My bands third demo if anyones interested...

[Low_fidelity2100]

Re: My bands third demo if anyones interested...

CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM: Im listening to my 80$ studio monitors. I figure someone else will say it sounds great right after this post, but dude your vocals have some sort of filter/phaser/distortion on em that muddles the mix up when the distorted guitars guitars kick in for the chorus VOCALS part. the snare needs compression and eq. pretty repetitive song so it helps if you can tell what the singer is singing.

Hmm, I wonder if the vocals "muddling" up the mix during the chorus' could be cause the vocals are triple tracked at that point (Left right and center only doubled during the verses')? Maybe the problem? Or just eq? Any suggestions? I agree it does sound a bit muddy when the vocals are going at the same time as the chorus guitars...like clashing frequencies or something?
As far as Eq'ing the Snare...Kinda hard to do when Ya just use over heads on the drums. I don't have enough inputs to mic each drum separately. Not even enough to mic the snare separately...can only record two tracks at a time.

Anyways...Repetition is fairly common in most popular music, so meh...I can't think of any music I'd actually want to listen to that doesn't have the typical verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus structure (with a few exceptions). So That doesn't bug me.

I'm listening through a 50 dollar set of Altec Lansing computer speakers. From a casual listener's standpoint, I'd like to hear the vocals louder during the big chorus part.

Really dig the guitar in the pre-chorus.

I know this isn't the comparison you are probably looking for, but the vocals in the chorus sound like if Scott Weiland was abused by his father as a youth. And I mean that in a good way! It's like Scott Weiland's voice mixed with Jonathan Davis from early Korn's aggression. I really dig it. Someone commented that the song is repetitive but I dig songs like that... shows you have confidence in the riffs being catchy and the vocalist being able to add in the necessary variety. Besides, Led Zep is incredibly repetitive sounding to me and they made a ton of bank.

Awesome songs, bring 'dem vocals up!

Big Muff for the big guitar choruses?

Haha, Scott Weiland if he were abused as a kid! haha...thats awesome...Thats a really weird compliment. But thanks!
I guess the vocals do need to come up, maybe...I dunno, haha...Everyone here seems to think so, so a bunch of people saying the same thing can't be wrong. haha. Do you think its that they need to be louder, or Eq'ed differently, or something else? Personally I feel like they're loud enough, but like everdrone said, muddy up the mix during the chorus'. Which makes them appear to be quieter than they are. But I have been wrong before, so I dunno. haha.

Anyways...Theres Eight guitars going during the chorus, haha...Five Rhythm guitars, and three of the "lead" guitars (if you can call those leads)....The Rhythm Guitars are...a Tele w/gfs lil' killers (wired parallel) through a Swollen Pickle centered, a different tele (single coil)through a russian muff into on the left, a 335 through the swollen pickle on the right, all into my Fender Concert. Also The Tele with GFS into a BBE Green Screamer into my Bassman panned 50% right, and the 335 into the same setup panned 50% left. The leads are All the GFS Tele into the BBE and the Swollen Pickle into the Fender Concert, one track with Chorus, one with Reverb and one with Delay.

Its sorta ridiculous really.

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: My bands third demo if anyones interested...

I think maybe what I think of as good sounding Pro-mixes, might not be the same as what your thinking of?

You couldn't be more wrong. I'm listening in my studio and I can't make out what you're saying. The single note guitar part in the chorus is obliterating your vocals and the verse vocal is too low. I'm giving you professional feedback, it's okay if you don't want to take it but I'm trying to help you because I like your music.

Have you compressed the vocal hard? If not I would. One thing needs to be the focal point of the mix and that is the vocals, they are not as it stands.

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: My bands third demo if anyones interested...



Listen to where the lead guitar lines are in relationship to the vocals and how you can hear every word.

This track from Hunky Dory since you mentioned it.

 

[Low_fidelity2100]

Re: My bands third demo if anyones interested...

You couldn't be more wrong. I'm listening in my studio and I can't make out what you're saying. The single note guitar part in the chorus is obliterating your vocals and the verse vocal is too low. I'm giving you professional feedback, it's okay if you don't want to take it but I'm trying to help you because I like your music.

Have you compressed the vocal hard? If not I would. One thing needs to be the focal point of the mix and that is the vocals, they are not as it stands.

Yeah, It might just be my ears I guess, haha...I dunno...I do appreciate your feedback man, don't get me wrong. I've been told that Sometimes the way I word things I come off as being ****ty, so please don't take it that way.

So in you're professional Opinion...what should I do with the Vocal? Eq? Volume? Compression? Drop the single note guitar parts lower during that part? Remove one of the Tripled Vocal? All of the above? Something completely different? haha...At this point, I'll try whatever you suggest if you think it'll make this sound its best.

I have already compressed the vocal pretty hard during the chorus', not as much so during the verses, but still a pretty hard comp there too.

 

[Low_fidelity2100]

Re: My bands third demo if anyones interested...

Listen to where the lead guitar lines are in relationship to the vocals and how you can hear every word.

This track from Hunky Dory since you mentioned it.

Ok. So after listening to those here, instead of my car (where I listen to most music normally)...I see what you're saying a bit more. The Vocals are very dominant. I'm thinking my feelings of the vocals sounding wrong to me, when they're too loud, might be due to the eq, reverb, and tripling I did...So any suggestions for eq, and reverb would be greatly appreciated. Unless you theres something else ya think I should do instead? I've heard you're stuff, and dig it a bunch, so I really would appreciate any advice you're willing to give me.

 

[joelap]

Re: My bands third demo if anyones interested...

