Do you have suggestions for the drums? Mix levels issue, or problems with the actual rhythm programming?
I'd bring snare, toms and cymbals forward. Snare could use more body and crack.
Seems to be enough kick but it lacks presence. More tick in the attack and some snap in the upper mids would probably help.
This isn't a beat-driven tune, so I think simple parts are okay for a demo.
Not really enough of a drummer to advise you specifically about fills or beats.
But it's often true that less is more.
One thing with doing-it-all recording is that it requires learning to shift your focus.
It's all to easy to become fixated on the guitars.
Sometimes you need to think like a drummer, or a bassist.
Other times you really need a producer's perspective, the big picture.
One thing that's helped me when stuck for vocal melodies is to step back and kind of reset my head.
To let a tune rest for a while and come back with a new perspective, approaching it as a singer.
Treat everything else as background - don't think about guitar tone, don't balance the drums. Just sing.
Run the verses again and again, experimenting with melody - and timing.
You're not burning money on studio time; that's an incredible advantage.
Try it a lot of different ways. Record a few variants for listening later.
And do it over the course of a couple days if you can.
Inspiration doesn't always strike in the studio and occasionally great ideas come out in everyday life.
There have been periods in my life when I had to work ordinary non-music-related jobs.
Before cellphones, I always tried to keep a notebook handy to jot those ideas down.
Often after a session's over, an hour or two later I'll find myself unconsciously humming a new part.
Some of my best inspirations have come spontaneously out of the subconscious, rather from forcing the mind.
Not saying it doesn't require dedicated effort, of course; you have to work hard at it.
Just that sometimes really good ideas arrive effortlessly.
I've experienced a similar phenomenon with guitar. Occasionally I'll surprise myself by playing parts I never imagined.
Surely not coming just from brain & hands. Is it my creative mind, working behind the scenes? or the collective unconscious?
Sometimes - in great interaction with other good players - there's an entirely different flavor to the creativity.
As if the music is coming through from somewhere else, rather than out of me. Almost metaphysical, like channeling.
Those are really good moments.
Well, I started a post about process and wound up waxing philosophical about creativity and the flow experience.
I never really know where writing will take me.
As always, constructive feedback welcome!
