I wrote some music! Got out a lot of hate, but saddened now!

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MusicalSound

MusicalSound

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hey everybody happy new year! I've been writing a bunch of music lately, and it felt really good cause about at the end of recording any frustrations and anger I had got converted to happiness. But once I called the songs done I got blue because I thought to myself, what am I supposed to do with it now? I mean seeing as no-one's heard the songs, not even friends and family, I figured I'd spot a link to them here. Perhaps my songwriting is terrible, I dunno. I hope it's getting better. 10 years ago I couldn't come up with an single idea, now it's a little easier. First track is very influenced by '60s production techniques. The second track is jazz rock I guess. The instruments I played are as follows: vocals, guitar, hammond organ, acoustic guit., flute, drums, bass guitar, tambourine. Thanks for listening.

"sitting in the park"


"urgency"




"Sitting in the park"
Sitting in the park in silent resignation
Think of a time to have a celebration

But I looked around myself
Seeing only rainy days
I'm thinking of the road that will lead me on my way
to the San Francisco Bay

Who wrote the man who gave him all these pages
There in his hand with silent adumbration

Don't forget the things you know
Cause you're never really there
And the next thing that you know all the happiness is spared
And you find you find you'd never dare

To walk in the park in silent resignation
To touch the water and live in its vibration

Who can lead me to the wise
In this ever loving zoo
Am I wasting all my time
Staring at the morning dew
Thinking back to love I knew
 
Track 1 has too much reverb and sounds a bit too brittle maybe. The hi-hats are really fizzy. You're close to the 60's style and I know that they are very lo-fi and have almost no low end but maybe just adding a bit more help.

Great songwriting. I would have definitely believe that the song is an authentic 60's tune if you had claimed it was.


The second one I love the second the drums kick in. I love the big reverb on this track a lot more than on the first track. It's still probably too much over all though.
I love the midsection where everything just starts going crazy.
Great playing on both tracks.
 
Thanks, but how am I supposed to fix it? The drums are stereo so I can't really get to just the hi-hat alone, and what should I be bringing up in terms of the bass department? The bass guitar itself??

I gotta tell ya, I really suck at this lol. Just when I think I have a good mix going I put it in the car and it sounds like you said "brittle", to me narrow, painfull, and just disgusting. But I can re-mix this with just some pointers and then my ears might learn.
 
wow, you could have played these songs to me without telling me you had done them and I would have thought they came from way back..in woodstock days. You seem to have mastered that if thats what you were going for. If not, then kill some of the reverb and add some bottom end to it.
 
You could cut some really high frequencies between 12-20k. Search around there for the hi-hats.

Well the first song really has no bottom end.

The second one does since the percussion and bass guitar are a lot more prominent.

Try bring up low-end instruments or boosting frequencies around 60-120Hz on the same instruments.
 
Love it MusicalSound, but I have to agree with Bruthish.

I like the boxed-in transistor-radio sound because it has an authentic vibe and fits the songs very well. It is a narrow sound (frequency wise), but somehow all the main parts are still distinct. To be honest I'm not sure if changing it would make it better, even though I would like to hear a fuller version.
 
I like the tune - it's really retro, in a good way. You can sing, I think. Thing is, I'm not sure because I can't make it out - you've mixed it so that it sounds like a recording played through a cheap PA at one end of an airplane hangar and I'm standing at the other end. The two biggest issues are the amount of reverb you've put on it - it's blurring the sound - plus the wicked lack of lows in combination with the hyped highs. Cut the verb, cut the highs, bring up the lower end.
 
I hope that doesn't offend anyone, or seem contrived. I really love that way old mixers sound, and I don't see why I should not be allowed to achieve that sound simply because it was used in the past. It begs the question what really is the past anyway? Just a non important thing we might put too much stock into because I'm sure standing in a field in 1969 was pretty much the same thing as it is now.

On an aside, really think the biggest problem I'm having too is not tracking to tape. when my '70s 1/2" machines were working the sound was soo funny. I really need to find someone help me fix my tape machine. especially when I'm using '60s 1/2" scotch 203 or something, the sound is so awesome because there is a whole level of brightness and sheen that is just glossed over by the tape, not to mention the low end seems so much more mid-rangy. The tape machine is the missing link for me. I like digital but I always seem to get a tinny, or dull sound with it. With my vintage tape that "idiot sweet spot" is just already dialed in and the machine makes me sound good. With digital its just a never ending battle of chasing my own tail, but I'll try to work on this mix bearing in mind what you've said.

edit-just saw your post dobro and I lol'd. I really hope I can warm it up...and nooooo I can't sing soI very much hope removing some echo won't reveal extreme nastiness (!)
 
