Looking for some extra ears.

[Tristan Needler]

Hi everyone. Hopefully this kind of post doesn't annoy anyone.

I recently wrote the first song I've ever written, and I've just "finished" recording and mixing it. I want to know everyone's opinion on it. Not just the music, but more the sound, tones, mix, etc. I know there's tons of musicians of all sorts in here from writers and performers to engineers and producers.

So take a listen and don't be afraid to let me have it. Tell me where my guitar tone is shitty, where my riffs sound bad, where there's too much reverb, where there's not enough, where the bass should be bassier, punchier, whatever. I want suggestions on how to improve this mix and my recording and mixing techniques in general.

Here's the link: http://www.sendspace.com/file/p5ijqb (don't get this unless you really want to hear the first mix)

Thanks a ton in advance.



EDIT:

I've done a new mix of it; if anyone wants to listen, it's right here: http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?p=27888842#post27888 842 (third page of this thread). No need to listen to the first mix to critique the second haha.



EDIT 2:


Alright, this is the last one I'll post here probably. Hopefully I don't need to tweak too much, but any and all suggestions are appreciated! http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?p=29356532#post29356 532

[7dollarsox.com]

hey man!

SWEET harmonica.

i think the vox could do with a little more compression, and i think the chorus could use a little vocal doubling. but i think that stuff is a little more relative.

i dont know if you recorded the drums yourself or if they were done in reason or something, but im not a fan of the overall sound of them.

also, on the rhythm guitar, it sounds like you might be rushing it just a little.


other than those minor things, i think you have yerself quite the catchy song! :)

feel free to to critique my stuff too! myspace.com/frenchieistotallyrockandroll

just the first two, though, i know the other songs need work. they were more just fer fun! :)

[Tristan Needler]

Thanks!

I'm not too good at mixing vocals, so I was having trouble there deciding what to do. I'll have to mess with them a bit more. Unfortunately, I only have drum samples from a free vst sampler (Proteus VX) that came with my recording stuff. They are garbage, but it's the about the best I can do. Any ideas on how to mix them to make them a little better?

By the rhythm, do you mean the acoustic? Or the electric?



Sadly, Cubase decided to forget all my plugin settings so I have to start from scratch again as far as mixing goes.

[brandnew741]

Hey. Sounds pretty decent overall.
On the vox, I'd try adding a little more reverb and lowering the volume a little bit. They need to blend in a little better.
The drums sound pretty thin, but they're samples so you're a little more limited. Maybe you can compress and EQ the kick a little bit to give it a little more punch. You could also try parallel compression (new york style) to beef them up a little bit.
Harmonica sounds good.
I think the lead guitar should blend in a little better. I think it sits on top of the mix a little too much.

Overall, you've got a good sounding mix going. Good for being your first song too.

[7dollarsox.com]

when i do vocals, i cant sing all that strongly, so i a pretty much always double vocals, just a preference, but standard to a lot of bands.

as far as making drum samples sounding more realistic ill pm you a little secret that i use.

and i mean acoustic!


is cubase any good? i use pro tools le. not cause im dedicated, but because its been pretty easy so far and i dont like to mess with something if it works.
does cubase come with a grid mode?

[Tristan Needler]

I like it a lot, although I haven't used any other software to compare it to. Mine is an LE as well that came bundled with my interface. What exactly do you mean by grid mode? I'm not quite sure if I have it or not. Nothing by that specific name as far as I know.


Thanks for the suggestions guys. I wouldn't have thought about doubling the vocals before. So basically you mean record it twice, and pan them hard left and right? I also wouldn't have noticed things like the electric not blending well enough, but now that you mention it, it's hard to miss. I've listened to it so many times that I only hear the small problems and not the big ones. I'll get around to working on some of this stuff next week hopefully, after I write my paper and exams. Thanks!

[Jesse!]

I actually thing the mix is pretty good. With some minor tweaks it could be great.

-The lead guitar tone is REALLY boring and bland. I would go for something more interesting in pretty much any direction... it might be cool to have a really warm tone. Maybe neck pickup bass up a bit treble down a bit... I don't mind the way it's mixed but perhaps a little less volume wouldn't hurt.
-The rhythm guitar tone sounds great I think and is mixed pretty well. They might be a bit louder than acoustic-focused rhythm is usually mixed but since there's not much else going on I don't think it's an issue.
-The piano tone is pretty MIDI sounding (not good) - I also think the parts are played awkwardly (did you quantize them?)
-The drums actually don't bother me at all... for the song I think they do what's needed. They certainly don't bite hard and you don't even notice them most of the time, but maybe that's cool.
-The bass is a little muddy. Might be a tone thing, might be an EQ thing. I can't really tell.
-The vocals definitely need some reverb and can be pushed back a little. They're way in the front and it's not that weird but I think would sound better back a little more.
-Harmonica I think sounds good and is mixed well.

[Jesse!]

I wouldn't have thought about doubling the vocals before. So basically you mean record it twice, and pan them hard left and right?

