telephone wire - an original song written by a friend

[heatmiser]

Hey,

Check this out if you have a chance and let me know what you think.

A friend of mine wrote this tune years ago. We've played it a bunch of times (always different arrangements), but never recorded it properly. Normally my mixes sound more or less the same regardless of where they are played, but this one sounded very nice on my monitors, but just uploaded to soundclick and it is sounding boxy with drums too loud and vocals too quiet...?

A bit long (my apologies) - but here it is:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=660667&songID=8400596

Thank you,
Peter

 

[Analytical Man]

Interesting song. Vox are good. Guitars are interesting and good. The bass seems to pop out more here and there so i would try and tame it a little. The drums sound good but are mechanical due to quatizing or programming. The hi-hat is the dead give away because no one hits their hats that consistantly, velocity wise. I would say tame the bass, drums overall down a tad, and the high hat down a tad more and it will be really solid. Nice job on the performance.

 

[joeym]

Totally cool, Pete!
Love the double harmony vocals. Drums sound really good, except for that hihat, I don't think you need it, it's sort of distracting. Vocals could come up a bit too. Nice performance and mix overall. Real groovy tune!

Joey

 

[heatmiser]

Interesting song. Vox are good. Guitars are interesting and good. The bass seems to pop out more here and there so i would try and tame it a little. The drums sound good but are mechanical due to quatizing or programming. The hi-hat is the dead give away because no one hits their hats that consistantly, velocity wise. I would say tame the bass, drums overall down a tad, and the high hat down a tad more and it will be really solid. Nice job on the performance.

Thank you for checking it out . I'm glad the guitars and vocals seem ok, as the singing is usually the weak link. I went through a phase of getting pretty good mechanical drum sounds, but my last few tunes haven't quite measured up in that regard. You and Joey both noted the hi hat which I now realize sticks out like a sore thumb . Bass is not as defined as I'd like and I think I normally do better there, so I'll see what I can do...thanks!

Totally cool, Pete!
Love the double harmony vocals. Drums sound really good, except for that hihat, I don't think you need it, it's sort of distracting. Vocals could come up a bit too. Nice performance and mix overall. Real groovy tune!

Joey

Thanks for listening Joey...always encouraging . The singing is a bit warbly, but better harmonies on this compared with my usual efforts. I think I probably could have had an actual robot play drums on this and it would have had more feel . I don't mind the drum machine sound for this, but agree the cymbals are obnoxious...especially the open HH. I will try to adjust this. Thanks!

 

[Greg_L]

Yeah, to me, just tame the hats and boost the vocals a tiny bit. I like the simple drum beat and sound for this. The rest sounds fine.

 

[heatmiser]

Yeah, to me, just tame the hats and boost the vocals a tiny bit. I like the simple drum beat and sound for this. The rest sounds fine.

Thanks much Greg . Working on it...as usual, I'm having trouble taming sounds I don't want so much of without ruining the sounds I like (stereo drum loop, so taming cymbals affects the snare, etc).

 

[kcearl]

terrific...had a strange mix of styles that really work and a very cool overall idea...vocals up, yeah, drums sounded cool to me...guitars great

really different and "stand outish"


superb job all round heat..

 

[heatmiser]

terrific...had a strange mix of styles that really work and a very cool overall idea...vocals up, yeah, drums sounded cool to me...guitars great

really different and "stand outish"


superb job all round heat..

Thanks so much. You are very kind for a clown mofo .

I'm working on the vocal levels and drums/bass now. Hope to have a new, improved version soon.

Thanks again for the encouraging words.

 

[heatmiser]

new improved (?) mix?

Ok, new mix same link up top and here as well:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=660667&songID=8400596

Goals were to:
1) raise vocals slightly
2) tame HH
3) lower drums slightly
4) steady the bass

Check on 1-3, but HH still is obnoxiously over-present. Plus, it seemed like the same frequencies that made the HH annoying in the stereo drum loop also gave the snare a cool thwack sound...so I compromised and am unsure if it is an improvement.

EQ'd the bass differently which gave it a more consistent level on my monitors but it sounds overly rumbly on soundclick .

 

[nave]

This sounds great. Really enjoyed it. Agree with the other comments.

 

[nave]

Second mix is definitely better with vocal louder and drums lower. Hh is not bothering me so much.

 

[kcearl]

excellent, 2nd mix much better...sounds A+ to me


(just got to not focus on the HH and it becomes far less noticeable)

 

[heatmiser]

Second mix is definitely better with vocal louder and drums lower. Hh is not bothering me so much.

excellent, 2nd mix much better...sounds A+ to me


(just got to not focus on the HH and it becomes far less noticeable)

Good deal. Thanks to both of you.

I hope the writer likes it. I emailed an mp3 of the 2nd mix to him but haven't heard back yet...probably not a good sign...

 

[ksounds]

Heat,

This is the best recording you've done so far, IMHO. Love the guitar sounds/panning. What's are you using for the main acoustic guitars? They sound sooo smooth. Vocals sound great. The lyrics are really cool as well. Love the breakdown. Love it. Man, you can channel Bob Weir too. Bass is nice and phat. Dude, seriously great. I mean it. Perfect.

 

[heatmiser]

Heat,

This is the best recording you've done so far, IMHO. Love the guitar sounds/panning. What's are you using for the main acoustic guitars? They sound sooo smooth. Vocals sound great. The lyrics are really cool as well. Love the breakdown. Love it. Man, you can channel Bob Weir too. Bass is nice and phat. Dude, seriously great. I mean it. Perfect.

Awesome. thanks man . That means a lot as I know you've heard quite a few of my tracks over time and survived at least a few clunkers along the way.

The acoustic guitar tracks (hard L & R) are a classical guitar of all things (some not-so-great model made in the czech republic). I think this is the first time I've recorded a nylon stringed guitar? Wouldn't have thought it would work on a song like this, but it sounds ok.

Thanks again...very encouraging!

 

[ksounds]

The acoustic guitar tracks (hard L & R) are a classical guitar of all things (some not-so-great model made in the czech republic). I think this is the first time I've recorded a nylon stringed guitar? Wouldn't have thought it would work on a song like this, but it sounds ok.

I knew it