Solar Temple - Stoner Rock (?)

C

chrislfenton

New member
I recorded/mixed/mastered my bands three song EP over the summer and wanna hear some feedback from you guys

Heres the title track



I don't really know how to categorize our music, but some of our inspirations are Black Sabbath, Fuzz, Uncle and the Deadbeats, and Scatman John
 
Love the performances. Crisp drums. The guitar tone grows on you, but it sounds like it was pushed too hard against something that didn't react well.... The vocals are kind of washy and indistinct through the beginning and end. The bass is kind of low in the mix. Love the guitar work (and tone) right after the break. The ending is a bit odd, but artistically I like it, except it drags on about 20 seconds too long...:)
 
I like the way it morphs into that psychedelic ending, that pitch shifting effect is great. The style is a bit more towards alternative, grunge and progressive in my opinion, not quite stoner rock to me.
 
The guitar and the drums are in a different space, the drums sound really far away and the guitar riff is right in my forehead.
There's a slight scratchiness to the guitar tone at the start too and the bit that comes in at 1:55 - its noticable whenever the guitar is on its own.
I like the vocal performance and the weird phasers are cool.

The drums really lack impact though - I think its just that they're too far away? Have you added loads of reverb to them? Or is that just the room sound you have there?

The bit at the 5 min mark is all a bit pointless and weird - if it didn't go on so long I think it would be a cool way to end the EP.

Have you got both guitars panned centre or near centre for large parts of the song? 'cos its hard to tell them all apart and sounds a bit cluttered - can you pan them apart.

Really like the song though.
 
Well, you don't hear that every day.

That was pretty cool man. I really liked the darker guitar tones on this. Tons of energy in the jam following the first break. Ending is pleasantly unnerving. It felt like the drums were the sonic weak link here. I liked the almost trashy cymbal sounds, but the kick and snare could provide much more power I think? More thump to the kick and crack to the snare? It just seemed a little anemic in that sense for something otherwise quite powerful.

Good performances all around, and overall I thought the mix was not hurting things too much, but not elevating things either.
 
JDOD
Only the snare has very slight reverb on it, but youre probably hearing the room sound. I recording it Glynn Johns style in an awkward room in my basement. I was trying to go for an old school Black Sabbath/Led Zeppelin vibe, but what Im realizing now is that difference in the way the two were recorded. To me, the first Sabbath album is done pretty raunchy but Zeppelin is done in a hard hitting but still clear way. I probably won't record the drums the same way again for this project cause the rooms I have available won't do the technique or the kit justice.
The end is a reference to where we got the title from, I kept it long like that cause it gave me the spooks and I wanted it to freak people out too. Also I hid the cough at the beginning of Sweet Leaf in the quite space after all the noise.
Thank you for the feedback!
 
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Oh and one guitars left in the center and the other is stereo widened through most of the song
 
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BroKen_H said:
Love the performances. Crisp drums. The guitar tone grows on you, but it sounds like it was pushed too hard against something that didn't react well.... The vocals are kind of washy and indistinct through the beginning and end. The bass is kind of low in the mix. Love the guitar work (and tone) right after the break. The ending is a bit odd, but artistically I like it, except it drags on about 20 seconds too long...:)
Click to expand...

Thank you! I think I went a little too hard with Saturn
 
I know that first Sabbath album like the back of my hand and those drums hit pretty hard man, like on the wizard...anyway, the performances are really good, and I like what you're doing, but I still think you could squeeze a little more oomph out of those drums with some trickery, bad room and all...

These sound more like volume 4 drums...all weak and distant...to me anyway.
 
Btyre2013 said:
I like the way it morphs into that psychedelic ending, that pitch shifting effect is great. The style is a bit more towards alternative, grunge and progressive in my opinion, not quite stoner rock to me.
Click to expand...

Yeah I don't really think we have much of a stoner sound, but we're inspired by the same bands a lot of stoner rock bands are and were trying to go for more of an old school rock/metal aethstetic
 
heatmiser said:
I know that first Sabbath album like the back of my hand and those drums hit pretty hard man, like on the wizard...anyway, the performances are really good, and I like what you're doing, but I still think you could squeeze a little more oomph out of those drums with some trickery, bad room and all...

These sound more like volume 4 drums...all weak and distant...to me anyway.
Click to expand...

Yeah I didn't quite get what I was trying to go for on the drums, too soft snare for one. Lol and I didnt mean a bad raunchy, those records kick ass and are a huge inspiration to me both as a musician and an engineer

Thanks for the critique!
 