No need to pan in opposite directions unless that's the effect you're going for - typically doubled (or layered) vocals are kept on top of each other for a different effect (one in which most people can't even tell it's happening). It gives a fuller tone, but isn't always the best approach as sometimes it takes a bit of the natural beauty out of someone's voice.

But yea - record twice. Pay very special attention towards making sure everything you do (and I mean EVERYTHING) while singing the second time is identical to the first time. You can also layer way more than two vocal tracks, and this isn't uncommon. If you listen to a band like Tegan and Sara, there are often like 3-5 vocal layers all doing the same thing at any given time.

[7dollarsox.com]

you would definitely know if there was grid mode, its like a visual click track; it keeps everything locked in time a little better. i like it for some things like drums!

[Tristan Needler]

you would definitely know if there was grid mode, its like a visual click track; it keeps everything locked in time a little better. i like it for some things like drums!
Oh yeah, I have the "time" displayed as 'bars and beats' so I can see where things are from the divisions in the background rather than when.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f87/tristanisneat/untitled-4.jpg


That top track is also a marker track which I just used for the first time on this recording. Helps me know where I am in the song when I'm recording acoustic guitar and stuff like that where it's just the same thing over and over for most of the song.

Here's a MIDI track. Some of the snare hits look off, but that's because I quantized it with a swing. But that didn't get saved, so the lines just went back to straight 8ths even though the notes still have the swing.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f87/tristanisneat/untitled2.jpg

Sorry those are probably blurry, but oh well.

[bassdrummer2333]

sounds pretty good man, drums didn't bother me too much, harmonica is sweet, it's a really good quality demo, what equipment do you use?

[TheSkyline]

Sounds pretty good dude, I really like the song btw.

I would say the harmonica needs to bleed in and out of the mix a little better, and the lead guitar licks are a little bland. Also a little more reverb or something on the vocals. Besides that it sounds great!

[Tristan Needler]

-The lead guitar tone is REALLY boring and bland. I would go for something more interesting in pretty much any direction... it might be cool to have a really warm tone. Maybe neck pickup bass up a bit treble down a bit... I don't mind the way it's mixed but perhaps a little less volume wouldn't hurt.
-The piano tone is pretty MIDI sounding (not good) - I also think the parts are played awkwardly (did you quantize them?)
-The bass is a little muddy. Might be a tone thing, might be an EQ thing. I can't really tell.
Yeah, I'm not a guitarist by any means so I don't know much about finding good guitar tones. I'll try playing around with it some more. Unfortunately, out of the piano samples I had, that one was the best sounding to me. The rest seemed to have a little less bite, or I don't know what you'd call it for a piano. I didn't do much to it though. I'll try a little more EQ to see how it fits. I don't know how to play piano at all, so I just made shit up. I've never tried to play a piano part before in my life, so that's probably why it's kind of off. I didn't quantize it though, because the song "swings" a lot and it would have been kind of strange to find the right quantize setting. Funny you mention that about the bass. I'm a bassist mainly, so I always fight with myself on how high in the mix to make it. I tried chopping out some of the mud, but I guess I wasn't ruthless enough.

sounds pretty good man, drums didn't bother me too much, harmonica is sweet, it's a really good quality demo, what equipment do you use?Thanks! I recorded with my IBM laptop, EMU 0202 USB interface, SM57 on the vocals, acoustic, and harp, DI bass and electric with a bundled amp modleing plugin to make it sound slightly less shitty, the piano came from a bundled soft synth called Proteus VX, and the drums came have from Proteus VX and half from another drum VSTi that comes with Cubase LE, which is the sequencer I use.

Sounds pretty good dude, I really like the song btw.

I would say the harmonica needs to bleed in and out of the mix a little better, and the lead guitar licks are a little bland. Also a little more reverb or something on the vocals. Besides that it sounds great!Thank you! I'm not a lead guitarist by any means, so I just shat out whatever licks I could. Pretty much everything in the song besides the acoustic and the piano chords earlier in the song was improvised to some extent.

[TheSkyline]

Yeah, I'm not a guitarist by any means so I don't know much about finding good guitar tones. I'll try playing around with it some more. Unfortunately, out of the piano samples I had, that one was the best sounding to me. The rest seemed to have a little less bite, or I don't know what you'd call it for a piano. I didn't do much to it though. I'll try a little more EQ to see how it fits. I don't know how to play piano at all, so I just made shit up. I've never tried to play a piano part before in my life, so that's probably why it's kind of off. I didn't quantize it though, because the song "swings" a lot and it would have been kind of strange to find the right quantize setting. Funny you mention that about the bass. I'm a bassist mainly, so I always fight with myself on how high in the mix to make it. I tried chopping out some of the mud, but I guess I wasn't ruthless enough.

