Melody of Jealousy- new electric song

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powderfinger

powderfinger

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alright, after a string of mellow acoustic stuff, we've brought out the electric guitars.......

it quickly reminded me that i have much more trouble mixing rock songs than acoustic ones........

here are the problems that i'm seeing right now.......

1. i don't have a stand-alone compressor (only software), i have to keep the signal hot to get a good sound, but then when i belt, the sound gets slightly distorted............is the only way to attack this problem by getting a compressor input unit?

2. the backing vocals stink.........we tried retracking them multiple times, with not much better results........any suggestions for tracking backing vocals? i'd like to have them in there, but i'm going to have to ditch them if i can't get them to cut it.......

..........any and all comments/suggestions welcome

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1642&alid=154

the song is called 'Melody of Jealousy'
 
Hey Powder,
........Nice song man, good writing. .........man everytime I hear one of your tracks, I get that singer that I mentioned right on the tip of my tounge....... the resemblance is huge...... man, aint that a bitch:mad: ......its gonna drive me nuts.

Re: compression........ I dont know what the capabilities of compression software are 'cause ive never used it. I do think however that there are some areas in the song that could use it to make them more managable. One is the guits. The tone is good..... they could use a little harnessing though. Their levels sound a touch loud to me too.

Re: BG's......... i suppose there is a million different ways to do them, .......but without a good in key, tight performance.....you'll just be either covering them w/ too much shit ......or settling for something youre not happy with. ........take the time and the takes to get it right........ If you get a few nice tight tracks together, a little verb or chorus will blend them together real well.

Nice stuff powder......... G:)
 
Cool song powderfinger. I don't know if it's just my crappy speakers, but the vocals and guitar sounded a bit hot to me...kinda like you said. I feel like the drums could have used a little more punch too. Sorry no advice, I'm not there yet, can only critique as a listener. Overall sounded good. I can see that getting some airplay when it's done :D
 
Guernica,
thanks for the listen......i'm getting to start doing a little remixing....i'm gonna definitely get these guitars down.......and unless i can mix the back-ups better, i'm going to ditch them until we can get time to redo them..........i still can't wait to hear this vocalist comparison..............

Barometer,
thanks for the tip on the drums........i'm gonna see if i can't get them a little punchier........getting the guits right might help that..........
 
Hey Powder,
I think I blew right by a question that you asked. I think you were referring to compression and your lead vocs....... The way that I add compression to vocs is in the mix rather than while recording. So, I try to get a good strong, but clean, signal when recording .........then let compression do its job as is necessary when i mix. If you are recording a dry track and the voc is too hot in parts, either back off the gain, or during the "belting" back off the mic. Hope im not being redundant.......

You know after listening again, I retract what i said about compression on the guits........ It might be able to use just a little bit, but backing off the levels might be enough.

G
 
newest mix

thanks for the advice Guernica, my main problem when i back off the gain is that the track volume comes out too low.......do you think i can boost that track by doing something like boosting the output on my software compression? i don't know, i need to figure out something, because all the belting parts i record have too much distortion

*.......any ideas/advice about belting from anyone is welcome*

i reposted a new mix..........i tried to get the drums out a bit more.......i backed off the guits just a tad and cleaned up the bass just the slightest bit for a little more bottom room.......i also left the backing vocals in (despite their less than stellar performace value) and compressed the hell out of them and added some chorus to them

same like, same song.........

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1642&alid=154
 
pretty cool song, but it sounds a bit too compressed to me, and there is not much bass or low end.. It sounds a bit distorted, probably due to the over compression.. Nice wah guitar.. It also fades out a bit too quick.. I could probably hear this tune on the radio.. :)
 
I really liked the song. Great feel to it. Keep working and this is going to be a great one.

On the backing vocals. I'd add another lower part (under the melody line), which should shore up things a bit. For this type of harmony, the notes need to be hit right, without "bobbling" them. Keep working at it and I think you'll get there.

On recording the harmony parts, you might want to try recording with the levels a little on the hot side, but backing off the mic 4-6 in. more than with the lead vocals. I don't know vocal mic you're using, but you may also want to sing into the mic at an angle. Especially with high parts, this can tame the midrange a bit (depending on the part, the singer, the mic, the room, etc.).
 
kick ass... can I pull your finger?

the vocals need to be dropped back in the mix a bit. What were your compression settings? Did you compress the whole mix? What software? enquiring minds kinda wanna know... :confused:

Maybe a little more bass?

Drumwise, I was grinning. Very nice. :)

Maybe some gated verb on the background vocals to drop them back a bit on the "stage" without getting too lost.

