pOlLy etHelLiNe (the cheery slainte version)

  • Thread starter Thread starter rats
  • Start date Start date
rats

rats

New member
rats is back from the drawing board with his humble offering. Same song as last time but all new sound.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/4/1155/singles.shtml

I'd especially like to hear from those of you that critiqued the last version: dobro, stawl, badgas, MrQ, kelly, macle, rochey, cmiller.

Basically I redid the guitars, re-recorded the kick drum, some vocals, and then came at the mix in a different way. Please bare with me, again this is my first song recording with so many tracks to manage. Last count this song had 24 tracks running, and I'm used to recording at home primarily on a Tascam Porta07! EQ and compression is all new to me, I'm used to a treble, mids, and a bass knob!

Anyway, any suggestions or comments are always appreciated!
 
lou reed meets every lou reed inspired artist. i like the concepts of the different sounds, but it seems like they should be clearer/louder...nice words...a nicer quality drum track would push this song better..these things are hard for me to say, because i simply love "ass" music...good job..i dig.
 
lou reed meets every lou reed inspired artist. i like the concepts of the different sounds, but it seems like they should be clearer/louder...nice words...a nicer quality drum track would push this song better..these things are hard for me to say, because i simply love "ass" music...good job..i dig.
 
Did you say 24 tracks?! Wow! With that many tracks I'd imagine that you have the ability to mix this in stereo, right? I hope? That's the first thing that struck me: it sounds like its in mono. I actually checked my mixer to make sure that I didn't have a "mono" button pushed somewhere.

This tune would be sooooo much easier to mix if it were in stereo. With all those instruments in the center it is difficult for the vocals to cut through even though the levels are correct. Those backing vocals would compete with the lead less if they were panned just slightly off center.

And the guitars would kick so much ass with two guitars tracks dplaying the same thing- one in each speaker! Suddenly the vocals and other cool sounds would jump right out of the mix. Its almost frustrating to listen to because I can almost hear this sounding exquisite in stereo. Please tell me that either it got crushed to mono by the mp3 encoder or your setup will let you make this song stereo.

That quiet part would just make the speakers sparkle in stereo! This is such a cool song. I gotta hear it in stereo.

If mono is all ya got then you've done a killer job getting all those tracks to work together. I might try to take some of the boom out of the bass and maybe notch out a little upper mids on the guitar on a frequency that the vocals are stong on.

Here comes the quiet part again. I love it. This reminds me a bit of Jane's Addiction circa. "Coming Down the Mountain" (can't remember the name of the CD)

Good stuff!

Chris
 
Hey, I'll bite!

For my personal taste, I'd adjust:

1) @0:10, make that snare BITE! Push the fujuk outta it, and make sure the snare belt is engaged and comes over on the recording. ........PAM!

2) @0:10->0:23, you've got plenty of room to fade out that 'whistling wind' sound, whose departure sounds really out of place after the snare whack (thud). I think the whistling really needs to be in there, unless the "WHACK!" of the snare is meant as a "closing of the door against the wind" type of a thing. I didn't pick that up until I wrote this, so if that's where you're headed... you might want to precede it with something like a voice saying "damn wind" or "dang door" or something. If that's what you're going for. Otherwise, use the 13 seconds you've got to slowly decay the wind sound.

3) I'd probably save the "synthy" bass stuff for 0:57, where you allow it to develop and sound... right. To me, it sounds like a new type of static or something... incredibly annoying as a "constant" instrument...

4) That lead guitar @0:10 still sounds really weak. Because it's one of the first chances to make the song WHAM! into the listeners head, I suggest changing the tone alltogether. Right now you're a 7 foot body builder standing in front of Pamela Anderson with a 2 inch dick (no offense intended; it's the best analogy I could think of). The intonation on that particular guitar is whack, too, so the beginning of the song immediately lends itself to ear strain. OOOOH. Use the bass through a guitar amp (on one of your established amp settings) and try that line waaaaay up on the neck there. It'll be a little tricky getting that quick "duh-nuh-nuuh-nuh" on the bass, but between getting a solidly-intoned riff and a different tone (meatier, yeah!), I think it'll be worth it.

5) The drums sound much better this time around. Do you have a picture of how you have them setup? I'd like to see that (w/ mics)

6) You sound EXACTLY like Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. Great voice (whoever, if it's not you).

