"In memory of" acoustic rock with strings

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dudleys100

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Howdy, this is actually on our EP we just released I haven't had time to get many opinions so I would like to hear em. I can change stuff as time goes by because we are only printing in batches of 100 at a time. I already know a handfull of things that need work, for one it isn't powerfull when the instruments come in at the beginning. One reason for this is that there is no bass. I pumped up the Cello to add a little bottom but it isn't enough. I will add one at some point but there was a lot of fighting with the Cello and I will deal with it at another time. The main reason I didn't change it now is that we don't have a bass player live and it sounded very close to our live sound so we just kept it that way. There are definatly some performance issues, I am not looking for ideas there, mainly in the recording. I would however be interested in song structure ideas if any pop out to you. Thanks for the help.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=2039&alid=388
 
That was pretty damn cool man, from your post I was expecting much worse than that.

The intro was a little long, I think it's one of those things that is cool the first time you hear it but when you listen to it again, you just want to get to the real start.

I haven't got much else to add, it was a pretty good mix over-all IMO, I thought the strings were well-balenced with the acoustics. The vocals could come up a *touch* IMO but that's it. Nice lyrics.

Great job.
 
I would have liked to hear the vocal harmony a little more. The part that started at 2:08. Nice song though. The cello is really sweet-sounding. Regarding the song structure. I would just play with the arrangement until it sounds right.

Good song
 
Damn that's nice stuff! Keep this stuff comin' - it's excellent! Some very nice singing and terrific musicianship. I think the mixes are fine, too - and I say mixes 'cause I'm listening to your other tunes, too.
 
Cool stuff man, as always.


Tried to leave you a PM, but your box was full.


WATYF
 
Sup ya'll? Thanks for the compliments. I agree with the intro being long after you have heard it a couple times. To give you an insight into this song, I write songs for shows here at my University. What I mean is that twice a year we have a show called "Guitars Unplugged". This brings out 5000-7000 people depending on where it is held every time. It is the best groups in the school that get to play at it and you get 1 song you can do. So every semester I write a new song for the show and I teach the band the song and we play it. So generally the people hearing it (when I wrote it) would only hear the song once, in which case I think the intro works. If it was going out to radio (ya right) I would redo it. We put out this 5 song CD for the people that have been asking for one, so I didn't want to go redo it for the sake of saving time. Anyway thats not really a justification for poor song structure as it is an explanation. :)

As far as the background vocals go, my intent was to have them add thickness to the track and for them to be more felt thatn heard. I tried to get them so that if you listen for them they are there, but they don't jump out like a featured part. Live there are no harmonies so I don't want people fealing there is a bunch missing from what is on the CD. I think having them louder would be nice also but situationally that was my reason for the levels of them.

MC Gitarz

thanks for the comments on all the songs. I will posting a couple more, and then some other stuff from other artists I have been working on. I am also going into record drums this Saturday for the rock band I am in, it is completly different than this stuff, but I really like it. I get to thump on the bass in that band. I also get to try out my new Old School Audio (OSA) Pres on the drums so it should be fun. :)

WATYF

Thanks for the comment, nice to hear from you again. My box is now cleaned out so feel free to send me a PM.
 
Nice stuff, man. Excellent songwriting. Good performance.

Thanks for the listen.
 
Sounds very nice mate, the mix is good. Song/structure wise I think more dynamics would be good. After the intro all the instruments are in for pretty much the duration of the song. There's not much of a boost for the chorus for example. You could maybe use the strings to good effect for this purpose. Like maybe just have the guitar and vox for a verse then add the strings to bring it up a notch for the chorus, take all but one out for the second verse etc and build it up a bit that way. There's a million ways you could do it. Harmony backing vocals would be good too to emphasise and bring out certain parts. I love the vocal sound btw, really smooth. The lack of bass doesn't bother me either although that could be another way to add dynamics.

Good stuff,

Ian........
 
Sweet. Great vocals. Still trying to figure out what it reminds me of...
Any ways,
Lets hear more! =)
 
mighty good. I agree with the intro being a little long, but this is a great tune, and done well. Great vocals.
 
