I Will Not Listen To Your Song, But Listen To Mine

chrisharris

chrisharris

King of Bling
Hahaha...I used to post here a lot, and I don't want to appear to be a driveby mixcheck guy, so maybe I will actually listen to your song! Maybe not, though. :thumbs up:

I'm part of a songwriting group, and we were supposed to use the phrase "up in arms" in a song. I wrote and recorded a sketch with fake drums and a quick vocal after work yesterday... maybe this is "Indie Country?" I don't know. This was done fast, but it's growing on me.

I'd appreciate some listens, because I think I'm going to do a proper recording, and I'd appreciate feedback on what works and what doesn't. I know the vocal needs some work...it's cloudy and overcompressed and was recorded with a dynamic $35 mic. This is what happens when you give all your recording gear to your kids.

Thanks if anybody listens.

[edit] Did some stuff...may have fucked it up. I did change the lyrics, which needed to happen. That was definitely a change for the better. Thanks for the help.
L.A.'s Killing Me
 
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The guitar riff is pretty cool. The vocal is too loud. It's popping out of the mix. A few words are pitchy -- it doesn't bother me, but it will probably bother some.
The lyrics are mostly good except a few cheesy lines (e.g. the chorus -- mentioning angels is overdone with los angeles). I'd personally re-write that. I'm not a fan of the fade out ending and would personally try to end it bigger. Overall it's solid.
 
Nola said:
The guitar riff is pretty cool. The vocal is too loud. It's popping out of the mix. A few words are pitchy -- it doesn't bother me, but it will probably bother some.
The lyrics are mostly good except a few cheesy lines (e.g. the chorus -- mentioning angels is overdone with los angeles). I'd personally re-write that. I'm not a fan of the fade out ending and would personally try to end it bigger. Overall it's solid.
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I appreciate you taking the time, and those comments help. The vocal is definitely hot...sort of intentional for a songwriting thing, but I don't want to get too used to it before I retrack it. And the "angels" part has been re-written already, so I'd say I agree wholeheartedly!

And the fade, yeah - I didn't know what to do with the end, so I just tracked the guitars for like 45 seconds after the song would normally stop. I may do an outro guitar part or something. I wanted to leave myself some room.

You know the thing that takes me longer than anything? Bass. I hate tracking bass. I fucking suck at bass.

Your comments were awesome. Thanks.
 
No problem! Repost it after you retrack it.

Regarding bass, it depends on the song really. If there's a nice underlying rhythm the bass is usually fun to play. If it's straight time with a simple line it gets boring. If you can't play bass well enough you can always practice more with a click track to improve timing and coordination or use a pick instead of fingers. Those both help if you stink! But something else you can try is using keyboards for your bass. If you find the right keyboard setting it can sound surprisingly good. Finding a good pure tone and deep sound can take a while. I wouldn't advocate keyboard bass, in general, but if you're taking a lot of time to track bass then it's an option since it's pretty much fool proof (timing wise) laying down bass with a keyboard. I do it at times for sketch demos and would only recommend it for that purpose in the rock genre (in general, of course, there are always exceptions). Another option would be collaborating with a bassist. Personally I'd just practice more.
 
Nola said:
No problem! Repost it after you retrack it.

Regarding bass, it depends on the song really. If there's a nice underlying rhythm the bass is usually fun to play. If it's straight time with a simple line it gets boring. If you can't play bass well enough you can always practice more with a click track to improve timing and coordination or use a pick instead of fingers. Those both help if you stink! But something else you can try is using keyboards for your bass. If you find the right keyboard setting it can sound surprisingly good. Finding a good pure tone and deep sound can take a while. I wouldn't advocate keyboard bass, in general, but if you're taking a lot of time to track bass then it's an option since it's pretty much fool proof (timing wise) laying down bass with a keyboard. I do it at times for sketch demos and would only recommend it for that purpose in the rock genre (in general, of course, there are always exceptions). Another option would be collaborating with a bassist. Personally I'd just practice more.
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I actually don't own a keyboard! There's midi stuff that can be done, but I actually don't mind physically playing the bass. The problem with me is sort of analysis paralysis. I hear things in my head that would maybe be cooler than root/5th, and I'll try something, then figure out it doesn't work, then try something else. I end up tracking the bass about one bar at a time sometimes, which is the exact perfect recipe for killing any sense of feel to a rhythm track....and it takes forever.

