My Goal: To Bring Back The 70's Space Concept Album...

boydrj

boydrj

New member
I've always had a deep appreciation for the Concept Album...even though today it seems that we have kind of gone full circle and gone back into a "Singles" type world...albums aren't really made the way they used to be.

Anyway, that aside, I am trying an experiment to write an entire concept piece and record it. I have written several songs and this is the first one that I have actually recorded.

I am probably going to try to re-track this at a later date, but I wanted to get it down and submit for feedback...anything on the song itself to the recording would be really helpful. I think I'm going to look for a vocalist as well (and if any of you out there dig this and want to collaborate, vocal wise, I would be open to it because I know my voice just doesn't hold up well, but for now it is all I have)

The song is called "Taking Off" ... it is a bit long (again keeping with that "Concept" theme) and you can find it here:

http://www.nowhereradio.com/theinside/singles

Thanks to anyone that takes the time to listen and let me know what you think. I'll check all yours out when I can (it has been pretty busy lately and I am finding it harder and harder to catch a few minutes to take a few listens, but I will soon...)

Oh yeah, also, my HRC #4 that I was working on with Mixmkr has been post-poned. We both just have so much going on right now, but we will get to it one of these days.

Thanks again!

:D
 
boydrj,

Wicked!

I loved this piece! You have truly captured the 70's, I'm gonna live in outer space deal! I can't wait for the next instalment!

The recording itself is a little rough around the edges in that I think the level of the mp3 is way too hot and seems to be distorting through-out most of the song.

If you could re-post the track with a slightly cooler level, I might be able to turn it up a bit more before my speakers start hurting as they are right now.

I am constantly amazed by all the guys here who don't like their voices and yet every one of them, including you, sings very well, both artistically and in terms of staying on pitch. Ease up on yourself, man, your actually pretty good!

Very fine start to this concept album!

Cheers! :)
 
very interesting........sounds like the beatles covering a pink floyd song:D ...........

good work here......i enjoyed it........good production
 
Right on! The concept album is back!

Great job boydrj,

I wish I could offer you some recording comment's, but I'm way too newbie to say anything. But I can say I do like the song, and the way the second half put's me into that meditative state of mind. I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of your album.

Joe :cool:
 
AWESOME!

Loving the intro.

Great performance..everything is real cool here.
At 2:10 the upper midrange seems to get too crowded. I am hearing some crunchyness there. It sounds kind of retro but it could use some help getting the background vox to gel imo.

Love the dew do dos...

Cool LFO sound....this song is giving me a flashback....!
And I wasn't even around in the 70s..

Fun song, great job.
 
All synths?

very cool intro....had the LED dancing nicely...cool bass twang there...

nice stereo seperation but yeah........pretty hot on my monitors man....clipping even........




needs screaming guits..............and an accordian.....





































well......doesn't every song need screaming guits? :D

Good stuff man,
Joe
 
bring back the concept album!

very cool song.. sounds like it was recorded 30 years ago with the exception of the red hot levels. nothing wrong with your vocals.. maybe they were a little flat in spots, but nothing that can't be nailed.. I like it.. yeah some guitar tooling around would be cool somewhere.. the chorus repeats a lot so a few varying things would be cool.. I definitely liked it though.. I would say more solos and more pieces of sound.. sounds more like the last song than the first.. very cool either way.. I can't give any useful mix info right now because I'm on the other computer with the bass-less speakers. This song went well with my mood because, as usual, I just finished burning one..
 
Oh goody, I love Science Fiction.

Are those Spocks 'love bells' ? :D

Cool sound carrying the melody in the beginning, I don't know what that is.

Now the doot - doot I can hand with.

OMG ! dobro is in this ! ... maybe his great-great-great-grandchild.

I hear some ... vangelis influence here ?

Things are complicated, but not tooooo thick.

01:34
Wow, your vox is awesome dude.
Just a little bit too much effects , is that 'flange' on your vocal.

