opening song off my new album- "Choices"

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GONZO-X

GONZO-X

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this is the opening song off my new album-blend of hard rock and acoustic sounds

"Choices"

http://tinyurl.co.uk/xvco


drums are by brent dacus.

some recording notes:
electric guitars are Carvin DC-200K and Tl-60K (koa) models, thru a mesa boogie mark2b 60 watt head, into (2) roland 1x12 cabs with celestion greenbacks... miced with combinations of a sm57 and a ADK hamburg condenser-
thru A Designs Audio MP-1 tube mic pre, into a dbx comp for some light compression, into a ART DPS for digital conversion..
acoustics are done with a Taylor 414, thru similar path...but with the ADK and a AT4033 condenser...
Bass is a Ibanez SR500, into a sansamp bass DI....
all vox done with the ADK Hamburg.

njoy!!
 
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yikes!

22 listens, and not one response...
ugh.

is it that bad? :confused:
 
Not bad. I like the guitar sounds. The vocals aren't really to my liking but that's really subjective. Specifically it what I think is the verse...

As for drums, they seem to lack some punch...and they sound a little thin. But again, that's subjective. If you like them, then great! That's really all that matters.

Anyway, that's my feedback with what limited knowledge I have. :D
 
This Might Take More Than One Listen

I usually like to listen to something without reading others comments. I saw the comment about the drums so I couldn't help but focus on them. Funny thing about the drums is playing was good but sort of buried? The snare seemed disconnected from the bass drum for example. I dunno, maybe a crisper puncher bass drum treatment would fit this song? The tune has an in your face approach so why not the bass drum too. Anywho JMHO. I'll give the tune a few more listens, sometimes really good stuff doesn't grab you on the first listen but once it does you enjoy it for a longer time than something that pleases on the first listen. Thanks for the post.
 
sounds pretty good.

reminds me of a band, 'the fire theft', which is a good thing.

i think the vocals could be a little 'deeper', as in with some EQ
maybe boost the lows.

drums sound just a tad thin, but the guitar/bass sounds great.

good luck!
 
I think the standards can be a little too high around here; this is a homerecording and is easily comparable to commercial records. The tones of all the instruments are superb in my opinion. The drums sound fucking great. This is a great homerecorded album, people. Sorry to kiss your ass so much Gonzo, but I've always been a fan of your stuff and it almost pisses me off that everyone doesn't agree with me on this.
 
Gonzo-x this is a smoking hot tune. As always I am impressed by your superb guitar sounds/playing. Is that you singing too? Great job, nice harmonies. The drums are fine IMO - I like the snappy snare.

The comments above make sense if that is the tone/sound you're going for, and that's the best thing about this forum - lots of ideas/feedback.

This is going to be one great album too...congrats on a great tune..... :)
 
FattMusiek said:
it almost pisses me off that everyone doesn't agree with me on this.

Yeah, that must be tough. Hate when people don't agree with me. :eek:

The thing is, he put it up for critique and is presenting it as a tune from his "new album". Home recording or not, it's going to be out there with recordings of all lelvels. I don't think putting a disclaimer that it's just a home recording will make a difference to most people.

Having said that, I think this sounds great. I can see what people mean about the drums being more present, but I expected worse than this. It's damn good and a damn good tune. Great vocals too.
 
Myriad_Rocker-
thanks for listening!
vox, is always a subjective thing...
can't expect everybody to like that kind of thing...
it's like, whats your favorite color?
;)
comment on drums at bottom of responses>>>>

Notfonts-
haven't heard 'fire theft', i'll have to hunt that down...
vocals deeper... for some reason that reminds me of a spinal tap joke....!
;)
comment on drums at bottom of responses>>>>

FattMusiek -
hey man, nothing wrong with high standards! my standards are pretty high, so i can't fault anyone for getting into it....
i appreciate your candor and your kind words though....
and the drum thing, well, it's so subjective..
again, drum response at end....

ido1957 -
yes, i'm singing.... doing all parts, except for the drums ( i only WISHED i could play drums!)
yeah, i dig the forum comments, because it always helps me see things from different perspectives...
it's very helpful, even if i don't happen to agree.
the album is done, complete, if you wanna take a tour, go here:
http://www.planetrecords.org/batsbrew

RAMI -
hehe, hate it when i disagree with myself...
LOL ;)

yeah, it's a critique.
and i don't care if someone points out if it's a home recording or not....
there have been pro releases through the years that were done as a 'home project', so i don't know if it's that big deal or not.

obviously, being able to go into a real studio to do all the tracks would have been so fun! and would have sounded better still......

and i don't pretend that my engineering skills are even up to snuff with the great majority here!

