opinions on a song?

  • Thread starter Thread starter nickjc
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nickjc

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hey everyone,

I just discovered the wonders of soundclick and posted my first mp3, "satisfaction guaranteed" on there. I'd love to hear what anybody thinks? the link is:

www.soundlick.com/nickjc

The songs are pretty poorly recorded I know (a situation I am rectifying at the moment with the help of this board). they were recorded with a computer mic below line level (before I knew about line level, or pre amps), so you'll have to turn your speakers up a bit.

any suggestions and criticism are more than welcome. I know its not the best, but I want it to get better, so fire away

cheers,

nick jc
 
Can you check the link? Tried it and it just brings up a list of other links.
 
Well, here goes!

Not knowing your recording setup, its tricky to advise you on tweaking the recording.

One thing that really stood out was the hihats. They are too loud at the beginning (I dont know how easy it is for you to tweak these - I started making drum tracks on an Amiga 1200, then moved to Music 2000 on PSone! Recording everything else on a 4 track and making changes after the recording was far from easy). The same goes for the cymbals in the chorus, again I think they're too loud.

The vocals are pretty hard to hear, although the vocal sound is suprisingly clear (considering you said you used a computer mic). Obviously these are a major part of a "pop" song and need to stand out from everything else.

If you let me know a bit more about your setup, I could give you a little more help.
 
hey thanks for replying,

yeah I can tweak the hi-hats easily in fruityloops. the thing about my setup is that I'm right now changing it (waiting on a pre amp at the moment) so will re-record stuff when that comes in. I do all my mixing and everything in cool edit though. I'll be recording again with a Nady SP-5 mic and an M-Audio Audio Buddy pre which I'm guessing (hoping) will improve the vocals for one thing.

was also interested on what you thought of the song itself (I posted this in the songwriting forum too), whether its up to scratch or not? I'm fully appreciative of criticism of whatever kind. I figure you can't grow as a songwriter in a vacuum in your own head . . .

cheers,
 
Catchy Pop

This song made me think of early Beatles or the Monkees...I would call it "Bubblegum"...that is not meant to be an insult, I like a lot of that type of music...it is upbeat and I think it would real entertaining, especially in a live setting...the timing was good, but the vocal was sort of grainy and unclear. With the first words of the verses, when the percussion kick up a notch there is something distracting (in the percussion) there...Overall though I thought is was a pretty cool song.
 
Not too bad. The recordings are OK and will get better with practice. I listened to the Dylanesque song and it seemed like you were running out of air. Something like that happened to me when I was singing in front of a small crowd in the foothills of the Himalayas. (Sounds like something Wilson would say...) That one caught my attention because the song in my signature line is also in the folk rock category. Also listened to "Satisfaction Guarenteed" and it was pretty good, too.
 
i didnt like all of the songs you have but the ones i didnt like did show potential. the ones i liked were "Trash" which i think is pretty good the way it is, i think "New Market" and "Comfy Bed" would be a lot better if you removed those drum parts. in my opinion they make the songs cheesy. "Bluelight Disco" is good but the drums needs a different sound to them, ive worked with fruity loops as well and it has a lot of tweeking options so im sure that can adjusted. i'd say go for a more electronic bassy sound for the bass drum in that, it will fit better i think. your vocals are very good and you seem to go in the right direction with the guitar parts so just work on the fruity loops stuff.

the recording quality i think was fine. its lo-fi, but i like that. it gives a better feel to the music for me.

you might like the stuff i've recorded...

www.siriusmusic.cjb.net

e-mail me at siriusmusic@comcast.net if you're interested in some music chat and what not...
 
nickjc said:
hey everyone,

The songs are pretty poorly recorded I know (a situation I am rectifying at the moment with the help of this board). they were recorded with a computer mic below line level (before I knew about line level, or pre amps), so you'll have to turn your speakers up a bit.

any suggestions and criticism are more than welcome. I know its not the best, but I want it to get better, so fire away

cheers,

nick jc
Click to expand...
well...get a pre-amp to start........or a mixer with pres....
I listened to the first one man...
The vox is inaudible....I cannot make out the lyric.
The vox would be better if brought up in the mix...and everything else brought down...what is your signal chain here?
Drums are not good man....try a bottom eq on the kick and turn down them hats....snare is weak and muddy....needs definition....pop...ya know?

Guits....hmmmmmmmmmm...it sounds like the original signal was in some kind of effects chain....makes it sound muddy man.....
did you pan anything or is it all up the middle?
sounds sort of mono to me man....

no bass?
Is it me tonight or is there no bass to be found on these boards? :D

Hope that helps man,
Joe
 
Vocals and rhythm of your playing are really good, but hihats are too loud. Do I not hear a bass guitar? It could really help fill the bottom.

Keep it up. Your other songs are not too bad either.
 
danke

Hey thanks for all the replies guys,

I’ll try to reply to everyone specifically

Mawtangent – I iz certainly not insulted by any comparison to early Beatles :D , and I guess the bubblegum thing was kinda what I was going for so I’m glad it worked out.

Apl – Yes I was running out of breath. I wrote that song but now I can’t get my lungs around it. Glad you liked it. I listened to your song and posted some comments in your thread too – very nice. :)

Nopoetic – Thanks. I like the mix on “trash” too – one of the only ones of which I’m actually proud of the recording itself. Was a song that was built up from the beat upwards, with words being added last, so I guess that makes the difference. As far as fruityloops go – what options would you suggest I tweak in the program – I iz still learning the ins and outs of the whole thing, so any advice is appreciated

I haven’t had a chance to listen to your stuff yet cos I’m in an open plan office so people kind of protest when you rev the music. I will give it a listen though and let you know what I think. :D

Joro – I like pie too man – ace. And yes, I am getting a pre amp delivered from the US of A right now (I’m still wrestling with the postal service).

The drums were just imported directly from fruityloops and I haven’t altered the sound any – would you suggest I do that in Fruityloops or in Cool Edit Pro (which I’m using to mix)? Everybody keeps saying the hats are too loud, so that’s probably a sign. :rolleyes:

Guitars were recorded direct into the computer – they are clean, but it’s probably the direct line that makes it sound weird.

Panning – the vocals are double tracked and panned left and right, which I should probably change. The guitars are panned either side as well, and the drums are right up the middle.

As far as bass goes – I’d love to put some in, but I don’t have the instrument. I’m gonna borrow my mate’s bass, but he’s having it shipped from Aussie, and again the problems with the Post . . . . :rolleyes:

But thanks for the tips – any specific advice for when I re-record?

Bbop73 – short and sweet, direct comments. Thank you. Like I say above, I’m still waiting on the bass – any soft synths that might give me a good sound in the meantime? Glad you liked the vocals, I’m a bit insecure about ‘em (isn’t everyone), so I push them back in the mix, which is a bad habit I’ve gotta lose. . . :o


Thanks guys for all the comments, I’ve learnt so much already on this board. Will post the re-recorded versions when they’re up and running . . .

Any links to any of you other guys’ music – I’d love to check it out :)
 
I like the style you just need to work on bettering your recording techniques.
 
thank you

sexydevil said:
I like the style you just need to work on bettering your recording techniques.
Click to expand...

thank you sexy devil - short and sweet :D
 
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