Thanks! I recorded with my IBM laptop, EMU 0202 USB interface, SM57 on the vocals, acoustic, and harp, DI bass and electric with a bundled amp modleing plugin to make it sound slightly less shitty, the piano came from a bundled soft synth called Proteus VX, and the drums came have from Proteus VX and half from another drum VSTi that comes with Cubase LE, which is the sequencer I use.

Thank you! I'm not a lead guitarist by any means, so I just shat out whatever licks I could. Pretty much everything in the song besides the acoustic and the piano chords earlier in the song was improvised to some extent.


Haha I know how it is man. When I do demos I do the same thing. I'm a rhythm guitarist, so my licks are usually really simple, if I can even come up with any. haha
Good job though dude, plan on putting up any other music?

[Tristan Needler]

Haha I know how it is man. When I do demos I do the same thing. I'm a rhythm guitarist, so my licks are usually really simple, if I can even come up with any. haha
Good job though dude, plan on putting up any other music?
Heh, maybe. I'm not a song writer either. I'm in a pretty pitiable position... a bassist who loves engineering as well... but I have no one to write or play everything else for me haha.

I have a couple of ideas in mind, but they'd be more complex songs, some might be instrumental, and I'm just having trouble putting them together in a way that isn't really boring. Nothing is even remotely close to the same styles of music either haha. Oh well. This song was easy because I just decided "fuck it, I'm going to just make the whole thing the same chord progression." I don't think I can get away with that too often though.

[screamoutmyname]

Thanks!

I'm not too good at mixing vocals, so I was having trouble there deciding what to do. I'll have to mess with them a bit more. Unfortunately, I only have drum samples from a free vst sampler (Proteus VX) that came with my recording stuff. They are garbage, but it's the about the best I can do. Any ideas on how to mix them to make them a little better?

By the rhythm, do you mean the acoustic? Or the electric?



Sadly, Cubase decided to forget all my plugin settings so I have to start from scratch again as far as mixing goes.

yeah man... im having trouble getting cubase to recognize my plugins as well... im guessing thats a common error with cubase?

[Tristan Needler]

yeah man... im having trouble getting cubase to recognize my plugins as well... im guessing thats a common error with cubase?
I'm not sure. It recognizes my plugins fine, the problem is that every once in a while, it just "forgets" all of them. So when I open the program it says "no effect" everywhere that I used to have a plugin selected. Although it did hold on to my send effect, it forgot all the insert effects.

I'm going to ask around and see if anyone else has had similar problems.

[screamoutmyname]

I'm not sure. It recognizes my plugins fine, the problem is that every once in a while, it just "forgets" all of them. So when I open the program it says "no effect" everywhere that I used to have a plugin selected. Although it did hold on to my send effect, it forgot all the insert effects.

I'm going to ask around and see if anyone else has had similar problems.

right... that's definitely a pain in the ass.

for me, it recognizes all the stock plugins, but my friend gave me a set of Wave plugins, which has a ton of different effects... it just refuses to recognize them for some reason. everything worked fine for him.

but with regards to you song, i love it! very upbeat! the guitar and harmonica work really well off one another and the vocals are spot on!

keep it up man!

[Tristan Needler]

right... that's definitely a pain in the ass.

for me, it recognizes all the stock plugins, but my friend gave me a set of Wave plugins, which has a ton of different effects... it just refuses to recognize them for some reason. everything worked fine for him.

but with regards to you song, i love it! very upbeat! the guitar and harmonica work really well off one another and the vocals are spot on!

keep it up man!
Do you really think the vocals are in key? That's what I struggle with the most. I don't like my voice one bit.

That's strange... how does it work with any other plugins? You're talking about the Waves plug in bundles, right? Could it be some license issue? Since you're supposed to pay for them? I don't know, I've never tried to pirate any haha. Don't you need one of those iLok things for them? That could be it.

[Tristan Needler]

feel free to to critique my stuff too! myspace.com/frenchieistotallyrockandroll
Just listened to your stuff. It sounds great to me. The only things I would notice that sound off to me are most likely due to the fact that myspace makes 128kbps mp3's sound even shittier than they usually do. Just a sort of general lack of definition, for want of a better way to describe it.

[bassdrummer2333]

Wow! The SM57 is a great mic if it gave that kind of quality! I'll be picking one up this christmas.

[Tristan Needler]

Wow! The SM57 is a great mic if it gave that kind of quality! I'll be picking one up this christmas.
It's an impressive piece of equipment. The main problem is that the kind of acoustic guitar sound I got out of it is basically the kind of acoustic sound you will get out of it. That trebly, bright sound with lots of picking noise. I can't get really sweet, warm acoustic out of it, and the highs aren't as clear as a condenser mic would be.

[TheSkyline]

Heh, maybe. I'm not a song writer either. I'm in a pretty pitiable position... a bassist who loves engineering as well... but I have no one to write or play everything else for me haha.

I have a couple of ideas in mind, but they'd be more complex songs, some might be instrumental, and I'm just having trouble putting them together in a way that isn't really boring. Nothing is even remotely close to the same styles of music either haha. Oh well. This song was easy because I just decided "fuck it, I'm going to just make the whole thing the same chord progression." I don't think I can get away with that too often though.

