New song - comments welcome.

  • Thread starter Thread starter alibish
  • Start date Start date
Hey buddy...I've listened several times to both versions, and while I still think it's great, I"m thinking both mixes could use some highs...I may be alone in this. Wanted to let you know that I'm still listening.
 
I had some trouble with skipping, probably my computer. That said, what I heard was beautiful. I'm going to re-download.

Jon
 
Thanks everyone.

sheppard - glad you like the solo better. I'll look out for Jim Croce - what album would you recommend as his best?

JR#97 - there's still plenty of reverse reverb in there, don't be greedy! ;) I'm glad you like the solo - I'm much happier with it too. As you say, it seems to live more comfortably with the rest of the track now. As a guitar player I never thought I'd say this, but apparently sometimes the best thing to do with a solo is turn it down! ;)

muzeman - thank you very much. I actually thought about strings for the solo - my wife plays fiddle, so I might ask her...

Did you listen to the first version or the 2nd version? The solo sound is a lot gentler in my 2nd attempt.

Glad you like the accent - it's the only one I've got... ;)

And your comparisons are *very* flattering. A couple of folk thought my last one was reminiscent of the Kinks, too. I must buy some of their stuff.

chrisharris - I know what you mean about the highs. It's certainly missing a bit of percussion, which would balance the sound a bit better. I'll try a wee boost in the "air" region and see what happens. Now where's my BBTTE?

jjtcorsair - thank you very much. If you continue to have problems let me know and I can email you the file.

Cheers

AB
 
I like the way the solo sounds a lot better! Sort of an interesting 12 stringish sound with the octave thing you did. It still comes in strangely though, I think, maybe the timing is slightly off. Or maybe when you add percussion that would glue it up better. Could be cool to have it kick in there with bass and drums, (and maybe have the picked guitars switch to rhythm, cuz the picking sort of interferes with the solo. I think there's plenty of the reverse thing, I'd take out more myself (like on the last line of the first chorus, for example.) Have it build up, use more as you go. Fiddle could be very cool, too. Just throwing out thoughts, don't listen to me, sounding great!

Macle
 
macle - "just throwing out thoughts" - having listened to all of your stuff over the last couple of days, believe me I'm desperately grabbing for any crumbs you can throw my way. Your writing/arranging/production abilities are bloody amazing.

I don't *think* the timing on the solo is off, but seeing as my timing *is* off about 50% of the time, I wouldn't put it past me...

I think percussion will certainly help the track.

I know what you mean about the picking guitars clashing with the solo. I thought it worked myself, but maybe not. :( I'll try strummy guitars (or no rhythm guitars at all) and I'll also try cutting the volume on the picked guitars during the solo. Thanks for the ideas.

Your advice on the reverse reverb is typical of the subtlety that's evident in your own stuff. I tend to "breenge" at stuff (Scottish word, means sort of bull-in-a-china-shop kind of thing) but I'll try and bring a bit more finesse to it.

By the way, what do you mean by the chorus? I think of the "And you can see" bit as Chorus part A, and the "More than this" bit as Chorus part B. I take it you mean the last "more than this", the first time around?

Thank you very much for listening, and for your excellent ideas. Version 3 will be forthcoming in a day or two. :)

Also, a lengthy review of all your own stuff is currently formulating itself in my head. Be warned - extended gushing is coming your way via PM.

Cheers

AB
 
Hey Alibish,
Cool song man, very nice gits and vocs. I got a heavy late 60's feel from this. Very nice work man.

g
 
alibish,

very cool song. real nice vocals + harmonies. the guitars also recorded very well. nice stereo image and clarity.

the synth/pad stuff arns 3:00 is also really cool. provided a nice contrast to the initial conventional parts of the song.

cheers
kb
 
Guernica - thank you very much for the comments. A couple of folk heard a 60's sound, which is strange because I wan't even born then!

But I do like a lot of 60's stuff, especially the Beatles obviously. I'm also a big fan of Nick Drake, and would kill (or at least maim badly) for his voice and guitar playing ability. (I think he was very late 60's, early 70's).

kartikbala - thank you very much. I'm pleased with the way the guitars turned out. It's a basic mic, but an excellent guitar, and it seems to record pretty well.

I absolutely loved that organ-y sound. It's a preset on the Ultran synth in Orion Platinum, with the attack softened a bit. Orion is more geared towards dance music, but when I heard that sound I just had to use it somewhere. I'm glad you think it fits with this tune.

