Voxvendor and Chris Tondreau (AKA Now.Here.This.) - first song complete!

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Chris Tondreau

Chris Tondreau

Member
Hey there!!

After a long and sometimes exasperating session the other night, we have finally completed mixing our first song that we recorded together. It's the same song that we posted a while back that was simply a live recording done with a couple of mics.

Joe and I did all the recording, vocals, etc. - mostly at his studio, but some stuff done in mine.

The drums are real and live... I'll let Joe go into the specifics on those. The bass was recorded direct at my place through a compressor and preamp, and then re-amped at Joe's - the two tracks being ultimately mixed together. Some guitars were miced, and others were recorded direct with a POD. The effect on the guitar solo in the middle of the song is actually two different takes played back at the same time - a TRUE double-tracking! (I even impressed myself on that one :D ) The lead vocal was recorded at my place, and the backing vocals were done at Joe's studio.... a whole whack of them!!

Just wanted to share! :D :D

www.soundclick.com/christondreau

I posted it there because that's the only place I have access to passwords, etc., without setting up a totally new site/page, etc. We'll wait and do that when we have a few more things to put up.

Chris
 
vocals are too low... I didn't understand a word of the first verse... and they sound really strained. Is it right at the edge of your range or something?


WATYF
 
yep i remember this song!!!

sounds great with a full production behind it..(altho i rem liking the sound of it played live too)...
yeah you can get into the lyrics alot better now.
man i love that little giutar lick..drums sound good..harmonies ...nice...especially right after the git solo....i did hear a coupls of flat spots vox wise but minor..i have the samr prob when i am singing loud .....



nice work gentlemen..

jamal
 
thx for the link, Gidge.. the first one initiated an onslaught of popup pages, and locked up my computer trying to shoot them down faster than they would come up.

This recording sounds very trebly and tinny to me and the bass end is kinda rumbling away down there. Very scooped out sounding mids...
some vocals staining going on there too, it sounds.
the whole mix seems kinda washed together too, and lacks definition between the instruments.

a nice contemporary pop song, I would say however. I could hear a little more Voxvendor production going into it to give the recording/song a little more dynamics to it. Volume wise...it is kinda flat line...same with the instrumentation.
 
Gotta go along with the "scooped mids" comment. I'm kinda a bug about that 'cause the mids are where everything is so when you pull them out...all the detail is lost. That's partly why some mixes are so bland.
The performance, however, was very good and I really liked the guitar parts. Vocals are good also.
 
Chris Tondreau said:


After a long and sometimes exasperating session the other night, we have finally completed mixing our first song that we recorded together.
Click to expand...

Shit Yeah!!!!!

7 hours straight that night, wrapping up @ 3 AM, and not to mention the countless hours the day before...

(Submission Deadline of 10 AM the next Day..)

Was a fun session, and it felt good doing a song like a real band for a change, rather than me sitting alone in my studio holed up with a POD and a Drum Machine...

Thanks for all the comments, and for the ones to come also....

It was a preliminary mix for submitting to a music showcase in Toronto, that we are trying to get involved it...

I am pretty happy with most of it, but I think Mixmkr and the others who mentioned mixing problems, are most likely correct, and we can fix that up when we revisit the tune for it's final mix...

Thanks for the comments, and all your help is much appreciated and will be brought into consideration for the final mix..

Joe
 
I hear elements of later 'KISS' in this..

I think if 'VOX' did his thing with this recording, it would shine.. the harmonies were good.. the lead vocals were cool, but some of those 'cool like you' choruses could have been tighter..

you should try and get that humongous 'VV' backup sound on this thing..

Yes this does contain a certain element of cheese, but I have always had a soft spot for stuff like this..

I must say I dug it..
 
Liked the doubled leads...I don't think it's got too much high end.

I do agree with WATYF about the vox...though...it's worse at the beginning...honestly, trying very hard, the very first lyric I could even GUESS at was "I WANNA BE..." on the first chorus.

Here's what I hear..."Like a ...mumble muffle something WON'TCHA'...mumble..."

You get the idea.

