New Song. Review/Comments Are Appreciated

[bigbubba]

Guys,

Thanks for commenting on my posts and providing suggestions. I have been working on this track for a while. I keep thinking it's complete but everytime I come back to it, it sounds like it could use improvements. Then it gets heavily changed.

Anyway, please comment and give suggestions on all things. The drums, the gits, the bass, and keyboards. The tones. The winds.

The rhythm guitars are not very tight and I could edit or replay. Not an issue to record again. The melody wasn't too perfect 'coz I was thinking of getting some vox. Maybe get a mic and sing it.

I put a lot of effort into making the drums sound realistic. Any comments would be appreciated.

This is an industrial/metal effort. Does this sound like the right genre?

MYKNM - http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=419303&songID=4310050

Thanks.

 

[Dogman]

I don't know that I'd call it Industrial/Metal, but who knows????

It's sort of Spacey, so Space Metal maybe....

Has a big sound. It is a bit cluttered in the lower midrange. Bass, and some of the drums seem to build up a bit. You might need to do some eq work on teh drums, bass, and whatever keys are using up that particular range. Nothing horrible, but it is enough to drown out some parts.

The overall vibe of the tune is good, and I enjoyed it. Give it a bit more air, or whatever you wish to call it. I'd be more specific, but this is something I fight with quite a bit myself.

Nice tune man...

 

[Greg_L]

wow. thats pretty interesting. i dont know if id classify that as 'industrial metal', but whatever.

the arrangement is great. it flowed pretty well and never got boring. the whole mix is kinda 'boomy' on my end. everything gets sort of drowned out with the overwhelming synths and i think the lead guitar needs to be brought out more - especially at around the 3 minute mark when things get fast. i think if you cut out some of that reverb and seperate the bass more, the guitars will stand out better. overall though its a cool song and very unique. good job!

 

[bigbubba]

wow. thats pretty interesting. i dont know if id classify that as 'industrial metal', but whatever.

the arrangement is great. it flowed pretty well and never got boring. the whole mix is kinda 'boomy' on my end. everything gets sort of drowned out with the overwhelming synths and i think the lead guitar needs to be brought out more - especially at around the 3 minute mark when things get fast. i think if you cut out some of that reverb and seperate the bass more, the guitars will stand out better. overall though its a cool song and very unique. good job!

Greg, thanks for listening. Appreicate the suggestions.

Well it's not really industrial metal, but I'm trying to give it either/or, or both kind of sounds. And I guess that didn't work.

So the boomy ness is not gone. Been working on reducing it.

The original vision was to keep it pop metal and not have the lead only a suppressed rhythm along with clearly audible synth lines. And to have vox. But as time progresses one changes their vision and adds or removes. I'll try to lower the synths and to EQ them differently.

Yeah, with my reverb plugin, I notice there only "reverb" and "no reverb" feel. When I reduce it to the point that it's not there, there's not point. When I apply it, it just seems too much when it becomes audible.

Anyhoo, will try to tweak it tonite and post revisions.

Thanks again.

 

[bigbubba]

I don't know that I'd call it Industrial/Metal, but who knows????

It's sort of Spacey, so Space Metal maybe....

Has a big sound. It is a bit cluttered in the lower midrange. Bass, and some of the drums seem to build up a bit. You might need to do some eq work on teh drums, bass, and whatever keys are using up that particular range. Nothing horrible, but it is enough to drown out some parts.

The overall vibe of the tune is good, and I enjoyed it. Give it a bit more air, or whatever you wish to call it. I'd be more specific, but this is something I fight with quite a bit myself.

Nice tune man...

Hey buddy, thanks for listening.

Well about the industrial/metal part, that was the wish. The intended destination. But I guess it really missed the mark. I wanted to have big processed/flanged guitars and heavy cymbals chaning panning and all, but didn't quite work out.

EQ drums, bass, and keys out of each others hair. Check. Will work on this thing tonite.

Thanks again.

 

[bigbubba]

How's the drums, all? Sound fake, too fake, ok enough????

 

[Greg_L]

its kind of hard to tell with the drums. theyre kind of low in the mix, but they sound pretty good. if anything sounds 'fake', its the cymbals. they sound somewhat fake, and hard panning them makes them sound faker - in my opinion. i personally like some minor cymbal panning, but not extreme. on a natural kit, you never get the crashes and ride cymbal sounding like theyre in different rooms. id pan them some, but not too far from center.