Haha dude that's really weird, I'm the same way. Besides the songs I write for my band, they're all totally different genres. I'll write some acoustic/folk kinda thing, and then pick up my strat and play some heavy shit in drop D. haha
Well hopefully you get some of those ideas together soon!

[screamoutmyname]

Do you really think the vocals are in key? That's what I struggle with the most. I don't like my voice one bit.

That's strange... how does it work with any other plugins? You're talking about the Waves plug in bundles, right? Could it be some license issue? Since you're supposed to pay for them? I don't know, I've never tried to pirate any haha. Don't you need one of those iLok things for them? That could be it.

yeah man, the vocals sound pretty good! maybe a little bit off-key at times, but nothing that really jumped out at me. it's near impossible to hit every single note in an entire song.

and yes, those would be the ones. i don't know, though... they install just fine and work with this other recording program ACID... but they don't work for Cubase.

i'm unfamiliar with iLok, but they work with ACID, so i don't think that's it. thanks for trying to help, though... hopefully i'll figure it out and if not, i'll just have to live without them.

also, the SM57 and SM58 are amazing microphones. they get some great sounds. the singer/guitarist of the band i used to be in went to recording school for two years and so our band had some pretty impressive equipment. so fun to just mess around with stuff.

i, personally, just have a mediocre behringer condenser mic that i use for everything... but hey, it gets the job done.

[hero_dujour]

Very, very, VERY catchy, I'm dancing to it already haha.
I'm not an expert in music, so I can't give you any professional help but at about 1:23, the singer (you?) isn't hitting the key on the word "gray" in "to keep the sky from turning gray." It's a bit off key in a few other places as well, but it's not too bad.

[brandnew741]

Whenever I double vocals, I keep the double quite a few decibels lower than the lead vocal. Make sure its sung to match as best as you can with the lead vocal and syllables that don't match up, you can probably edit so they do. The idea is to make it relatively unnoticeable to a listener that you are using more than one vocal take, but beefing up the vocal to make it stand out.

[Jesse!]

Yeah, I'm not a guitarist by any means so I don't know much about finding good guitar tones. I'll try playing around with it some more. Unfortunately, out of the piano samples I had, that one was the best sounding to me. The rest seemed to have a little less bite, or I don't know what you'd call it for a piano. I didn't do much to it though. I'll try a little more EQ to see how it fits. I don't know how to play piano at all, so I just made shit up. I've never tried to play a piano part before in my life, so that's probably why it's kind of off. I didn't quantize it though, because the song "swings" a lot and it would have been kind of strange to find the right quantize setting. Funny you mention that about the bass. I'm a bassist mainly, so I always fight with myself on how high in the mix to make it. I tried chopping out some of the mud, but I guess I wasn't ruthless enough.



Good guitar tone is not easy to come by. You might have to fiddle for an hour or more to really find what you're looking for. What kind of amps do you have or are you direct in?

Piano samples are another thing that it's hard to find good ones.. most piano samples I've heard are pretty awful. It might help trying to toy with some effects - obviously nothing too crazy but a little bit of a bunch of things might take it away from that MIDI sound.

Maybe it's my personal preference but I like to hear the bass pretty smoothly. I obviously don't think it's the kind of song where the bass should be up front kicking ass (a la Brand New's Sic Transit Gloria) but I do think that cleaning it up a little will help.

As far as not being a multi-instrumentalist (few people really are)... I don't know what your process was for writing this song but it seems like a lot of it was improvisation from the way you're talking. I think you could probably take the time out to write some very simple parts (i.e. a simple melody on the piano) and it will make your job of finding all the right sounds and mixes that much easier. I think that it's one of those things that the more you have stuff in the right place to begin with, the easier it will be to make sure it stays that way.

I think having written a simple piano melody and maybe guitar part would take you no more than 10-20 minutes each. They probably wouldn't be the best parts ever, but if your goal is to work on mixing/recording then I think doing that will give you less headaches.

[Chigwinkle]

Wow, really impressive!
I really liked the acoustic guitar sound, you captured the overall richness nicely. I was wondering how you mic'd it up as I was trying to get a similar sound the other day xD
I thought the piano sounded really cool, keep it up. :)

[Tristan Needler]

Very, very, VERY catchy, I'm dancing to it already haha.
I'm not an expert in music, so I can't give you any professional help but at about 1:23, the singer (you?) isn't hitting the key on the word "gray" in "to keep the sky from turning gray." It's a bit off key in a few other places as well, but it's not too bad.Haha thank you.

And yeah, I did everything on it. I'm not really a good singer, and I was out of breath a lot haha. I might try to do the vocals again, we'll see how much time I have.

Good guitar tone is not easy to come by. You might have to fiddle for an hour or more to really find what you're looking for. What kind of amps do you have or are you direct in?

