A non-scooter related request.

[bluegoatwoods]

Aside from being a scooter mechanic wannabe, I'm also a singer. A rowdy, rock and roll type singer. 

I recorded a song a few years ago and have had nothing but trouble getting the mix just right. When I'd fix one part of the spectrum, another would skid right off the road.

But I think I've got it licked. A new mix the other night seems to be pretty even.

Would anyone be willing to give it a listen and see? I'm just not objective enough. (Family and friends are pretty worthless in that regard, too, by the way.)

And I'd ...........very honestly...........welcome criticism. If something doesn't sound right, I want you to say so.

But you'll need to listen hard because I do think I'm offering a quality product here.

Besides that........I'm a performer.........we crave an audience. It's just a sickness we have.

drive.google.com/open?id=0B081aVUWXldbdWs2MWNoUmJudU0

[90GTVert]

I think everything in the mix needs to be turned down a little, evenly. It sounds like the levels are too high and as some parts come in and out or volumes change, the levels of some parts are dropping and rising. Could be happening when exporting/encoding or part of a program to keep from clipping.

[90GTVert]

Another observation; your vocal sounds flat. Maybe that's what you're going for. I don't mean the performance, I mean the recording and mixing. You can try things like adding reverb panned far left and far right instead of just having it all center to make it sound bigger. Use headphones when mixing so you can really hear where things are staged.

[arkie]

Dude. You Rock! Reminded me of the dead kenedys. You just need a good studio or a geek friend to do all the studio type stuff. Forgive my ignorance of any technical lingo. But yeah man you got a good song that could be on the radio making you a star.

[2stroked]

What type of mixer are u using? Eight track or higher? Channels not the old 8-track tapes...lol
I like your style.

[ThaiGyro]

If you want some serious help, feedback and more...contact this guy: highstcanrap.com/

His name is Jason. His history covers rock, reggae, rap, album and other art. He has many hours of studio experience...and easy to work with.

Plus, he is my son. That doesn't matter, just give him a shout. He has worked with some good talent and is a great person.

[bluegoatwoods]

No time right now to give much individual consideration to this feedback. Gotta go to work.

But I do appreciate it and I'll be back when I can put a little thought into these remarks.

But I ought to make one thing clear: it's not my song. I only wish I could write like that.


An add-on note: Just pondering these remarks briefly, I think I can see some hints that'll point toward improvement. I might or might not be sound engineer enough to make good use of them. But I'll be thinking about it. Thanks again.

[90GTVert]

You don't have to be a sound engineer or perfect to turn out something good or entertaining. Don't have to put much money into it either.

This is something I did with Audacity (freeware recording editing program) and a $60 mic. I did all of the guitar and bass and vocals, all poorly. The drums aren't me. I sold my kit years ago and sucked at those too. It's just a joke. A friend made me listen to Walking With A Ghost by Tegan And Sara years ago and it's so bright and poppy that it's not in the realm of anything I normally listen to, but the damn song gets stuck in my head. Anyway, I thought it would be funny if there were a little deeper death metal version because it's so bright. Couldn't find one, so I did this. It sucks, but even as bad as I am you can tell that you can add more depth and get a halfway decent mix with free software and no expensive equipment.

ufile.io/ah5el


Hell, I had a friend bring up thousands of dollars worth of equipment years ago and we never turned out anything that sounded nearly this good. Eventually I learned that an awful lot of it is about learning small tricks and spending some time listening to other music, especially in the same headphones that you use for your editing. Make no mistake, I'm not saying I'm any good at this stuff. I still suck at music and recording, but the more you play around with it, the better it will get.

Here's some other junk I've done with the same stuff. These are all just rough ideas. No real effort into making them sound right. Putting things "on paper" so I don't forget the basic premise. I never put the time into recording anything anymore to get it to sound right.

soundcloud.com/sweatingbullets/ribn2

Example of the roughest idea stage, and then the intro redone with a little more effort to see if it had any potential.

soundcloud.com/sweatingbullets/rough-idea
soundcloud.com/sweatingbullets/intro2

These were before I had the $60 USB mic and used a $1 PC mic.
soundcloud.com/sweatingbullets/troubled
soundcloud.com/sweatingbullets/an-end-more-work


BTW, I do realize that you're using some sort of karaoke track so the instruments aren't 100% relevant. I thought maybe that stuff would give you an idea of how small amounts of effort and learning can improve any recording though.

[dan50]

You have a really good voice. How come you're not on a label already? Song is very catchy. You have that rockabilly thing going. Love it.