 

[bigbubba]

OK, the mix has been updated. Nixed the verb. EQ'd anew.

Bass and guitar and keys shouldn't fight each other.

OK, I've labelled the genre as pop metal.

The industrial gits sound just didn't cut thru. And Metal sound didn't so much cut thru either.

 

[ido1957]

I ain't no metal master so take my comments accordingly.....

The drums,
Sound pretty good - I can tell you've put in a lot of work there. I think the patterns are super. The tones are good too, and balanced well. Especially like the snare crack you have.

the gits,
Too much reverb/echo effect for me. Again I'm no connoisseur, but it seemed excessive. The tone was cool though, had it's own space in the frequency so clear and clean....playing was better than you think.....no probs from me....

the bass,
Cheapo PC speakers so I'm getting next to none. That could be something you could eq for I suppose....but as mentioned I need to hear this on phones....

and keyboards.
Cool concert-type effect especially at the beginning. Visions of some great stage were evoked. They were lost a bit when the guitars got going but guitars are the focus, I just wonder if it could poke out here and there a bit more.

The tones.
Tones are good overall....grindy guitar sound seems to fit the genre....

The winds.
Not getting a lot during the mix of these....

Vocals would be cool too, so I'll keep a look out for any remixing and adds you might do.

Good job


Edit - had to relisten as you mentioned just uploaded the newer mix.....

- reverb down a whole bunch - much better.
- drums seem louder but not too much so - still have that wonderful snare.
- leads seem to sit better here now with the rhythms
- winds more apparent on the intro - could come up in the interlude.
- still not enough synth once it gets going but that's just a personal taste thing.
- still need to listen later on phones but this is a good tune man and good mix....pretty much sounds right on....

 

[bigbubba]

I ain't no metal master so take my comments accordingly.....

The drums,
Sound pretty good - I can tell you've put in a lot of work there. I think the patterns are super. The tones are good too, and balanced well. Especially like the snare crack you have.

the gits,
Too much reverb/echo effect for me. Again I'm no connoisseur, but it seemed excessive. The tone was cool though, had it's own space in the frequency so clear and clean....playing was better than you think.....no probs from me....

the bass,
Cheapo PC speakers so I'm getting next to none. That could be something you could eq for I suppose....but as mentioned I need to hear this on phones....

and keyboards.
Cool concert-type effect especially at the beginning. Visions of some great stage were evoked. They were lost a bit when the guitars got going but guitars are the focus, I just wonder if it could poke out here and there a bit more.

The tones.
Tones are good overall....grindy guitar sound seems to fit the genre....

The winds.
Not getting a lot during the mix of these....

Vocals would be cool too, so I'll keep a look out for any remixing and adds you might do.

Good job

Ido1957, thanks man. I appreciate the listen.

OK, I'm glad somebody likes the drums.

The guitars, I just cut a lot of verb on the guitars. Even in the beginning.

The keys, I thought, too many people would call it disco metal, if I don't back off the keys. And while KC And sunshine might still be making a killing performing to sold out arenas in Vegas, the rest of the world has moved on.

The winds, you would like to see more? Or less? Or don't care.

I think I just updated the song online while you were listening.

Thanks for listening, man!

Edit: Just saw that you heard the updated mix, also. . Cool.


Greg_L - By the way, I haven't changed panning on cymbals yet. I'm thinking to see how many people complain. I was kind of going to digitally remastered, made is sound more processed sound so I panned them 50% left and right on different beats.

 

[Greg_L]

dude, way better! man, those changes you made really woke that song up. sounds great. i can hear the drums and everything else clearly now, and they sound good. the cymbal thing is just my own personal taste, if you like it panned like that, then keep it. and i must say now that everything sounds so much better, the cymbal panning doesnt bother me much at all. great job!

 

[the inhabitant]

I know you've probably already adjusted for mud a lot but I think you can roll off some low on the guitars. At :45 and :50 the lead guitar plays some low notes and suddenly my woofers are being pushed really hard so I think that's a good clue. (Maybe I just have crappy speakers LOL.)

