Need some feedback on this song (resonator acoustic)

  • Thread starter Thread starter frank1985
  • Start date Start date
I'd really like some input on this folks.
 
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Just had a listen to it.
Good effort as a whole, I'd say, but... there is no unity between the instruments/vocal.. the ac. guitar (is it really a resonator?) sounds up front.. the vocals sounds a few metres away and the drums and bass sound very distant.
But if that is exactly what you wanted then great! You're spot on!!

My major "complain" however would be on the way the resonator was recorded. Specifically, the squeaks when changing chords are far too loud and (at times) annoying and distracting.
Not knowing what caused it makes it difficult to give suggestions on how to avoid it, assuming it was not deliberate.
The main cause of eccessive strings squeaking is primarily (and usually) the player... slightly lifting the fretting fingers when moving from a chord to another will reduce the squeaks.

Other causes can be new strings, or old strings that have been cleaned more than once with Fastfret (or similar) and type of strings (nickel squeak more than bronze on acoustic) and gauge (heavy gauge squeaks more).

Squeaking can also be accentuated by mic's placement, if you have 1 mic too close to the fretting hand.
Heavy use of eq boost will exagerate it and heavy compression will push it up even more.

I have a wooden body resonator myself and I usually place 1 mic near the upper S cut on the body. This seems to give a good balance between warmth, body and sharpness.
You can hear some of it (slide work, really) here April's Fool by moosegarage on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free (intro and second half of track)
and here This Sinking Feeling (got your name on it) by moosegarage on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free
(I suggest you download the tracks for proper listening as Soundcloud player makes them sound bad and distorted)
 
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This place is usually dead on weekends, don't expect too many comments. Also, it helps to comment on other's submissions to get them to comment on yours.

A couple of things stand out to me:

1) the squeaks as mentioned already. Sounds like too much compression, but could be technique.

2) Don't like the doubling effect on the vocals. It's okay to use a doubler, but keep it to minimum to support the lead vox, not compete with it.

3) Vox and instrumetns aren't in the same space. Like Red said, instruments are up fornt and the doubling effect puts the vox in back. The vocals are telling a story and should be front and center.

All in all, not bad. If you're inexperienced then you did pretty good.
 
Agree with the other responses but would add that the timing of the drums at the beginning and at other parts of the song is off. Don’t know if that is on purpose or not but it has a bizarre feel :drunk: to it when it happens.
 
Thanks for your replies. Tbh, that was the effect I was going for with the vocals and drums taking a back seat and the guitar up front. However for my next experiment I'll have a go at reversing the roles. The squeaking is quite prominent as I used brand new strings; perhaps I should have worn them out a bit more before recording. Redhoney, thanks for your tip on mic placement, i'll keep that in mind for next time.
 
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