When I retrack this, I have some bass ideas based on a couple of things that sort of did work on this one...just a time bandit.

On this one, I tracked the guitars in 7 minutes...one pass each side. It's not a challenging guitar part, lol. The vocals were a single pass with a punch-in, because I knew it was a scratch...the "solo" probably took :15 minutes of trying out different ideas.

And the shitty, shitty bass took 2 hours, ha!

Thanks again for the ears. I will actually listen to some stuff when I get out of the office.
 
Hey Chris. I thought the song was cool. I agree the lead vocal is really loud. It's also much dryer than the guitar. It sounds like it's in a different space. You could maybe nudge up the bass a bit.

When you retrack, I'd double the vocal during the chorus.
 
TripleM said:
When you retrack, I'd double the vocal during the chorus.
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Ha! Did that.

Yeah, I didn't have any reverb on anything except the reverb on my amp intially. I appreciate you listening. It may still be too loud on the vocal, but it's been 24 hours, so I'm about sick of this one.
 
I like the song. The vocal should be forward, IMO. It was the distorted guitar that was too loud for me. The harsh tone of that guitar clashed a bit with the mellow vibe of the song, and in places was stepping on your vocal. I mix the guitar lower, personally.
 
Robus said:
I like the song. The vocal should be forward, IMO. It was the distorted guitar that was too loud for me. The harsh tone of that guitar clashed a bit with the mellow vibe of the song, and in places was stepping on your vocal. I mix the guitar lower, personally.
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Figures, lol. It was too loud in the first mix. I appreciate you listening. I think I'll upload one more for tonight with the vocal up some and then give this a day and listen again. Maybe I can mix a vocal right.

That bridge pickup is a humbucker that's brutally middy. It sounds like shit, but it's easy to mix. :)
 
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Song is superb ... you've got a knack for a narrative.

The lessons are paying off! The guitar riff is very cool ... and that was you on lead? Nice.

I like the tone of the electric ... but it does compete w/ the vocal in the sonic stage you created. What I might do is put it a bit more off to the left (I'm talking the 60-75% range) and then add a pinch of salt by putting a rhythm acoustic spread across the top to drive the rhythm a little more. Take a lot of the bottom out of it and leave the high jangle in to dance like ear candy in the center behind the vocal. It'll add just the right spice to the arrangement and make it glue together a little more in the alt-country vein you're aiming at.

Then mix it until it works.

Good start ... and nice to see you back doing it!
 
K-dub said:
The lessons are paying off! The guitar riff is very cool ... and that was you on lead? Nice.

I like the tone of the electric ... but it does compete w/ the vocal in the sonic stage you created. What I might do is put it a bit more off to the left (I'm talking the 60-75% range) and then add a pinch of salt by putting a rhythm acoustic spread across the top to drive the rhythm a little more.
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Yeah, I played everything. I have a very limited repertoire, but it's expanding in my old age!

I took your advice and high passed the shit out of an acoustic. Most of my recordings start with acoustic...I just never got around to it with this one, but it definitely "biggens" the project some. It's annoyingly jangly to my ears right now, but I can always bring it down.

Also, I gotta' say, I've used more advice from this thread than maybe ever. I think when I was here a lot, people had a tendency to just accept the way my shit sounds...I literally rewrote part of the song based on this thread... and killed the fade, and made the vocal too loud and too quiet and too loud and too quiet and then did an acoustic track and I don't know, haha.

updated file at 9:41 a.m. CST on Wednesday, October 19th.
 
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chrisharris said:
Yeah, I played everything. I have a very limited repertoire, but it's expanding in my old age!