The bass sounds a bit boomy. Do you have verb on the bass? There's some rolling bass like distant thunder in between those two notes phrases that come in around 1:00. It almost sounds like you've got big verb with a long tail on the bass. If so that could be adding a lot of mud throughout the whole song. Yeah there's some kind of muddy verb in this song. I can hear that now.

The drums do sound fake to me especially at the end during the double-time part. I don't know what to tell you about that. These other guys thought they sounded alright so maybe I'm just a picky asshole but I thought they sounded fake right away. I've heard some really good samples that fooled me throughout most of a song before, on the RP, but I don't remember what that guy said he used. I should write it down next time so I can have some constructive advice during these moments.

Nice guitar playing BTW. I dig it.

 

[bigbubba]

I know you've probably already adjusted for mud a lot but I think you can roll off some low on the guitars. At :45 and :50 the lead guitar plays some low notes and suddenly my woofers are being pushed really hard so I think that's a good clue. (Maybe I just have crappy speakers LOL.)

Good catch. The 0:45 is just winds sound going heavy. I'll have to fix it. The 0:50 is the lead guitar that I forgot to re-EQ. Will have a look.

The bass sounds a bit boomy. Do you have verb on the bass? There's some rolling bass like distant thunder in between those two notes phrases that come in around 1:00. It almost sounds like you've got big verb with a long tail on the bass. If so that could be adding a lot of mud throughout the whole song. Yeah there's some kind of muddy verb in this song. I can hear that now.

The bass doesn't sound boomy compared to before. So my ears are used to it. But your fresh ears still catch some boom. I will carve the EQ line more. Good catch about the verb on the bass. There's some mild verb with decay set to 2.5ms which is a bit much. Predelay is about 30ms. So I went ahead and removed it. Will upload a newer version later.

The drums do sound fake to me especially at the end during the double-time part. I don't know what to tell you about that. These other guys thought they sounded alright so maybe I'm just a picky asshole but I thought they sounded fake right away. I've heard some really good samples that fooled me throughout most of a song before, on the RP, but I don't remember what that guy said he used. I should write it down next time so I can have some constructive advice during these moments.

Don't know how to fix the drums, then. I'm no drummer so I only hear good drum parts and try to emulate them. In the meanwhile I'll be basically making stuff that sounds good.

Nice guitar playing BTW. I dig it.

Thanks. I know it could be improved but I'll work on it and take the compliment.

Thanks again for listening. I appreciate your true input. I don't wanna hear only what will feel good. But all critique.

 

[SnakeDog5050]

Hey Bubba, I'd call this space rock guitar ballad. And market it intergalactically
Anyway, nice guitar tone on the intro. I like the synth sound too, what do you use for that?
The 0:45 blip sounds a bit out of place. Otherwise some cool effects in there that add to the piece IMO.
Drums sound good to me, pretty powerful. I'm no drummer though
Bass tone sounds good, maybe a low cut though or some compression. Sounds a bit too much and untamed at times on my system. I used to never low cut electric guitars, but now I always do... learned that they can clutter up the lower end. I don't know if you did that, otherwise give it a try and it might open up things a bit.
So is that actually an extra wind effect going throughout? Ends up making the guitars sound flanged. Sounds cool to me
Nice melodies. Ending is pretty ferocious.
One more question, what's with the abbreviation song titles?
Cool, nice work here Bubba, enjoyed it

 

[bigbubba]

Hey Bubba, I'd call this space rock guitar ballad. And market it intergalactically
Anyway, nice guitar tone on the intro. I like the synth sound too, what do you use for that?
The 0:45 blip sounds a bit out of place. Otherwise some cool effects in there that add to the piece IMO.
Drums sound good to me, pretty powerful. I'm no drummer though
Bass tone sounds good, maybe a low cut though or some compression. Sounds a bit too much and untamed at times on my system. I used to never low cut electric guitars, but now I always do... learned that they can clutter up the lower end. I don't know if you did that, otherwise give it a try and it might open up things a bit.
So is that actually an extra wind effect going throughout? Ends up making the guitars sound flanged. Sounds cool to me
Nice melodies. Ending is pretty ferocious.
One more question, what's with the abbreviation song titles?
Cool, nice work here Bubba, enjoyed it

Hey buddy, thanks for listening. Appreciate the listens.

