New Track "Hell to pay"...anybody want to let me know what ya think?

F

Fat_Satchel

I suffer Narcoleptic Rage
Working with a new mixer...this is what I wrote to try it out.

Titled "Hell to pay"

It's a short track I may lengthen out another minute or so.

Give me the good, bad & the ugly eh?

Feel free to comment on any other tracks you feel like listening to also. It really does help me improve.

Hell to pay

Wrapped up too tight
Thin line, my life is hanging by a thread
But I’m still swinging

There’s gonna be hell to pay, gonna be hell to pay

Don’t start no shit
Give me your lip, let’s turn it around
Maybe then you’ll start seeing

There’s gonna be hell to pay, gonna be hell to pay

Tell me your name
Tell me your name
Cause I got your number

There’s gonna be hell to pay, gonna be hell to pay

Spend all my time
Denied, what’s the use it’s over I guess
How could I forget?

There’s gonna be hell to pay, gonna be hell to pay

Read my last rites
This time I got nothing left to lose
So let’s start the bleeding

There’s gonna be hell to pay, gonna be hell to pay

Tell me your name
Tell me your name
Cause I got your number

There’s gonna be hell to pay, gonna be hell to pay

Wrapped up too tight
Thin line, my life is hanging by a thread
But I’m still swinging

There’s gonna be hell to pay, gonna be hell to pay

Read my last rites
This time I got nothing left to lose
So let’s start the bleeding

There’s gonna be hell to pay, gonna be hell to pay

Copyright 2009 Matt Brosnan
 
Listened to this song. Musically, it was fine. I like a fatter guitar tone personally but the one in the recording did the job. Drums could be more dynamic and bigger sounding as well.

Downside for me are the vocals. Just not pleasing to my ear at all.
 
Hey Stickman...thanks for the comments. Very much appreciated! I have to agree with you...the sound of my voice is not pleasing to my ear either hehehe
 
Fat_Satchel said:
Hey Stickman...thanks for the comments. Very much appreciated! I have to agree with you...the sound of my voice is not pleasing to my ear either hehehe
Click to expand...

Might try double tracking your voice and adding a touch of delay to one of them, bring it down under the dry track. That can smooth the rough edges out.

Also, trying singing with your eyebrows raised. That's a trick my old high school music teacher taught me and it really works; helps keep you from singing flat.
 
Hey Fat_S. good rockin' song. Mix overall is prtty good. It sounds like you've got a slapback or chorus on the vocals. I'd suggest dropping it or bringing just the dry vocal track up more in the mix and let the effect fill in. The vox definitely need to be more up front, but the effect should not be at the same level. Does that make sense?

peace.
 
Hey Chili...thanks for the listen

Im going to put on my newbie hat here [I take it off for appearances but it IS standard attire hehe]

Stickman and you both mention mixing a dry vocal track as well as an effected one together....on the norm I do double track my vox [2 separate takes, not just same wav duplicated] but I've always used the same effects/settings for both tracks and just panned them slightly L/R [bout +15/-15 respectively]

Should there be, as a very general rule, a dry track mixed with effected tracks? Speaking strictly vocals here...

Am I mixing "wrong"? educate me please, if you dont mind.

Thanks
LS
 
Fat_Satchel said:
Hey Chili...thanks for the listen

Im going to put on my newbie hat here [I take it off for appearances but it IS standard attire hehe]

Stickman and you both mention mixing a dry vocal track as well as an effected one together....on the norm I do double track my vox [2 separate takes, not just same wav duplicated] but I've always used the same effects/settings for both tracks and just panned them slightly L/R [bout +15/-15 respectively]

Should there be, as a very general rule, a dry track mixed with effected tracks? Speaking strictly vocals here...

Am I mixing "wrong"? educate me please, if you dont mind.

Thanks
LS
Click to expand...

LS,

There's no set rule that I am aware of. Each person's singing voice is unique and there's not really a "one size fits all" when it comes to recording and the application of effects. What works with my voice might not work with yours.

For instance, in the song I have linked recently, there are 2 separate vocal tracks. Both are compressed; one with reverb on it and the other a touch of delay. That combination worked for my voice singing that song in that particular range, IMO. On a different song I recorded a couple of weeks earlier I used 3 separate vocal tracks one slightly left, dead center and slightly right and only added a touch of reverb to the middle vocal while compression was applied to all of them. Again, it worked for my voice in that range for that particular song.

My advice is to go back and play with the effects and listen to them rather than adhere to a specific set of effects and such. Less is usually best but not always and not for every song or even every line in a song.

As far as "mixing", goes there's lots of reading material out there for you to digest. I would suggest studying the basics and then spending time experimenting. As with applying effects on vocals, when mixing, what works on one song isn't always going to work on the next one. I don't know what you use to record and mix with so to say anything more would just be guessing on my part. :)


Hope that's helpful. Just my 2 cents :)
 
Hey Fats, thanks for mentioning your vocal treatment. I'm no expert, but I believe it is common place to do 2 or more takes on vocal and keep them at the same level, same eq, effects, etc. However, what makes that approach work well is when the singer nails each take perfectly. He can perform the takes exactly the same every time. I don't think it's an easy thing to do and you've got to give credit to a lead singer who can do it, even if he is an egotistical ass (think Robert Plant or someone like that!! :D)

i usually do 2 takes on vox and keep the second very low in the mix. On my last song, I did that, duplicated it to another track, delayed one and panned both wide L and R, still keeping it very low. I thought it sounded nice, no one complained.

There's more you can do, but start out with a dry track and go from there.

Cool man,
 
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