Hey bruddah...
I like your work, but this and the other recordings of yours I've listened to are just shy of kickin' me.
So I just spent some time listening to Unchain my Heart...some SRV..and some Clapton stuff to figure out why.
Thing one.
The way you sing...sometimes you sing a multi-syllable word, and punch some part, and de-emphasize other parts of the same word. Sometimes the endings are real low , or you run out of breath.
The way to homoginize might be to get into enveloping the vox track, and levelling up those lost syllables. Or, when you sing, try to take fuller breaths, and sustain the word endings. One of the things I noted A/B-ing is that the vocals are much more out front, smoother, and/or wicked sung from the guts. The Clapton and SRV stuff has the vox way out front.
Two...the drums are popping on the sampled records. Your drums sound boxy to me. Like they were recorded in a dead room or something. The snare and bass aren't 'there'....popping
Three. Your bass sound is way heavy in the bottom. I can feel it more than hear it sometimes. There's not a lot of oomph happening between the bass drum and bass guitar.
Four. The performances sound like you and the fellers are rehearsing in a garage at noon. Like the guitar parts ...that F# #9 chord at 45 seconds....theres no swagger and dig to it...played kinda limp. That should really sear the ears. Part of it is your guitar sound, I think. No edge or distortion.
Overall, it doesn't sound like you guys are in the mood to play.
The texture is level and tame. No bite to the solo sound.
The guitar rythm parts are even and strummy....and constant fabric of sound, with not much bang, change, or effective lickkage. I can hear the light pick strumming gracefully and carefully over the strings.
The tune is solid. But the playing is restrained. And the recorded sounds don't gel.
Sorry to run contrary to everybody else. Maybe it's just me; but it's been bugging me that I'm the only one hearing the deficits......and I hope you consider them. This song should kick ass. To me, it doesn't.
Performances: tap the keg....get dangerous.
Recording: de-mook the bass guitar. Is that an old Acoustic 'refrigerator' folded enclosure...bass played with a pick?
do something with the papery drums
git the guitar amp [is it transistor?]into distortion territory; chop at that MF'er like you mean it. And add some bluesy bendy signature fills between vocal parts...it's sometimes tedious waiting through strumming with no 'feature' thang....like in the first 8 seconds over the F#. Some searing likkage there would hook a listener right off the bat. It's very tame...for blues. If you want to keep the instrumentation minimalized, the bass is gonna need more mids to 'stand in' for the guitar while you kiss the sky.
sing like you're impressing that blond in the front row...big breath...and even out the missing syllables with platform voodoo.
I love you, man. Gotta be honest. You need to do some referencing on punch, ambience, and sounds, I think, to get it to the level of kick-ass awsome.
drums that Jason did with his new mic setup , vocals completely rerecorded and remixed.