Piano samples are another thing that it's hard to find good ones.. most piano samples I've heard are pretty awful. It might help trying to toy with some effects - obviously nothing too crazy but a little bit of a bunch of things might take it away from that MIDI sound.

Maybe it's my personal preference but I like to hear the bass pretty smoothly. I obviously don't think it's the kind of song where the bass should be up front kicking ass (a la Brand New's Sic Transit Gloria) but I do think that cleaning it up a little will help.

As far as not being a multi-instrumentalist (few people really are)... I don't know what your process was for writing this song but it seems like a lot of it was improvisation from the way you're talking. I think you could probably take the time out to write some very simple parts (i.e. a simple melody on the piano) and it will make your job of finding all the right sounds and mixes that much easier. I think that it's one of those things that the more you have stuff in the right place to begin with, the easier it will be to make sure it stays that way.

I think having written a simple piano melody and maybe guitar part would take you no more than 10-20 minutes each. They probably wouldn't be the best parts ever, but if your goal is to work on mixing/recording then I think doing that will give you less headaches.I don't know much about guitar tone, so even fiddling with it for an hour I'd still have trouble getting a really nice sound. It is just DI into a pretty cheap interface from a pretty crappy Yamaha guitar, through Amplitube LE.

As far as the piano, I've just added a tiny bit of reverb. It's actually this cool little free reverb vst called pianoverb... it basically sounds like the sound of the piano strings vibrating when you hit a snare drum in your high school band room. But it's just a tiny bit. I might play around a bit more with effects and eq.

For bass it's hard for me, as predominantly a bassist, to find the balance between too much and too little bass emphasis. My mixes of some covers I've done up to this point tend to be pretty bass-heavy, and I guess this one turned out a little light.

I have a feeling as I try to write more, my ability to write parts and melodies will get better. As for now, I just don't even know where to start when it comes to writing melodies and small riffs. It would basically come out as exactly the same as what I have, it would just be planned ahead of time.

Wow, really impressive!
I really liked the acoustic guitar sound, you captured the overall richness nicely. I was wondering how you mic'd it up as I was trying to get a similar sound the other day xD
I thought the piano sounded really cool, keep it up. :)Thanks!

It's just an SM57 about 8 inches from the 12th fret, pointed sort of toward the direction of the sound hole. With some help from compression and eq plugins.

[Jesse!]

I don't know much about guitar tone, so even fiddling with it for an hour I'd still have trouble getting a really nice sound. It is just DI into a pretty cheap interface from a pretty crappy Yamaha guitar, through Amplitube LE.

Hah... only so much you can do there, eh?

If only we all had bottomless pockets when it came to gear...

[Tristan Needler]

Hah... only so much you can do there, eh?

If only we all had bottomless pockets when it came to gear...
Haha if only...

[Tristan Needler]

Alright, I finally got around to remixing this: http://www.sendspace.com/file/c9rirk

I think the vocals blend a little better, and I made the lead guitar a little more interesting. I used a different snare and kick, so hopefully those sound a little better too. Sadly, I couldn't remember exactly how I got the harmonica to sound how it did, but oh well, it's still pretty okay I think.

If anyone wants to listen and has any more suggestions, that's gerat! Thanks!

[OveriseFan]

I'd still like to hear the bass be brought up a bit more, and also, the lead guitar tone seems a little 'dead'. It lacks clarity and sparkle. It's not bad, it sounds pretty good even. It could be what you're going for, I'd just think about it if you haven't.

[Tristan Needler]

I'm having trouble finding a good balance between an-up front bass and a muddy mix.

Any suggestions on what could help with the lead? I know very little when it comes to guitar tone haha.

[Tristan Needler]

I'd still like to hear the bass be brought up a bit more, and also, the lead guitar tone seems a little 'dead'. It lacks clarity and sparkle. It's not bad, it sounds pretty good even. It could be what you're going for, I'd just think about it if you haven't.
I tweaked it a bit and updated the link above... give it another listen if you have the time.

I brought the bass guitar up a bit (maybe too much?) and got rid of some of the cuts I made in the low end. I feel like it's a little better though, I can actually hear some of the stuff I did on the bass for the first time since I recorded haha.

I also tweaked the lead a touch, added a little gain, got rid of a little reverb and brought the mids up a bit. I'm really just shooting in the dark as far as guitar tone goes though haha. After listening to a song 50 times everything sounds fine no matter how shitty it is.

Also, I got rid of the EQ that I had over the whole mix; before I boosted the highs of the whole thing a little and I got rid of that this time. I changed the harmonica a touch too.


Sorry I need so much help, it has a lot to do with my monitoring situation I believe. I mix mostly using headphones and computer speakers. The mix sounds totally different depending which one I use, so it's hard for me to get a really good judgment of how it really sounds. I just want to get it sounding as good as I can!

[ThisIsSuchAPity]

I love it, Tristan, especially the lead guitar. What are you playing, and through what amp? Any effects?