Fix that fade out! Let the lead guitar go on for a bit longer! :mad:

Overall, nice work.
:D
 
Sabbath, thanks for the listen, i had a lot more bass in the original version i posted, i tried to carve a bunch of it out to make room for the drums, i also compressed the guitars more in the remix........looks like i over did both, i need a little less compression now, and more bass..........back to the drawing board

TripleM, i like the third harmony part idea...........how would you pan something like that?

JR#97- i use timeworks compression for the most part. i did slightly compress the whole mix......i just used a preset 'mastering compression' that has a hard knee and a ratio of 3.5:1, a pretty light attack and a medium release......for the vocals i used timeworks with a ratio of about 4.25:1, a hard knee, and a medium attack and release........that's the best i can describe my compression settings, because i'm still pretty reliant on presets and don't totally know my way around how to use it.......i'm gonna try to get more bass without killing the kick drum, so we'll see how that goes........thanks for the ideas

...........i'll try to get a new mix up with these things considered
 
powderfinger said:
TripleM, i like the third harmony part idea...........how would you pan something like that?
Click to expand...

I'm glad somebody likes something I suggest :D:D:D

I would send the lead down the center, the high part panned moderately to one side, and the low part moderately to the other side.

EDIT: I would really think the mic comment I made. I'm thinking that if the high harmony is retracked and brought up any, it's going to sound harsh. I think that's a combination of the part with the voice. I would recommend experimenting with ways to get some midrange out. It's definitely possible to get a smooth harmony with this song and your voice - it's just going to take some work.
 
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agrre with most other comments ...
The vocals are "lazzy" intonation wise ... needs to be tighter IMHO ... not to pick on you but it sounds kind off raw ... like no production thought was put in yet ... gtr parts and all... maybe it just the playing .. I don't know ... song is rocking though...
cheers
 
Fed said:
not to pick on you but it sounds kind off raw ...
Click to expand...

Fed, i don't feel like that's picking on me at all.......it's probably a combination of the playing and the production, but i was trying to keep a raw feel while getting a decent production.........i've still got some work on the production part..........i think you're probably right about slightly lazy vocals, those aren't going to improve too much until i get a proper monitoring system down.....i could probably get them on by doing them a line at a time, but what's the fun in that?

TripleM, i tried the harmonies! tell me what you think........they're definitely not the tightest you'll ever hear, but a vast improvement i think.........i moved the other one in and added a lower one

The newest mix is up-
- i added a lower harmony and touched up the other

- gave it a little more bass and a little less compression (i've noticed that going down to mp3 compresses it even more)

-backed down the vocal a touch

- i took of the 'mastering compression' and the L1-ultramaximizer.....i think the maximizer was adding to some of the track distortion

- i left the ending the same, but will try to get to that part later...drag it out a little

thanks guys,

the link is the same

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1642&alid=154
 
I listened again powderfinger and this is definitely improving. I'm diggin' the drums now, they're really there, the snare is great. No further comments except maybe the lead vocal is a bit out of tune in certain places. But I don't know, that gives it some character too IMHO. Keep it up :D
 
I have crappy headphones, so I'm having trouble hearing the low part. Maybe bring it up in the mix? They're sounding smoother, but still not quite there.

Execution is still an issue. Listen in particular to 2:56 - 3:00. I also noticed a pitch issue with the lead vocal at :18 (on the word "little"). There are other pitch issues here and there. I will say that the high part is not too harsh sounding (I was afraid it was going to be).

On second listen, the song is generally a bit midrangy. Mostly in the guitars.

Oh and I really like the drums. Great sound on that snare. Great power guitars. Great melody.

Keep doing takes until you nail this sucker.
 
i just listened to both back to back cause you posted the 2nd right right after i downloaded the first. the second is definitely an improvement.

this is a good song imo. i really like the wah guitar stuff. very cool indeed.

i think you could actually add more harmony throughout the song and it would help. not that you need much help here, i think you're doing fine already but i was hearing more vocal harmonies in my head. like on the word 'jealousy'.

i still hear some pitch problems with the lead vocal but they are very small and they only jump out cause i'm listening real closely.

i like the drums. can you tell us what they are? real? loops? samples?
 
Very good powder-honestly I didn't like the wah wah thing at the beginning-but blame that on my old neighbor who used to come over and work that wah wah in rythm to the song till u wanted to strangle him! Drums sound great for a home job-well better than mine anyway-snare sounds nice and distinct. Lead vocal starts a bit shaky but by the middle of the song the singer seems on it---guitar sounds are good-tune is real good too-I can't help you man sorry! Good song.
 
i think the beginning part is the highlight.

sounds like a loose band having fun!

fade was a little abrupt. may want to streeetch it out a little.

i like the guitar sound!

:)
 
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