too sad to rock out

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Party-pants here, with yet another rough mix... and no hard-rock this time :(

This song was written in the saddest, lowest part of my life about 6 years ago after being ditched by my best friend... the codependency just about made me go postal :eek: (not kidding... work-ordered psychiatrist & everything... :eek: ;))

The mix does need some better separation; truth is, most of the guit & bass tracks were tracked about two years ago on the VS880, and sent over to the computer... needless to say, back then I didn't have homerecording.com to rely on for recording knowledge... so some of these tracks are a bit noisy...

I'll probably have to retrack most of it, esp. the bassline...

The BIG thing is THIS SONG NEEDS one more element... like a backward synth, or something to tie it all up... more BGVs, or something...

The VOX is definitely dry, the drums definitely need work (the outro drums are just a simple, crappy loop :eek: )

Hopefully, you'll see the shining turd here amongst all the dark, dull chocolate ;)

Sunshine... hopefully Sam, WISC, JMarcomb, JR#97. mixmkr et. al. won't think I've pussed out :eek:

Thanks for the pity... :)


Chad
 
Well..................I think it's a diamond in the rough. I like the song but if it were me I believe I'd retrack the whole thing. Now that you know what your parts are, you can get them a lot tighter than that. Especially the bass and drums. The ideas are cool but they're not playing together and the drums need to have a bit steadier groove......ooh, a slower part............I like this, sounds a little like Jimi on Electric Ladyland, the chord structure, I mean.
Cool song man......do it again, I want to hear it.
 
Really cool song man.You have your own little sound just like sami Sabbath does.Your chording and phrasing is not the "norm'....I guess thats what makes a unique sound eh?

I really like it.The vocals are dry like you said.Just a small reverb would make them sit well with the ear.I like the arrangement and percussion also.I dont have a clue about what should be done as far as the mix goes.It does need a little something to bring it completely to life.Im sure someone will lend you a better ear.

Nice tune Chad.

p.s. I really like your voice.
 
very cool tune...I'm going to be brief 'cause theres just soooo much going on in here-I can't digest it all in 2-3 listens. I like the intro-neat fuzz-tone-mixed with those plunky dry tone guits. I really like that "solo" around 1:30 where those notes are just morphing together really cool....E bow?--must be...like the bass drum sound---the part around ~4:10 sounds like it coulda gone to double time and really rocked out-but like you said this aint a rocker---oh well im ramblin-very interesting and original tune--how bout a xylophone? heh-I'm gonna keep listening to this.
 
participant said:
blah blah blah... I suck. I'm horribly inept, and this song is boring, and it doesn't rock. And I don't even know why you'd listen...

Thanks for the pity... :)


Chad
Click to expand...
Cheezus Christmas man. If I set my standards 1/50th as high as you set yours, I'd never post anything.

In two songs that I've heard from you, you have already created a signature sound, and that sound DOES NOT SUCK AT ALL. Now, I know I'm not even in the same hemisphere as you when it comes to "sonic brilliance"...I'm just a guy who listens to a lot of music, but I do have some opinions - take them for what they're worth.

(1) The intro riff...perfectly out of place and beautiful.

(2) Let them kick you in the.....(are you saying "BALLS?") bahahahahahahaaha

(3) You and Lt. Bob hate the bass, but it's got definition that I'd kill for, and I don't hear the freakin' problem. Sounds like a jazz bass.

(4) The reverb on the snare in the breakdown...fading to the right...that's just totally cool, and I don't even know HOW to do that, even if I'd been creative enough to think to do it in the first place.

(5) The lead tone at the end is beautiful, and somewhat reminiscent of Steely Da...nevermind. :D

(6) The waves... fade them over a longer period of time...like maybe a constant fade.

(7) You are WAAAAAY too hard on yourself. Did you enjoy doing ANY of this???? It has tons of elements that just seem like they'd be fun to fart around with, but you didn't go overboard at all, imho.

(8) Maybe if I were more critical, I'd get more respect or something, but I know what I like, and this is cool.

bye
 
Hey man, to blazes with re-tracking this puppy! I dig it immensely. It reeks of turmoil and dissolution & call me a little girl's blouse but ah know what ah like...

Sound-wise the one thing I noticed was the the drums, which seemed a little harsh - especially the cymbols (high hat?) which were very "sharp" and seemed to clash with the voice now and then.

Otherwise it has a great spontaneous feel & I'd hate to see it cleaned up and dressed nice. My experience has been that re-recording songs that were first recorded during a crisis of some sort is often frustrating. It's hard to recapture that "down in the dungheap" vibe twice.

good stuff,
Chris
 
Sounds great over here Chad! Intresting tune man, great vocals everywhere and i can't compare you to anyone i've heard..and that's a plus (a good thang:) ). Loved the break-down @ around 2:20 or so,,,,seemed a bit long, but maybe not either. Great tune man, I enjoyed it a lot!
 
