something feels wrong about this track

E

Ex3vious

New member
Hey guys,
I'm working on a melodic guitar backing track, along the lines of pink floyd. However I am stuck, something feels off, rhythmically speaking. I'm beating my head against the wall trying to find out what it is but I can't figure it out. Maybe you could lend me your ears and let me know what if anything in terms of the composition sounds off to you as well. Thanks, much appreciated.

https://soundcloud.com/ben-2014/life-demo-1
 
there are times the guitars and drums are off. it sounds like the guitar gets anxious and ahead of the drum.
the drum also sounds a bit off beat at time -- did you de-quantize it to make it human? a few of the beats seem off too far, though that could be the guitar ahead of them and pulling.

i'd lower the clanging cymbal a bit, too. it's louder than the rest of the kit.

pretty cool song, though, even with all that.
 
Yeah timing is out pretty bad between the gits and drums. When the distorted chords come in, that guitar part could come down.. it buries the cleaner, more arpeggiated part in a few places. Wouldn't mind hearing the organ sound a little clearer as well.. I like it. Is it a synth patch?

And you should put some words on it (or cut it in half). :)
 
The drums themselves are a midi file from ezdrummer so they shouldn't be off. It must be the arpeggiated guitar part. It so hard to play in time at 58 bpm. i guess its practice time.

---------- Update ----------

oh the organ is native instruments komplete 10 vintage organ.
 
I find the wide-panned ping-ponging organ annoying. Then having the guitar stereo-delayed makes the whole song end up going almost mono (but phasey). How were you monitoring when recording the guitar and bass? Maybe it was a latency thing that caused the timing problem..
 
Yup guitars are definitely ahead of the "drummer". Makes it sound like the drums are lagging behind. What makes it so intetesting is how consistently you are ahead of the drums. Like you're keeping good time, but just not with. The band. Well, I guess you march to the beat of your own drummer. :D

I like where you are going with this, but feel production-wise that it needs some build. You have the whole tune written, or is this just ideas?

Good start once you fix the bugs.
 
RFR said:
Yup guitars are definitely ahead of the "drummer". Makes it sound like the drums are lagging behind. What makes it so intetesting is how consistently you are ahead of the drums. Like you're keeping good time, but just not with. The band. Well, I guess you march to the beat of your own drummer. :D

I like where you are going with this, but feel production-wise that it needs some build. You have the whole tune written, or is this just ideas?

Good start once you fix the bugs.
Click to expand...

If it's that consistent then it might be a problem with delay on audio tracks when recording. That used to happen on my setup.
 
Yeah, well maybe mjbphotos is on to something and we're on that same wavelength. :D

Didn't hit me till i realized the consistency of the off time playing.

We'll just have to see what the Op says about it, and more importantly, what happens to fix it.
 
It could be latency, I'll try to record it using the direct monitor of my interface. I have the scarlett 2i4 by the way.
 
Latency could be adding to it, but to me the timing problem doesn't sound totally consistent. It really jumps out on certain notes. We've talked about this with regards to bass. I think you have a habit of anticipating the beat, especially on changes. I have it myself, and it's a tough little habit to break. But it can be done.

Are you moving your body as you play? I find that helps a lot. If I'm sitting, I'm tapping my foot. If I'm standing, which is preferable, I'm going to boogie, sway, and otherwise make myself look foolish.

EZ Drummer loops are played by pro drummers, so they should have good timing. However, a given loop may not have the same timing that you are feeling. That's one reason it can be so hard to get a groove going when writing songs with programmed drums. Try this if you're interested. Lay down the rhythm guitar or bass track to a metronome. Focus on playing the part as you're feeling it. Now zoom in on the wave form and study what you have done. Are you playing on, ahead or behind the beats? What about the eight note subdivisions? Are they of equal length, or are you shuffling them (with two consecutive eighth notes, is one longer than the other)? Where are you putting the accents?

Once you've analyzed your feel in the part, then try making small adjustments to the drum track to match. If you're shuffling the rhythm, then try moving the eighth note hats and kick to match. If you are playing behind the beat, try pulling the snare drum a little late too. Etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top