Members FastRedPonyCar Posted October 22, 2007 Members Share Posted October 22, 2007 Edit: Fixed the link. My browser crashed (stupid IE) and I had to copy and paste from another forum I posted this on. I'm finally able to get to soundclick and other MP3 sites so yay I can start listening to you guy's music here at work. In the meantime, I also jumped on with 1and1 file hosting so I wouldn't have to hear soundclick's butchered bitrate any more. Critique our band's latest recording. I wrote just about all the music and our drummer and singer came up with the lyrics. I was after a sort of but not really throw back to the big power ballads of the 80's and early 90's but with a more modern sound. Yes I know the song reminds some folks of Poison Yes I know the song reminds some folks of Daughtry No we dont' care about that. I'm aware that there is some clipping during the drum rolls and we've got it on our "stuff to fix" list. Whatever else you guys can come up with that need to be added, removed, tweaked, etc It's still a semi-rough mix.. good enough to send out to the local DJ's and to the online community for suggestions as we plan on taking a few weeks when we've got all our songs recorded to make any changes and then do a final mix and then send off to get mastered. Thanks guys http://www.drewlankford.com/Music/01%20Gave%20it%20All.mp3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted October 22, 2007 Members Share Posted October 22, 2007 Modern power ballad??? Hey... 's okay. I do a lot of country and blues oriented stuff... nothing wrong with classic pop forms. Anyhow, I'll be happy to listen but I'm not finding one important thing: A LINK to that file server or to Soundclick... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DevilRaysFan Posted October 22, 2007 Members Share Posted October 22, 2007 Anyhow, I'll be happy to listen but I'm not finding one important thing: A LINK to that file server or to Soundclick... Yup..It certainly would be helpful..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jewel Posted October 23, 2007 Members Share Posted October 23, 2007 it's ok. sort of vanilla to me. however that's the #1 condiment in the whole world. so what do i know? respectfully,jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DevilRaysFan Posted October 23, 2007 Members Share Posted October 23, 2007 If a person is into that big rock ballad sort of thing, its good....Im not into that big rock ballad sort of thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FastRedPonyCar Posted October 23, 2007 Author Members Share Posted October 23, 2007 I grew up on em so that's partially why I wrote the music the way I did. I've got other songs that have sort of a TOOL~ish/DreamTheater feel to them. We're trying to get the album as mixed as possible with as many different sounds as we can. All the band members come from different music backgrounds so the song may start as something and end up totally different after everyone gets their hands on it. Hell, this is what our singer's song he primarily wrote sounds like. http://www.drewlankford.com/Music/SaveYou_edit.mp3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rsadasiv Posted October 23, 2007 Members Share Posted October 23, 2007 Not my style (the needle on my bull{censored} detector was going crazy during the chorus) but "Gave it All" sounds very good - pro level tracking/mixing/mastering. "Save You" also sounds good, but is even less my style (couldn't make it past the first verse). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted October 23, 2007 Members Share Posted October 23, 2007 The intro sounds great. I think the more modern style of singing in the first verse helps soften the link to Poison and other power ballad purveyors of the 80s, although as things go on, the singing gets "bigger" and I'm not sure how well that will go down with the kids... OTOH, I've always been pretty bad at predicting twists and turns in the cultural estuaries as they wind their way to the big ocean of the world's cut-out bins... Anyhow, it overall sounds pretty well crafted. One thing, it sounds a bit overcompressed but I'm not sure you're getting the "competitive loudness" that is the desired tradeoff. The first time around the drum kit -- when there isn't much going on -- the cymbal(s) sounds great...but once the bass and guitars get in there, the high end gets small and flattened out some. (On the competitive loudness front -- I put some Flatt and Scruggs -- not exactly squash city on the compression/limiting front -- on pause to listen to your track and when I went back to F&S I realized they actually sounded louder -- and had better high end definition. I know you were going for a more modern, treble-toned-down sound (and I think that's a very sensible move) but I was a little concerned that the vocals had a pretty heavy wrenchmarking of character preamp and compressor... overall I liked the texture but I could have used a little more detail, which I equate with