[Tristan Needler]

I love it, Tristan, especially the lead guitar. What are you playing, and through what amp? Any effects?
I'm playing everything. Or do you mean the lead? It's a shitty Yamaha Walmart guitar that I got for Christmas ages ago (my dad kind of robbed me of my slightly nicer Yamaha Pacifica) direct in to an EMU 0202 interface, with an amp model plugin called Amplitube LE (which is a light version of Amplitube, which I hear is pretty decent) which came bundled with my recording software. Effects would be a compressor plugin giving a bit of compression before amplitube. That's about it. Some reverb from Amplitube along with some random settings I just messed around until I didn't think it sounded too horrible, and a little of Cubase's EQ and that's it.

[ThisIsSuchAPity]

I'm playing everything. Or do you mean the lead? It's a shitty Yamaha Walmart guitar that I got for Christmas ages ago (my dad kind of robbed me of my slightly nicer Yamaha Pacifica) direct in to an EMU 0202 interface, with an amp model plugin called Amplitube LE (which is a light version of Amplitube, which I hear is pretty decent) which came bundled with my recording software. Effects would be a compressor plugin giving a bit of compression before amplitube. That's about it. Some reverb from Amplitube along with some random settings I just messed around until I didn't think it sounded too horrible, and a little of Cubase's EQ and that's it.

Yeah, I meant the lead.

What recording software do you use? I had the full version of Ableton Live, but I switched to a Mac.

[Tristan Needler]

Yeah, I meant the lead.

What recording software do you use? I had the full version of Ableton Live, but I switched to a Mac.
Cubase LE.

[patrickhowell]

Here's my input:

Bass: It's slightly loud now, but if you turn it down, you won't really be able to hear what you're doing on bass, but you'll be able to feel it and it will do it's job filling in the gap between the guitars and the bass drum. If you bring up the mids it will cut through a little better without the low-end being overpowering.

Drums: If you mess with the velocity on the drums you should be able to get them sound more realistic... right now it sounds like every hit is the same level, and if you mix it up a bit it will sound more human. Also, the drum beat stays basically the same throughout the song. It might be a good idea to make some slight variations to make the chorus and verse feel a little different. Maybe just switching from a closed high-hat to a half-open hi-hat or ride would make a big difference. Cymbals are a barely loud, and the bass drum is a little quiet. I can't hear it well enough to tell, but the kick drum hits should match up with the accents in the bass guitar strumming. I'm not sure if this is there or not.

Acoustic: Sounds good, but a little muffled, maybe a little more highs, high mids will make it shimmer a bit more. the low end sounds really good.

Electric: Sounds great, I don't think there's anything I would really change about these settings. Amplitube does a great job of modeling the dynamics of a real tube amp.

Piano: Sounds like it's missing a little something in the upper-mids, but it's really good. The chords during the verses sound good, but it might help if you switch up the voicing on them a little throughout the verse so it's not as repetitive.

Vocals: Adding a little reverb and early reflection will make your voice sound a little bigger, with more texture and help fill out the song. Also if you add a lower track underneath the chorus, I think that will help the feel of the song. If you just kind of half-talk half-sing the lyrics an octave under the melody and keep it low in the mix, that can make the lead vocals really 'pop' in a chorus.

Also, I think maybe adding some organ behind the chorus will help bring it out from the rest of the song. Especially when you've got a song that uses the same chord progression throughout, it's important to make some small changes to bring the chorus up just a little bit beyond the rest of the song. I think the dynamic is good between the verses and leads, but the choruses need just a little bit more.

Overall, the song is great, especially for your first song. You should be proud.

[eurotechniksE36]

Sounds really good. I'm assuming you did the vocals?

Think I would change is mono-tone feel on everything but the chorus with the vocals. Your chorus is good and I really think you have nailed the laid back sound.

Harmonica is awesome, very good call on that.

[Tristan Needler]

Here's my input:

Bass: It's slightly loud now, but if you turn it down, you won't really be able to hear what you're doing on bass, but you'll be able to feel it and it will do it's job filling in the gap between the guitars and the bass drum. If you bring up the mids it will cut through a little better without the low-end being overpowering. I will give this a shot.

Drums: If you mess with the velocity on the drums you should be able to get them sound more realistic... right now it sounds like every hit is the same level, and if you mix it up a bit it will sound more human. Also, the drum beat stays basically the same throughout the song. It might be a good idea to make some slight variations to make the chorus and verse feel a little different. Maybe just switching from a closed high-hat to a half-open hi-hat or ride would make a big difference. Cymbals are a barely loud, and the bass drum is a little quiet. I can't hear it well enough to tell, but the kick drum hits should match up with the accents in the bass guitar strumming. I'm not sure if this is there or not. I will also give this a shot. I've been thinking the same thing about the velocities too. Hadn't thought about changing them up in the choruses though, I'll try to figure something out there too.

Acoustic: Sounds good, but a little muffled, maybe a little more highs, high mids will make it shimmer a bit more. the low end sounds really good.Thanks, I'll try that too.