Don't blame digital. Buy an emulation plugin and you'll get that tape sound without all the downsides of working with tape.

And nobody's telling you you're not allowed to achieve a particular sound - we're just offering our impressions - it's your song and your call in the end. But I think this song would be served much better with a really different mix. I mean, if 'bad' is the sound you're after, then fill your boots. But it's a cool song and I'd like to hear it mixed way differently. I'd be able to actually hear it in that case.
 
I listened to the first one. I think you over-did the reverb even for the time period. I think the type of verb is fine. Just back off the level a bit.

Also the lead vocal is buried a bit.

I agree with the comment about brittleness. It sounds to me like there is a lot of energy in the 4K-5K range.
 
I like the lofi sound a LOT personally, love the sound and production, it sounds surprisingly like real tape, it does lack a bit of sub bass though compared to real tape but you've done a good job emulating it. That would be my only criticism, give it more warmth in the bass overall and it will sound exactly the same, you've nailed the mid-range and high end though
 
Ok well I appreciate the attempts to help means a bunch...thanks for the repeated listens to help. comes a point when you get sick of hearing the same thing over and over! so then I did try a remix for the two tracks and I'm afraid I just stink lol. There's limitations on the recording, and I can't seem to make heads or tails of what's going on. I did a mix with all of the reverb off and it was pretty strange to hear. Anyway, I took a lot off I suppose! I hope this is an improvement instead of worse!



 
I'm still having trouble hearing the lead vocal.

If you dryed things up, I'd do more. Maybe give the lead vocal a presence boost - somewhere around 5Khz.

I'd turn down the drums a little bit, or just the cymbals if possible.
 
haha well here I tried again. Itook some more reverb off (although I love the oldies) and did the 5k thing. I realized the drums sounded painful so I had to kill off a buncha highs. That's the thing with digital....you have to kill WAY more highs than on analog setup I've found!

Of course, my techniques could just stink too. The mic on the snare is a good one, bass drum mic is good, but ohead and vocal mic are questionable - audix OM something or other into a 1978 Ahsly sc50. So perhaps a better mic would really helpa man.

 
The vocal reverb is closer to 60s on the latest mix, and hte bass is now audible, but the drums are very buried. Interesting comments you have re digital vs tape - I think you're just used to the way tape squashes the high frequencies, specially if its old multi-times-reused tape.
 
Also, you'd be surprised but I've heard some amateur '60s recordings where someone went overboard with the reverb as well! In fact wasn't there a phil spector single with Tina turner from 1966ish that had so much plate 'verb that the song actually flopped because nobody could understand the lyrics *or* music in their car? Not that I'm saying that's good, but Phil really believed in that wall of sound..... I mean I have to say Ithink I like the sound of the '60s shure spring echo more than I like my lyrics! I almost wonder if I care if I'm understood, why should anybody care? Wasn't jon anderson heavily attacked in the '70s for having lyrics that made no sense anyway? I just like the fact that the first mix had more reverb on it, it's just hard to let go of that. But the tinny ness and bass-lessness just totally slipped past me and that was wrong. I really don't know what's wrong with me.
 
I listened to about 10 seconds of mix #1 of Sitting in the Park and immediately switched over to the latest. I think that the vibe that you're going for is much more represented in this latest mix. You still get the point across of the 60s psychedelia kind of movement, but it's a way better mix. It's a great song actually, although it ended abruptly...is there more?

I'm out of my element on this kind of mix. From the comments above it sounds like you only have a stereo mixdown of the drums, so not sure what to suggest there. For a 60s-era AM radio mix, I can't say that I would have any gripes. As a modern mix, I would want way more bass and kick in it. But I don't think that's what you're going for here.

Overall, I'd say nice job. It's different, and it's nice to see someone with a different spin on things.
 
hey man thanks. words of encouragement always help a fellow! no there is no more, well it actually just repeats the intro with no lyrics just backing vocal lol. I hate to say this, but I just remixed it yet again and this is now the version I'm just going to be done with. I know it goes against some of your guys' advice, but I did have the thing translating between some optimus B1s and KOSS ur-30 headphones. I spent at least a few hours trying to dial it in. Yeah, the drums are even more buried now and the reverb is pretty bad. but ehhh it's just kind of phil spector inspired i guess.....now im feeling a bit guilty

 
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These are VERY good. Not only did you capture the 60s sound nearly perfectly, your songs are perfectly 60s, too. I would totally be fooled if these were presented to me as a 60s band I've never heard.
 
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