Nice work.
 
demensia said:
I dont like the song.
Click to expand...
Actually, this is an MP3 mixing clinic... not a "what's your taste in music" forum. You liking or disliking the song is irrelevant. We're here to help with mixing/performance suggestions, not to tell people whether we approve of their songwriting or not... oddly enough, there's a songwriting forum for that.

:p

And I agree aboot the scooped mids thing. Sorry I was so "brief" with my earlier comments... I was on my way oat the door. But the low/strained vox were the most "detracting" element of the song.


Btw... the drums sounded good. Nice mix and nice sound... and pretty tight all-around.

WATYF
 
WATYF said:
Actually, this is an MP3 mixing clinic... not a "what's your taste in music" forum. You liking or disliking the song is irrelevant.
Click to expand...

your correct on both counts, however if so inclined, I'll tell someone I liked their song...or not. I feel I can "sneak" that into a post, and give a person a little feedback in that catagory too...if I have nothing else to say anyway...

I'm always trying to wrangle that Taylor...but that has nothing to do with mixing...eh?

RULES!!!!!!! RULES!!!!!

:D
 
WATYF said:
Actually, this is an MP3 mixing clinic... not a "what's your taste in music" forum. You liking or disliking the song is irrelevant. We're here to help with mixing/performance suggestions, not to tell people whether we approve of their songwriting or not... oddly enough, there's a songwriting forum for that.

:p

And I agree aboot the scooped mids thing. Sorry I was so "brief" with my earlier comments... I was on my way oat the door. But the low/strained vox were the most "detracting" element of the song.


Btw... the drums sounded good. Nice mix and nice sound... and pretty tight all-around.

WATYF
Click to expand...


Actually, this is an MP3 mixing clinic...
Click to expand...

Actually, that's about what I typed the first time around...then deleated.
 
Song comments are cool with me here in the clinic...In fact, I am appreciateive of them......... This is Chris' song though, but i'm sure he thinks similarily on the matter....


I must say that I would prefer to hear....
"I don't like this song because......"

Much more helpful;)

Joe
 
I have to say I agree with WATYF. If you're trying to communicate with me through language, you failed, because I can't understand a word of it. The vocals need to cut through the mix better, or be mixed up. Also, give me some bass. Drums and guit are basically OK, but I'm looking for a bass line and it's not there.-Richie
 
VOXVENDOR said:
Song comments are cool with me here in the clinic...In fact, I am appreciateive of them......... This is Chris' song though, but i'm sure he thinks similarily on the matter....


I must say that I would prefer to hear....
"I don't like this song because......"

Much more helpful;)

Joe
Click to expand...

Ok, the song is ok, but the drummer blows goats.....get him a stopwatch because he knows nothing about timing......












seriously i agree about the vocals.....also i dont think it has the clarity of a typical Voxvendor production that are usally polished and shiny and clear......

3 AM huh......maybe you shoulda had a Taco Bell break, sleep on it, and come back in the morning;)
 
Thanks a lot for the input so far! :D Yes, it seems pretty much unanimous that a re-mix is in order. As Joe said, we were a little pressed for time, and it was very late. I'm *mostly* happy with it, but it could benefit from a bit of tweaking.

Joe and I were talking on the phone and we both thought it strange that we basically didn't do *anything* to the guitars - just left them as they were layed down mostly. They sounded mostly okay on the monitors, but could certainly use some taming.

As far as raising the lead vocal in the mix, I sort of hedged on that one myself... perhaps bringing them up a bit would make them stand out better. Maybe it's just because I'm so familiar with the lyrics, but I really didn't think the lyrics were being lost... I don't know what to make of that. Some comments don't really surprise you.... that one did.

As far as straining goes, the melody line goes up to a G, and the top of my range is an A.... Bb on a REALLY good day. So, it's getting up there, but I wasn't straining to reach them - at least I didn't FEEL like I was...

Sorry about the confusion at first about which song... thanks, Gidge for helping me clarify my thoughts ;) :confused: I guess I'm just used to everyone else being telepathic too :cool:

Keep the comments coming... we'll certainly take them into consideration for our "remixing" session. :cool:

Chris
 
I'll say this, Chris, you take criticism very graciously. At least I didn't say that any of it "blows goats". You're a tough man.-Richie
 
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