The synth is done using Sytrus. It was installed on the system as part of FLStudio6 demo. And Sytrus will allow to do everything but the FLStudio will not save the project. So have to set it and save to wav. Can't go back and re-edit it unless the entire project is re-created.

FLStudio4 is used for winds, drums, bass.

There's an extra wind effect going thru-out. Kind of cheap and hence the flanged effect. But that's ok too.

When you say low-cut, what's low? I mean below 200Hz or 80Hz, or 300Hz?

Will try to compress the bass. The problem is that I don't actually hear the effects of the compression other than the entire track getting louder or softer. So whatever I set the compressor to, it just sounds the same. Also I might be using not the top quality plugin.

Ending is not as tight as I'd like to play. The last measure took some practice.

Song title abbreviations is 'coz the song is titled, "Mein Yesu ke Nuur Mein". Since most people don't understand and won't care, I just abbreviate it. Makes typing and referencing the song easier.

 

[SnakeDog5050]

Hey buddy, thanks for listening. Appreciate the listens.

The synth is done using Sytrus. It was installed on the system as part of FLStudio6 demo. And Sytrus will allow to do everything but the FLStudio will not save the project. So have to set it and save to wav. Can't go back and re-edit it unless the entire project is re-created.

FLStudio4 is used for winds, drums, bass.

There's an extra wind effect going thru-out. Kind of cheap and hence the flanged effect. But that's ok too.

When you say low-cut, what's low? I mean below 200Hz or 80Hz, or 300Hz?

Will try to compress the bass. The problem is that I don't actually hear the effects of the compression other than the entire track getting louder or softer. So whatever I set the compressor to, it just sounds the same. Also I might be using not the top quality plugin.

Ending is not as tight as I'd like to play. The last measure took some practice.

Song title abbreviations is 'coz the song is titled, "Mein Yesu ke Nuur Mein". Since most people don't understand and won't care, I just abbreviate it. Makes typing and referencing the song easier.

Cool, thanks for the info. I have to run, but I saw your question there. In my experiences cutting below 40Hz usually does the job, sometimes even up to 80Hz. I like opening up the file in Goldwave (free at www.goldwave.com haha, I feel like I'm advertising that thing sometimes ) and then you can run filters to hear your mix at what ever frequency range you want. It's an interesting way to hear the mix in pieces and see where you want to improve and cut things. Anyway, usually when I do a filter to play just below 40Hz it's pure nasty rumble, I just move the slider to find the right range to remove. Just something to try if you want...

 

[rayc]

SPACE ROCK.
If the guitar melody were slower it'd fit into late middle period HAWKWIND.
I like it.
The melody is VERY positive & if the synths & distortion were less it would even have a big touch of Wishbone Ash.
Industrial metal would be much blunter in more ways than one.
Is that a bass guitar or keyboard?
I don't know that the rush to the climax does the piece justice. The elgaic part of the melody could have been reprised OR variations of it played on guitar & synth.
REally good work BB.

 

[bigbubba]

SPACE ROCK.
If the guitar melody were slower it'd fit into late middle period HAWKWIND.
I like it.
The melody is VERY positive & if the synths & distortion were less it would even have a big touch of Wishbone Ash.
Industrial metal would be much blunter in more ways than one.
Is that a bass guitar or keyboard?
I don't know that the rush to the climax does the piece justice. The elgaic part of the melody could have been reprised OR variations of it played on guitar & synth.
REally good work BB.

RayC, thanks for listening man.

OK there. Stop, you! You just used a bunch of words I don't understand. hawkwind? wishbone ash? Hadn't heard of hawkwind before and haven't really listened to WA. Reprise? Elgaic?

Industrial metal was the intention. But I kept getting carried away using the synth to put in more than winds and flanged effects. Ended up using some house music sounds for the keys. This was categorized wrong in the end. Industrial Metal, and Metal in general was the intention. Didn't work out.

The bass guitar is FLStudio plugin. Could have tweaked it better.

Reprisals of the Elgaics - You're saying I could have played the verse again after the faster interval? You mustn't think of it as rush to climax. It's me not ruining the piece by repetitions and adding in more stuff not played correctly. Sometimes I just end the piece before I ruin it.

Did you just wish(bone) that the synths were lower?

Thanks for listening.