Working to a deadline...

[Cooperman]

Background Info: Three weeks ago I was sent the forms for the 2001 WA Song Contest... the deadline for entries being tomorrow! I've spent all my spare time over the last week getting this song together to enter.. I was up until 1.30am last night (had to be at uni at 9.00am this morning) mixing the prick. Here's my effort...

http://listeningroom.lycos.com/fan/bands/cooperman/Song_20066.html

As normal I'm playing everything - but I got a guy in to do vocals on this one for me.

 

[drstawl]

Another head-banger that worked. The only complaint I have about the mix would be the drums sounded a tad weak for this style of music. I also thought the lyrics (the words, not the vocals) didn't grab me the way Dio's "The Last in Line" still reverberates inside me 16 years later. But the guitars caught some nice crunchy textures and you mixed the vocals in properly. Good luck in the contest!

 

[Meshuggah]

haha.. you old thrasher... That guitarsound gives me evil flashback from early thrashmetal... so does the.. er.. "singer" (to be honest, which I hope you appreciate.. he sucks)

I agree with Doc that it lacks some bottom to it..

In general it's good riffing and very nice drumprogramming.. good song / cheesy lyrics.

Keep it up Coop, and good luck

 

[Cooperman]

Thanks for taking a listen... about the low end... I only listened to the mp3 through my crappy computer speakers before uploading it so it was hard to know how much low end was there... I was just looking at the freq spectrum of the mp3 on Winamp and you are right... there isn't very much low end... there is A LOT more low end though on the full quality version, especially in the 20-50Hz region ...almost too much I thought. It must have magically disappeared in the encoding... I really do hate mp3's ...I had to encode at 160kbps otherwise the cymbals start getting chewed up real bad... I tried SCMPX and MusicMatch (not sure if they use the same algorithm) and SCMPX did the better job on this track with the cymbals but obviously I've lost the low end on it. On other tracks MusicMatch works better...

To address the lyrics... the vocalist wrote most of them (hehe it's always good to blame someone else ) but I suggest you rent out a movie with the same name as the song starring Julian Sands and Lori Singer (I think)... it's loosely based on that movie... I agree to a certain extent that they are cheesey... but the movie was cheesey too

Thanks again for listening... I've got a couple of weeks off over christmas... maybe I can come up with another evil thrash metal flashback for you

 

[James HE]

very cool Cooperman. Laughing and headbanging I am. "Warlock" (right tune right?) The cymbals are nice and trashy, the toms fills tight and focused. Some low end in there is needed, but what can you do... it's mp3. I like it for what it is... don't change a thing...

-jhe

 

[gibs]

I like the guy's vocal but I agree about the cheddar lyrics...yeah more bottom on the drums, but like James HE said, the cymbals were cool...didja use fruityloops with those zippy drums files you posted a while back?...that's probably why I liked the cymbals....the usual fruityloops cymbals bite.....well executed and performed tune, excellent timing and catchy (if thrash can be catchy} riffs....gibs

By the way, song contest judges don't often get to hear such good mixes...this recording will probably be welcome to their ears....

 

[Cooperman]

Thanks for listening James and gibs... I've listened to the CD I burned of this on two different stereos at home and on tape in the car and the low end pumps... if anyone has any other suggestions for mp3 encoders that work half decent at 128 or 160kbps please let me know.

All the drums are fruity loops using half the samples I posted and half the ones dmcsilva posted ages ago... oh and the crash sample is the one from the 2 Dudes website... I just change the pitch slightly for variation. But I could never find a snare or kick drum sample I liked... so I actually use two samples simultaneously on all my snare and kick drum hits... I also created in Sound Forge a new sample that simulates hitting both sticks on the snare at the same time like you'd if you were playing a real kit... I'm not sure if anyone picked that up... I'm gonna work on a realistic sounding cymbal stab soon... you know one where you hit the crash but then mute it with your hand... another tip for Fruity Loopers out there is to mess with the dynamics of your ride and hi hat... I usually go through and make subtle volume changes on hits that occur on a beat of whatever to give it a bit more "feel"... man I could go on forever about ideas for Fruity Loops

gibs.... thanks for the nod on the timing thing... it takes me a lot of hard work and practice to get the 6 guitars that I layer to sound that tight

 

[jet-rocker]

The guitars sound nice and tight. Hardly any odds and ends from the layers sticking out. The bass is hiding... somewhere. The drums are quite good for Fruity Loops.
The vox are middle of the road. The song works and it will do in a pinch.

-Jett Rocker