New Rock Tune, "On With The Show"

[mrface2112]

Took a couple days off and put together this new tune. Here's a first mix.

I've already identified a couple things that need to be tweaked, but would love to know what y'all think.


cheers,
wade

 

[Greg_L]

Sounds very familiar. Like some ealy 00's radio song. Can't think of the name.

Doesn't matter, everything sounds like something.

It's not bad. The vocals are way too dry and timid for my taste. I understand the verses are low key, but they seem kind of lackluster. The timing is kind of loose too. I like the guitar tone once the song gets rocking.

 

[mrface2112]

Early 00s radio? Can't say i've listened to anything on the radio since the 80s!

(really though, put an envelope filter/autowah on the verse chords, and you get something similar to New Bohemians' "What I Am")

I'm not much of a singer.....never have been, probably never will be. Doesn't help that i HATE the sound of my voice. As such, I usually tend over-wet the vocals and intentionally tried to hold back this time.

The timing on what is loose? The vocals?

Thanks for the listen and feedback! I appreciate it!

How's the mix sound? Overall ok? Anything sticking out where it shouldn't be?


cheers,
wade

(edit) PS--yours is the second comment I've heard about it "sounding like something i can't place"

 

[Greg_L]

The drum and guitar timing is loose. On a slow song like this, if the instruments aren't locked together, it can sound sloppy. There's a few spots that are pretty loose.

 

[Greg_L]

Lol. Here's the song I was thinking of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpHFyYrNuuM

 

[Waffleness]

Its ok, got potential. I just think a bit of polishing is needed and it will be good.

Vocals seem a bit muffled. Guitars have quite a wide stereo effect on them. How much delay have you got between the L and R guitar signals? They could be a bit louder.

I think composition wise, the hi hats need a bit more action, just to keep the song flowing. You need more verb on most of the parts I think, and maybe a bit of higher EQ in the vocals and slightly louder.

Keep working at it, it will get there soon. Lyrics are alright

 

[mrface2112]

Thanks for the comments and tips, gents!

There are definitely a couple places where the guitar/drums need to be tightened up. I get about 6 hours every 6 months to get behind the drums these days, so it'll have to be "stick em on a grid" instead of "play it again". unfortunately. I'm just not as practiced on the skins as i used to be.

I don't think i've ever heard that Incubus (suckubus? ) song, but wow, those are some similar chords. I could totally do without the shirtless guys. :-|

Guitars have no delay on them at all. That's 4 separate guitars you're hearing (2 mics on the cab). The verse has 2 guitars, one each panned hard left and right, and the crunchy guitars (2 more) are about 60% L/R (also 2 mics on the cab). There is a slight amount of reverb on the verse guitars. I wanted to sense it but not hear it. I've gotten to the point where i don't really like to hear reverb.

Tone-wise on the guitars, I pretty much nailed what I was going for. The verse guitar is a $70 chinese epiphone LP Jr that I've put a Duncan Pearly Gates into. Ran it straight into a '67 Fender Bandmaster cranked to 10 (rolled back on the guitar's volume a little to clean it up). The cabinet is a home-built one with a 12in Eminence Red Fang and a 10in Eminence Copperhead. Sennheiser 421 was on the Red Fang and a 609 was on the Copperhead.

Crunchy guitar tracks are an '83 Strat with a JB Jr in the bridge, into an old 4-knob Menatone King of the Britains, into the same Bandmaster (this time with vol around 8) and the same cabinet, mic'd the same way.

Guitar mics went to separate tracks, but were panned to the same place.

I'll see what i can do to brighten up the vocals--i tend to like dark reverbs (usually roll off the highs on the send) but i'm thinking a brighter reverb might take care of both dressing up and brightening up the vocals somewhat.

I intentionally went dark with the vocal....I was looking for a Lou Reed/early Velvet Underground sort of vibe. Maybe I missed the mark on that.

Drumwise, i hate the snare sound. But I can never get a sound i DO like, so it's at the drum. In this case, i actually reamped the snare through a vibrochamp lying on its back with another snare sitting on top of it. that helped immensely. But i still don't like it.

I need something at the end of the song (aside from ending it earlier/fading out ).....thoughts?


cheers,
wade

 

[Supercreep]

I like the intro. Incubus doesn't own those chords or anything

I think the choruses could use something suggesting 16th notes, either HH or tam or something. The second quiet part in the song is very effective.


Nice work.

 

[joeym]

Really cool song.
Love the guitar sound, really nice and warm distortion. Did you mic the amp?
You do have some timimg issues here and there, some drum rolls that aren't in time and a couple of times the bass and kick kind of miss each other. I think though that the biggest issue are the vocals. Actually the vocal line should be sung an octave higher because this song deserves a good vocal and has potential. Keep working at it and you'll get it right.

Joe

 

[mrface2112]

I think the choruses could use something suggesting 16th notes, either HH or tam or something.

OOOH....great idea! maybe a cleanish guitar 16th note arpeggio or something......something similar to Neal Schon's awesome riff at the start of Journey's "Don't Stop Heavin".

The second quiet part in the song is very effective. nice work

Thanks so much! This was an easy one to quiet down. The hardest part was figuring out how long to wait before coming back in.

Really cool song.
Love the guitar sound, really nice and warm distortion. Did you mic the amp?

Thanks! i did mic the amp--see above. Sennheiser 421 and 609, through Mackie preamps (SR24*4). The bandmaster was really cookin, which helped a whole lot. Had it slightly attenuated with a Weber MiniMass, but not by much.

You do have some timimg issues here and there, some drum rolls that aren't in time and a couple of times the bass and kick kind of miss each other. I think though that the biggest issue are the vocals. Actually the vocal line should be sung an octave higher because this song deserves a good vocal and has potential. Keep working at it and you'll get it right.

Thanks for the vote of confidence! Unless I get someone else in to sing it, I don't suspect a whole lot's gonna happen with the vocals. I do smell what you're cookin with respect to up an octave--that would be perfect for the choruses and bridge and i tried it when i was working out the melody......but as Little Penny Hardaway used to say, "I know my spot, foo! ". If i were ever going to release my songs or pitch em to labels (etc), i would definitely have someone else singing em.

and trust me, you don't want to hear me do an octave up.

Time to go snap those drums to the grid......wish i had more time to practice instead!

cheers,
wade