No Way Out

brummygit

brummygit

Member
Hello all

Im working on a track that I've been toying with for FAR too long now. It's called No Way Out.

Basically I'm lookin for feedback on a few things:

1) the quality of the instruments
2) quality of the mix
3) what else could i do to make this one ROCK!!!
4) im always concerned about (aside from my lack of singing ability) how the vocals stand out and sound. how can i improve this?
5) for anyone that heard any of my other tunes, are the drums on this one any better? (and for anyone that didnt, are the drums any good?)

there's an old version on there (the first i ever recorded) and a newer version on there too.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=4208&alid=1150

if that dont work try




lemme know your thoughts

cheers :D :D :D
 
Last edited:
hmmmpphhffff

for some reason, windows media player dont like anything on that site at the moment....grrr
works ok with most other things tho

thanks for lettin me know
 
Vocals sound good, and stick through fine on my monitors for sure. Guitars sound cool (nice playing btw). Im no expert by any means but the one thing id say is the drums seem kinda distant. I dig the song, sorry im not much help in the mix department.

Take care
Gary
 
gbav said:
Vocals sound good, and stick through fine on my monitors for sure. Guitars sound cool (nice playing btw). Im no expert by any means but the one thing id say is the drums seem kinda distant. I dig the song, sorry im not much help in the mix department.

Take care
Gary
Click to expand...

cheers gary

my girlfriend just took a listen and said the drums sound crap on the latest one, and 'fake' - is she right? i used BFD by the way
 
Forgive me...kinda lazy today.


"3) what else could i do to make this one ROCK!!!"

Do something with that guitar, thats two bad 80s antitone guitars in two days somehow for me. Not to be rude just...man I get visions of wrong side of the town teens in some 80s flick.

Only its not the SOUND of the guitar as much as the "riff " thats guilty of this, finding a different way to voice it ( like abuse of some 5ths somewhere ) could beef it up. Also if your on a neck or odd mid pick up, try going for the bridge pick up.

"4) im always concerned about (aside from my lack of singing ability) how the vocals stand out and sound. how can i improve this?"

Some of my feelings on guitar flood over here, yet my "fix" is subjective. There are a million ways to do vocals.

Right off...that echo at the start, not that I have a problem with effects ":) Just if your gonna use an echo get it as close to in time with the songs basic count as you can ( after you have that dialed in <or hands on>, you could play with offbeats ). Also let the echo decay over a bar or two, more even. Cause no matter how pronounced it starts, it will fade into the back of the mix quickly.

For you general vocals...I would say make three ( in part to thicker things up ). Kill some of the highs. Play around with mid and bass eqs. I think it would be neat to put one dry vocal in the middle....then soft pan the other two screw with their eqs a bit and put a little reverb on them even. Just make sure to keep overall balance level so the three vocals dont take everything over.

When you mixing...think of the mix being that of live vocals ":) only with added control of a studio, your creating an effect.

<hahaha thicker things up>....I suck at edits...
 
ender4trackmind said:
...

For you general vocals...I would say make three ( in part to thicker things up ). Kill some of the highs. Play around with mid and bass eqs. I think it would be neat to put one dry vocal in the middle....then soft pan the other two screw with their eqs a bit and put a little reverb on them even. Just make sure to keep overall balance level so the three vocals dont take everything over.

...
Click to expand...

is there an easy way to get two other vocal lines then? id consider singing them again, but dont want it to sound like 3 voices which it has done in the past when ive tried double tracking, etc

seriously tho, cheers for the comments, theyre all being taken on board for action....
 
"is there an easy way to get two other vocal lines then? id consider singing them again, but dont want it to sound like 3 voices which it has done in the past when ive tried double tracking, etc"

What are you recording with...for general tracking? What line out and line ins do you have all that stuff. Sure we can come up with a few ways to do this. Just give me some info and ill see what I can come up with.