(the drums were done in a real studio).

but, alas, i'm not dirt poor, but can't afford a studio....
so i do these things on my own.

the difference in this album, versus just a collection of tunes, was that i spent several years writing tunes that were more or less geared towards this kind of album..... i wanted it to sound more 'classic' than modern, which influenced the way i recorded/mixed the drums.

i spent a lot of time listening to older classic recordings..
everything from zep and beatles, to jazz recordings by different artists....

the thing that struck me about all the particular recordings i really dug, was the more 'natural' sound of the drums....
not in your face, like modern drum style...
not like NickelBack.......

the mixes too....
they were more organic, more natural, with nothing really hyped, but a more smooth across the board sound....
so, yes, some of the drum mixes on the album are more blended.
this was a concious decision on my part, to not sound 'dated' by any kind of specific drum sound or heavy duty compression and gating.


now, i dig that sound too!
and i have lots of modern, recent recordings that i love the sound of that kick ass in your face style....

but, when i got the drum tracks, and listened to the sound of the kit i decided that i needed a different approach to the overall mix. (which was something that i discussed with the drummer before hand: he is more of a jazzer than a rocker, and we decided that it'd be better to let him play naturally with a sound he was comforable with, and i'd mix it accordingly)

the drums came first, and everything else was recorded and blended into that.

so, it the kick was really deep without a lot of head snap, i tended to mix it in that way and mix the other elements around that.

it IS a different sound than the typical release, but that was exactly what i wanted.

this guy plays kit like a jazzer that's kicking ass.... not a rocker who wants that motley crue drum attack, that's a lot of high end....

so, there was a concious decision to make this album sound different than most of the recent releases i've heard, and i hope it stands the test of time.

thanks for all the great comments folks.
i always learn new things from these comments, and try to take all the good stuff you guys throw out there and run with it....
 
This sounds very good on my phones. I will have to listen on monitors tomorrow, but its a quality production, good music, good quality. Its exciting and tight as well. The vox are unusual, I like em but I think I would like them even more as I got to know the group.

but I've always been a fan of your stuff and it almost pisses me off that everyone doesn't agree with me on this.
Pne of the more unusual responnses I have read here. ;) It's not everybody's cup of tea, its like RUSH to an extent in that it isnt easily accessable. I tend to like music that challenges me.

I wish you the best of luck with the CD, hope ot does well. :cool:
 
I could have phrased what I said differently, but then again this is the internet so I'm almost automatically misunderstood anyway. I'm just a Gonzo fan!
 
I think this is really well done. In fact it sounds amazing considering the equipment used. The production is great, it really sounds about as commercial as it can..
I guess what I mean by that is that the sound has it's own kind of niche. There's some prog-metal-kind of Rush thing going on. It's sort of a dated sound, which is fine. The point I'm making is that this band is not going to walk into a major label studio and record an album. That's up to Nickelback to do. But if you were to go to a typical studio and pay someone a decent chunk of cash for studio time to record a full length album, they wouldn't do any better for you.

You made a great choice doing it on your own, someone knows what they're doing! Good job.
 
DavidK
hello, and thanks for checking it out!
vox as unusual, i'll take that!!
one thing is for sure...
i'd hope that it did sound different than most everything else...
which is hard to do these days...
for what it's worth, this is my most accessible music.

LOL :D

FattMusiek -
i think i understood what you meant!
;)
thanks for being a fan.

undermind -
for sure, this wasn't a 'pro' studio.
it barely makes it as a home studio!
but, i spent a lot of time with mic placements, levels, eq, and what not....
the idea was to try to get the best sound with the minimal messin'.....
with compression, eq, panning, whatever..... i tried to use as many 'un-affected' tracks, meaning, on the tracking side, as possible..
seems like the more i try to mess with the signals coming in, the worst it gets.
seems if i can move a mic, or change the distance, or how hard the signal hits the mic preamp, that kind of thing, seems to get me more mileage than fuckin' with during tracking.

prog metal, hm, i don't hear it that way, but it's interesting to me that it can be considered in that way...
i'm sure the hard core metal heads will totally disagree!!
LOL

i didn't really choose to do it on my own...
i really didn't have any choice.
i'd drop the hard cash in an instant, to pay someone with more skills and better equipment, to record me.

it'd be the greatest luxury, to not worry about too-high levels, too much compression, to much treble, too much bass, too much hi hat, not enough bass.... etc, etc, ad naseum.
now, if i could only find that studio for free......

:D
 
a request.

a request:

i've had several comments about the 'mastering' (my lame attempt) having a 'grainy' element to it.

the tracks were all brought in well under 0db, including the stereo pre master.

i'm using default settings in SONITUS mastering software.

does anyone have any experience with this software, or even in general, they might be willing to share with me, to improve on what i'm going for here....?

thanks in advance.
 
Gonzo- excellent material all around. The drums do have a more "organic" sound to them but in this case I like it. Everything sounds balanced/clear, you should be proud that you are able to turn stuff like this out from home. Excellent writing as well.
 
thanks wireneck!!

it was tough, making a decision to do the drums that way, knowing it would kinda go against what is considered the 'modern' 2006 way of mixing drums.

i mean, any real producer would have probably made me change it.

but that's the way i heard them in my head...
it harkens back to the old school way, i guess, of a kit in the room, and you're just trying to capture the natural way it sounds, rather than compress the hell out of it, and gate it, and eq it, and make it sounds like cannons instead of drums...
i mean, i like that too!! :p
 
Dude, very production quality. Very big label sound.

The drums are very maroon 5 sometimes. That's cool!

The guitar is played very nicely.

The vox are cool. :)

The lyrics a little too sad'ish (or remorseful) but deep nonetheless. :) Nothing wrong.
 
thanks bigbubba!
very kind words...

maroon 5-
i think i've heard some of their tunes!
LOL

lyrics, well, they're indirectly pointing at someone else, not myself...
it's about feeling remorse for the bad decisions 'someone' else made, and trying to send a message.
sometimes, it's easier to get people to listen, when you say things from the 1st person, even if the message is really for someone else.

"the choices i made, were the choices i gave"

man, i have to think about that, every day.
everything i do, can either help someone else, or fuck them up... even if that wasn't the intention.

thanks a lot for listening!
 
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