Witch

  • Thread starter Thread starter Doug H
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Doug H

Doug H

I'll be there
I felt like posting a tune, and this is all I have to offer. I think this is the last one with the current "band", meaning it's time to buy some bass and drum samples.

This is recorded with my new dmp3. I can't beleive how bright it is compared to the crappy behringer mixer. This is a good thing since I fought constantly with the low end on my vocals.
Listening to it now, It seems that I may be able to move the mic a little closer to the center of the cone to get a meatier sound on the guitar without getting too muddy. If any guitar micing gurus are listening please feel free to comment.
I pumped the mids up a bit (well dropped the low and high end) to try and fill the hole between the sub sonic bass and ultra crips guitar and vocal tracks.

Witch

I wish to stress that this song in no way endorses a belief in the occult and no cats were strangled in the production of this song (that's just me singing)
 
Damn, that's some ugly nasty guitar work (that's a compliment, by the way).

I'm on headphones tonight, so I'm not much good for mix comments, but I like the vibe of this very much. It has a very unhinged, crazed quality that rubs me the right way. Are those real drums? I think they could stand to kick the guitar in the ass a lot more. The guitar is blazing away like a cranked up maniac and the rhythm section is just kinda moseying along.

Dig it.

Chris
 
Hey sounds good, don't have time to write a page about it :-/. What Behringer mixer did you have?
 
Nice blues runs... the major mix deal here is the guitar in the room, and the drums on planet Mars. The bass is there, barely...

Decent singing... was that you singing? Seeing you at jamfest, I can't quite imagine how a voice like that would come out of you :D (you didn't say much)...

I like this song. Something like this needs a big, strong drumkit behind it... one that's in the same room as everything else :D ;)

Good feel on guitar. HevyD47Ca should hear that... you sound like kindred spirits.


Chad
 
Groucho
Thanks! They're fake drums for sure. I can't stand the mix on the drums but I'm at a loss as to what to do about it, other then fix that last ringing note. I think I'm going to raise the snare up a bit and give them a bit more room.

FattMusiek.
I have the 802a I think it is, the 4 channel 'el cheapo model. Pretty cool as a swiss army knife, or a boat anchor. It puts out a neato lofi pearl jam vocal thing if you get real close to the mic. Changing pres has kindof set me back to square one as far as tracking goes. Thanks for giving it a spin.

participant
Cool, I'm going to those comments to heart. I think that's a good call. Some of my earlier mixes were hanging a lot of verb on the ride, which sounded cool, but I drifted away from it for some reason. I think I'm going to dry up the guitar a bit and try and get some ambience on the kit. I've also had a revelation to try cutting some highs off of the snare sample.
Ya, that's me singing. :0. I guess you don't remember our big discussion on shakespear then.
Thanks for checking it out.
 
Nice Robin Trower vibe.. really like that guitar sound and the vocals... But drums are almost nonexistant.. i just hear a kick and snare thump and I am not too thrilled about the crash that pops up on occassion.. There are a lot of pockets for good soft snare drumming in the background..

Keep this around.. this song has great potential!

Cy
 
Great tune, and playing!!

Two things would make it much better.

1.Add a rythm guitar, this will be the glue between the lead and drums.

2.The lead guitar is at least 3db to low, that's some fantastic playing "turn it up".

For canned drums they sound damn good, they just need to rock to equall the lead guitar.

Repost with remix, if you can.

GT
 
Killer guitar tone as usual. Great playing.

Drums and vocals sound a little on the dry side. Could use a little more bass. The bass tone is really good, just a little buried. To fill up the drums during the jam sections you could try some ride cymbal on the downbeats with an off beat here and there. Just a thought from someone who doesn't know how to play drums but bangs on them every chance I get.
 
I liked the guitar playing too. It's not "over the top showy," just straight forward, cool blues playing. Good sound on the guitar. Decent singing.

While I think the sound on the guitar was good, I'm not sure about how it was miced. Sounded to me like the mic wasn't close enough to the amp. Maybe it was real close, but that's just the impression I get. It's panned pretty hard too, maybe bring it a little closer to center?

Another guitar part, perhaps with a clean sound, might fill things in nicely.

A harmony part or parts on some of those lines might work too.
 
Hi Doug. I know a lot of us here have to use drum machines because we don't have any other choice. It's just a fact of life. But this is some seriously good guitar work here and that drum track really detracts from the whole song. Playing like that really deserves the support of a solid rhythym section. A real drum track would make this thing rock, but a well programmed drum machine could at least help you get the point across without detracting from the song.


Twist
 
nice tone to start............i love the grittiness..........

i would agree that the drum samples could have a little more life....particularly the snare...........but who cares with a guitar like that!
 
Cyrokk
I keep hearing that name (Robin Trower), I found one song on the net but it didn't give me much of a window into his stuff. I'm going to have to check out more. Funny I've never heard of him.
Ya, the drums suck, heh. I've had a worse time on this tune than most because it's so free style and wide open.
Thanks for the feedback.

