Phoenix Girl

[Mr Clean]

Hi folks!

Here's my latest piece as it currently stands. It's an old-ish song, written in 2009. The first song I wrote in the house me and my then girlfriend, now wife, moved into. It was originally written for the band I was in but the band couldn't get their heads into it so it sat on a shelf until now.

It's very much a work in progress at the minute. The mix is very very rough, I've literally just pushed the faders up to reasonable levels and bounced it down to mp3 so I can have a listen in a few different places to see what it sounds like in general and hopefully get some opinions from your-good-selves in the process. There is no EQ or anything on anything as yet, just the raw recorded tracks. There is a reverb bus in there for certain tracks, a touch of compression on the master for a bit of glue and that's it. The vocals are a couple of scratch tracks that I will redo eventually.

This is more of a 'get my ideas down' recording. But it's getting there. I think there'll be more guitar and some organ to go in there along the way. Maybe some tambourine too. I need to tidy up the drums, sort the cymbal crashes out, etc.

This is really the first time I've properly recorded an electric guitar. I've always been an acoustic player and never owned an electric until a couple of weeks back so it's all new to me. I know sweet F.A. about guitar tone or amps, only what I want to hear and think sounds OK. There's some mic'd guitar in here through a Fender Champion 30 and some DI'd with Amplitude. The guitar is a £70 Chinese Tele copy.

Everything is through an Alesis MicTube Solo with an MXL 990 mic. I picked them both up from eBay for £32 (Bargain) a couple of weeks back so I thought I'd test them both with this recording.

See what you think, opinions/advice, good and bad, most welcomed.




......LYRICS

Good times, here we are again
On the line, rising from the flames
Like a phoenix girl, I’m gonna spread my wings
Take you round the world, I’m gonna make you sing

Good times, come along with me
Take a ride, you know I set you free
Keep you up all night, I could make you twirl
Gonna make you feel like a pheonix girl

This time, I’m gonna get it right
Feels right, to sing and shout all night
Tonight, I’m gonna have my way
Watch me rise, from the burning flames

This time, I’m gonna get it right
Feels right, to sing and shout all night
Tonight, I’m gonna have my way
Watch me rise, from the burning flames

Good times, every single day
Getting high, is the only way
I could make you blind, make your straight hair curl
I’m gonna see you fly like a phoenix girl

This time, I’m gonna get it right
Feels right, to sing and shout all night
Tonight, you’re gonna be my world
Rising from the flames like a phoenix girl
Like a phoenix girl
Like a phoenix girl
Just like a phoenix girl
Like a phoenix girl

Cheers

 

[TripleM]

I think it sounds pretty good, especially for a faders up type mix.

My nits would be most in levels. Vocals are a bit high, snare is low, distorted guitar low.

Lead vocal doesn't sound centered. Personal preference, I like double tracked lead vocals centered.

Distorted rhythm guitar sounds pretty good. Could maybe use a small boost in the higher end - like above 5K or so. But very slight.

I thought the reverb worked well. Ordinarily I don't like this much. but it worked well on this song.

 

[Mr Clean]

Cheers Trip. Appreciate the feedback. Since I've put this up I've also noticed similar nits to yours. I'll be doing another mix later and tidying things up as I said earlier.

I have the vocals panned around 25/30%. I did that as a test to see what it sounded like but they'll be going back centred in the new mix.

Thanks again

 

[Mr Clean]

New mix attached up top. Centred the vocals and brought the volume of them down. Notched up the snare a touch. Slight EQ on the guitars. Not a great deal done really.....I quite like the recorded tones of everything. I always try to get the sound I want before the mic rather than fanny about with EQ after the fact.

Opinions on this? Much obliged.

 

[rayc]

It's fine except when it gets to the verse it becomes "On the Road Again". The rest is good oh. If you could change the rhythm guitar emphasis a little in the verse it wouldn't nag at being a rip - the pre verse bit is worth continuing through the verse and dropping the emphasis on THAT guitar riff.
Not bad stuff otherwise.

 

[Mr Clean]

You know I never noticed the resemblance to that at all. I know the song well as well.

Ironically, before I put 'THAT' riff in there, it had the pre-verse riff all the way through the pre and verses. I thought it was a little repetitive and dull and changed it.

Cheers for the feedback, I'll have another look at the guitars and see what to do

 

[miroslav]

It's fine except when it gets to the verse it becomes "On the Road Again".

Good catch....yes, Canned Heat lives!

But it's a cool tune anyway, real classic rock vibe, and it certainly doesn't obviously "steal" anything from "On the Road Again"...it just has that feel.

 

[Greg_L]

Man this sounds exactly like something else. I can't put my finger on it, but it sounds familiar. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's really reminding me of something. Very classic rock-ish. No matter, you've got a good foundation to play with. The guitars sound pretty good. Maybe a little bright. I'd dial back the reverb, but I like stuff dry. Good start overall. You're not far from home with it.

 

[Mr Clean]

Good catch....yes, Canned Heat lives!

But it's a cool tune anyway, real classic rock vibe, and it certainly doesn't obviously "steal" anything from "On the Road Again"...it just has that feel.

Thanks alot mate. I love the classics and tried to get a bit of an old time vibe to it.