The quick and easy way could be just put your vocals hard in the middle...screw with the eqs. Add a stereo reverb...and balance the send/return level like your working with two tracks, until you get your balance. The results of this hummmmm in relation to the other way ( less control ).
 
ender4trackmind said:
What are you recording with...for general tracking? What line out and line ins do you have all that stuff. Sure we can come up with a few ways to do this. Just give me some info and ill see what I can come up with.
Click to expand...

logic pro 6.4 is my sequencer. my interface is a simple 2 input novation speedio (phantom etc included), one for my guitar the other for my microphone. microphone is a rode NT1
as it stands, there is no EQ on the vocal track, just a de-esser and a bit of compression, and a tape delay effect (tho i listened back after your comment and noticed how bad that was :eek: )
 
"logic pro 6.4 is my sequencer. my interface is a simple 2 input novation speedio (phantom etc included), one for my guitar the other for my microphone. microphone is a rode NT1
as it stands, there is no EQ on the vocal track, just a de-esser and a bit of compression, and a tape delay effect (tho i listened back after your comment and noticed how bad that was )"


Could just solo the vocal track, and record it to another track...ect ect.

Got a crazy example of tape echo on nowhere " WarmMySoul "...done on a tascam porta2 ":)
 
brummygit said:
logic pro 6.4 is my sequencer. my interface is a simple 2 input novation speedio (phantom etc included), one for my guitar the other for my microphone. microphone is a rode NT1
as it stands, there is no EQ on the vocal track, just a de-esser and a bit of compression, and a tape delay effect (tho i listened back after your comment and noticed how bad that was :eek: )
Click to expand...
You could double the track and put some eq on it, try to lessen the mids a bit. It sounded fine, and ditto your girlfriend's take on the drums. But you have something there! ;)
 
Rokket said:
You could double the track and put some eq on it, try to lessen the mids a bit. It sounded fine, and ditto your girlfriend's take on the drums. But you have something there! ;)
Click to expand...

can you tell me whats up with the drums? how can i improve those? (btw, thanks to all you guys help on vocals, they're starting to sound alot better...!)
 
They sound like they are distant and flat. How did you record them? Maybe it's just an issue with compression and eq, but they sound too far back in the mix....
Check out the drum sounds I got with a simple keyboard drum machine:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/1/krystalcobramusic.htm
If I know how you recorded it, then maybe I can offer suggestions. Ignore the fills, they are cheezy, but the overall drum sound for the song "Daddy's little girl". Tell me what you think...
 
Rokket said:
They sound like they are distant and flat. How did you record them? Maybe it's just an issue with compression and eq, but they sound too far back in the mix....
Check out the drum sounds I got with a simple keyboard drum machine:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/1/krystalcobramusic.htm
If I know how you recorded it, then maybe I can offer suggestions. Ignore the fills, they are cheezy, but the overall drum sound for the song "Daddy's little girl". Tell me what you think...
Click to expand...

i used Native Instruments' BFD for the drums. im not sure what sort of guidelines to follow with EQ and compression tho, im only fairly new to computer recording...
 
Go easy on both, and apply a little at a time. you could start by brining up the faders on the drums a bit, and backing off the rest of the mix, just to bring them out. Then use compression sparingly just to make them, again, stand out. EQ to taste, because you can boost or narrow the sound as it suits you. Try to mute everything but the drums when you do this, then bring in the rest of the mix a bit at a time, so that you make sure the drums don't get lost again. The EQ can boost your kick drum, and add a bit of flavor to your snare. Also your hi-hat and cymbals were all but non existant. Try it out and see what happens there.
 
cool thanks rokket

before i saw your post i was playing around with a couple of things, including doubling up the vocals (i think they sound a bit better??) and trying to sort out the drums.

as you can appreciate, its hard to know what to do with certain instruments if you dont know where to start or what exactly to listen for...!

anyhow, here's the other version, as well as the drums on their own:



 
The vocals so sound much, much better. I noticed there are no cymbals or hi-hat on your drums? The snare is a bit sharp. I am going to play with something here. I will post something for you to sample in about a day or two. Did you not put the cymbals and hi-hat on there on purpose? It could add a ton to your sound...
 
brummygit said:
cool thanks rokket



Click to expand...

Brummy, you got it! Just back off a hair on the reverb and you're home. Check out my post in the mp3 clinic labelled "my stuff", especially the one called Epilogue, and let me know what you think. Just keep in mind they are rough sketches right now because my equipment is scarce.... :p
 
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