upper high end in this case. I'll leave it to others to weigh in on whether the time is right again for power ballads -- it wasn't my thing back then, either -- but then not much that charted in the 80s was... But I think, a few probably easily adjusted production issues notwithstanding, that you have precisely what you started out to get, a modern power ballad that's well crafted and big... _____________ I'mlistening to the singer's song now. ("Save You," is it called?) It's kind of power chamber country... The fiddle(s) is a nice touch but like most of the other instruments in this and the other mix it sounds somewhat muted on the high end. Maybe it's just a(n understandable) reaction to the way-too-bright mixes we've been hearing for the last decade or so. But I could stand just a little more detail and delicacy up top -- particularly in this track, with its light, airy, wistful feel. (Is there a cello in there, too? Or maybe is that a viola?) Anyhow, while it's certainly different -- I could easily see this on the same album as the power ballad -- I think they'd fit nicely in the same album. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FastRedPonyCar Posted October 23, 2007 Author Members Share Posted October 23, 2007 Is this something (regarding overcompression and competitive loudness) that mastering can change or is it something that would have to be totally re-done at the mixing level? I haven no idea what all mastering can do. I've heard everything from it taking dog crap and making it sound like a million dollars to it not doing hardly anything at all. Which I assume is where the mastering tech's skill defines how much change there is. Save you did have a violin and cello player. I hear what you're saying about our guy's mixes. It sounds like there is the whole "blanket thrown over the speakers" analogy. But their band's albums that he's recorded all sound great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted October 23, 2007 Members Share Posted October 23, 2007 Well... as it's approached these days, "mastering" (which used to mean running the disc-cutting lathe that made the disc masters) is typically all about supposedly putting a finished, polished sheen on everything (and it could be your mixing engineer works with a mastering engineer who complements his work -- if everything sounds good on record, why mess with a good system?) With regard to taking "dog crap and making it sound like a million dollars" -- well, I'd say it's all too often making it sound like shiny, polished dog crap. But, like I said, if how you've been doing it works out in the finished product, I wouldn't really worry about it at this stage or change your process. And with that in mind, I'd say it looks/sounds like you're headed in the right direction! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FastRedPonyCar Posted October 23, 2007 Author Members Share Posted October 23, 2007 Well the guy who's been doing our work has been to a different mastering guy for each album except his last two. He's said that sometimes he'd send off an album that he loves the mixes on and it comes back butchered or not having the sound that he originally envisioned when he was recording and mixing and he said that the guy that's done the last 2 albums has practically read his mind and exceeded his expectations. Here's the video from their latest album's single. http://immortalrecords.com/media/video/video_000015_video.mov Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ProgRock11 Posted October 24, 2007 Members Share Posted October 24, 2007 I grew up on em so that's partially why I wrote the music the way I did.I've got other songs that have sort of a TOOL~ish/DreamTheater feel to them. We're trying to get the album as mixed as possible with as many different sounds as we can.http://www.drewlankford.com/Music/SaveYou_edit.mp3 I wouldn't focus so much on trying to make every mix sound different. In an album, it's nice to have consistency and I fear that going from a Tool or Dream Theater-like sound to this will be too much of a dramatic shift. Without consistency your album will end up sounding like a poor cover band...and no one wants that. For what it is, it sounds good. But you really have to ask yourselves whether or not this is your sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ProgRock11 Posted October 24, 2007 Members Share Posted October 24, 2007 With regard to taking "dog crap and making it sound like a million dollars" -- well, I'd say it's all too often making it sound like shiny, polished dog crap. Hahaha...I couldn't agree more. And if the production is done really well, you really won't have any need for any "sheen" applied in mastering. And what most people forget is that mastering can help things sound consistent, instead of each song sounding they were recorded in different studios or by a completely different band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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