 

[Mr Clean]

Man this sounds exactly like something else. I can't put my finger on it, but it sounds familiar. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's really reminding me of something. Very classic rock-ish. No matter, you've got a good foundation to play with. The guitars sound pretty good. Maybe a little bright. I'd dial back the reverb, but I like stuff dry. Good start overall. You're not far from home with it.

Cheers mate. Appreciate the feedback. I was going for the Doors 'Roadhouse Blues' kind of groove when recording it although when I wrote it it started life as an acoustic delta blues style. A touch of Rory Gallagher's 'In Your Town's as well.

It still needs a bit of organ in there somewhere I think to give it a bit of a lift. Haven't had a chance to have a play with it since recording though. I'll get back to it soon.

 

[Illsidgus]

Great job, I really like the classic vibe. Greg wrote, "Man this sounds exactly like something else. I can't put my finger on it, but it sounds familiar." I had the same feeling. To me the rhythm guitar track sounds very much like "Spirit In The Sky" by Norman Greenbaum. Regardless, great tune.

 

[Mr Clean]

Haha. I can hear the 'Spirit In The Sky' riff in there. That was completely unintentional. I know the song well.

Thanks for listening and the comment Illsidgus. Mich appreciated

 

[queepy]

Yeah On the Road Again and Spirit In The Sky came to mind right away...kind of reminds me of a Matthew Sweet type thing as well....I think it sounds real good, maybe kick the guitars up a bit....but its pretty rockin' as is ...nice job!

 

[Seafroggys]

Very warm and "woody" sounding. I could use some more high end, but what you have here works.

Drums could be slightly louder, but I am a drummer so I may be biased.

 

[Mr Clean]

Yeah On the Road Again and Spirit In The Sky came to mind right away...kind of reminds me of a Matthew Sweet type thing as well....I think it sounds real good, maybe kick the guitars up a bit....

Cheers for the listen mate. I've never heard of Matthew Sweet. I'll have to check him out

but its pretty rockin' as is ...nice job!

That'll ding dang do for me!

Very warm and "woody" sounding. I could use some more high end, but what you have here works.

Is 'Woody' sounding good or bad? Ideally I'd like to get this ran through some tape for the master to give it 'that' sound. As yet it's still unfinished though. Still in 'rough mix' territory.

Drums could be slightly louder, but I am a drummer so I may be biased.

Hahaha. I'm the same but with Bass!

 

[Tom Paul]

I feel the Velvet Underground in this.. nice. I only heard the new mix and for the song, I think you are most of the way there. Great work with budget gear. All rock is derivative so I don't get hung up on what it might sound like. The lyrics would be my only beef...lots of very obvious lines..but then, that's the hard part of songwriting for most of us and most people don't listen too closely to rock lyrics...or bands like the Stones wouldn't have sold zillions of records.

 

[heatmiser]

This is good. It's a little loose but mostly in a good way.

I totally get a few of the references to canned heat and whatnot, but there's only bits and pieces here and there that sound like other specific things. The sum total of what you've done still seems pretty unique to me.

I agree that the guitars seem a little bright. I also felt that the drums were awfully, uh...polite sounding I guess(?) for an otherwise raucous number like this.

Good work though. It's a fun tune.

 

[Chili]

Agree with the drum comments. Bring em up more!! Then beat the hell out of them.

Some of the guits sound a little fizzy, but levels are good. I'm not a fan of the doubled vocals, but I do enjoy the harmonies.

Good rockin song. Really enjoyed the listen.

 

[StudioHermit]

Also agree with the drum comments. But, I really like the tune, nice work!

 

[Mr Clean]

I feel the Velvet Underground in this.. nice. I only heard the new mix and for the song, I think you are most of the way there. Great work with budget gear. All rock is derivative so I don't get hung up on what it might sound like. The lyrics would be my only beef...lots of very obvious lines..but then, that's the hard part of songwriting for most of us and most people don't listen too closely to rock lyrics...or bands like the Stones wouldn't have sold zillions of records.

Thanks Tom. I love VU, Lou Reed is a personal favourite of mine.

Cheers for the comments and feedback

This is good. It's a little loose but mostly in a good way.

I totally get a few of the references to canned heat and whatnot, but there's only bits and pieces here and there that sound like other specific things. The sum total of what you've done still seems pretty unique to me.

I agree that the guitars seem a little bright. I also felt that the drums were awfully, uh...polite sounding I guess(?) for an otherwise raucous number like this.

Good work though. It's a fun tune.

Cheers HM. Year the guitars are still a bit bright. I've not had a chance to have another mix on this yet. I'll get back to it soon.

RE: The Drums. I'd just treated myself to the Nashville Ext Pack for EZDrummer and was just trying them out really. I'll probably change them over to the Rock Drums and beef them up a bit. A bit more room sound and dirty them up.

Cheers for the comments and feedback

Agree with the drum comments. Bring em up more!! Then beat the hell out of them.

Some of the guits sound a little fizzy, but levels are good. I'm not a fan of the doubled vocals, but I do enjoy the harmonies.

Good rockin song. Really enjoyed the listen.

Cheers Chili. The vocals are still the scratch vocals I just throw out to test. I think I'll probably have a single vocal on the finished version. I really don't think the doubled vocals work, not for this type of tune anyway.

Cheers for the comments and feedback. Glad you enjoyed it

Also agree with the drum comments. But, I really like the tune, nice work!

Thanks SH