Original Song: Well meant ain't well done, Southern Rock-ish kinda thang...

b00n

Member
Hey guys and gals,
after some years of just doing writing demos and occasional demo recordings for acoustic duos, I decided to do a small EP of original songs, start to finish.
I had to move on the way, so I had to change rooms and I'm still not totally used to my new environment, so I'd like to know if you find some obvious trouble areas.

This is the first tune,
drums are Superior Drummer 2,
everything else is played or sung by me.

WellMeantMix1

This is not mastered yet, obviously.
I'm here to learn from honest criticism, so roast me!
Writing, arrangement, recording, mix, whatever makes you want to comment is welcome!
 
Howdy b00n,

It's got a nice groove - kind of 70's Bad Company. I think everything will come up nicely, but your vocal is too timid. Throw some emotion into it - just short of screaming. Maybe a growl here and there.

The key change seemed a bit awkward to me - can't nail it down any further than that.. just didn't feel right. It might come across better with improvements in the other areas.

I like the mix. I'm listening on phones so I'm probably missing something others may point out.
 
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The drums need a more human performance and arrangement. No drummer would play the intro/verse like that, the hi hat portion especially. There isn't any vibe or feeling to it, and it's not a convincing part. The kick has some odd times when it shows up, as well.

The guitars actually sound pretty good. Vocal performance could be better, sure, but I'd start with the drums on this one. Make it a more persuasive part. If you know any drummers with experience, get their input on how they'd play that section. I think this exact mix would benefit most from that advice.

Your call. Thanks for posting.
 
Howdy b00n,

It's got a nice groove - kind 70's Bad Company. I think everything will come up nicely, but your vocal is too timid. Throw some emotion into it - just short of screaming. Maybe a growl here and there.

The key change seemed a bit awkward to me - can't nail it down any further than that.. just didn't feel right. It might come across better with improvements in the other areas.

I like the mix. I'm listening on phones so I'm probably missing something others may point out.

Hey spantini,
thank you for taking your time to listen and comment!
I am still recovering from a severe throat infection I had a whil back and so I am pretty self-conscious about my singing.
I really can't do better at the moment, but I'm working on getting better.
(Not making excuses, here. I wish I could do the song more justice, vocally, right now.)

Thanks for your feedback, I think I get what you mean!
 
The drums need a more human performance and arrangement. No drummer would play the intro/verse like that, the hi hat portion especially. There isn't any vibe or feeling to it, and it's not a convincing part. The kick has some odd times when it shows up, as well.

Hey Andrush,
thanks for listening and commenting!

I construed the drums to have a kinda 4/4-Rock beat, but follow the bass with the kick drum, so I arrived at that part.
What would your approach be like to get more 'idiomatic' drum parts?
I'll consult a few drummer friends, though, thanks for the tip!
 
I agree with andrush on the drums - they're just a bit simplistic for mine - a real drummer would have some variation in cymbals instead of that one same hit all the time - a grace note here and there would swing it a bit more.

Your accent sounds "Germanic" for want of a better word - some sort of European? But then at other times I hear Asian. I don't know. You tell me.

The relatively restrained and clearly enunciated delivery says very clearly "I'm not singing in my native language!" and I'm not sure it works. I'm not saying you can't, but it's coming across a bit like a "How to sing in English" class written by someone who doesn't naturally sing in English. I think if you blurred some edges, more emotion - sung English of the genre you're sort of sitting in is by no means exact - what you're doing sounds too clean and forced and clear. Drink half a bottle of wine and retrack it and you might loosen it up a bit. Soften the Ts.

Guitar playing is good - so far as I'm concerned the key change works fine, but those drums... the other thing is that you have the Soundcloud cymbal sound, except it's not on Soundcloud, it's a dropbox file - there's no reason to have that horrible phased swooshy cymbal sound other than poor source or poor rendering. But the drums overall are just way robotic IMO.

But there's the bones of a neat song there, so keep at it.
 
+1 on the drums needing some attention.

Are you using any kind of midi humanization on them? Slight variations and imperfections on the timing and power of the drum hits will help them sound a little more realistic. They also sound very dry, which emphasizes that they're samples and not live in a room.

Also +1 on getting a better vocal delivery. It sounds a little flat and hesitant overall. Sing the song a bunch of times until you can really do it with confidence. (Also, while you're editing check for lip smacks)

I Do like that guitar tone. Nice desert rock kind of fuzz there.
 
Nice old school guitar tone. I like your riffs too. Been reading some of the other comments about the drums and I'm not sure I agree, esp with the comment no drummer would play like that. Check out this 70s tune from Nazareth YouTube

Fact is it's hard to play low and slow while maintaining the groove (for me anyway). Real good little lead break. My only nit is with the vocal delivery. I'm reluctant to criticise vocals as I have the same issue myself but I agree with other comments that they're a bit tentative. Otherwise good groove, nice job
 
I like the riff and the guitar tones. I think the groove is really good too. I would like to hear a tad more sizzle on the cymbals. Also, the vocal is sung wit hour much power but it's really hot in the mix. I think it needs to come down in the mix or, if its going to be that hot, be belted out a lot more forcefully.
Great song!
 
