my amp. Anyway thanks for the kind words, I'll try to fix the drums today or tomorrow.
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I'm in the same boat. I've got multiple tube amps, but I also love amp sims. Especially since I track late at night a lot. I recently bought Overloud TH2 and I love it, but I'll have to check yours out. I really like that tone.
 
cakewalkKaKed said:
think main problem with the drums is there in a tiny room,they need to be in a bigger one to fit with the rest of the track,they sound to tight and could do with some breathing space ... love that lead tone ..nice playing to what did you use for that ?
backing guitars sound a little out of place in the intro,in the main part they fit right in :),maybe a tad to loud,could be that that's throwing out the whole mix .. maybe a re think of levels ? ...
id be tempted to cut the intro off and start the song with the quiet part,2 reasons 1 it solves the hassle of mixing it and 2 i think the riff has more impact being introduced later :)

really enjoyed listening thanks :)

looking forward to hearing how you recorded the lead guitar :)
Click to expand...

I'll try using a bigger room, thanks for the listen. The guitars were all recorded direct. Straight into my computer and then processed with s-gear. I love s-gear, even though it's limited. I've only been using it for about 2 weeks, but I've been very happy with the lead tones I've been getting with it. Anyway thanks for the kind words and advice.
 
I took out the high end from the overheads and the mix. I boosted the room mics too, so there is more of a room sound now. I compressed it a little more which seemed to make it a little warmer and louder(I don't know if it's better though). Any improvement?

 
Love the tune man. Great playing and tone! The drums seem to be the only thing holding this from being super cool! I'd love to put some better sounding drum samples on it. :)
 
jimmys69 said:
Love the tune man. Great playing and tone! The drums seem to be the only thing holding this from being super cool! I'd love to put some better sounding drum samples on it. :)
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Thanks for the kind words. I recorded it with Ezdrummer, so it's no problem for me to go back and change the drum sounds. Although I don't have an infinite number of sounds, I can easily change the kick, snare, etc to a different sound. Any suggestions on what sounds would be more appropriate.
 
That, or just send me individual snare, kick, and Tom track audio, and I'll send you back some better samples from Steven Slate Trigger Platinum Deluxe. :)
 
I thought the guitar tones were nice. Not my personal favorite tones, but I can still appreciate some good guitar sounds. Real good playing as well. Everything, including the bass, was balanced well.

The drums sound a bit canned. Didn't care for the snare sound. In the "intro", the cymbals leaned to the left in the mix. it's only for a little while, so it's not a big deal.
 
I've tried to fix the drums, but I'm not to good at mixing drums, so I don't know how much it helped. I also did a few more things to try to enhance the mix. Thoughts?


I've been having some problems exporting, so that's why the first note of the song has no guitars. Please ignore it until I sort things out.

 
I have never been a big fan of the EZD drum sounds. My offer to help your drum sound is still here. No charge btw. If I didn't have studio booked this weekend, I would just play the drum track myself. I might be able to do that next weekend though, if interested.

Drums are the only thing I feel holding this back from awesomeness.
 
jimmys69 said:
I have never been a big fan of the EZD drum sounds. My offer to help your drum sound is still here. No charge btw. If I didn't have studio booked this weekend, I would just play the drum track myself. I might be able to do that next weekend though, if interested.

Drums are the only thing I feel holding this back from awesomeness.
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I'm not too proud to take help. Anything you'd be willing to do would be greatly appreciated. Just tell me what you need. Midi files, the song without drums, etc. I've heard the Steven Slate stuff sounds amazing. Thanks for all the advice.

In the future I can't rely on nice people like you to fix my drums for me, so I was thinking of switching drum programs. I was thinking of getting "addictive drums". They sounded good to me, but I'm not a drummer and I don't have a good ear for drums.Do you think they would offer a big improvement over Ezdrummer?

As I was typing that I saw that there is a SSD Ex for only $80. It seems to be the same as the Platinum version, but with only 25% of the drum kits. Maybe that would be a better deal than AD. Any advice?
 
I use AD mostly to present drums to a client, before recording live drums. Sounds better than EZD. When I have to use a drum program for an actual mix, I go with Addictive, then replace the drums with SS Trigger. Platinum with the deluxe pack. AD cymbals sound way more real to me than EZD. I have not used the Steven Slate Drums program yet.


Yeah man, what software are you using? Sorry if you have stated this before. I space s**t out sometimes. lol!

Wait, what?

I would love to play on this track, but my drum room will be occupied all weekend. I can easily sent you full length samples of your tune, if you just send the audio tracks of each drum. Sending the MIDI file might be cool too, as it usually works within AD, and the cymbals sound better. Make sure to send a mix of the song as well, so I can find the right samples for the tune in context.

If you use Cubase, this will be very easy. If not, well we will figure it out.

Export tracks to a folder. Zip it, and send with streaky.com or whatever.

PM me if have any questions. I'm around all day til 6. Then drum setup..
 
chandlerhimself said:
I'm not too proud to take help. Anything you'd be willing to do would be greatly appreciated. Just tell me what you need. Midi files, the song without drums, etc. I've heard the Steven Slate stuff sounds amazing. Thanks for all the advice.

In the future I can't rely on nice people like you to fix my drums for me, so I was thinking of switching drum programs. I was thinking of getting "addictive drums". They sounded good to me, but I'm not a drummer and I don't have a good ear for drums.Do you think they would offer a big improvement over Ezdrummer?

As I was typing that I saw that there is a SSD Ex for only $80. It seems to be the same as the Platinum version, but with only 25% of the drum kits. Maybe that would be a better deal than AD. Any advice?
Click to expand...

Here is my first stab at it. I really want to just play the drum track myself, as there is some uncomfortable elements still to me (from a drummers perspective). Send me the MIDI file, and I can mess with the cymbals and toms. Nothing I could do with the way you sent them together. Well, not easily.

Or, just wait till next week, and I'll record a live track for ya. Yer call man.

Let me know if you want the individual triggered sample tracks to mix yourself. It's your baby man. :)

Love the tune. You are a great player!

Maybe you just need to find a drummer here, that gets you, and forget about programming drums? I got one in mind. :)
 
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Thanks a lot. That sounds much better, but if you have time and wouldn't mind, it would be great to have you play drums on it. I'm in no hurry, so I can wait. I'd much rather wait a few weeks and have great drums than rush out something and have it sound terrible. I recently upgraded my computer, software, etc and now I really want to get the best sound I can. Drum programing and drum sounds are a big weak point for me, so I really appreciate all your help. If you ever need any help with guitar stuff, arranging, etc please let me know. I'd be happy to return the favor.
 
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