The World

Real good performances all around. Excellent energy to the song.

Vocal performance is good. Maybe give it a notch cut in the mid-2Ks? Maybe double the vocal during the sections when the guitars doing their big strumming. Just fill the vocal in a bit during those sections.

Guitars sound pretty good - especially the guitar riff. I wonder if you gave the main rhythm guitars just a bit more brightness - like a small boost between 3k-4k - the might bite just a bit more. It might sound good.

I like the bass sound.

Kick sounds great. Snare does too. The attack on the toms and the ride cymbal are a bit clicky.
 
Through earbuds: it's great. Why? Great tune, great performance, great recording and mix. Why a great mix? Because I've changed my opinion about what makes a great mix. A great mix is one where I enjoy listening to the song and nothung hurts my ears or draws attention away from the song. Mission accomplished here. I just really enjoyed listening to a good song. Who's drumming for you these days?
 
TripleM: Thanks for taking the time to listen to it. I did actually EQ the vocal a bit in that range already. I'll take
a look at how much I reduced it, maybe a touch more is in order. This is the change of mic that I alluded to in the other thread. I find
it less harsh then the SM7, and requires less EQ'ing, for this singer at least. I would like to add some sort of vocal reinforcement for sure, just not sure what
or where yet, but you've given me some ideas. Funny the the only thing I didn't EQ on this was the bass..

dobro: I do find it sounds better through headphones, then through my 3.5" reference speakers. Through my ancient
Event 20/20 8" monitors it sounds better than the 3.5's. There is still something about the mid-range that bugs me but I haven't put my finger on it yet.
This is using a ribbon mic on the vocals, versus the SM7. Does it seem less harsh then the other song? Pete Dukes is the drummer, and played on a lot of the songs when
I used to post years ago. Appreciate the listen and kind words.
 
Listening through the VXT8s now. Well, since I get to pick one, I favor the sound on this one. But they're both good. I wouldn't describe the other one as having a harsh vocal. But this vocal has a less edgy sound.

Stuff like this is so much better through bigger speakers.
 
I did actually EQ the vocal a bit in that range already. I'll take
a look at how much I reduced it, maybe a touch more is in order.
I have the same sorts of problems with my voice.

What has worked best for me is to use a de-esser - only focus the de-esser on the mid-2Ks instead of the 'ssssss' range. Set it maybe an octave wide - maybe a little less. Try to get somewhere between 3-6 db of gain reduction. I think a multi-band compressor could be used in the same way. It takes out harshness without muffling the vocal.

The harshness problems you have are not real bad. I think something like that could work for you.
 
Mr Trip, why do you think the de-esser works better than EQ?
It's not always a huge difference.

But the de-esser isn't constantly pulling down the volume like an EQ is. The de-esser is only pulling down the volume once the volume goes over a threshold. So you tame the harshness without muffling the vocal quite as much as you would with an EQ. Don't know if I explained that well.

And like I said, a multi-band compressor would likely do nearly the same thing. I've been meaning to A/B those for a while, but I keep getting distracted by life.

And of course I'm only talking about a very specific situation. EQ is great for a whole bunch of things.
 
Dynamic EQ adds a threshold to the EQ setting, so it kicks in only when the signal's relatively loud. I like it better than static EQ usually. I think you discovered it by the back door.
 
That intro riff is solid! The interlude riff is great as well, that descending middle eastern sounding thing. Drums sound mostly pretty real with maybe only a SLIGHT "fake-iness" to an exacting ear. (I assume they are programmed?) EZDRummer? The vocal is pretty good overall and well mixed. Almost sounds like an elder Axl Rose. I love 80s so I might throw on a little wettening reverb or delay. The verses could be thicker instrumentally, I would want to dub an extra rhyth guitar over it.
 
Stevie_M: Thanks for the feedback and checking out the tune. The drums are not programmed. They are played by a drummer friend, via an ATV electronic kit, into a Pearl Mimic, out MIDI into Superior Drummer 3. My sample selection needs some tweaking, I think the snare is a bit fake from a sound standpoint, and could be improved dynamically.

Arrangements not complete, so who knows there might be some additions.
 
I'm a new member here and just to check out how everything works I clicked on your song. Totally impressed!! Guitar work is awesome.
I consider myself more of a composer than a performer and have been attempting to make 'good' demos of my own compositions. What you have done
is really inspiring to me!
 
Another song in progress. Might add an acoustic intro. The end is not worked out, not sure what I'm going to do there.

Any and all feedback appreciated.

Thanks for listening!
Just stopped by to give a listen. Not really my genre at all. That said, it sounds well recorded and well played.
 
sounds all great to me. I think acoustic intro would work well and add to the dynamics.
good performance, well crafted song. especially liked the dynamic flow and the polyrythmic bits.
Good drummer you got there to get through those bits. I'd say this is a challenging piece for a drummer.
 
Arv: Thanks very much for the listen. Looking forward to hearing your compositions!

dachay2tnr: It isn't totally my genre either, but the singer I'm working with tends to gravitate towards the heavier rock kinda stuff, so I've been trying to write that way lately. Appreciate the listen.

yowie: I'd forgotten about the acoustic intro idea. I'll get on that. Yeah, Pete's a good drummer, coming up with that stuff. It's probably not his final take, but it's good enough to work with for now. Thanks for checking it out.
 
SD3 has a terrific set of samples. My guess is that what's bothering you has something to do with mistriggered velocities. I'm allowed by my drummer to change them, but when we do it together I see him play the fill on his legs to figure out which note has to be lower in volume. It's not the most fun thing to do, but it's usually just a few phrases anyway. It can make a whole lot of difference with the perceived realness of a drum track. The playing is solid and it's clearly played by a human being.

Loooooove the Ty Taborish guitarwork for the song. They could use a bit more 4kHz I think.

Vocals aren't harsh but can be tamed a tiny bit more. I think they can easily be compressed a bit harder (or just stack two, one for the peaks, the other to even it out). But maybe a dynamic eq at 10 is enough. It's just a few notes that pop out too much for me.

Snare (or maybe the whole set) it too either too wet, or there's too much high end in the reverb (or is it predelay).

Heard resonances around 500 and 1100 (this one is very apparent, and might be the one that bugs you....I'm guessing it's in the guitar ánd the vocal).
 
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