Chadij, I'll listen later on.. I already downloaded it (just in case you remove it), but I have to run..
 
Hey chadman...
You definitely have a unique and identifiable style. I was digging the strummed clean chords. I do a lot of similar stuff. Humbuckers in the bridge position? I also liked how you came in and complimented the dissonant sounding clean electric with an acoustic. That was mighty tasty and an excellente idea. That intro was very Filter-esque.

I'll leave the sonics to the guru's. However, I will say that I think the vocals need some more body or presence to compete with the fullness of the guitars.

Just out of curiousity, was it a female friend? Was the tune written before after closure (if there was any)? Just trying to get into where the song was coming from.

I swear, I thought you were going to say "balls".... lol. I'm pretty sure you'll be living with that one to the grave.
 
Neat song. I'm in agreement with chrisharris on the bass... Maybe could be tighter, but that tone is.... I can't come up with a superlative for it. I loved it. The guitars all sit well and were well recorded. Lot's of different sounds and tones going on.

I wasn't crazy about the vocals. Way too dry for this type of song. Execution wasn't the best either. Except some of the harmonies - they were well done.
The slower section... maybe went on a bit to long. But on the other hand had a couple of cool things going on. The "wood sticks" or whatever it was that came in around 2:25 and were panned back and forth were cool. Sounded especially neat on headphones.

Overall decent job... Trip.
 
i like the tone on the first guitar that comes in, but i'm not crazy about the main rhythm during the song....maybe a little more compression? i don't know, something sounds a little off..........interesting song........the middle section w/ no drums, with weird noises and distrorted guitar sounds great..........good job
 
VERY interesting arrangement...interesting in the good way. Almost all the stringed instruments sound just slightly out of tune, and it actually works well in my mind.

The stuff after 2:15 is just beautiful bro. I know how you LOVE comparisons, so I'll say there's a certain Jane's Addiction aroma emanating from this one, and I like it a lot.
The last cymbal needs to be told to settle down, to relax and let the song go in peace.
The parts all have their own distinct little lives, characters. Really nice. Glad you started posting your songs!
This is a very unorthodox recording (so you know it's got my vote), but there's really not much here that absolutely does not work as it is. I'm sure if you want to pick it apart by standing it next to traditional standards, there's plenty to argue, but most traditions suck and I don't like to argue.
I await version 2!
 
there is definitely a good song in here.. I really like how you think musically.. the mellow break around 2:30 is so good, it's liquid.. some great things in this tune and the sound of the recording is quite good, but the cymbals are killing me.. in some parts the cymbals are rediculously loud dude.. I know my mixes are known as mud, but there has to be a middle ground here! :D

I guess I wont go into major detail about whats wrong, because it's obvious.. the distorted rhythm guitar parts in the beginning could be cool, but arent now.. That part @50 seconds when it peeps its head, that would be awesome if you went with it the second time, and slid into good sounding rhythms, like on Lumber..

You definitely have a style bro, and it only took you 2 songs.. Very cool voice you have, and the harmonies were cool.. Vocals sound a little loud at some points, not always.. good lyrics..

Sounds like the drums come off time.. Did you get an E-Bow? There is a new style one that came out.. What's the effect @1:30?


very cool stuff, get crackin' on the re-do..







You have until Friday night! :mad:








:D








7 p.m. Eastern Standard! :mad:
 
I don't know, the cymbals sound pretty decent to me. You have pretty unique way of laceing chords together, that's for sure. Ithink your mix is pretty damn good on my system anyway. I like it all the around.
 
Pretty cool! Has that offbeat tempo of SLuicE's stuff,very nice.

Bummer about your friend,did he get what's comin around yet?
He will one way or another.;)

Definatly a good song,well written.
Well worth retracking!

Enjoyed it very much,thanks,
Pete
 
Hey Chad,
Your tunes are all an adventure man. You definitely have a style all your own. I hear the same drummer in this that played the unorthodox percussion in Lumber. ....and thats a cool and unique thing.

I know your amidst a retrack w/ this so Im not gonna dig into a whole bunch of mix things. You know, the bass itself does have great tone. .....very clear, with a real nice plunk to it. .....but it lacks low end in a big way. If you could get that j bass punch and middle and get a deep bottom, you would have one hell of a bass tone at your disposal.

The change at 2:45 is seriously beautiful. Is that Neal Peart playing those wood blocks back there? Cool Rush vibe there.

A unique and beautiful piece of music bro....... I am very eagerly looking forward to where you go with this.


g
 
Lt... You're right... it needs a retrack... the bass & guitar parts (from the VS880) have a lot of hiss... snakes? :confused: or just not enough of the right recording mojo when they were originally tracked...