Electric: Sounds great, I don't think there's anything I would really change about these settings. Amplitube does a great job of modeling the dynamics of a real tube amp.Haha phew, thank goodness. Like you probably read, I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to guitar tone, so I'm glad it's pretty much set haha.

Piano: Sounds like it's missing a little something in the upper-mids, but it's really good. The chords during the verses sound good, but it might help if you switch up the voicing on them a little throughout the verse so it's not as repetitive.I will try that. Any help you can offer as far as piano goes? I don't know anything about it; I just played two-note chords that I thought didn't sound terrible. I really don't know how to go much beyond that.

Vocals: Adding a little reverb and early reflection will make your voice sound a little bigger, with more texture and help fill out the song. Also if you add a lower track underneath the chorus, I think that will help the feel of the song. If you just kind of half-talk half-sing the lyrics an octave under the melody and keep it low in the mix, that can make the lead vocals really 'pop' in a chorus. I do have a second vocal track in the first and second choruses, do you mean in addition to that or replace that or what?

Also, I think maybe adding some organ behind the chorus will help bring it out from the rest of the song. Especially when you've got a song that uses the same chord progression throughout, it's important to make some small changes to bring the chorus up just a little bit beyond the rest of the song. I think the dynamic is good between the verses and leads, but the choruses need just a little bit more.Hmm, very interesting. I like that idea a lot. I'll have to mess around with the keyboard and see if I can come up with an organ part. Like I said, I don't really know anything about playing keys, so we'll see.

Overall, the song is great, especially for your first song. You should be proud.Thank you very much! I am proud. :bounce:

Sounds really good. I'm assuming you did the vocals?

Think I would change is mono-tone feel on everything but the chorus with the vocals. Your chorus is good and I really think you have nailed the laid back sound.

Harmonica is awesome, very good call on that.I did the vocals and everything, yeah.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by that your second line though, what do you think I should change?

Haha thanks, I think the harmonica came out pretty well myself.

[patrickhowell]

I will try that. Any help you can offer as far as piano goes? I don't know anything about it; I just played two-note chords that I thought didn't sound terrible. I really don't know how to go much beyond that.

The chords you've got now sound good, but I think adding in like one more note would make it sound even better.

I do have a second vocal track in the first and second choruses, do you mean in addition to that or replace that or what?

I mean another vocal track, an octave down from the melody. It's probably out of your vocal range, but you can basically just talk it. It won't sound good on its own, but it will sound really good if it's quiet behind the lead vocals.

Hmm, very interesting. I like that idea a lot. I'll have to mess around with the keyboard and see if I can come up with an organ part. Like I said, I don't really know anything about playing keys, so we'll see.

Yeah, I think if you just play some really basic chords behind it it will sound really nice.

[Tristan Needler]

The chords you've got now sound good, but I think adding in like one more note would make it sound even better.



I mean another vocal track, an octave down from the melody. It's probably out of your vocal range, but you can basically just talk it. It won't sound good on its own, but it will sound really good if it's quiet behind the lead vocals.



Yeah, I think if you just play some really basic chords behind it it will sound really nice.
Actually, that's probably more comfortable of a range for me haha. I have a pretty low voice. The only reason I go falsetto in the chorus is because I can't hit that high of a note, and trust me, I tried hard to haha.

[Tristan Needler]

Alright, one more mix for you guys:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/cek06p

I changed the drums around, added more reverb on the vocals, made the background singing in the second and third choruses "bigger" (I didn't like the octave below thing, didn't sound right), made the kick a bit louder, brought the bass down a bit but brought out some of the nicer frequencies a little more, and that's about it. I couldn't come up with a decent organ bit to but in the chorus, and I couldn't find a decent sounding organ anyway.

Any last little tweaks anyone can suggest?

[ThisIsSuchAPity]

I was using TuneUp to look up album art, and it gave your song a picture of Fred Armisen flailing his arms on Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live.

[Tristan Needler]

Hahahaha weird.

[jco3]

Ok , I'm not going to lie but this song seems like it belongs in some sort of a romantic comedy, like one involving Ashton Kutcher or during a montage of some guy training his puppy, but the thing is the puppy won't obey him. It would probably be doing things like rolling around in mud, watch as the owner throws a frisbee, then watching the owner fetch the frisbee for the dog, the owner will then throw his arms up in submission towards the sky hurling himself to his knees. The camera would most likely have a close shot of the man mouthing something like, " I give up," he might even place his hands up on to the top of his head, maybe involving a little tug of the hair. The camera will then pan out to the dog licking the man, the pup musters up enough force in his leap on the man that he falls over on his back. Old ladies/dog walkers all grimace, some dog walkers even go as far as to cover their own dogs eyes. But you don't care your having a roll around in the grass with your pup. music fades....scene.