I took your advice and high passed the shit out of an acoustic. Most of my recordings start with acoustic...I just never got around to it with this one, but it definitely "biggens" the project some. It's annoyingly jangly to my ears right now, but I can always bring it down.

Also, I gotta' say, I've used more advice from this thread than maybe ever. I think when I was here a lot, people had a tendency to just accept the way my shit sounds...I literally rewrote part of the song based on this thread... and killed the fade, and made the vocal too loud and too quiet and too loud and too quiet and then did an acoustic track and I don't know, haha.

updated file at 9:41 a.m. CST on Wednesday, October 19th.
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I find the extra ears helps a lot w/ whatever thoughts are offered. Post up when you're not sick of hearing it. :D
 
It seems you've done some updates during the course of this thread. So I don't know what comments refer to which version. For ex., someone said the vocals were too loud. I found just the opposite, the guitars are somewhat too loud, and a bit harsh. I like the song, and I like your voice, but the guitar tone is a little tough to take.

Bass is pretty ho hum, but it seems you know that already. :)
 
dachay2tnr said:
It seems you've done some updates during the course of this thread. So I don't know what comments refer to which version. For ex., someone said the vocals were too loud. I found just the opposite, the guitars are somewhat too loud, and a bit harsh. I like the song, and I like your voice, but the guitar tone is a little tough to take.

Bass is pretty ho hum, but it seems you know that already. :)
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Thanks for listening. Yeah, I'm sort of going all schizophrenic on the mix, but I'm going to let it sit for a few days. The guitar tone is very middy - I think it's one of the few things I actually do like about the mix, though, so I'm probably not changing that. There's no EQ or processing at all on those...just right out of the amp, and as of today, I like the sound.

I'll listen in a week and hate all of it, lol. Thanks again (very much) for taking the time

---------- Update ----------

K-dub said:
I find the extra ears helps a lot w/ whatever thoughts are offered. Post up when you're not sick of hearing it. :D
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Oh I saw your comment this morning and put an acoustic in it before work. Some people eat eggs and have coffee before breakfast. I'm different.
 
Cool you're posting up something new. been a while.

I'm having trouble with the doubled guitar parts. I feel the tone doesn't support more than one part. It's a little harsh. I like the tone of the solo guitar. The acoustic sounds a little anemic in there. I hear pick on strings, but no body. It's almost percussive, which is fine if that's what you want. One suggestion would be to put one electric part on one side and the acoustic on the other. Maybe not hard-panned, but not centered either.

Vocals sit fine, along with the bass and drums.

Cool man.
 
Chili said:
Cool you're posting up something new. been a while.

I'm having trouble with the doubled guitar parts. I feel the tone doesn't support more than one part. It's a little harsh. I like the tone of the solo guitar. The acoustic sounds a little anemic in there. I hear pick on strings, but no body. It's almost percussive, which is fine if that's what you want. One suggestion would be to put one electric part on one side and the acoustic on the other. Maybe not hard-panned, but not centered either.

Vocals sit fine, along with the bass and drums.

Cool man.
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Thanks, Chili

That acoustic part didn't exist when I posted this. It is nothing but high end, which is almost sacrilege for me on an acoustic, but I was trying it out.

For fun, I'll try ditching one of the electric gits and panning the acoustic to see how it sounds. That's probably what Kevin was trying to get me to do. I think the acoustic is loud, too.

You're a nice guy to listen. I was in ATX last weekend helping Jaimee move for the 3rd time in 18 months. Reminded me why I don't play music for a living anymore! (plus, the limited talent thingy).

Good to read you, mother fucker! :D
 
Ok, not that anybody should care, but for the record, I changed stuff again and updated the link. For most of the song, there's only one electric guitar, and it's on the left. I put some body back in the acoustic and put it on the right. I muted the electric guitar that was on the right except in the chorus, where I pulled it way back. It drops out whenever there's lead work, because that's sort of more realistic.

I like it on headphones. Thanks again for those who listened. I'm on to another thing for work, so fuck this, but thanks!
 
Hey Chris. What up my friend? I'll check this tonight when I get to where I can do some critical listening.
 
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