Yup... bass and drums definitely need a tightening... a Hendrix comparison? Now I know I'm on drugs :) Will definitely try again. Thanks Lt :)

Krame-age Kewl :) Thanks for listening... chording and phrasing was just whatever sounded good. Most of it is open strings, and trying strange chord shapes all up & down the neck.

Here's the shocker... this voc track was done with... an mc012... strange, huh? At the time the AT4047 sounded like sh** (broke it, I think :rolleyes: ) and the NTK wasn't here... now, responses to the thread will be about how SIBILANT the voice was :) Thanks for the compliments on the vox BTW... I do have some issues with breath control... some of the vibrato is forced, you may notice (esp. in the second vocal part...)

Your ear is plenty good, Krame... I'm really glad you got to this. Thanks :)

Stratocats-er What's going down, hombre? Yup... E-bow... I could lie and say I'm just copying Sam :D but the original 4-track piece-o-shyte version of this (1996) had about a 2 minute, all e-bow intro :eek: A xylophone? That's really interesting, because originally this song had WIND CHIMES in the intro/outro... some high, percussive stuff might work... Thanks! And I appreciate each listen... any more stuff from "Ultra"? Need that Partridge family fix.

chris harris Chris, the mescalin has gone to your brain and now it's doing the talking :D You're too kind :) And stop with the bullshit about sonic hemispheres... you're in the one with all the musicians... for one, you can play guitar and sing AT THE SAME TIME... Last time I tried that, my appendix exploded.

(not really :D)

Oh yeah... the balls... :D Every single song is about testicles, if you think about it... Can't get no satisfaction? I wanna hold your hand? Row row row your boat? All about the nads. ;)

The bass? Thanks... but it still has that horrible hiss in the track... I'll try to remove it with your fav program (Cool Edit)...

Reverb on the snare? Accident :) (TrueVerb, medium size room... just f'ed with the "distance" setting until it sounded decent...)

Steely Dan? Cool. It's always cool to be compared to a vibrator :cool:

The "waves"... actually, that's supposed to be "wind"... and there's thunder in there... yeah, it sounds like it's raining... or water or something... gotta come up with a better wind sound... borrow a portable DAT and go sit in the weeds somewhere :confused:

Thanks again, chris... you go way above that which is required and that is freaking cool of you. That's why your threads get 1000 views a pc ;) (not to mention the excellent music therein)... yeah, we do enjoy ourselves... just trying to get better.

groucho The other chris... thanks! Heh... yeah, it'd be cool to not retrack anything... but SLuiCe, Guernica, Track Rat, Sam, and just about everyone else set the bar so high... and I'm a recording midget :D (even at 6' tall :() you little girl's blouse :D

Yep... caught on the cymbals :o That's what I get for cardinal sin numero uno... an EQ RIDING ON TOP OF THE MASTER BUSS :o :eek: :eek: :( Too much boost; it's a higher quality EQ than Cubase offers (it's the UAD-1 channel strip)... guess I'll back off on it...

Problem was... this track literally had the "FROWN" eq to it... no lows, no highs... (and I KNEW I had recorded some)... it's that damn hiss in the guit and bass tracks... proving that clean tracks make mixing MUCH easier... The smiley EQ I did to compensate must have been to high on the highs... Next time, the tracks will be cleaner, so no boost will be necessary. Thanks for your comments :) (now, back to the dungheap I go :o)

David Cool! Thanks for the compliment about not sounding like anyone else... and about the vox... still kind of tentative about 'em. Glad you liked 'em... was wondering about the long'ish quiet part... I'll definitely keep it in mind... Thanks for your ears!

JR#97 Hee hee hee... yeah. they'll put that right on the tombstone... "Here lies Chad... he sang about testicles" ;)

Yup... ye olde humbucker, bridge position... mon capitan... "Filter", eh? Thanks... Doubling the vocals will happen... and possibly tripling... will have to see what works to give 'em more body...

Nope... This toon was written in a deep, year-long depression after a lot of sh** went down. To be honest, I must have been one negative sack of sht for my friends to just ditch me... who wants to be around someone who knows that "tomorrow won't be any better than today, so why try?" This guy was my buddy for years... drank together... went after chicks together... whatever... he got interested in some chick, and that was it... no more buddy-ness. Thanks for listening... BTW I'll PM you about the Christmas thing...

TripleM Marshamarshamarsha... glad you liked the bass. It's actually a decent track... just wish it were cleaner...

You've been bold, and pointed out something very true.. the VOCALS need a retake in many areas... esp. the ones where the vibrato is "faked"... (eg "...I'm a dead ringer..." for instance)... sounds like sh&t... thanks for the honesty... The dryness will dissapear when I actually full-on produce it... after all "tracking" is done.... another vote about the long-ish slow section... mmm... maybe I'll cut it by 4 bars?