Needs thicker guitar sound, sounds a little thin. More tonal coloration by turning the tone down on the pickups. Some saturation would be good, and turn up the presence on your amp. Try to pull the mid-range out of the guitar with an EQ. I had a Korg A5, and that could get me just about any sound I wanted. I ran Hiwatt 50 watt amps with 2 4x12 cabinets on each head (200 watts total, playing heavy metal). I used distortion, EQ and reverb most of the time. Ran through a Rocktron rack mounted noise supresser that had 2 channels for sterio mix.

Keep the music going, I would love to hear more from you.

[bluegoatwoods]

Hey! This is cool. I can tell by these comments that you guys know more about sound engineering than I do. And it could help me learn a thing or two. I'll be listening to those tracks on the weekend, Brent.

And thanks for the voice compliments as well. My own opinion? I don't have a great voice, but I do know how to deliver a song. When I sing in a karaoke joint the audience tends to notice me.

I tried joining up with bands in my youth. But never got far. Then when I started raising a family there was no longer any time for that sort of thing.

At this stage of life I really only have one more goal with it. And that's to leave behind some songs that my kids can keep to remember me by. I figure that'll bring me back alive in their memories better than photos. (Not that I expect that anytime soon, I might add.) And I've got a number of recordings. But very few of them sound anywhere near clean.

So my job's not done yet.

Sorry about all the italics. I was going to edit them out. But I see that I have no time for that again. Gotta go to work. Again.

[bluegoatwoods]

Okay, folks.......I just finished another long work week and I'll be able to listen to Brent's tracks and see what I can learn. Probably not tonight. But over the course of the next day or two.

Yet I can see that I ought to clear up something. I'm not accomplished enough for some of the advice I've been given. Thanks, of course. But I'm not up to that level.

I don't qualify as an artist. I don't even qualify as a musician. I can play the bass guitar well enough to fake my way through basic country/western stuff. But it's been a long time since I've done even that.

So....for instance.....ThaiGyro. Thanks for the referral. But I wouldn't merit any of your son's time or attention. He's clearly a professional and well beyond my abilities.

I'm just a guy who scrubs vocals off of songs I like or swipes karaoke tracks from youtube and then records my vocals over it. My sound engineering has improved over some time. But it has a long way to go.

So, you see, I'm not a creative artist. I'm not a musician. I'm not even a sound engineer, though I'm gonna keep on trying for some time to come.

I'm willing to view myself as a performer. I doubt if I'll ever get beyond that. But I'm kinda okay with that.

But I can see that a few of you listened to that song and thought, "Huh! That's kinda neat! Kinda entertaining".

And I'm real happy about that. That's a big part of the reason that I record at all. So thanks.

And for those of you who enjoyed that, here's another. It'll surely be familiar unless you're very young.

drive.google.com/open?id=0B081aVUWXldbRzZRR0RISmxUNFE

[dan50]

Like I said, why aren't you on a label already. You have a really good voice. Pleasant to listen to, and you stay on key. That's the only combination that you need. Being an entertainer is where the money's at. People don't want to listen to 'art', they want to listen to good music and somebody with a good voice.

Besides, some Rockabilly on the country charts would be great as most of the 'modern' country sucks. Sounds like pop with a southern accent.

[90GTVert]

That one sounds better. You don't have the issue with the backing track changing volume.


In case it's of interest, you can find "vocals only" or "isolated vocals" for some stuff on YouTube. It's interesting to hear how much effect is used on a lot of stuff and you can hear layering and harmonies better as well. Let's you get a better idea of the tricks used.

Example of Alice In Chains below. Vocals only :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=erV-ZMRTNh4

Whole track :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nco_kh8xJDs

Here's Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody. Obviously multi-vocals in some parts, sounds pretty plain with just Freddy Mercury in many, and then sometimes he's doubled.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHYjIIJ14MI

Check out pop/rap stuff and some of them use quite a bit of layering.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8a-4WOaBK4

[bluegoatwoods]

Hey, Brent!

I'm a bit confused here. Listening to 'sweating bullets'. I'm hearing some good riffs with some nice, clear sound.
Yet it seems to be tidbits. When one ends, another will begin after a few seconds. I'm not sure if I'm listening to just one mp3 or if soundcloud is loading the next one automatically.

In any case, that is 'death metal', isn't it? Cool stuff with energy.

[bluegoatwoods]

There's a voice in my head saying, "Be careful. Don't impose your damned voice on these good folks too much!"

But I do like to think that I choose material that has some life and is kinda worth listening to in any case.
So, with that pathetic excuse, go ahead if you'd like and see how I handled an old Paul Simon song.

drive.google.com/open?id=0B081aVUWXldbbGQwM3hxS1ltWk0