Nice! Some pickle action! original/reissue/clone?

I've got a Black Russian muff I modified to pickle specs. Tried to use it on my bands EP on a couple songs. It just wasn't jiving with the main rhythm tracks no matter how many times I tried. Seems like the pickle just needs to be on its own or double tracked with another muff-variant.

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: My bands third demo if anyones interested...

Two things would help a lot right now. Turn up the verse vocals by about 3 or 4 dbs, pan that lead guitar line in the chorus to the left at about 9 or 10 o'clock and lower all of the chorus guitars by 4 dbs...just a guess there. As far as eq for the vocals I would just put a low cut on all of them at about 120Hz to 150Hz and boost by 1.5 dbs at 2200Khz, 7400Khz, and 9400Khz. Then I would set up a plate reverb, a room reverb and some delay and apply all of those to taste on the vocals.

 

[Low_fidelity2100]

Re: My bands third demo if anyones interested...

Nice! Some pickle action! original/reissue/clone?

I've got a Black Russian muff I modified to pickle specs. Tried to use it on my bands EP on a couple songs. It just wasn't jiving with the main rhythm tracks no matter how many times I tried. Seems like the pickle just needs to be on its own or double tracked with another muff-variant.

Its one of the Reissue Mkii ones. The Scoop knob is the main reason I bought it, I love the sound of muff's for huge chorus guitars (ala Siamese dream), but the mid scoop of most muffs just makes them unusable with a band, or without massive post eq. But in addition to having the mids control, the SP is just a 10 times better muff than anything Eh makes now, haha. Its pretty groovy.

 

[Low_fidelity2100]

Re: My bands third demo if anyones interested...

Two things would help a lot right now. Turn up the verse vocals by about 3 or 4 dbs, pan that lead guitar line in the chorus to the left at about 9 or 10 o'clock and lower all of the chorus guitars by 4 dbs...just a guess there. As far as eq for the vocals I would just put a low cut on all of them at about 120Hz to 150Hz and boost by 1.5 dbs at 2200Khz, 7400Khz, and 9400Khz. Then I would set up a plate reverb, a room reverb and some delay and apply all of those to taste on the vocals.

Thank you sir! I am now going to go do those exact things, and post the results. Hopefully this will help bring it closer to completion, haha...We've already got most of the tracks recorded for the next demo, so everyones bugging me to "finish" this one.

 

[Low_fidelity2100]

Re: My bands third demo if anyones interested...

Two things would help a lot right now. Turn up the verse vocals by about 3 or 4 dbs, pan that lead guitar line in the chorus to the left at about 9 or 10 o'clock and lower all of the chorus guitars by 4 dbs...just a guess there. As far as eq for the vocals I would just put a low cut on all of them at about 120Hz to 150Hz and boost by 1.5 dbs at 2200Khz, 7400Khz, and 9400Khz. Then I would set up a plate reverb, a room reverb and some delay and apply all of those to taste on the vocals.

Ok, I tried doing exactly what you suggested...and I gotta admit it does sound a whole **** load better. So thanks! Lemme know what ya think of this mix...

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=671442&songID=9692120

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: My bands third demo if anyones interested...

Its one of the Reissue Mkii ones. The Scoop knob is the main reason I bought it, I love the sound of muff's for huge chorus guitars (ala Siamese dream), but the mid scoop of most muffs just makes them unusable with a band, or without massive post eq. But in addition to having the mids control, the SP is just a 10 times better muff than anything Eh makes now, haha. Its pretty groovy.

i use a little big muff, but usually only with an overdrive boosting it. i wouldn't know how well that particular setup mixes with a band as i haven't tried it, but i'm sure it would be similar to what you're describing with the MkII.

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: My bands third demo if anyones interested...

Better! I would raise the verse vocal another 2 dbs and that solo guitar in the chorus is still ripping my head off in a bad way. It's very shrill, try low cuts on all the guitars at 120 Hz and high cuts at 11,000Khz - if you've boosted the eq on that guitar at around 2200Khz back it off also lower the volume another 3dbs or so.

Just a side note, it's better to cut frequencies that aren't needed first then if you need something to stick out a bit you can boost the right frequency.

 

[threechordcharlie]

Re: My bands third demo if anyones interested...

I liked it. I was picturing a spaghetti western type scene in my mind, and then this rock and roll banshee dive bombed the scene. I liked it.
Dude all you need is some low end je'vos on the bass and to find some way to control the "room Sound" that got recorded with the drum track. Try running some kind of noise filter on the overhead mikes used on the drum track. ....just my oppinion....

 

[Low_fidelity2100]

Re: My bands third demo if anyones interested...

Better! I would raise the verse vocal another 2 dbs and that solo guitar in the chorus is still ripping my head off in a bad way. It's very shrill, try low cuts on all the guitars at 120 Hz and high cuts at 11,000Khz - if you've boosted the eq on that guitar at around 2200Khz back it off also lower the volume another 3dbs or so.

Just a side note, it's better to cut frequencies that aren't needed first then if you need something to stick out a bit you can boost the right frequency.

K, I'll give it a try. I can't thank you enough for all the advice man, you've been a huge huge help. I'll keep that "better to cut than to raise frequencies" in mind in the future.

 

[Low_fidelity2100]

Re: My bands third demo if anyones interested...

Alright, well I got what I think is the Final Mix up now...Feel Free to check it out...I also updated the past two demo's I put up on there too...Applied some of the things that were done to this one to make it better...so feel free to listen to those also.

 

[Wattage]

Re: My bands third demo if anyones interested...

I like your tunes, good writing, real cohesive.