Seems I've fooled people with the "wood sticks/blocks" thing... :cool: That's actually a Crybaby Wah pedal, with an Equalizer pedal into it with all lows cut and all highs boosted... Not sure, but there might be some phaser in there, too... just tried to get the whackiest guitar sound possible...

Really, what I wanted was that K-Tel, wah-wah sounding snare-drum or percussion sound you hear on some cheap rap records (woak-a wokka WAAKA wakka...)... whatever... it was something different, anyway :)

powderfinger Thanks for listening... yeah, that cheap a$$ rhythm guitar thruout sounds a little too "bridge-y"... its from the original VS880 takes... I'll try to tame it with a better, clean sound...

Tom (SLuiCe) Out of tune? Yeah, I meant to do that :D Actually, you're right... The acoustics sound out, when it's the REST of the guitars that are out in relation to them...

Jane's Addiction was a good band... cool... good call on the cymbals... I just threw some in there, cuz the track sounded dull in the outro... I should probably think about them before just pencil-tooling 'em in...

Hey, if you post about 5 of your gems for every one of my things, maybe I'll keep going ;)

And don't worry about picking it apart... Some very obvious things: not enough space for the electrics vs. acoustics... vox too dry... stray cymbal hits out of nowhere... strange drum rhythms... etc... it's all good. Go ahead and rip it... your critiquing skills gotta stay razor sharp! :p

B. Sammy Compliments from the songmaster himself... yeah... it's that darn EQ :rolleyes: Your recent song shows your stuff is NOT mud, so... I'll just pull back on the high EQ shelving... k? ;)

Yeah... I've been really struggling to find a good distortion for this song.. something with a peak around 800Hz? 1200? Dunno... The original, original 4-track had a cool distortion guitar in it... rocked a bit more than this version... guess I'll keep trying to find that "sound"...

Glad you like the voice... and the lyrics... I don't always sing about my nuts you know :eek:






:D

Will check on those drums very carefully... Yup... Ebow..... Had it now for about 7 years :) (Probably the same battery... do those things ever wear out? I know it hasn't been changed in a long time...)

Effect at 1:30? Just distortion, during the solo... At 1:27 there's a rim hit on the snare... don't know what else you could mean? :confused:

Uh... a redo? :) Yeah.. that's another thing you guys (Tom/Mike1/Mike2/Chris/you) do... you can actually fix stuff fast... I'll give it a shot by fryday... Thanks for putting up with this non-heavy stuff... your stuff is the reason half of us post here, man :) Makes us want to share, too.

Track Rat

Mike, very glad you heard this... it truthfully needs a better recording... wonderful that an actuall musician like yourself thinks my chording sounds good. I appreciate that.

Pete (muze) All RIGHT! Compared to SLuiCe? (now you gotta apologize to Tom :D j/k)

Yeah, my old buddy was a self-centered prick anyway :) I'm long over it. Water WAY under the bridge. Thanks for hearing it, man.

Guernica Mike I appreciate your listening, brah; moreso because you are a kicka$$ musician yourself.

Yeah... that drummer... what a deranged f'er he is eh? :p

From the bassmaster, saying it needs lows... your right... maybe compressing it too hard with the LN1176... I'll ease up on it... possibly re-track too... thanks...

Heh... yeah... Mr. Peart came by and watched while the Crybaby Pedal flopped up and down... he nodded in time ;)

Way cool of you to say that about this toon... When's the next installment coming from Mr. "G"?

---

Y'all, I prolly missed someone... so off I go to post this... then back to catch those missed...


-C
 
hey part!

cool stuff man...

I really like how you work the bass guitar in this piece.

your distant vocal harmonies are really cool in there too

breakdown is very nice!

a couple little off beat mistakes, but a normal human couldnt notice em :eek:

I enjoyed! ... thanks for the song man!


your brother


jeff :cool:
 
hey those drums sound really good. missing a groove at points (maybe just to complex) but the actual sounds are excellent. especially the cymbals. what are they? soundfont, lm4, ? Is Trueverb a Waves thing?

this song is much more complex than i can actually process in one or two listens so here are my virgin comments. take them for what they are worth.


ok after the opening guitar riff i was expecting something much heavier than what hit with the clean guitar. That's just my predisposition.

That vocal is real mid- heavy and sounds a little clippy.

man those cymbals are very clean. i like em' maybe a little loud in the mix?
 
participant said:
Effect at 1:30? Just distortion, during the solo... At 1:27 there's a rim hit on the snare... don't know what else you could mean?
Click to expand...

hey Chad, I was refering to the little solo there, it has a strange sound to it, almost like wammy use or something.. not sure.. very cool though.. I really like the little vocal harmonies too.. Add more when you redo this.. :)

I'm waiting for the redo, and your running out of time! :D
 
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