Ken,
It is very good.
I would have started the Cello earlier as a melodic (Low)part during the stop chords at the beginning. You would get a chance to groove on its wonderful sound that way. Later in the song if you need to add some more low end a very simple drone type synth part following the chord structure could add the low-lows.

Just an idea.

You have a very good song. The mix is excellent, the vocal sits perfect... PERFECT. Really nice sound stage. The vocal sounded (maybe) just a hair thick at the bottom. That is a big Maybe.

Tom
 
Well thank you again everyone. really do appreciate the comments. This is really helping me. It is very nice to have some golden ears giving me an objective opinion. Some comments are comfirming things I thought, and others are bringing up new things I did not realize.

IanW-UK
I agree wih the dynamics. I generally write to include the rest of the band for most of the song for shows, however I think I need to start looking at writing in a little more of a "whats best for the song" viewpoint rather than what will make my band happy. I like the idea about possibly using the bass for variation rather than just for the bottom end I was worried about earlier. I do have harmonies in it but they are mainly for thickening and not for listening, maybe I should pop thos eup a bit at certain parts?

Tmix

The Cello is playing during the stop chords, are you saying to maybe have a different part for the Cello that is actually playing over top of the stop chords? Kind of in the same veign as the violin does in the second verse? I have some harmonics that I play in between the stop chords on my guitar that I couldn't get to sound right in recording with the time I had for this, they will be added at another time. Possibly this would have helped the beginning. I like the idea of adding weight later on with a synth. I actually just recorded another guy and he had a synth part he put under his acoustic throughout the song. I thought in general it was more than I would have prefered, but I went through and did some "heavy automation" (Nice 80's metal band name eh?) on it to follow the emotion of the song, it made a huge difference. Because now it became more than just a background part, and became a feeling. You would feel the song start to build and then the synth would just take it to the next level.

Thanks for the comment about the vocal, it is funny because I am getting mixed opinions on how the viocal sits. From some other people I have everything form it sitting perfect to it fighting with the strings, so it being too thin and it also being too fat. I like how they are to me in my monitors, but it is hard to apply the advise I am getting with this part of it because the viewpoints are coming from all over the place. If you listen to the other one I have up "Liberty" my vox are less beefy in the lows and that may be the vocal you would prefer to this one as far as tone goes. I like them both for different reasons, but I can see what you are saying.

Anyway thanks all so far, I am really eating this up. This will help me that much more with future writing. I will post another soon. Thanks. ken
 
Ken,
I do mean to add a second melodic part during the stop chords. I so love the sound of cello, it would be a nice thing to bring it in where in was not in with everything else.
The vocal sound... don't sweat it. It sounds so different dependant on which speakers you listen over. It is a really nice sound that seems to translate well (if not just a little different) on different systems. If you are getting a huge variance in remarks, you are probably exactly where you need to be.
 
This reminds me of Ben Harper(i like him) so that is a compliment. the strings always add so much to a song like this. Expressive! I dig it man.
 
This is excellent!!! Not much I'd think about changing - nicely arranged - lots of space, some interesting dynamics.

I'd take another look at the modulation at 3:16ish - it's a little weak. maybe a climbing violin line at the same time that reinforces the change? Or a rhythm part or something - it just sorta hangs there.

Otherwise, my only thought would be that I couldn't really tell these were live strings - I was thinking synth at first. I know you prolly don't want to turn this into Eleanor Rigby, and if the whle album is this same kind of line-up, then this might be perfect... but maybe just give us some more clues that we're hearing acoustic instruments...

Tiny points, man. This is very good, and I'm putting it in my keepers folder. Thx for the heads up.

Daf
 
dafduc

Yes yes yes that is exactly what it needs. As soon as you said that I put it up and sang a part over it for the violin and it was perfect. It felt week there, but that is what it needed. Thank you very much. Now I just need to figure the right way to make the beginning work better. I have had many oints made about what it isn't but I am having a hard time figuring out how to fix it. Nothing has realy stood out. Thanks a lot I appreciate the comments once again.
 
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