"Yonder Mountain" MURDER SONG Feedback welcome!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jason Chinchen
  • Start date Start date
J

Jason Chinchen

Made of rubber...
Hey all. Been a while since I have been here. Switched to a mac recently and had to leave Sonar behind.. :(
Still saving up for better software that is compatible with my mac but been using Garage Band as a stop gap program to record new songs...I have also been messing with the banjo as a way to write songs.

Please take a listen and let me know what you think about this Bluegrass/Folk/Rock ditty.

It is another murder song.......I recorded all of the parts myself.

I used:

Macbook pro
Alesis multimix firewire 12
Tannoy monitors and sub
Shitty banjo
Homemade custom guitar(I used to be a luthier)
GB shaker and "electric" guitar amp, crickets.
All my Vocals
Crappy tambourine

Yonder Mountain mix 2 by JasonChinchen on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

EDIT: FINAL MIX Here: http://soundcloud.com/jasonchinchen/yonder-mountain-final-cut

I burned this to CD and played it through my home entertainment system and the vocals were way hot but not on my Tannoy's....Cant figure out why...maybe something with the conversion process to MP3

Any input on proper burning techniques with GB, mix, etc. would be nice...

Thanks for listening!!
 
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The vocals def are way, way forward & clipping or something a bit here and there and the sibiliance is hard on the ears.
I like song and most of the arrangement.
there's not much in the way of a stereo sound stage until the bvox come in.
Once the acoutic guitar is in you ought to spread the nabjo & it at least to 10 & 2 O'clock if not further.
The electric guitar is too loud & the effect is to harsh as well - what's being played is cool enough but the panning & trem throw it all over the place. When the solo is over it's still to prominent in the mix.
The crickets & gun fire are cool but you'll have to work out how to make the gun not bury everything else that's going on at the same time.
 
I agree with the previous comment that the instruments need to be separated with some panning.
I love the song though, nice traditional folk feel.
 
Thanks for taking the time to listen.
Ill work on a new mix, still waiting for my bass player to come back to town...
Jason
 
Usually with guitars and banjo, they need to be panned a little more to get them separated.

How did you mic the banjo and guitar? Banjo sounds a little distant, which could be cool for the haunting feel of the song. The guitar is a bit dull sounding, and needs some punch and power, and some highs.

your voice sounds cool! Not typical for this style of music, but it sounds great. A little pitchy in a few parts though.

I also like the rhythm part way through, I'd bring it down a little, and bring the guitar forward more.

Nice song, I really like it. You got anything else?
 
Thanks for the feedback Aaron. I recorded the acoustic instruments and vocals with a chinese condenser in my daughters room....

I panned out the guitar and banjo a bit more, beefed up the guitar and like it better. I also brought down the rhythm section a bit. Good advice from everyone here so far.

I will be re-tracking the vocals. I know there are some spotty sections....

Thanks for the compliments on my voice. You can hear more of my songs at my reverberation site.
 
Hey Jason

I listen to a lot of alt-country/bluegrass stuff and this is really on the money - Its got a bit of Avett Brothers vocals to it, but lyrically sounds like something Nick Cave would have written - great

As I am listening I really want the lead work to stay still. I'd keep the banjo centre, have the ac G left (a bit further out from where it is) eq bottom off it and maybe just strum and stab for impact. Then bring B Vox and lead in on right.

I love the lead work, but it could do with a bit of thicken with delay or a doubler.

You sound like you've got a lot of drum in the banjo - when single mic it you can afford to aim further up the neck, as the 'pluck of the drum' looks after it self (in terms of volume) and doesn't create the same sort of deficit as lack of body in an a guitar. I use 2 mics and blend, but there is no doubt that banjo is one of the more 'thankless' instruments to record. I get a whole load of blankets up to kill any 'room' there might be and close mic as possible. Another trick I have started doing is using a transient shaper to bring up the attack - I use Stillwells Transient Monster - best $50 I spent - great on percussion too.

I loved GarageBand and there is a lot to get out of it if you look beyond the surface and start editing the plugs - I use Logic express now which I still think if you are producing more acoustic music and don't want to pay TDM prices for plugins is amazing value.

Cheers
Burt
 
Good bass tone for the song.
I quite like the banjo tone but I also trust WMSay.
The electric REALLY needs to be steadied: disconcerting is good for the narrative BUT it's also distracts from the narrative. Also, the notes that don't trigger the effect in a big way simply disappear into the mix so a bit of solidity might help.
Oh, yeah, Nick would like the narrative & he did stuff like this on Murder Ballads & in a lesser way on Kicking Against the Pricks or My Funeral Your Trial.
If you want to get into his really weird murder period stuff try his The Bad Seed EP (written around the time he wrote And the Ass Saw the Angel (have you read that book - loved it: REAL deep in the swamp stuff). It was later taken as the name for the new backing band but was an end of Birthday Party/almost solo EP. Sonny's Burning, Deep In The Woods, Wild World - the whole EP is drenched in stuff that made Country Death Song sound tame (but I really like the V Femmes at that point in their development & CDSong is fabulous).
Where was I... good development BUT perhaps you ought to at least experiment with some of WMSay's suggestions - couldn't hurt after all.
Please post any chages!
I'll have a country song up in a week or two. Well pretty trad except for the narrative. It won't have the alt. edge of this.
 
Thanks you guys! I am working on a new mix with a steady lead, and some other changes. I do not like the new vocals I put down in a hurry. Will re-re-track those also and maybe even the backing vocals when I get a bit of quiet around the house.

Thanks for the tips! I will be listening to some Nick Cave now....
 
Cool song. Keep working and show us what you get.
 
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