7) I think the reverb on your voice is PERFECT. The EQ is great too. Whatever you're doing, don't change it. ;)

One of the guys here at the office is begging me to play TRIBES now (probably sick of hearing the first minute of this song 40 times over, hehe). I'll get back w/ fresh ears a little later on... :D
 
HEY thanks AGAIN fOR THe REplIEs! i JuST WaNt TO rEItErATe My ONgoInG aPPreciAtiOn fOr AlL Of yOUr oPinions TheY REaLLy dO HeLp!

sammie17: thanks for the input. Clearer/louder: yes I agree. Lou Reed inspired:definitely. Who could not be? Have taken drums into reconsideration. Nice words.

sammie17: thanks for the input. Clearer/louder: yes I agree. Lou Reed inspired:definitely. Who could not be? Have taken drums into reconsideration. Nice words.
:D

chris: How to respond? We recorded in mono but edited and mixed down in stereo. I suppose there was not enough panning going on. But you ARE right, it definitely has a mono-ish sound going on. But it didn't sound like that wednesday night in the studio. Hmmm...wonder if it's the MP3? Thank you for the kind words, tho, (there is a light at the end of the tunnel) Onward through the fog...
Have the veggies had a chance to hear any of this shit? I wonder if they would do a cover version? :eek:

Kelly: As always your critique is impeccable (not that the others weren't of course)!
The whistling wind as you referred to it was actually the last 10 seconds of the song (the decay) played backwards so it swells and stuck in the front of the song. Though it might sound cool. And yeah the snare whack is supposed to sort of slam the door as you say. Maybe it swells up too high tho...

The synthy bass is a weird thing. It actually a sample played on the W-30 of an analogue keyboard sound. Problem is, when I created the sample, there was this little gap of like a millisecond between the time the sample starts and the sound licks in, and this is a lot more evident in the lower notes on the keyboard. So what I figger is I'll splice/slide back the track in time a pubic hair to compenate. Then set a nice room 'verb pan it to a side, and lay it back in teh mix a bit. What you think about that? What's that you say, save it until :57? Blasphemy!!

Yeah and you're abosmurfly right about the guitar tuning on teh lead track. Whack:confused:

Drums: picture this: Each drum is recorded on it's own track. One drum at a time.
TRack one-Bass drum: boom boomboom Boom boomboom
Ok track sounds good. move the mikes over to the snare.
record.
whack whack.....
OK sounds good. Now lets do the toms....
Dig? That's life with soundblaster live.

Thurston Moore? Thanks for the compliment!!! Mooore Moore more!
:cool:
 
Brutha' rats, I HATE YOU!!! Rather than sit here & nit pick,I listened to this mutha' 4 times to make sure my Radio Whack headphones did not decieve me! 1st, extremely clean & clear recording! Git's and kit amply provided the energy to induce sever
rhythmic body movement. As a bassist and being partial, I would have loved for the bottom to share a bit more presence in conjunction with the other exceptionally recorded tracks as I noticed that at the lower registers, the bass appeared a wee bit
behind. Punch that ma'f#ckin' lead some more! I was feelin' it,
but yearned for more edge (and mo' beer!:D ).
Voc's!!??< I HATE YOU HERE AGAIN!!!> ON POINT!!!! (D@mn I wish I could sing!!). I know U got lucky 'cause you placed the PERFECT amount of 'verb to it! Silk production! Phat talent!
My brutha' rats got skillz!! Yeah that's rite!! I'm playa'hatin' 'cause
I'm jealous!!! I HATE YOU!!!

(Will U record me sometime home-boy!!??)

Luv,
Your Brutha'
2LiveQ's!!!:D

BTW, I rated this 4 stars again! Woulda' gave U 5, but I just gotta' drink some HATER-ADE on you! :D
 
:D Thanks man, glad you could dig on that groove! Mission accomplished!:D
 
Waves L1 is DEFINATELY in order here. Get that volume up, I had to crank these speakers noisy to get a clear listen.
The only real problem I see is everything sounds kinda flat, the way either cheap tape on slow settings imparts or cheap converters. It sounded mono to me, too and that kinda killed it some. Make some space, move that stuff around. Some of that flatness might be remedied with a nice high shelf over the whole mix or oer a few indidual tracks.
Cool tune. Reminds me of something. :)
 
Come to think of it, its also the same sound flatness that a crappy mp3 conversion imparts. Listen to it streaming, and then listen to the original. A/B them. If it sounds too far off, find a better conversion process. If it doesnt, try the high shelf.
The only one I've ever gotten finished and uploaded I used Ashampoo MP3 converter, and it sounds really really good, hardly any change at all. Look around and see if you can find it shareware or a demo.
 
I could hear Roger Waters all over this thing.

That is a good thing.
 
Hey rats, that was a really fine song!! I liked the Heavy Metal rock (but not overly heavy:)) attitude, kick, punch, whatever it has. But my favorite part was the break at about 2:20 where the emphasis is on the bass. And the vocals and background vocals are too cool. I also liked the lead guitar just before above mentioned break. What kind of guitar? I love effects in songs, so I especially liked the whistling wind.