Next scene, begins with you and your dog standing in-front of a full body mirror. Both of you are in tux's. He scratches at his bow. You look at the pup as if you understand what he's going through. You say, " I know bud only for tonight," you get on one knee," later I'll save you a bowl of Ice cream." He licks you, you pat him on the head knowingly. Your date shows up. Her dog is female, a large bulldog, female. Your pup is anything but enthusiastic. There is a quick shot of your pup hiding behind your leg, trying to stay away from little miss. Pitbull. Later there is a shot of you and your date having a great time. While your pup is taking one for the team, he then finds a way to lock little miss pitbull out doors.

Ok I'm tired of this cliche filled movie. Anyways your song was neat. Sorry if there are typos, I did not spell check. Also if you payed attention I switched the words owner, to you mid-paragraph. Sorry about that.

[OveriseFan]

Ok , I'm not going to lie but this song seems like it belongs in some sort of a romantic comedy, like one involving Ashton Kutcher or during a montage of some guy training his puppy, but the thing is the puppy won't obey him. It would probably be doing things like rolling around in mud, watch as the owner throws a frisbee, then watching the owner fetch the frisbee for the dog, the owner will then throw his arms up in submission towards the sky hurling himself to his knees. The camera would most likely have a close shot of the man mouthing something like, " I give up," he might even place his hands up on to the top of his head, maybe involving a little tug of the hair. The camera will then pan out to the dog licking the man, the pup musters up enough force in his leap on the man that he falls over on his back. Old ladies/dog walkers all grimace, some dog walkers even go as far as to cover their own dogs eyes. But you don't care your having a roll around in the grass with your pup. music fades....scene.

Next scene, begins with you and your dog standing in-front of a full body mirror. Both of you are in tux's. He scratches at his bow. You look at the pup as if you understand what he's going through. You say, " I know bud only for tonight," you get on one knee," later I'll save you a bowl of Ice cream." He licks you, you pat him on the head knowingly. Your date shows up. Her dog is female, a large bulldog, female. Your pup is anything but enthusiastic. There is a quick shot of your pup hiding behind your leg, trying to stay away from little miss. Pitbull. Later there is a shot of you and your date having a great time. While your pup is taking one for the team, he then finds a way to lock little miss pitbull out doors.

Ok I'm tired of this cliche filled movie. Anyways your song was neat. Sorry if there are typos, I did not spell check. Also if you payed attention I switched the words owner, to you mid-paragraph. Sorry about that.

...

What the hell? Hahaha.

[Tristan Needler]

Ok , I'm not going to lie but this song seems like it belongs in some sort of a romantic comedy, like one involving Ashton Kutcher or during a montage of some guy training his puppy, but the thing is the puppy won't obey him. It would probably be doing things like rolling around in mud, watch as the owner throws a frisbee, then watching the owner fetch the frisbee for the dog, the owner will then throw his arms up in submission towards the sky hurling himself to his knees. The camera would most likely have a close shot of the man mouthing something like, " I give up," he might even place his hands up on to the top of his head, maybe involving a little tug of the hair. The camera will then pan out to the dog licking the man, the pup musters up enough force in his leap on the man that he falls over on his back. Old ladies/dog walkers all grimace, some dog walkers even go as far as to cover their own dogs eyes. But you don't care your having a roll around in the grass with your pup. music fades....scene.

Next scene, begins with you and your dog standing in-front of a full body mirror. Both of you are in tux's. He scratches at his bow. You look at the pup as if you understand what he's going through. You say, " I know bud only for tonight," you get on one knee," later I'll save you a bowl of Ice cream." He licks you, you pat him on the head knowingly. Your date shows up. Her dog is female, a large bulldog, female. Your pup is anything but enthusiastic. There is a quick shot of your pup hiding behind your leg, trying to stay away from little miss. Pitbull. Later there is a shot of you and your date having a great time. While your pup is taking one for the team, he then finds a way to lock little miss pitbull out doors.

Ok I'm tired of this cliche filled movie. Anyways your song was neat. Sorry if there are typos, I did not spell check. Also if you payed attention I switched the words owner, to you mid-paragraph. Sorry about that.
Hahahahahaha alright! I don't know what to say... Thanks?

At least my song is good enough to inspire a movie script, even if it is a lousy Kutcher chick flick with a disobedient but sapient puppy.

[jco3]

Hahahahahaha alright! I don't know what to say... Thanks?

At least my song is good enough to inspire a movie script, even if it is a lousy Kutcher chick flick with a disobedient but sapient puppy.


haha, it's all good. I get carried away every once in a while. might i ask, how long have you been playing the guitar?

[jco3]

^^^^^this was awkwardly worded.

[Tristan Needler]

haha, it's all good. I get carried away every once in a while. might i ask, how long have you been playing the guitar?
Haha that doesn't seem awkwardly worded to me at all. I started playing the guitar a long time ago, probably eight years ago. But I've never really focused on it, as about a year and a half after I picked up guitar, I picked up bass and that's where most of my energy has gone. As far as lead guitar, this would be my second attempt ever at writing riffs and lead parts, and it's about 80% improvisation.