I like the riff and the guitar tones. I think the groove is really good too. I would like to hear a tad more sizzle on the cymbals. Also, the vocal is sung wit hour much power but it's really hot in the mix. I think it needs to come down in the mix or, if its going to be that hot, be belted out a lot more forcefully.
Great song!

Thanks, I'll try to drop the vocals a bit and see if that helps.
I think I'm overcompensating for the fact that I try to bury my vocal tracks...

Yeah, I'm a Kraut, and come from a classical background, where pronunciation is super important.
But, when the main criticism is that I don't sound drunk enough not all is lost :o)

Regarding the drum parts, I really don't wanna "overflash" that stomping 4/4 beat, and as the kick pattern is unusual out of necessity this would too easily turn into prog.
Don't wanna go there, I think. And I know a couple of drummers who would pull this off easily, so, I guess it's unusual but not without purpose...

Thanks for your feedback, guys and gals!
 
So, I tried to make the vocals sit better, and I guess I'm really fighting digital mixing here.
In the analogue domain it would be so much easier to add a bit of dirt and grease...

I put an instance of reapers own "Convolution Amp/Cab Modeller" with a Deluxe model in parallel to the main vox, to break the über-pronunciation, and I slapped another instance of Abbey Road Chamber on it to blend it in.
I might have overcoooked it with the verb here...

What do you guys and gals think?

WellMeantMix2
 
Nice guitars. Somebody mentioned Bad Company. It's a promising song. The issues are not so much mixing at this stage but performance. As others have mentioned, the drums need developing. This thing should groove hard. The guitars are doing their part. Bass and drums need to step up. Second, the vocalist is fine for demoing the song, but really you need someone who can put some fire into the performance. Get the instrumentals solid, then go shopping for a singer who can do the song justice.
 
I think there's just a bit too much verb - early in the song it almost sounded like flanging in my phones. I really like the tonal qualities in the voice, but the track seems separated from the rest of the mix. Maybe because the vocal is sitting in a large space, it's alone.
 
Hey guys and gals,

I had to take a few steps back and get perspective again.
Then I had to chew on my pride for quite some time before I could swallow it. :drunk:
All this parallel processing tomfoolery really just led to a distracting, phasey mess.

So, I kinda pulled it all back, stuck with the vocals I had ended up with and just balanced it.
The final mix is this:
WellMeantMix3.wav

I put it through LANDR (cause I'm a cheap bastard) and put it on bandcamp with two other songs that came together more easily.

homespun | Krautdrive

Putting this EP together was a lot of fun, and was a good learning experience.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and ideas.
This is what I could do, alone.

Now, it would be really fun to see, how this song could be done "properly".
So, if anyone would fancy a collab, I'd be in!
There would be the need for a drummer, bassist, vocalist, possibly another guitarist and most definitely a producer.
I could provide guitar tracks, ftp space and I could set up a team forum on my server as well during the production time.
(Is there a proper subforum for looking for collab partners in here?)

So, who's in for that?
 
This could be really good, but it needs some work on the production side. You have a good riff, nice slide guitar work, lyrics are fine. The song is there, but it's all very hesitant and dry-sounding (vocals could use some more reverb) The drum pattern is fine for an intro but it needs to respond to what's going on in the song.
 
Hi bOOn ... wie gehts?

Your track has a few really good things going for it... the guitar riffs and tone are excellent... the key change during the wah solo works really well too.

As the other posts have said, the main problems are the vocal delivery and the overall groove of the track. The vocals are sung too cleanly... it's a blues track so you'd expect a rougher delivery without precise pronunciation (t's especially)... I know you're German but the phrasing and actual sound of the words are just too polished.... that shouldn't be a problem though... go listen to some Scorpions (ha!) ... have you considered roughening up your vocals? Maybe by adding some saturation to distort or roughen the sound a bit more? The vocals also sit really far in front of the mix too... almost as if you're singling along to a recording instead as a part of the recording.

The drums are very simple but I'm definitely no expert on programming drums... there are a few free loops and breaks to be downloaded so maybe hunt around and find something that has a bit more power and variation ... cut and paste some loops together to give you a working drum track and then use that to perhaps edit and create your own .... the snare could use a bit more meat as well as it sounds a bit weak... also (finally) the song starts with a weird drum beat... the kick / hi hat combination that you hear as soon as the song starts need to change... make a bigger opening statement as it starts off much too quietly.... another idea might be to start the song with the guitar riff without drums for one or two bars and then bring the drums in (big crashing cymbal intro etc)

The song sounds like a really good demo but I dont think it will take much work to tighten it up and make it the finished version.:thumbs up:
 
I have to agree with Tekhed66........your main issue is with the delivery.....feel.....and overall far too "clean" approach to the vocal. It's not your accent at all. If you sang this in German we'd probably be saying the same things. There are some spots where your pitch wanders a bit too much. Overall.......I'm tempted to say that your voice is not well suited to this type of song........but I have a feeling that you could master that problem with some time. Keep at it and thanks for the listen!!!
 
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