I've done a new version which I'm about to upload. It's not very different, but I've added some (more) air EQ, a wee touch of high frequency harmonic exciter (thanks to chrisharris for this), followed macle's suggestion re the reverse reverb at the end of the first chorus (thanks macle), and cut the volume on the backing guitars during the solo. I think it's an improvement.

Thanks again to everyone for the comments and ideas.

Cheers

AB
 
I just love it...I can't say more...wish I could.

The End.
Chris
 
Listened again ... this time to Version 3 ... I have to say, I was apprehensive when I read that you took out the reverse vocals, but what you have done is made them more tasteful and actually they sound better...I think you have made this song better!

The mix sounds good over here. If it didn't take me like an hour to download a song, I think this one would definitely be downloaded (someday when I travel into the 21st century and get high speed internet access, I'm going to get this one) ...

Great job! :)
 
chrisharris - thank you.

boydrj - thank you too. I'm glad you think it's better, and I'm glad you don't mourn the reverse reverb too much. ;)

Cheers

AB
 
Great songs alibish. I listened to both, very cool. I'd have liked to hear some subtle percussion or something on More than this, but that's just preference. The production sounds awesome, nothing to comment on there. Nice work! :D
 
Barometer - thank you very much for your comments. I agree that percussion would improve "More Than This" - erichenryus is working on something along those lines this week. Should be cool.

Cheers

AB
 
"He doesn't say a word even when he's talkin'"

Very nice. Everything supports the vocal, and the fizzy melodica sound at beginning and end is very cool. Acoustic guitars sound great also. Harmonies are sweet and on the money.
Strong all the way around...great lyric and melody, solid mix, emotive singing and playing.
A1 for AB. :cool:

Mark
 
I listened to V1 and V3. V3 is definitely better to my ear, the overall song sounds cleaner and just more pro sounding. Really nice recording all around. It sounds like you put a lot of work and care into the mix and you have done a really nice job here on this piece of material.

I like the song too. I had one nitpick about that, though. Every section ends on the same G chord, which limits the contrast between the verse and the chorus to my ear. But don't change it on my account.

Anyway, you write well enough and you'll only get better and better. If your recording skills stay the same, you'll do all you future work justice with this kind of quality. Excellent!
 
dtb - thanks very much. Short and sweet. :)

mkg - thank you very much for listening, Mark. I really appreciate your comments. And I'm glad you like the organ sound. As I said somewhere above, I just loved it when I heard it but I wasn't sure it would suit this track. Glad it does.

crawdad - thank you very much for listening, too. I really value your opinions. This board is such an incredible place, with so many talented folk willing to help out people they've never met. I learn a huge amount every time I'm here.

It still amazes me what a difference a few small changes can make to the overall "sound" of a track.

And that's a very good (and subtle) point re the songwriting. I never even considered changing the chords, but now you mention it, I'll try out some alternatives. The obvious choices off the top of my head are to end the verse or the chorus on a D or an Em. I think it might be cool to change the verse. That way the "outro" verse will be the only one that resolves to G, which will surprise the ear a wee bit, and should sound "just right".

Thanks for the great ideas.

Cheers

AB
 
I liked the song. Nice use of harmonies. The tune and acoustic parts were quite good.

I thought the vocals were just a bit too far back in the mix - but again just slightly. Lyrically, I'd say it was just kind of average - things I've heard quite a few times, and nothing really interesting. Probably the weakest part of the song.

But still overall I liked it - nice feel to it. Rewrite the words :).
 
TripleM - thank you very much for your comments. I'm glad you liked the musical parts of the song!

I know what you mean about the lyrics. It reminded me a bit of "Nowhere Man", but I thought it was nice and simple, and fit the music and the feel. I also thought I had a couple of nice wee thematic symmetries in the lyrics. Oh well, back to the drawing board. :)

I really appreciate your thoughts, and it's alwats good to get (contructive) criticism. Keeps me honest. :)

Cheers

AB
 
Man... I really love the acoustic guitar sound!!

You've got a very powerful acoustic tune here, and shouldn't add anything if you want to keep this overall feeling!

Drums or percussions could be interesting in here, but only acoustic sets could give a valuable contribution to your song, imho.

The mix is just fine, very good clarity and stereo image.

Very good job!

Djool
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top