The backup vocals are too verby, dry them up and pan them to center.
They are a touch pitchy also, bring them down, they are to far left.

The are exactly at 9:00, that's not good, we don't hear that way, and it's distracting from your excellent lead vocal.

OK at 03:00 the vox level is PERFECT !

Yes, the backups have pitch problems, they are flat ... soweeee :-), but I have to be honest with a fellow board member.

OK, the 'tick ticks' are cool, you can set the pan like that for them, but you've got to get there some other way.

I'm definitely hearing 'Tommy Rock Opera'.

Is your vocal completely pitch shited ?, sounds munchkin'y ... just a touch.

The metal at 04:24 an 04:28 is really ... hot, my cans are on fire :D

At 04:49, this backup vox, and panning are good, the sonic range of that backup vocal is right below the lead ... At 05:11 , got to bring this in closer, and needs some delay.

Man, the layering of 'stuff' is awesome, I love it.

Ya know, I think you are generally overdoing the vocal, to many parts, to much singing maybe ???? IMHO - IMHO

The composition is FANTASTIC, and could stand alone without the vocal.

A more simple vocal presentation, just the lead with very minimal backups might be more effective.

This is a KEEPER ... totally cool.

I can understand all the lyrics on the first listen, no problem, now I just need to listen again, because I was so awed by the total composition !

Thanks for sharing.
 
Wow, thanks everyone! :D

FM - Because of the length of this, I encoded it at a smaller rate (128) so that may have something to do with it. I had originially encoded at a higher rate and it was about 10 mb so I figured nobody would probably take the time to check it out, so this was just done out of convenience. I'm glad you liked this, man. I am actually tired of it (I've been working on it for several days) and I'll need to revisit, but I am definitely going to work on smoothing it out. Thanks! :D

PowderFinger -- Thanks man, I love both those bands (both recorded in the same studio, Abbey Road, as well...) :D

Joe - Thanks for taking the time to take a listen! :)

Jake - Haha, I was just a kid in the 70's, but I've heard a few concept albums that I really love from that time period, though not all of them are about space. ELO did a few about space, and there was this other band called "Klaatu" that did a (kind of) space concept piece. Everybody at the time thought they were The Beatles but they were actually from Canada.

I think that "crunchyness" may be from the drum track. I actually recorded real drums on this (nothing fake here) and I am still learning how to mic and record them. I think the mids got heavy and kind of affected the way the entire track was mixed...but I'm still learning. Thanks man! :D

Joro - Hey man! :) Actually, there are two guitar tracks on there playing rhythm, but with the vocal they may be kind of buried. The drums are also real, but everything else is synth. Originally I didn't have a second verse written and I was going to go for a "scathing" guitar solo, but I just don't have the chops (I tried though and it didn't come out right, and out of frustration I just wrote the second verse and stuck that in) ... might be fun to change key and go into a solo and then back again. My son plays a much better guitar than I can, so when I revisit this, I may try something with him. Thanks for listening! :D

Sam - Thanks! Yes, I think many an album from the 70's (concept or not) were probably listened to while/after/before burning one! I feel validated! :D Glad you enjoyed it. I'm still working on those vocals...I know there are some pitch problems on there (I just need to take a few days away from it so that I can relisten objectively and really hear them) ... Sometimes after listening to something for so long, you get used to the way it sounds. That is one of the reason's why I love this board. To point out what can be done better! Thanks again! :D

Studio - Thanks for the detailed response. I am definitely going to print this one out. I think you may be right concerning the cluttered vocals during the chorus. They were kind of done as an afterthought, and I just stuck everything in. Funny you should mention Dobro ... I love everything he does! I'm a big fan! :D The "flange" is actually just a product of the double tracking with a tad of verb added to the leads. I agree that the bg. are way too drenched in verb. I kind of did this in keeping with the "70's theme" when they drenched everything in verb, but I think you may be right. It is a bit distracting. I'm going to print this out and try some of the techniques you mentioned. I may end up re-tracking at a later date...the drums bother me (it is the first time I have tried recording the real thing ... used five mics, but I'm still not happy with the sound)...Thanks again for your feedback.