The only other thing I would say is that the mix is a bit too loud. Pushing a bit too hard, but that's just my opinion. But I kept getting a rumble that distracted. Could be my own monitors.

Great job Rats and The Blue Sunrays!!

t
 
Mix is too loud? What do you mean, I felt the opposite? Subjective stuff here, I guess....
 
tubedude said:
Mix is too loud? What do you mean, I felt the opposite? Subjective stuff here, I guess....
Click to expand...

Well, I did say it was just my opinion which doesn't mean much, I'll admit. And it was really only a minor rumble, and now I wish I hadn't said anything. Especially since i'm listening through Peavey monitors. :( Which really aren't such bad monitors, especially for the price I paid for them, but I guess that all depends on how you feel about Peavey.

t
 
Cool song, Rats.

I heard Iggy and The Stooges, but on a leash...

To Quote Mr. Schaffer:

"And the guitars would kick so much ass with two guitars tracks dplaying the same thing- one in each speaker!"

Yes! Exactly..This is a great garage band tune, ala Them or The Stooges. And the vocals are very good (Is that YOU, Rats?)
It is probably too late to try a mix with crunching guitars, since they were not recorded that way.

But a great garage tune, and a cool sound.

Good Job!

VI
 
Rats, why you no enable streamy?! I wanna listen but have this loathing for downloading.... Since I already have some 18GB of songs on my servers ;)

W.
 
First I had some concerns about some parts in the mix, but when the song got going it went away. This is a SOUND that goes perfectly with the song. This is how I think Sonic Youth sounds (I don't listen to them... :p ) It has a cool attitude.

I likes a lot, rats.
 
Whoa and the dam breaks open on the reviews!!! Too cool!!!

First off I have to tell you all that you're the best. My drummer and bass player who are really both not that interested in the technical aspects of recording have been checking in here and there on threads involving our songs, and they're both overwhelmed with the responses everyone gives. I suppose I'm a bit used to the general atmosphere of this board and the cool people that make it such a cool place to loiter at and that got me so hooked on it! Don't ever want to take that for granted! However they can't believe that people would take the time to download our songs and give the kind of listen that can give responses like you all so eloquently give! And that have been so crucial in how far our sound has come! Shit, less than 2 years ago I stumbled into this joint threatening to stick my dick in a light socket unless someone would help me pick out computer specs to start desktop recording on (stepping up from the portastudio). Although I've learned a bit since then, moreso now I know how much I still have to learn. But you all should know that your helping keep learning fun, and shit that's why I started playing anyway!

Hey tubey, what's a high shelf? You got me going on this. I doubt I will buy waves before we finish recording our project, but I'm way open to ideas. The MP3 definitely sounds shittier than the wav, so I'm going to work on that. Thanks for the compliment, tho!!!!

By the way as some of you may be happy to know I did record 2 different rythym guitars, but I guess I didn't pan enough! They were like 35/35, maybe I'll go 75/75?

Gracias to the Langleymeister!!! Hey watch what you're saying, your opinion means A LOT! Don't second guess yourself. Actually I think I did some whack EQing somewhere along the line cuz there's some weird low end shit going on in some places that need to be snubbed! And I'll guarantee that your monitors are a lot better than the ones I'm using!
On this tune I'm playing a stratocaster through a Marshall valvestate amp. Recorded one track direct, and another track with the speaker mic'ed.

Chessrock: Are you sure you listened to the right song? Hey don't get me wrong, I fucking love Roger Waters, but I never heard that in this song! Now if had listened to Gray Cookies..., I have heard a few people say they hear some heavy Pink Floyd influence, and even that my voice sometimes resembles old man Rogers... Still cool nonetheless!

Waldo do you mean to tell me that you as the all mighty Lord of nowhereradioland you can't stream a fucking song? Hahahah!!!! I love that! I will set it up just for you!!!! Great job on the new look for the site by the way!

Meshy speaks. Too nice. I just hope that this type of sound isn't why you don't listen to Sonic Youth! If so, what concerns you or do you not like about it? Lo-Fi? Thanks for the feedback!





:D :) :D :) :p :D :) :p :p :D :) :D :cool: :D ;) :) :p ;) :cool: :) :) ;)
 
I could have turned the option on for you, but that'd kinda be violating the contract.... So, I be nice and ask.

Done yet?

W.
 
Yeah I think you definately need to try mixing in some volume, because there's a WHOLE lot of room. I really had to turn up on this one.

Otherwise things were pretty well balanced. It's got a sort of demo feel, but still sounds good....sorta live feeling too. Nice sound, and I love the wasp! Great ending.

Nice work!

Slackmaster 2000
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top