Work in progress... pop punk

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The player on the page doesn't seem to work when I click it, wait, click wait, click wait, get annoyed close page add comment!
 
The player on the page doesn't seem to work when I click it, wait, click wait, click wait, get annoyed close page add comment!

Ah, it was a direct link to the MP3. Maybe they've killed that link because they don't like hotlinking... Clicking the download button takes you straight to the MP3, or this is a new working link...
 
First off...lol at Outerspacefaggot for this comment (see how far it's taken them......... lol). Well mister big pop-punk star, how was your last world tour, what chart position does your latest single have, any groupies you can spare for a 50-year old heavy metal fucker like me....?? :p
Grow up and learn to appreciate music for what it is: either good or bad.

OK, end of rant....sorry mattr

I don't care what genre this fits into, it sounds great to me and I'd love to hear it with vocals and I DO hope they sound like Avril Lavigne. The mix is great, I love your guitar sound and the thing rocks. Hope you post when it's finished.

Joey :):):):)
 
Ignoring the genre dispute going on, here is a second rough mix with (hopefully) some of the original issues solved...

Kira? (2nd rough mix, some scratch vox tracks)

Rhythm guitars?
Louder. More bottom end. Run through the UAD Fairchild (the 14 day trial beckoned me, and now I guess I'm going to have to cough up the $150!)

Drums?
Quieter in mix, but tried to keep transients intact and punchy. Drums are still quite prominent to be honest, but that's part of this style. Rewritten some parts in places to make fills a bit more realistic. Got a bit carried away with compressing the room mics (sounds a bit weird saying that when its fake drums!) and ended up bringing the cymbals forward too much in the mix. Again, something else on my list to sort!

Lead guitar parts?
Recovered some of the parts that were 'lost' in the last rough mix. Some bits (tapping part before second chorus) are now a bit too loud... need to sort this (the tapping needs to be retracked anyway to be tighter).

Bass?
Still not sure here :) I've got an awful monitoring setup and can't afford the pair of KRK RP6s I've been hankering after at the moment. I'm finding it really hard to judge the bass at the moment, as my 'monitors' roll off at around 100hz (and my untreated room gives a nice boom around 125hz)... not ideal!

Vocals?
Obviously not to everyones tastes! Thought it actually sounded a bit like Hellogoodbye in the intro. These are just scratch tracks that we did quickly to see how things would sit in the mix (and also whether vocals recorded in my untreated and bad-sounding bedroom would be acceptable!). I've been given a run-through of the final vocals and its going to be a Four Year Strong style thing, with a snappy call and response thing going on between two vocalists in the verses.

Entire mix?
Still pushed into a limiter (or two :)). I don't like the loudness wars, but I do push the levels a bit (especially when they're just going to end up as 64kbps MP3s on Myspace). There's no audible pumping, apart from maybe where I experimented with sidechaining a compressor on the rhythm parts (to the kick and snare) in the subtle attempt to slightly duck them to allow the drums to punch through. I think I've done an acceptable job at keeping it punchy, but I'm open for other opinions...



EDIT... if someone could do me a big big favour :)... As I mentioned above, my current monitoring setup is really letting my down and I'm having a hard time judging the low end of this track. This is a link to another version of this mix with slightly more bass. If someone could compare the two (3b and 3c) and suggest which one is more 'balanced' then that would be great! I have a feeling 3b might be a bit muddy in the low end. I went to a verrry loud gig last night, so my hearing is a bit off today anyway! Cheers.
 
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bit too much bass in the second one for my liking...apart from that the mix sounded great to me..I think you've done a polished job of it so far
 
Just wow.

There's so much right about this tune and the arrangement...especially the use of space in the R&L guits that let me hear the reflections of the virtual room. A very comfortable mental image.

And I love the bass growl and the absolute pumpitudinosity of the sounds and mix. This work really moves my senses.

My only nit:

Kinda the same as before...guitar features like the tap solo and octave parts, between vocal parts are withdrawn. I like to hear them, at a perceived level as being about equal to the vocal level ...standing-in for the vocal, while the it takes a rest...and the feature guits function to draw the ear to that showcase in the CTR....sort of a continuous line of melody and action to keep the momentum and CTR focus. As it is, the feature parts become part of the background...and fade to a clutter-like function....instead of saying 'dig me' like the vocal. My own thing.

But that's my only problem with it, for me. And in this pumping version, the mechanical drums sound fine and rightious. Super tight. All the good stuff I said before. But it's way better this time. I don't care about the label: good is good.

Wicked lots of applause. Wish I could make a rock recording sound like that.

ps...I listened first w/ phones....then on my KRK's at two levels. All good. And the big bass doesn't fall apart or moo like a cow in my environment...prone to do that to a big-bottomed mix like this. You done it right. Can I take a lesson?

pps: I didn't bother with the heavier bass mix. Any more than you have in the first link would be too much, I'm certain.
 
I'm listening to the new mix. This is super slick. Some of the most polished stuff I've heard on the board.

Sounds really good. Your drummer is obviously influenced by Travis Barker, and he sounds very good. Sounds like a Blink 182/Yellowcard/AGI thing. Hate the finger tapping in the guitar solo, but that's me. In fact, the whole thing is a bit too sweet for my taste, but on a purely technical level, and especially for a home recording, it sounds really very good. I'm one of the older dudes on the forum, so admittedly, there might be a generation gap.

This has alot of commercial "potential". The only thing that keeps it from that maybe is lack of a strong chorus. I've listened to it twice, and I still couldn't tell you what the chorus is. There seems to be alot more music than singing, which may or may not be a good thing when it comes to this type of music. Again, this is not really my thing, so I might be off target.
 
This isn't a genre that I'm particularly a fan of, but I think your recording is good. Sounds just like a lot of stuff I hear on the radio, if that's what you're after. It makes me just want to change the channel, but then I'm just an old F*%K. I think it's punchy and the vocals sound good to me. I AM a fan of good guitar playing, and you slammed that.
 
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Not bad. I'd almost call this light punk alternative. I think you have a good start to a good song.
 
Great Song ;) All that its missing is a BIG rhtyhm sound, something that will blow somebody's head away (well..maybe not that much) A little more *umph* out of the rhythm guitar and it'll be perfect IMO
 
I know I'm a little late to this party, but I listened to the second version three times now and I love this stuff! this is kinda the direction my band is going, so it's good to know that I might be able to get a few usable tracks for us! I really want to hear a version with full vox, I bet it smokes!
 
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