I agree with what others have said about the drums. They need more power for a tune like this. Maybe add in some samples for support, if you can't re-track them or improve them (I'd try compression and volume). The bass is a bit weak at times, too. You might want to check the compressor/automation settings on it.

Really liked the vibe of what you're doing here. The fuzzed out guitar is sweet. The fuzz tone reminds me of Tommy Gun Angel by Bardo Pond (possibly thickest fuzz ever?). I recorded something recently with the same type of fuzz, and I was like "Crap, did I go over the top?" and this reminds me that's pretty much impossible to do with fuzz.
 
I dug the tune. There are a lot of very, very good instrument sounds going on.
The ending was pretty cool, weird but cool. It reminded me of those 'speak spanish in one week' cd lessons. Except this was some star wars language. :D

Ok the not so good. I think the mix is a bit dis-jointed. Drums are in a way different space than anything else. Vocals are hard to hear and understand. Guitars sound great but are in your face right at the front door, while the drums are at the back of the club.
The individual tracks are good but don't play well with each other.
Ending 'alien language' is bit long and a bit loud. I'd drop it down and fade it out with a looong fade.

But still, cool tune, just think its a way off from being done.
 
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I agree with RFR... from what I heard, the mix could be musch tighter, some EQ things going on, maybe phase ?
Guitars could be warmer, maybe tape saturation would help, or go for the Big Muff Fuzz sound, but if you do, play it twice, one warm and much cleaner and blend the two, different performances...
Could be a bit wider, maybe for clarity sake,,, and match the rest to the drum space,,,

Would be cool to have a go at mixing this,, maybe if your up for it, post it in the "Mix This" thread :)

Interesting song, I like something I've not heard, lol,, and advice is always just a opinion ;)

Thanks for sharing :D
 
The Rocker said:
I agree with RFR... from what I heard, the mix could be musch tighter, some EQ things going on, maybe phase ?
Guitars could be warmer, maybe tape saturation would help, or go for the Big Muff Fuzz sound, but if you do, play it twice, one warm and much cleaner and blend the two, different performances...
Could be a bit wider, maybe for clarity sake,,, and match the rest to the drum space,,,

Would be cool to have a go at mixing this,, maybe if your up for it, post it in the "Mix This" thread :)

Interesting song, I like something I've not heard, lol,, and advice is always just a opinion ;)

Thanks for sharing :D
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback!
Could you give me some examples of phase and eq problems?
 
Sure,,, I'll try to elaborate,,,

Phase is most an issue with multi-mic instruments,,, like drums,,, recording at the same time,,,
Parallel bus can cause phase as well,,,
My first thought hearing the drums, was maybe they didn't have the body / punch because of phase. Timing / Alignment,,,
I'm sure you've heard of it, especially drums, they can sound weaker when all tracks play at the same time, vs solo.
So if your kick or snare sounded great or ok, then pop in the OH / Room mic, the kick or snare sounds less full and lacking punch, then check phase...
For guitars, vocals, even bass, if they sound tonally different in Mono, then check the phase.

Say in an old recording / album, they put the drums on the right and the bass on the left to allow separation in stereo,,, If the bass dropped out of the mix, or sounded less punchy / thin / mid freq, when both played, then phase relationship / freq were addressed,,, in the mix.

To check phase try and zoom in close to the wav files,,, I mean in real close... Cursor at the beginning of one and see the start of another.
If you line them closer to the mark, do they sound better ? then problem was phase of one mic to another...

It's a little hard to tell in the mix, because there is little width, mostly everything is center balanced,,, not really consistent, defined bottom end either...
And there is the levels, maybe you increased to to be heard, where instead EQ could have been used instead of volume,,,

I only mention because at times, things sound fuller, then get a little thin, a bit harsh,,,
Might be all the phaser / flanger stuff... Could be just the mix... Hard to tell without the tracks in front of me, lol,,,

Here's a search term that brought up plenty of examples,,, written and video,,, " example of phase issues "

Like I mentioned before, might get some real helpful feedback and different mixes posting the stems in the "Mix This" thread,,
That way more would have the stems and in the DAW to try and solve issues while creating a mix,,,
Might even get a killer mix you really like while getting tons of feedback in a more direct way ;)

And hey, I don't know every thing either, lol, always learning ...
 
Sorry, I know what phase coherency, I meant examples in the song. I just hadn't heard of any phase problems in this mix before, I tried to be thorough in checking the measurements of the overheads to the snare.

Also I did use Saturn on the master, but not specifically on only the guitar tracks. Lol and both guitarists were using Big Muffs (well the lead was using a Cloven Hoof, but it is based on Big Muffs)
 
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