Midnight on Thursday, Here's a NEw Song for Overall Critique. Fire Away Please!

undrgrnd studio

undrgrnd studio

New member
Hey folks, this is my latest creation. I just finished a few minutes ago. I'd like any serious criticism you have. I'm looking at improving overall, whether that's songwriting, recording, performing, or whatever you can think of.

http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/2521218

This is what I used.

Guitars:
Schecter C1-Elite, SM57, Rane MS-1B, TubeWorks Tube Driver. Different settings on pickups for different tracks.

Bass: Fender P Bass, ART MPA Gold Swapped Tubes :DPre.

Drums:

M-Audio Nova, and SP B-1 as overheads, 57 on snare, 57 on kick. DMP3, Audio Buddy, and Modded Bellari MP-105 PreAmps.

Vocals:

AT-4040, Symetrix 525 Comp, ART MPA Gold swapped tubes.
 
Kind of a country song hey? In my headphones the drums sound weakest...maybe it's the rhythm they are playing in the verse. I thought the voice was a bit honky or something. The guitars on the left isn't working that well for the song...sounds a bit off. All credit to you for mic'ing it all up...kit and all. You can hear the room etc. Something out with levels of left and right guitars I think. I dunno...just my reactions. I like the ending. Pretty good song.
 
Monkey Allen said:
Kind of a country song hey? In my headphones the drums sound weakest...maybe it's the rhythm they are playing in the verse. I thought the voice was a bit honky or something. The guitars on the left isn't working that well for the song...sounds a bit off. All credit to you for mic'ing it all up...kit and all. You can hear the room etc. Something out with levels of left and right guitars I think. I dunno...just my reactions. I like the ending. Pretty good song.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm really a rock guy but I dig old school country guys like Hank Williams, all the way through Cash and Willie Nelson. The drums were my attempt at playing the snare on the upbeat. My body mind doesn't allow me to fully abandon rock style drums however. Vocal well yeah it's not as smooth as I want it and I can still hear an occasional pitch wander inside a word or two. I'm still pondering whether to completely recut and try a different vocal style or not.

Guitar on the left was actually how I wrote the song originally, but I guess when mixed with the other two it sounds a little busy. I hate to cut it, but I might.

Guitars left and right are hard panned, so maybe I can bring them up to like 60% instead, but if I cut one guitar I'll have to reassess the whole mix anyways.

Thanks for the critique. It's nice to have another set of ears, especially after wearing your own out on the same tune.

The way I recorded this BTW is:

First I played the drums and I just remembered where the changes were.

Next I played the centered guitar track because it marks the changes very clearly.

Next I played the two riff guitars.

Then came bass.

A few days later I attempted writing lyrics. I abandoned the first concept, because it was exactly what you would expect out of a country song. My next attempt I liked better but I ran out of time. Then about week later which was last night I wrote and recorded the rest. This isn't the best thing I ever did by any means, but I'm always proud of my newest projects. Most of my musician friends have been flaking out on me lately so I figured I would go back to just doing it all myself for a while. There is always a little something lacking when doing things this way unfortunately though.
 
perhaps a different approach using the butt end of the drumstick to get a nice full rim tap. back off on the guitar/s as this may bring the bass back into the mix. It reminds of a certain country singer but just can't put my finger on it. I like the old school country feeling to the song. Try checking your mix in mono for balance.
 
You really shouldn't put 'butt end' and 'rim tap' in the same sentence drumslinger...

Anyway...yeah I see what you're saying undrgrnd studio...all the best with it
 
New Version

OK I took the suggestions and went back and recut the vocals and remixed the drums and guitars. I think the new vocal is much smoother and I used a low cut filter. The overall mix feels stronger now. Go ahead and have it.

For the recut main vocal I used a Studio Projects B1 with a DMP-3 set to Hi Gain with the low cut filter on.

Here it is:

http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/2524275
 
Snare sounds too far in right earphone...not that it should be anywhere...but it sounds a little off when it's over there. I like the song...good song really. I'd be interested to hear what some drum afficianados say about the drums.
 
Monkey Allen said:
Snare sounds too far in right earphone...not that it should be anywhere...but it sounds a little off when it's over there. I like the song...good song really. I'd be interested to hear what some drum afficianados say about the drums.
Click to expand...

I bet that's happening because the overhead is picking up a lot of snare and I didn't adjust for that. The snare itself is panned center.
 
Yeah I was gonna say that it seems panned centre and (not knowing much about drum tracking) I guessed maybe you whacked some kind of delay on it or something...sending it a little to the right
 
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