Thanks all. This feedback is very helpful!

Take care! :D
 
Enjoyed this very much. :)

The bleepy wee-wee synths at the end seem a tad too loud, yet it could be totally appropriate for this particular style of music. :D

Some space guitar (add phasers please!) could beef this up (and enhance the 70's sound).

Agree on the low mids comment by Jake-Owa. Could use some more bass, and less low mids.

Vocals aren't bad, but B. Sabbath is right: a little flat, and it sounds like it can be fixed. You're not very far away, if you know what I mean.

I'd add a leslie box effect to the vocals (some verses, or background vox) . Just for fun's sake not camouflage. :)
 
Please retrack this and get it right because I really love the composition. At least this needs some good mix work. You have some great elements here.

Others have mentioned the issues.

What happens to the vocals at 3:00? They got a lot louder, probably closer to where they should be relative to the other elemnets. Everything is too hot though.

Listen to the good advice given above and make it happen! :D
 
Man, this is right up my alley as I'm a sucker for any kind of conceptional music. Lots of keyboards too, nice sounds, love the organ at the "don't know" part.

Backup harmonies are killer and I know you spent some time on them - great effort. I really dislike long tunes but I found this to be great, I was really hooked by the "don't know" section, liked the build-up.

Can't wait to hear th finished version.
 
Thanks!

Ped -- A leslie box effect would sound really cool! Something I'll need to think about trying (and figuring out what I have that I might be able to use to get that type of sound) Thanks! :D

Skids -- I totally agree with you. This is still pretty rough, and I will probably end up re-tracking the entire thing. :)

Lynx -- Thanks, man! :)
 
Hey Rob,
I really loved this man!

Nice concept,your definitly off to a great start.
I have dibs on the first pressing!:D

Good production,you have that vibe nailed!
I think your voice is a perfect fit for this kind of stuff,really makes it all work.

I'll be looking foward to the next track!

Cool tune,
Pete
 
Hey Bdrj,
Yeah, a string of concept things would be cool. ...and this is a nice start. The lack of low end is the thing that really jumps out at you right off the bat. It seems like if you could fill that up a bit, the whole recording would pop a little more. From the office 'puter here, its hard to tell if you hyped the highs or are just lacking in the lows. Nice start here man.... this is gonna be cooool!
 
I thought the overall idea was very cool. Hey man Major Tom would be proud.

I think the highs started to get away a little bit, more noticible later in the song after the vocals started to get crankin. To me the highs on the snare were a little bright. Watch the intonation on some of those background vocs "tick tick tick"

Very cool stuff man, excellent arrangement. I especially liked the intro, it reminded me of something from the soundtrack of "Pi"
 
Pete - Thanks man! We will collaborate soon ... I may be sending something your way soon. With those new monitors you have, you can give it a great mix! Thanks for listening! :D

Sloop - I love ELO! Jeff Lynne rules! :D

Guernica - Thanks for the listen, man. How is the baby? :) I'm going to work on fixing this mix and re-tracking some of the vocals. I've got a ton of good advice here. Thanks!

Khomp - Thanks! I agree with the eq in the mix. I need to get on that and fix it, but I'm taking a few days off to give my ears a rest. I'll check out your new one soon!

:D
 
I've been meaning to check this out since I saw the title a few days ago. Been awefully busy. Anyway...


Nice intro...

I'm liking it up til that snare comes in. That sounds a bit harsh. Check the high mids on that maybe.

I love the vocals. I remember the first song I heard from you and how creative I thought it was and how much I liked you voice and delivery. This is no different.

The only thing I'm having trouble with is the harshness of the cymbals and the snare. Sounds like maybe you boosted the highs on some samples. If not, I'd at least consider cutting some, but be careful about it of course. Isolate the offending frequency range...sounds like 4K to me.

Great song man. You're an excellent songwriter in my opinion.
 
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