GT,
Thanks man, I'll be reposting this soon I think. Taking some of the room off of the guitar should get it a bit more up front. Heh, I usually get comments like "cool, but the guitar ate my speaker", or "is that someone trying to sing in the background?"

fprod south
Thanks :)
I tried to mix up the ride through the bridge, nice to know someone else is "hearing" the same thing. I'm gonna keep at it. The bass samples are kind of cool, but they are really deep. I'm looking forward to mixing samples with a bit more mid range balls in them.

TripleM
Thanks man, I think the mic was about an inch from the grill. It was a little verby too. Ya, some backup vocals may be cool.

twist
Yep. I'm one of those. I've got it in my head to start collecting rythm instruments (shakers and shit like that) but that isn't currently in the program for this one (hmmm.... ). Pencilling in the drums can be an ordeal, and I'm not a drummer so that doesn't help. Thanks for the listen.

powderfinger
Heh, thanks man! It appears to be unanymous about about the drums.
 
Dude I like this song a lot!

It's lacking bass and the drums have been mentioned I think (what's a homerecer to do...)

Love the lick at 3:10. I like the vocals too, in all its rawness. It's believable.

I think the lead needs to come closer to the center. I kinda feel like I shoulda had a V-8, if you remember those old commercials.


Good stuff. Get that bass up.
 
First Listen: Guitar playing good, but a bit sloppy... no offense.

Vocals too loud! You have a good blues voice though. Just back them down a bit. Not something you hear on this forum much, but you do need to compress them or back off on the volume or something. Compression would probably help a great deal.

Good Stevie guitar sound. You have some chops, for sure. The guitar is a little bright, after listening for a while.

Man... a backup vocal hear and there would add a HUGE amount of fullness to this song.

Okay, you can play guitar. We've established that. I can only handle so much soloing before I feel like the whole song's just a vehicle for your showmanship. Give some of the other instruments a chance.

Second listen: Not much of a change in opinion. Little less crispness on the guitar. Compress and lower the vocal track. Tighten things up a bit and let the song go somewhere other than guitar solo/verse/guitar solo/verse/etc.

Sorry to be so negative. It's really not a bad song. You have some real talent on the guitar. I wish I could play like that. Maybe some of your other songs go somewhere else. This one just seems like a four-minute guitar solo with a vocal and some other instruments added so that people will listen to it.

What the hell do I know? My talent can be measured in picolitres.
 
SLuiCe
Thanks man. I was hoping the (excess) verb would help center the guitar a bit. I just hate inching towards that mono mix.

PiltdownMan
No probs man. I'm glad you liked the tune somewhat.

I totally agree about the crispness thing. I'm anxious to move the mic around a bit with the new pre. I'm definately going to try and come up with some backing vocals.

Thanks for checking it out.
 
Doug H said:
I was hoping the (excess) verb would help center the guitar a bit. I just hate inching towards that mono mix.
Click to expand...

I don't know your recording platform, but what I have kinda gotten into the habit of doing is double micing my amp for leads. I use a SM57 at the grill, and a Octava MC012 (which I use mostly for acoustic) a couple feet away. I send them to separate tracks and pan them usually around 35% L and R. I send them both to the same reverb effects buss creating a wider, fuller lead presence. Hopefully that doesn't make you go, gosh I wish I had an effects buss and two mics, because as I said I don't know your gear. But that technique keeps me away from the center, but still keeps the part balanced in the stereo field. I find it especially useful when "soloing" along with vocals.
 
Thanks, I'll check that out. I have only played around with stereo micing, but It sounds like a good idea. Im trying to get a wide presence but keep the panning off center so it only follows...having the extra reverb source is something I hadn't considerred. :)
 
Throught I'd post the remix here instead of starting a new thread. Thanks for all the feedback, getting some fresh direction on this one was great.

I've taken a lot of the comments to heart. I had some stupidly low velocities on the rythym section that I've corrected as well as trying to balance out the mix and reverb a bit. I also did some more pencilling (mostly the drums) to try and get a more ballsey back drop.

I didn't do as much of a low/high cut on the master this time, I'm going to let it sit for a while and a b it with some fresh ears. Hopefully a (hopefully) better mix will hold up to less mid boosting.

Witch
 
man, i love your guitar playing. i've said that before. the drums and the singing are just a backdrop for your crazy guitar playing imo.

i'm surprised no one compares your playing to hendrix. maybe cause he's so revered that is a dangerous thing to say his name.....but you sound kinda like hendrix to me.

you need a real band.
 
erichenryus
Thanks man!
It's a shameless guitar jam alright. To a degree, it's meant to be. I'd have to say the actually song itself isn't spearheading things as much as it should. I've got a touch of embelishment to work into things near the end, maybe that'll kick it a bit.
Thanks for the listen.
 
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