Please Comment on "Spinning"

[Todzilla]

Here's my mix for a new tune, called Spinning:

I think it needs more work, but I'm too close to it right now to be objective.

I welcome your input, from fawning praise to eviscerating criticism.

Thanks,

-Zilla

 

[joeym]

Here's my mix for a new tune, called Spinning:

I think it needs more work, but I'm too close to it right now to be objective.

I welcome your input, from fawning praise to eviscerating criticism.

Thanks,

-Zilla

Very well-arranged and performed. I like the mix too, everything seems nice and level, but I'm listening on cheap phones. Music to listen to with a good glass of wine....

Joey

 

[TrevorQ]

Is anyone in your band a Beastie Boys fan? Minus the vocals, the intro and verses sounds like the jazz instrumentals on Ill Communication. From an arrangement perspective, I think the 2nd chorus should have more layers on it to really charge it up. Another guitar layer, with a dirty-ish tone would really pick that part up.

 

[fourthwardkid]

Nice work! I can dig it! Somewhere in the second verse your drums are getting a little lost in the mix. They seem to pick up after the keyboard solos, which I thought would have been better served with a little lead guitar behind them. TrevorQ has a point there also with the idea of layering your guitar on the second chorus as well. But I do like the song. I would turn this song up if it came on the radio.

 

[Todzilla]

Thanks guys!

Beastie Boys? Well, I like them okay, but never actively seek them out, nor am I familiar with the tune referenced on Ill Comm.

Fourthward, yeah, I've been pulling the drums back in the mix a bit, although I boost them in the section you noted, since I wanted to highlight the phunque a bit. I'll give some thought to changing up the 2nd verse.

How do y'all like the drums? I'm pretty happy with them, except:

dumbass me did the overheads as a coincident pair to avoid phase problems, then later I realized I used omnidirectional mics (Crown CM-700s), so I really miss out on stereo spread. 8^(

There was a flam on the kick (in the performance, not in reflections) that forced us to abandon the real kick (shame too, as it sounded really nice) and go for a triggered sample.

 

[jeffmaher]

Nice! A couple things:

The overall mix EQ is biased toward the bass....the WMP graph bars attest to what I hear: it doesn't look or sound balanced across the freq range. Starting at 1KHz, boosted +3db, and continuing up in , roughly, a straight line to 16KHz at +9db makes it sound righter to me...I can hear the esses and 't's; and the cymbals; the midrange sounds have their higher frequency componants..... and, visually, it looks more like 'industry standard' on a freq graph.

The arrangement consists of a vocal melody and blocked chords...with light blues piano filligree. There are flat, boring measures during the long pauses in the vocal....especially noticable in the choruses. Without altering the current arrangement, you might add another guitar, as suggested, or a horn section playing a line during those pauses where the E-piano meanders listlessly. But not just guitar solo improv, or more blues licks on a sax: some counter-melodic theme...melody...hook...memorable trick of musical wonder...something with guts and punch...organized sound [for the choruses, esp].

The last thing. The song is mellow....continiously mello...to a fault. And very predictable. Maybe the addition of organized melodic themes and counter-melodic inventions can add some texture and excitement? If it were up to me to produce verve in the tune, with a minimum of re-working, I'd record a couple unique sections...a breakdown and a bridge.... modulation maybe, with a gutsy sax solo...and edit those ideas into the song.

OK one more thing...the lead vox. It's thorazine-rich. zzzzzzzzz Some babes singing harmonized bluesy support behind it in the intended bigger parts...chorus... could add a needed shot of adrenaline.

 

[ido1957]

I commented over at the "other place" and so I'll just repeat that I love the writing and arrangement on this. There's been comaprisons made to a few bands including Stelly Dan but I find it unique in it's own right. Good job!