Uncertainty - Not sure how this is going to go.....

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bruthish
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Bruthish

Bruthish

Hair Metal Roxx!
Well First off, I am nervous about posting this. Not sure how this is going to go and it could end up being a total cluster-F@!k.

This song was started some 20 years ago. I just found the old recordings and built on it adding drums, vox, and bass.

The original guitars remain, which I am pretty confident will need to be totally replaced. I just can't get a good tone out of them.

I have been dealing with a respiratory system sickness and haven't been able to record the 2nd verse so I just repeated the first.

So.....please let me know what issues you hear and any constructive criticisms! I have been laying out some good and bad comments on the forum's music, so I guess its my turn to take it lol.




https://soundcloud.com/bruthish/uncertainty
 
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Yeah, definitely replace the old guitar work, nothing really outstanding there and sounds way off, soundwise-from the rest - the lead guitar around 2:30 sounds out of tune, too. The kick is too loud. The bass is pretty boring, just hitting root notes mostly, except during the lead at 2:20
 
The drums and bass work for me. I like the pulse of the bass.
If you're not happy redo the guitars - they don't sound irreplaceable.
The solo is too effected.
I hope you get some breath back for the extra verse.
 
Hi, Bruthish. :) Good show for biting the bullet and getting something on here. :D

This doesn't sound too bad, but there are a few bits to look at, IMO. I agree that the kick is a little too dominant, but it might be that the 100-250 Hz just needs thinning and those frequencies adding to the bass guitar, which needs warming up to give a more consistent bottom end to the track. Vocal-wise, it sounds as if you're trying to cover up what you consider to be dodgy singing by mixing it very indistinctly. Volume-wise it's fine but you need to get some intelligibility into it by lifting the 4-10k frequencies a little. The bassline could do with a bit more interest. Don't go all Stanley Clarke or Jaco Pastorius on us, it just needs something as a counterpoint, something to impart a bit of movement. :D Guitars wise, I think your gut instincts are right - you could redo them a lot better.

My biggest concern is with the lead guitar solo. I don't know whether you're going deliberately for dissonance in the middle of it or whether there are a few good old bum notes in there. :D You can get away with discords providing they're passing notes, or you're bending to them or adding vibrato. You seem to have nimble fingers, so I don't think your skills are in question, but some of those notes don't work.

I'm looking forward to an update on this, it's quite an interesting bit of music. :)
 
Hey Guys, thanks so much for listening and giving input. I am going to work on this song until I consider it "completed", and it may be the death of me. You guys are really helping me learn the craft and I appreciate it.

So, obviously I need to re-track all the acoustics and lead. No big deal. I will have to play around with my mic setup and see if I can pull some good warmth out of it.

Bubba, you were absolutely right...trying to cover up mediocre vocal chops. Never had vocal lessons and just plain don't know how to sing. SO I make due with what I have and learn as I go. My Lady also stated that she couldn't understand some of the lyrics so I will have to go back to the drawing board on that too and try to pronounce better.

As far as the solo, that is also 20 years old and I have no idea what I did or how I did it so that will be re-tracked too.

Sounds like I really need to replace everything but that's why I wanted some sound advice early in the project from other sound junkies so I know where I stand.

Thanks again! I will update this thread as I update the song!
 
I thought the drums sounded pretty good. The kick is a little loud and maybe a bit woofy. The bass was very good. Sounded nice and it was a cool part.

I didn't like the guitar sounds. Almost sounded like a harpsichord.

As for the lead vocal - I'd keep everything down the center. I also thought there was too much reverb.

The song itself was cool.
 
Thanks for the comments Triple! Yeah the more I hear that guitar the more I despise it. Hopefully I can work on that this week. As far as the drums they are Addictive drums 2 which has individual level and tone controls and before i bounced the tracks down I had just turned the kick up 1 db. So iw ill bring it back down a notch or two.
 
They are not perfect but man, what a difference a mic'ed acoustic makes! I own a time killing business so I don't get much time to play but here is the first part of this song with some changes you all suggested:
1) brought kick down 2db
2) Recorded acoustic with RODE N1 about 1 1/2 foot away pointed at 12th fret
3) Spiced up the bass track a little more flavor.

For this test I just would like your opinions on how the acoustic sounds. Please don't mind some of the off strums...just trying to dial in a good tone.

 
I think the acoustic guitars sound pretty good here. It sounds kind of live. That may be because of the mic distance which may have captured more of the room than I'm used to hearing. I'd try it with the mic a bit closer maybe? Reminded me of the sound of David Byrne doing Psycho Killer at the start of Stop Making Sense (maybe not a compliment from your perspective, but it's meant to be a good thing).

For my tastes, it's maybe a bit bright and/or thin sounding, but I'm not on the best monitoring set-up at the moment, so I can't really help dial in any fine tuning... :)

Anyway, I think it sounds good and I like that you're using a mic as DI acoustic guitars typically just don't do it for me.
 
Very stylized. I'd replace the acoustic guitars. They sound sort of like a midi version of a guitar.

I like the composition, and the arrangement direction. The production, generally, is quite good ... but some things require a redo.
 
I think that the snare is lacking a bit of body. It sounds a bit hollow. It's got a garage band sort of vibe, I'll give it that.
I liked your acoustic sound.
 
I thought the guitars sounded ok in the first one, but they definitely sound better in the second. I'm no acoustic aficionado so I don't really know the sound of what most players would consider a "good" acoustic tone, but as a casual listener I found the second one in particular to be just fine.
 
K-Dub, were you listening to first one or the update a few posts back? I think what you said is true on the first version. I recorded those guitars DI about 20 years ago. I think the new version sounds more natural although maybe not good enough yet. Still learning!
 
Heatmiser, you may be right about playing too far away from the mic...I tried all sorts of positions and this one "seemed" the best. However I do have it rolled off on the EQ pretty heavily...so maybe if I brought some of it back in it would add some presence. Thanks man!
 
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