Would anyone be able to offer suggestions?

  • Thread starter Thread starter jjnotjayjay
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jjnotjayjay

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Hello everyone!

I'm new here, but this place seems to be exactly what I'm looking for. I've been writing my own music for years, but only over the past 6 months or so have I been seriously recording and mixing my own music.

Everything I've learned so far I've had to teach myself, but I don't know how much further I'm able to take myself without any help.

These are three of my songs that I actually consider "finished," and would love any and all criticisms or suggestions that you could offer. Thank you so much!

Breathing Here
http://rapidshare.com/files/226186272/Breathing_Here.mp3.html

Sleeping Pills
http://rapidshare.com/files/226186273/Sleeping_Pills.mp3.html

Destiny (Tentative Title)
http://rapidshare.com/files/226186274/Destiny.mp3.html


Just fyi, I'm only 16, so my gear is hardly professional. I'm currently using Protools LE w/ an Mbox 2. My two mikes are the Audio-TechnicaAT4040, and the AT2020. For guitars and basses I use a squier strat DI'ed to Guitar Rig 3, and for drums I use BFD 2. I've also only been singing for a couple months, so be nice on the vox ;]
 
I am trying to download your songs right now. Here are a couple links that will be better for everyone:

http://www.soundclick.com

http://www.lightningmp3.com

Both are free, and are more common on this site. Rapidshare has me waiting for 30 seconds before I can even start a download. Major buzz kill.

I attempted Breathing Here, dude... it's 13MB!!!
 
Thanks for pointing that out, I created an account on Soundclick and I'll upload my songs shortly.

The mp3s are 320 kbs, is that too high-quality (if mp3's could ever be called "high quality" :]) for typical uploads on this site? Breathing here is almost six minutes long, hence the size...
 
jjnotjayjay said:
The mp3s are 320 kbs, is that too high-quality
Click to expand...



The free accounts on soundclick only allow you to post up to 128kbps. You'll have to resave the mp3's at that rate. The paid accounts will allow 320kbps.

Let us know when you've got them posted. And welcome to the site.
 
Would anyone mind giving me a couple tips on my mixes? (or songwriting, production, etc.) Thanks!
 
Okay, I listened to Destiny and some of Pills. There's potential for some good songs. You've got a lot of work ahead of you to get these songs to the place you see them being.

The two most obvious improvements you can make are vocals and drums. At the top of the Drums forum is a stickied thread called "Greg's general guide to rock drums" or something like that. Here's a link:

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=273077

Read this thing like the bible. He did a great job writing so even I can understand it. And I think it will take your drum tracks to a new level.

The second improvement is vocals and it's an easy fix... The vocals now are flat and lifeless. The singer puts no emotion into it and is basically just letting the words dribble out. The songs you are singing are little stories or messages and delivery is the main venue for conveying that message. It doesn't matter so much if you can hit the notes, but rather putting some life into the song and making the listener connect with you.

If you search through the MP3 clinic and listen to some songs by joeym, you'll see what I mean about delivery. I'm not saying to follow his style, but note how much emotion he puts into his singing.

Don't worry, you've got a good start and are 80% there. It's all the little fine tuning and small details that will bring up the remaining 20%. :)

Thanks for sharing your tunes!!
 
Chili said:
Okay, I listened to Destiny and some of Pills. There's potential for some good songs. You've got a lot of work ahead of you to get these songs to the place you see them being.

The two most obvious improvements you can make are vocals and drums. At the top of the Drums forum is a stickied thread called "Greg's general guide to rock drums" or something like that. Here's a link:

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=273077

Read this thing like the bible. He did a great job writing so even I can understand it. And I think it will take your drum tracks to a new level.

The second improvement is vocals and it's an easy fix... The vocals now are flat and lifeless. The singer puts no emotion into it and is basically just letting the words dribble out. The songs you are singing are little stories or messages and delivery is the main venue for conveying that message. It doesn't matter so much if you can hit the notes, but rather putting some life into the song and making the listener connect with you.

If you search through the MP3 clinic and listen to some songs by joeym, you'll see what I mean about delivery. I'm not saying to follow his style, but note how much emotion he puts into his singing.

Don't worry, you've got a good start and are 80% there. It's all the little fine tuning and small details that will bring up the remaining 20%. :)

Thanks for sharing your tunes!!
Click to expand...

I actually used BFD 2 for the drums, as I can't drum to save my life. I played all the instruments on the songs, including the songs. I'm thinking about

You're spot on about the vocals, there isn't any emotion at all. I really need to work on my singing ability.

Aside from the vocals, is the mix alright? Thanks for the comments!
 
Sleeping Pills:

Vocal is too quiet, bass guitar is too loud.

This is a very very cool sounding song.
 
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